Modern History
French History since 1789 - Main Periods
1792-1804: First Republic (Convention/Directory/Consulate)
1804-1814: First Empire
1814-1830: Bourbon Restoration (Louis XVIII, Charles X)
1830-1848: July Monarchy (Louis Philippe)
1848-1852: Second Republic (Louis Napoleon)
1852-1870: Second Empire (Louis Napoleon -> Napoleon III)
1871-1940: Third Republic
1940-1944: Vichy
1946-1958: Fourth Republic
1958-: Fifth Republic
Life of Napoleon
1769-1821 - French Revolutionary Wars I (War of the First Coalition, 1792-1797: Siege of Toulon 1793, Napoleon leads Invasion of Italy 1796) - Egyptian and Syrian Expedition of 1798 – Coup of 18 Brumaire 1799, becomes Consul – French Revolutionary Wars II (War of the Second Coalition, 1799-1802: Victory at Marengo, 1800)- Elected Emperor (1804) - Napoleonic Wars (1805-1814) - War of the Third Coalition, 1805 (British @ Trafalgar, Austria @ Austerlitz) - War of the Fourth Coalition, 1806-7 (Prussia @ Jena-Auerstädt, Russia @ Friedland) - Peninsular War, 1808-1814 - War of the Fifth Coalition (1809, @ Aspern-Essling, @ Wagram) - Divorces Josephine for Marie-Louise (1810) - Invasion of Russia (1812) - Battle of the Sixth Coailition, 1813-14 (@ Leipzig, French Campaign) - Elba - Hundred Days/Seventh Coalition (@ Waterloo) - Saint Helena
War of the First Coalition
1792-1797 Austria/Holy Roman Empire leads, Napoleon's first Italian campaign, marching on Vienna. . . Austria begs for peace
1798 Napoleon in Egypt (threatening the British who haven't made peace)
War of the Second Coalition
1799-1802 Now as Consul, Napoleon's second Italian campaign extends gains there - Marengo.
War of the Third Coalition
1805 - Now as Emperor, France is defeated by the English fleet at Trafalgar (thereafter supreme at sea), and defeats Austria once and for all at Austerlitz.
War of the Fourth Coalition
1806-7 Prussia joins the coalition, and is defeated at Jena-Auerstädt.
Peninsula War
1808-12 The campaigns of Napoleonic Wars in the Iberian Peninsula.
War of the Fifth Coalition
1809 - The tide starts to turn against Napoleon: His first ever defeat at Aspern-Essling and then a win it what was then Europe's biggest ever battle, at Wagram.
Napoleon's Invasion of Russia
1812 - Battles indecisive (Borodina), but together with the retreat Napoleon loses over 90% of his army (+400K men down to <30K)
War of the Sixth Coalition
1813-1814 Napoleon is defeated at the Battle of Leipzig, and the Coaltion marches on Paris after the French campaign.
War of the Seventh Coalition
1815 - The Hundred Days after Napoleon's return from Elba, until he is defeated at Waterloo.
Louis XVI's Ministers
Foreign - Vergennes
Finance - Turgot, Necker, Colonne, Brienne, Necker
Late C.18th - Major European Powers
France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia
Late C.18th Wars
War of the Austrian Succession (1740s)
Seven Years War (1756-1763)
1760s+ Catherine the Great (Russo-Turkish Wars 1768-1774, Partition of Poland 1772 . . . ally with Prussia, against three ye olde powers France had used to check Austria [Ottoman, Poland, Sweden])
1770s Britain bungles away American Revolution
French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815)
War of the Austrian Succession - European Geopolitics
Two old powers (France vs Austria)
Older powers France used to check, have collapsed (Sweden, Ottoman, Polish-Lithuanian)
Three new powers (Britain, Russia, Prussia)
-> 1740 - Deaths of Charles VI (Austria) & Frederick William (Prussia). Marie Therese (Austria) faces challenges as a woman, and Frederick II (the Great) siezes Silesia . . . Line up - French (traditionally worried about Austria) ally with Prussia (and Bourbon Spain) vs Brits (anxious about France) line up with Austria. End Result, 1748: M-T recognised and F2 keeps Silesia.
Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
No-one in 1740s War of the Austrian Succession is happy with their partners. 1756 - France signs treaty with historic enemies, Austria - Sparking SEVEN YEARS WAR (1756-1763).
Seven Years War
1756-1763. Sparked by Diplomatic Revolution of 1756. End Results: Austria and Prussia agree to go back to status quo ante bellum / British win big / French lose big (all North America)
First Partition of Poland
1772. Expansionist Russia under Catherine eating up all these lands C17th France had used to check Austria (i.e. Ottoman, Sweden, Poland). Austria feels entire East flank exposed. All three, plus Prussia, agree to divide up Poland.
Three partitions --last in 1795 (middle of Revolutionary Wars)-- leads to total obliteration of Poland
When did King in Prussia become King of Prussia?
Asserted by Frederick the Great around Partion of Poland (1772)
Cause of French Revolution
Proximate - TAX! (e.g. King's clashes with parlements, all about tax reform. Assembly of Notables, then Estates General... all about getting tax reform to straighten out France's public debt - much of it war debt).
MARXISTS - Classic conflict, a Bourgeois Revolution: Nobles ($ land) vs Bourgeois ($$$ trade), and in 1789 Bourgeois unite with rural Peasants and urban Labourers.
REVISIONISTS (1960s, Alfred Cobban/Francois Furet) - not Class conflict, not a Bourgeois Revolution - culture and political ideas matter . . .
What were the three estates?
Clergy - Nobility - Commoners
i.e those who pray, those who fight, those who work, and in terms of tax, largely only commoners pay
Last Finance Ministers of France
Principal Ministre d'État
MAUPEOU (last of LXV) - enlightened absolutism, clash with parlements
TURGOT (first of LXVI) - physiocrat, flour wars
NECKER - publicly published the 'compte rendu'
CALONNE (Assembly of Notables), BRIENNE (Paris Parlement), NECKER (Estates General)
What were the parlements? Lit de Justice?
Provincial appellate courts which (also) could register/reject royal edicts. The Lit de Justice was a formal session of a parlement, under the king, where it was forced to accep a royal edict.
Monarchy vs Parlements
Enlightened absolutist monarch trying to straighten things out (Maupeou-phase) vs cliques of noble magistrates stymying reform (because of own interests but pretending they're of the people)
What was the "famine pact"? [Pacte de Famine]
A conspiracy theory in late C.18th France that famines were caused by privileged groups deliberately wanting to withhold grain from peasants.
Who was Necker's daughter?
Mme de Stael - romantic thinker, supporter of revolution, and critic of Napoleon (exiled in early 1800s)
Affair of the Diamond Necklace
Con artists forged document pretending Marie Antoinette wanted to buy necklace made for Mme du Barry - incl. a prostitute look-a-like. Public blamed MA and monarchy.
Assembly of Notables
1787. Calonne's route to trying to get tax reform without the parlements. An extraordinary assembly of high-ranking individuals called by the crown. In 1787, demanded political reforms as the price of agreement. LXVI refuses, Calonne sacked, turns to Brienne and the Paris Parlement.
May Edicts (of 1788)
Brienne's edicts (for the Monarchy) to try to destroy the power of the Parlements (by setting up another court)
Day of the Tiles
7 June 1788. Reputedly first event leading up to French Revolution. After Brienne's May Edicts, mob gathers in Grenoble to defend their parlement (throwing tiles from the roof of the Jesuit College onto soldiers).
Why care? Economically, glove trade down, parlements is few money-making activities provincially.
"Double the third! Vote by head!"
Demand that the third estate have double the votes (i.e. Clergy+Nobles vs Commoners, 50/50), and that voting be by head not by order.
The Estates General
Extraodinary constitutive assembly of the three estates of French society. Organised in 1789 by Necker. Ends when the Third Estate forms the National Assembly, against wishes of King, and invite other two estates to join, signalling outbreak of French Revolution.