Aim: What well does the outcome of the French

Revolution fit our “model” of revolutionary trajectory?

Do Now: How do the Directory and Napoleonic period compare with the end of

the English and American revolutions?

Do Now: How do the Directory and Napoleonic period compare with the

end of the English and American revolutions?

• End of the revolutionary period• Establishment of the new capitalist class as the

ruling class• Limitation of rights for the common people from

the height of the revolution• Difference: No elected government, instead

“enlightened despotism” – the ruler is “the 1st servant of the state”

What would you want as a bourgeois Frenchman under attack internally and

externally?

Under attack internally and externally, what does the French bourgeoisie want?

• Stability, order, military victory, political control – protect the bourgeois revolution against return of the monarchy and against the demands of the common people

• The rise of Napoleon – bourgeoisie gives up direct political control to protect its other gains

What were the benefits of the Napoleonic period (1799-1814)?

What were the costs?

Napoleonic Empire, 1812

Route of Invasion of Russia

400,000 troops leave Germany, 10,000 troops return to France

Purposes of the Congress of Vienna / Concert of Europe

• Re-establish monarchies

• Restore conservative order

• Prevent revolutions through collective action

• Works for only a few decades….

Legacy of the Revolutionary period #1

• Enlightenment ideas spread: revolution, rights, equality, consent of governed - conservatives can’t put the genie back in the bottle

• End of Divine Right, Absolutism, Feudalism

• Capitalist bourgeoisie becomes the leading class even where it doesn’t directly rule (exception: Latin America)

Legacy of the French Revolution #2

• Common people play a decisive role in all revolutions, but their own gains are limited– Some Negative rights - freedom from

government oppression– Few Positive rights – the poor stay poor

• Enlightened Despotism or Democracy? Order, progress, reason, rationality; Despots often gain popular support – “great men”

Legacy of the French Revolution #3

• Rise of Nationalism – support for, loyalty towards, your nation