CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. The Origins of the French Revolution

III. The Estates General and the Beginning of the

Revolution

IV. The Revolutionary Crowd: The Bastille and the

Great Fear

V. The Legislative Revolution of the National

Assembly, 1789–91

VI. Europe and the Revolution

VII. The Legislative Assembly and the Wars of the

Revolution

VIII. The First Republic: The Convention

IX. Civil War and the Reign of Terror

X. The Thermidorean Reaction and the Directory,

1794–99

XI. The Revolutionary Wars and the Rise of

Napoleon

XII. France under Napoleon

XIII. The Napoleonic Wars

១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១

CHAPTER 21

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND

NAPOLEON, 1789–1815

T

he end of the eighteenth century brought ex-

traordinary upheaval. The French Revolution

(1789–99) challenged the institutions of the

Old Regime and provoked bitter struggles in

which millions of people died. The turmoil in France

gave way to a general European conflict (1792–1815)

as great coalitions formed to halt the spread of revolu-

tion. The revolutionary government survived these at-

tacks until 1799 when one of its own military heroes,

Napoleon Bonaparte, seized power and created an au-

thoritarian government. In a series of brilliant cam-

paigns he extended French rule over much of Europe

until he was defeated by the combined armies of a Eu-

ropean coalition.

Chapter 21 surveys this upheaval, starting with its

origins in the economic and social problems of the Old

Regime. The French attempt to address those problems

led to a series of revolutionary governments that abol-

ished the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the estab-

lished church. A revolutionary bill of rights and an

idealistic constitution promised an age of liberty and

equality, and the revolutionary government fulfilled

much of this promise by abolishing slavery and by

emancipating religious minorities. The French Revolu-

tion, however, is a complex, paradoxical subject. The

story of great accomplishment is also a story of great

violence. The revolution produced dictatorial govern-

ments and public executions, so many people remem-

ber the revolution as a “reign of terror.” One of the best

known passages in English literature, the opening of

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities(1859), summarizes

this revolutionary duality: “It was the best of times, it

was the worst of times... it was the spring of hope, it

was the winter of despair.”

The Origins of the French Revolution

The French Revolution grew from the combination of

an intractable economic crisis and the inability of the

392