History - French Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the French Revolution, the Life of Marie Antoinette and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte

French Revolution

A Captivating Guide to the French Revolution, the Life of Marie Antoinette and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte

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A Captivating Guide to the Ten-Year Revolution in France and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte

Introduction

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Few historical events are as greatly revered and entirely misunderstood as the French Revolution that began in 1789. The memory of this complicated and lengthy political, violent uprising has been generally painted in broadand oversimplifiedstrokes.

The modern world remembers Let them eat cake, a contemporary idiom attributed to anyone the common class viewed as irredeemably aristocratic. Few are aware of the free evening meals given to anyone visiting the Palace of Versailles while King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ruled. Almost no one is aware that King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette restricted their personal budgets more than any other royal before them, or that the king wanted to spread out the tax burden onto the aristocracy instead of the working classes.

Modern Americans have almost entirely no idea that the members of the French Revolution felt a bond of brotherhood with the newly-established republic of the United States of America. The ideas of the Enlightenment spanned the Atlantic Ocean, inspiring the middle classes of both nations to take government into their own hands for the sake of their future. Through the chaos of the transition between two ancient monarchies and the self-governments of France and the United States, the countries were founded on very similar principles.

While the French Revolution was certainly centered around two lavish monarchs and an enlightened common class, there was so much more going on behind the scenes. Even after the abolition of the French monarchy, France struggled to find a balance between public self-governance and European stability. A fragile government, merely a shell of its former self following the Reign of Terror under Robespierre, was no match for the military and political prowess of Napoleon I.

It was a long road from the days of the Bourbon kings to the internationally respected democracy we know today. Chances are good that if we could ask the poor working peasants of late 18 th -century France just what started all the trouble, theyd tell us it was all about bread.

Its difficult to tell the complex tale of an infamous historic revolution that involved so many characters, so many leaders, so many ideals and so many interconnected events. Because it has been necessary to move backward and forwards in time throughout this text, Ive included a simplified timeline of events to keep the reader on track.

All sub-topics will resolve themselves in the end, but if you find yourself a little lost in history, feel free to refer back to this timeline at any point.

1789

• January - King Louis XVI calls for the Estates General to convene. They meet in May.
• June 20 Tennis Court Oath
• July 14 Storming of the Bastille
• August 26 Declaration of the Rights of Man
• October 5-6 The Womens March on Versailles. Royal family kidnapped and installed within the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

1790

• May 19 National Assembly declares France a constitutional monarchy

1791

• June 20-21 The royal family escapes the Tuileries but is discovered at Varennes
• September Louis is presented with the French Constitution, which he signs

1792

• April French Assembly declares war on Austria and Prussia
• August 10 Storming of the Tuileries.
• September 21 The National Convention outlaws the monarchy and declares a French Republic

1793

• January 21 King Louis XVI, called Citizen Capet, is executed by guillotine
• February France declares war on the Netherlands and Great Britain
• October 5 New Republican calendar adopted
• October 16 Queen Marie Antoinette is executed by guillotine

1794

• February 4 France outlaws slavery
• July 28 Robespierre, leader of the government, is executed by guillotine

1795

• June 5 Louis Charles, last son of Marie Antoinette and Louis Bourbon, dies

1798

• July 1 Napoleon, as General of the French Army, lands in Egypt

1799

• November Napoleon plans a coup detat with members of the government

1804

• May 14 Napoleon Bonaparte is declared Emperor of France

The Kingdom of the Franks was established in the 5 th century, during a time when the once extensive and powerful Roman Empire had deeply declined. King Clovis I is largely considered the first monarch to rule over a unified French kingdom, thus beginning the Merovingian Dynasty in about 481. His family ruled for a difficult three centuries , the dynasty punctuated by infighting within the family, until Pope Zachary proclaimed Pepin the Short ruler of the Franks in 751. Pepin was succeeded by his famous son, Charles I, who is remembered under the compressed title of Charles le Magne: Charlemagne.