1.
Pillnitz Castle
–
Pillnitz Castle is a restored Baroque palace at the eastern end of the city of Dresden in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the bank of the River Elbe in the village of Pillnitz. Pillnitz Castle was the residence of many electors and kings of Saxony. The buildings enclose a Baroque garden and are surrounded by a public park. Today, the houses the Arts and Crafts Museum of the Dresden State Art Collections. As early as the 14th century, a modest residential fortress existed on the site of today castle and it was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries to a four-winged building. The château was acquired by the Wettin dynasty in 1694 when Elector John George IV of Saxony bought it as a present for his mistress, Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz. In 1706, John Georges brother Augustus II the Strong gave the facilities to one of his numerous mistresses, Anna Constantia of Brockdorff, Augustus II then ordered the château to be converted into an oriental summer palace for riverside festivities, necessitating extensive rebuilding. Starting in 1720, the first church and buildings were replaced by elaborate Baroque palaces designed by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, first, in 1720/21, the Riverside Palace was constructed on the river bank to plans by Pöppelmann. The upper staircase built on the Elbe side in 1722 was supplemented in 1725 by water forming a gondola dock. In 1723/24, an almost identical complement to the Riverside Palace, at the same time, a garden was laid out between the two palaces. Construction continued until 1725, with a focus on the Chinoiserie style, Augustus apparently then lost interest in his renovated palace, shifting his focus to other locations. In 1765, Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, a greatgrandson of Augustus the Strong, at the time, an English garden with an English Pavilion, a Chinese garden with a Chinese Pavilion and an artificial ruin were added. When the Countess palace at Pillnitz Castle burnt down in 1818, Frederick Augustus asked his architect, Christian Friedrich Schuricht, the Neoclassical New Palace was completed in 1826. Pillnitz Castle was used as the residence of the House of Wettin until 1918. The main buildings are the Upper Palace, built between 1722 and 1723, and the Riverside Palace, built between 1720 and 1721, the Riverside Palace has elegant steps down to the river. The two are connected on the east side by the New Palace, built in Neoclassical style between 1819 and 1826 after the Countess palace burnt down in 1818, the New Palace contains the royal kitchen and a Catholic chapel. The roofs and moldings in each of the buildings exemplify the Oriental-influenced style fashionable during that period, today, the New Palace contains the Palace Museum with a permanent exhibition presenting its eventful history as a former royal Saxon summer residence
Pillnitz Castle
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Riverside Palace (Wasserpalais)
Pillnitz Castle
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Ruins of the Countess' palace after the fire of 1818
Pillnitz Castle
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The castle in 1800
Pillnitz Castle
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The castle circa 1850
2.
Dresden
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Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic, Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque, the controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany, the Dresden University of Technology is one of the 10 largest universities in Germany and part of the German Universities Excellence Initiative. The economy of Dresden and its agglomeration is one of the most dynamic in Germany and it is dominated by high-tech branches, often called as “Silicon Saxony”. The city is one of the most visited in Germany with 4,3 million overnight stays per year. The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Europe, main sights are also the nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland, the Ore Mountains and the countryside around Elbe Valley and Moritzburg Castle. The most prominent building in the city of Dresden is the Frauenkirche, built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed during World War II. The remaining ruins were left for 50 years as a war memorial, the church was rebuilt from 1994 to 2005. Although Dresden is a relatively recent city of Germanic origin followed by settlement of Slavic people, Dresdens founding and early growth is associated with the eastward expansion of Germanic peoples, mining in the nearby Ore Mountains, and the establishment of the Margraviate of Meissen. Its name etymologically derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the forest, Dresden later evolved into the capital of Saxony. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed on the southern bank, another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unknown. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place Civitas Dresdene. After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate and it was given to Friedrich Clem after death of Henry the Illustrious in 1288. It was taken by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1316 and was restored to the Wettin dynasty after the death of Valdemar the Great in 1319, from 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King Augustus II the Strong of Poland in personal union and he gathered many of the best musicians, architects and painters from all over Europe to the newly named Royal-Polish Residential City of Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresdens emergence as a leading European city for technology, during the reign of Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Hofkirche and the Frauenkirche were built
Dresden
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Clockwise: Dresden at night,
Dresden Frauenkirche,
Schloss Pillnitz,
Dresden Castle and
Zwinger.
Dresden
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The
Fürstenzug —the Saxon sovereigns depicted in
Meissen porcelain
Dresden
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Dresden in 1521
Dresden
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Image of Dresden during the 1890s, before extensive World War II destruction. Landmarks include
Dresden Frauenkirche,
Augustus Bridge, and
Katholische Hofkirche.
3.
Saxony
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Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germanys sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres, located in the middle of a large, formerly all German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, the area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony is divided into 10 districts,1. After a reform in 2008, these regions - with some alterations of their respective areas - were called Direktionsbezirke, in 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen. The Erzgebirgskreis district includes the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district includes Saxon Switzerland, the largest cities in Saxony according to the 31 December 2015 estimate. To this can be added that Leipzig forms a metropolitan region with Halle. The latter city is located just across the border to Saxony-Anhalt, Leipzig shares for instance an S-train system and an airport with Halle. Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy of the states of the former East Germany and its economy grew by 1. 9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains above the German average, the eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an Objective 1 development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business competition and entrepreneurial support organisation, has been in operation since 2002. Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region the nickname Silicon Saxony, the publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are no longer significant. Today the automobile industry, machinery production and services contribute to the development of the region. Saxony is also one of the most renowned tourist destinations in Germany - especially the cities of Leipzig and Dresden, new tourist destinations are developing, notably in the lake district of Lausitz. Saxony reported an unemployment of 8. 8% in 2014. By comparison the average in the former GDR was 9. 8% and 6. 7% for Germany overall, the unemployment rate reached 8. 2% in May 2015. The Leipzig area, which recently was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate, could benefit greatly from investments by Porsche. With the VW Phaeton factory in Dresden, and many part suppliers, zwickau is another major Volkswagen location
Saxony
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State capital
Dresden
Saxony
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Flag
Saxony
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View over
Leipzig centre
Saxony
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Chemnitz, view over Falkeplatz
4.
Frederick William II of Prussia
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Frederick William II was King of Prussia, from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and sovereign prince of the Canton of Neuchâtel, pleasure-loving and indolent, he is seen as the antithesis to his predecessor, Frederick II. Under his reign, Prussia was weakened internally and externally, and his religious policies were directed against the Enlightenment and aimed at restoring a traditional Protestantism. However, he was a patron of the arts and responsible for the construction of notable buildings. Frederick William was born in Berlin, the son of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and his mothers elder sister, Elisabeth, was the wife of Augustus Williams brother King Frederick II. Frederick William became heir-presumptive to the throne of Prussia on his fathers death in 1758, the boy was of an easy-going and pleasure-loving disposition, averse to sustained effort of any kind, and sensual by nature. His marriage with Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and he then married Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt on 14 July 1769 also in Charlottenburg. He also was a talented cellist, for his part, Frederick William, who had never been properly introduced to diplomacy and the business of rulership, resented his uncle for not taking him seriously. The misgivings of Frederick II appear justified in retrospect, Frederick William also terminated his predecessors state monopolies for coffee and tobacco and the sugar monopoly. However, under his reign the codification known as Allgemeines Preußisches Landrecht, initiated by Frederick II, on 26 August 1786 Wöllner was appointed privy councillor for finance, and on 2 October 1786 was ennobled. Though not in name, he in fact prime minister, in all internal affairs it was he who decided. Bischoffswerder, too, still a major, was called into the king′s counsels. From this position Wöllner pursued long lasting reforms concerning religion in the Prussian state, the king proved eager to aid Wöllners crusade. On 18 December 1788 a new law was issued, to secure the orthodoxy of all published books. This forced major Berlin journals like Christoph Friedrich Nicolais Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, moreover, people like Immanuel Kant were forbidden to speak in public on the topic of religion. Finally, in 1791, a Protestant commission was established at Berlin to watch over all ecclesiastical, although Wöllners religious edict had many critics, it was an important measure which, in fact, proved an important stabilizing factor for the Prussian state. The edict was also a step forward regarding the rights of Jews, Mennonites, and Herrnhut brethren. But far more fateful for Prussia was the attitude towards the army
Frederick William II of Prussia
–
Wilhelmine von Lichtenau
Frederick William II of Prussia
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Frederick Wilhelm II painted by Anton Graff, c. 1792
Frederick William II of Prussia
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Tomb of Frederick William II in Hohenzollern crypt in the
Berliner Dom
5.
Holy Roman Emperor
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The Holy Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. From an autocracy in Carolingian times the title evolved into an elected monarchy chosen by the Prince-electors, until the Reformation the Emperor elect was required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany, in theory, the Holy Roman Emperor was primus inter pares among the other Catholic monarchs, in practice, a Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances made him. Various royal houses of Europe, at different times, effectively became hereditary holders of the title, after the Reformation many of the subject states and most of those in Germany were Protestant while the Emperor continued to be Catholic. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by the last Emperor as a result of the collapse of the polity during the Napoleonic wars, from the time of Constantine I the Roman emperors had, with very few exceptions, taken on a role as promoters and defenders of Christianity. In the west, the title of Emperor was revived in 800, as the power of the papacy grew during the Middle Ages, popes and emperors came into conflict over church administration. The best-known and most bitter conflict was known as the Investiture Controversy. After Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, no pope appointed an emperor again until the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. Under Otto and his successors, much of the former Carolingian kingdom of Eastern Francia fell within the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, the various German princes elected one of their peers as King of the Germans, after which he would be crowned as emperor by the Pope. After Charles Vs coronation, all succeeding emperors were called elected Emperor due to the lack of papal coronation, the term sacrum in connection with the medieval Roman Empire was first used in 1157 under Frederick I Barbarossa. Charles V was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope, the final Holy Roman Emperor-elect, Francis II, abdicated in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Empires final dissolution. The standard designation of the Holy Roman Emperor was August Emperor of the Romans, the word Holy had never been used as part of that title in official documents. In German-language historiography, the term Römisch-deutscher Kaiser is used to distinguish the title from that of Roman Emperor on one hand, the English term Holy Roman Emperor is a modern shorthand for emperor of the Holy Roman Empire not corresponding to the historical style or title. Successions to the kingship were controlled by a variety of complicated factors, elections meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of France, although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The Electoral council was set at seven princes by the Golden Bull of 1356, another elector was added in 1690, and the whole college was reshuffled in 1803, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire. After 1438, the Kings remained in the house of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine, with the exception of Charles VII. Maximilian I and his successors no longer travelled to Rome to be crowned as Emperor by the Pope, Maximilian therefore named himself Elected Roman Emperor in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors, of his successors only Charles V, the immediate one, received a papal coronation
Holy Roman Emperor
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Francis II
Holy Roman Emperor
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Quaternion Eagle
Holy Roman Emperor
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Replicas of the Crown jewels
Holy Roman Emperor
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Holy Roman Emperors of Habsburg dynasty and their families
6.
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Leopold II was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa, Leopold was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism. In 1753, he was engaged to Maria Beatrice dEste, heiress to the Duchy of Modena, the marriage never materialised, Maria Beatrice instead married Leopolds brother, Archduke Ferdinand. On the death of his brother, Charles, in 1761, it was decided that he should succeed to his fathers grand duchy of Tuscany. This settlement was the condition of his marriage on 5 August 1764 with Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, daughter of Charles III of Spain, on the death of his father, Francis I, he succeeded to the grand duchy. Leopold was famous in Florence for his numerous extra-marital affairs, among his lovers was Countess Cowper, wife of the 3rd Earl Cowper, who in compensation for being cuckolded was given honours by Leopolds brother, Joseph II. For five years, he exercised little more than nominal authority, in 1770, he made a journey to Vienna to secure the removal of this vexatious guardianship and returned to Florence with a free hand. During the twenty years which elapsed between his return to Florence and the death of his eldest brother Joseph II in 1790, he was employed in reforming the administration of his small state. As he had no army to maintain, and as he suppressed the small naval force kept up by the Medici, Leopold was never popular with his Italian subjects. His disposition was cold and retiring, but his steady, consistent, and intelligent administration, which advanced step by step, brought the grand duchy to a high level of material prosperity. His ecclesiastical policy, which disturbed the deeply rooted convictions of his people and he was unable to secularize the property of the religious houses or to put the clergy entirely under the control of the lay power. However, his abolition of capital punishment was the first permanent abolition in modern times, Leopolds concept of this was based on respect for the political rights of citizens and on a harmony of power between the executive and the legislative. However, Leopold developed and supported social and economic reforms. Smallpox inoculation was made available, and an early institution for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents was founded. Leopold also introduced reforms to the system of neglect and inhumane treatment of those deemed mentally ill. On 23 January 1774, the legge sui pazzi was established, a few years later Leopold undertook the project of building a new hospital, the Bonifacio Hospital. He used his skill at choosing collaborators to put a young physician, Vincenzo Chiarugi and he and Joseph II were tenderly attached to one another and met frequently both before and after the death of their mother. The portrait by Pompeo Batoni in which appear together shows that they bore a strong personal resemblance to one another
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Leopold as a youth drawing fortifications by
Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1762,
Geneva,
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Emperor Leopold II in the regalia of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Leopold (left) with his brother
Emperor Joseph II, by
Pompeo Batoni, 1769,
Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Leopold as a young man by
Anton Raphael Mengs, 1770,
Madrid,
Museo del Prado
7.
Marie Antoinette
–
Marie Antoinette (/ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt/, /ˌɑ̃ːntwə-/, /ˌɑ̃ːtwə-/, US /məˈriː-/, French, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the fifteenth and second youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, in April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, she became Dauphine of France. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, after a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755, at the Hofburg Palace and she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal, Archduke Joseph, shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her older sister Maria Carolina. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult, despite the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten she could not write correctly in German or in any language used at court, such as French. Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician and she learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the familys gatherings in the evenings, she would sing and she also excelled at dancing, had an exquisite poise, and loved dolls. Following the Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, on 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name, a further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed, on the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success, on the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others, for personal reasons, had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette. Madame du Barry, for example, was Louis XVs mistress and had political influence over him
Marie Antoinette
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Marie Antoinette with the Rose Portrait by
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1783.
Marie Antoinette
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Archduchesses Maria Carolina (in blue dress) and Maria Antonia (in pink dress). Watercolor on ivory by Antonio Pencini, 1764. Vienna, Hofburg.
Marie Antoinette
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Maria Antonia aged 12 by
Martin van Meytens, c. 1767-1768.
8.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert
Prussia
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... during the
Renaissance period
Prussia
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Flag (1892–1918)
Prussia
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... according to the design of 1702
Prussia
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Prussian King's Crown (
Hohenzollern Castle Collection)
9.
Louis XVI of France
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Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, during which he was also known as Louis Capet. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas and these included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the reforms with hostility. Louis implemented deregulation of the market, advocated by his liberal minister Turgot. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, from 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime and this led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Louiss indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancien Régime. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy, Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. Out of seven children, he was the son of Louis, the Dauphin of France. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had a taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, and rough-playing with his brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies, locksmithing, upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became
Louis XVI of France
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King Louis XVI by
Antoine-François Callet
Louis XVI of France
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Marie Antoinette Queen of France with her three eldest children,
Marie-Thérèse,
Louis-Charles and
Louis-Joseph. By
Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Louis XVI of France
–
Louis XVI at the age of 20
Louis XVI of France
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Louis-Charles, the dauphin of France and future Louis XVII. By
Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
10.
French Revolution
–
Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
French Revolution
–
The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
–
The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
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Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
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The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
11.
Flight to Varennes
–
They escaped only as far as the small town of Varennes, where they were arrested after having been recognized at their previous stop in Sainte-Menehould. The incident was a point after which popular hostility towards the French monarchy as an institution, as well as towards the king and queen as individuals. The kings attempted flight provoked charges of treason that ultimately led to his execution in 1793, the failure of the escape plans was due to a series of misadventures, delays, misinterpretations, and poor judgments. Much was due to the Kings indecision, he postponed the schedule. Furthermore, he misjudged popular support for the traditional monarchy and he thought that only radicals in Paris were promoting a revolution that the people as a whole rejected. He believed, mistakenly, that he was beloved by the rural peasants, the kings flight was traumatic for France, inciting a wave of emotions that ranged from anxiety to violence and panic. Everyone was aware that foreign intervention was imminent, republicanism, from being merely a subject of coffeehouse debate, suddenly became the dominant ideal of revolutionary leaders. Henceforth, the king seems to have become emotionally paralyzed, leaving most important decisions to the politically untrained queen, from the autumn of 1791 on, the king tied his hopes of political salvation to the dubious prospects of foreign intervention. Prompted by Marie Antoinette, Louis rejected the advice of the moderate constitutionalists, led by Antoine Barnave, to implement the Constitution of 1791. At Montmédy General François Claude de Bouillé, the marquis de Bouillé, had concentrated a force of 10,000 regulars of the old royal army who were considered to still be loyal to the monarchy. De Bouillé himself had shown energy in suppressing a mutiny in Nancy in 1790. The troops under his command included two Swiss and four German mercenary regiments who were perceived as being reliable in a time of general political unrest than their French counterparts. The long-term political objectives of the couple and their closest advisors remain unclear. Prodded by the queen, Louis committed himself and his family to an attempt of escape from the capital to the eastern frontier on 21 June 1791. The escape was planned by the queens favourite, the Swedish Count Axel von Fersen and the Baron de Breteuil. Fersen had urged the use of two light carriages that could have made the 200-mile journey to Montmédy relatively quickly. This would have involved the splitting up of the family, however, thus Louis and Marie-Antoinette decided on the use of a heavy. Detachments of cavalry posted along the route had been withdrawn or neutralized by suspicious crowds before the large
Flight to Varennes
–
Louis XVI and his family, dressed as
bourgeois, arrested in Varennes.
Flight to Varennes
–
Jean-Baptiste Drouet, who recognised the royal family.
Flight to Varennes
–
Drouet recognized the king thanks to his profile on coins and
assignats.
12.
William Pitt the Younger
–
William Pitt the Younger, PC was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 and he left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also the Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout his premiership, born William Pitt, he is known as the Younger to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who had previously served as Prime Minister. The younger Pitts prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of George III, was dominated by events in Europe, including the French Revolution. Pitt, although referred to as a Tory, or new Tory. He is best known for leading Britain in the wars against France. Pitt was an administrator who worked for efficiency and reform. He raised taxes to pay for the war against France. To meet the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800, Pitt created the new Toryism, which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter-century. Historian Asa Briggs points out that his personality did not endear itself to the British mind, for Pitt was too solitary, too colourless and his greatness came in the war with France, with the adversary setting the pace. Pitt reacted to become what Lord Minto called the Atlas of our reeling globe and his integrity and industry and his role as defender of the threatened nation allowed him to inspire and access all the national reserves of strength. William Wilberforce said that, For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, for this he is ranked highly amongst British Prime Ministers. The Honourable William Pitt, second son of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, was born at Hayes Place in the village of Hayes, Pitt was from a political family on both sides. His mother, Hester Grenville, was sister to former prime minister George Grenville, according to biographer John Ehrman, Pitt inherited brilliance and dynamism from his fathers line, and a determined, methodical nature from the Grenvilles. Suffering from occasional poor health as a boy, he was educated at home by the Reverend Edward Wilson, an intelligent child, Pitt quickly became proficient in Latin and Greek. In 1773, aged fourteen, he attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, at Cambridge, Pitt was tutored by George Pretyman, who became a close personal friend. Pitt later appointed Pretyman Bishop of Lincoln then Winchester and drew upon his advice throughout his political career, while at Cambridge, he befriended the young William Wilberforce, who became a lifelong friend and political ally in Parliament. Pitt tended to socialise only with students and others already known to him
William Pitt the Younger
–
The Right Honourable William Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
–
William Pitt by
Joseph Nollekens, 1808
William Pitt the Younger
–
Statue of Pitt at
Pembroke College, Cambridge
William Pitt the Younger
–
The huge monument to William Pitt the Younger,
Guildhall, London faces an equally huge monument to his father,
William Pitt the Elder in a balanced composition
13.
Partitions of Poland
–
The First Partition of Poland was decided on August 5,1772. Two decades later, Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again, Austria did not participate in the Second Partition. The Third Partition of Poland took place on October 24,1795, with this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist. In Polish, there are two words for the two meanings. In Polish historiography, the term Fourth Partition of Poland has also been used, the term Fourth Partition in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918. A single member of parliaments belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency, even after the act had been approved and it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The liberum veto also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways and this applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the Alliance of the Three Black Eagles, the Commonwealth could never be liquidated unless its long-time ally, Austria, allowed it, so Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy and this new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The liberum veto and all the old abuses of the last one, the irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. In 1769 Austria annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 – Nowy Sącz and these territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Austrian crown lands. In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna, early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously invaded the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22,1772, to Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz, part of Lesser Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków. Catherine of Russia was also very satisfied, by this diplomatic document Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl. By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population, by seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealths total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth, after having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. By 1790 the First Polish Republic had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, the Polish–Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the succeeding and final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania, the May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the Repnin Sejm
Partitions of Poland
–
Allegory of the
1st partition of
Poland, showing
Catherine II of Russia (left),
Joseph II of Austria and
Frederick the Great of Prussia (right) quarrelling over their territorial seizures
Partitions of Poland
–
The
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772
Partitions of Poland
–
Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Allegory of Dead Poland, St. Nicholas Cathedral,
Kalisz
Partitions of Poland
–
Russian general
Krechetnikov presents the manifest of Catherine the Great to the people of
Podolia
14.
Austria
–
Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
Austria
–
First appearance of the word "ostarrichi", circled in red. Modern Austria honours this document, dated 996, as the founding of the nation.
Austria
–
Flag
Austria
–
Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BC.
Museum of Natural History Vienna
Austria
–
"Heidentor" – Remains of the
Roman military city of
Carnuntum
15.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
16.
Jacques Pierre Brissot
–
Jacques Pierre Brissot, who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot, Brissot was born at Chartres, where his father was an innkeeper. He received an education and worked as a law clerk, first in Chartres then in Paris and he later moved to London because he wanted to pursue a literary career. He published many literary articles throughout his time in London, while there, he Brissot founded two periodicals that later did not do well and failed. He married Félicité Dupont, who translated English works, including Oliver Goldsmith and they lived in London, and had three children. In the preface of Théorie des lois criminelles, Brissot explains that he submitted an outline of the book to Voltaire, Théorie des lois criminelles was a plea for penal reform. Brissot became known as a writer and was engaged on the Mercure de France, soon after his return to Paris, Brissot was placed in the Bastille in 1784 on the charge of having published a pornographic pamphlet Passe-temps de Toinette against the queen. Brissot had an out with Catholicism, and wrote about his disagreements with the churchs hierarchal system. In1791, Brissot along with Marquis de Condorcet, Thomas Paine, as an agent of the society, he paid a visit to the United States in 1788, and subsequently published in 1791 his Nouveau Voyage dans les États-Unis de lAmérique septentrionale. Brissot believed that American ideals could help improve French government and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1789. At one point, he was interested in uprooting his family to America, Thomas Jefferson, ambassador in Paris at the time was familiar enough with him to note, Warville is returned charmed with our country. He is going to carry his wife and children to settle there, however, such an emigration never happened. The rising ferment of revolution sucked him back into schemes for progress through political journalism that would make him a household name. From the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, Brissot became one of its most vocal supporters and he edited the Patriote français from 1789 to 1793 and took a prominent part in politics. Famous for his speeches at the Jacobin Club, he was elected a member of the municipality of Paris, then of the Legislative Assembly, at the National Convention, Brissot represented Eure-et-Loir. Shortly thereafter, Brissot began to align himself with the more conservative Girondins, the Girondins, or Brissotins as they were often called, were a group of loosely affiliated individuals, many of whom came from Gironde, rather than an organized party with a clear ideology. This group was first led by Brissot, following the arrest of King Louis XVI on charges of high treason and crimes against the State, there was much division over what the fate of the king should be. While many argued to end the life and send him to the guillotine, Brissot
Jacques Pierre Brissot
–
Woodcut from 1845.
17.
Campaigns of 1792 in the French Revolutionary Wars
–
The French Revolutionary Wars began in 1792. France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792, the army performed poorly in the first engagements. Near Lille, French soldiers fled at sight of the Austrian outposts and murdered their general Théobald Dillon, thus the disciplined soldiers of the Allies had apparently good reason to expect an easy campaign. In the Southern Netherlands, plans called for the Austrians to besiege Lille, after completing its preparations in the leisurely manner of the previous generation, his army crossed the French frontier on 19 August 1792. The Allies readily captured Longwy and slowly marched on to Verdun, the commandant there, Colonel Beaurepaire, shot himself in despair, and the place surrendered on 3 September 1792. Brunswick now began his march on Paris and approached the defiles of the Argonne, kellermann moved but slowly, and before he arrived the northern part of the line of defence had been forced. Brunswick meanwhile had passed the northern defiles and had then swung round to cut off Dumouriez from Châlons, the result was the Cannonade of Valmy. Kellermann’s infantry, nearly all regulars, stood steady, the French artillery justified its reputation as the best in Europe, and eventually, with no more than a half-hearted infantry attack, the duke broke off the action and retired. This seemingly minor engagement proved the point of the campaign. Ten days later, without firing another shot, the army began its retreat. Meanwhile, the French forces in the south had driven back the Piedmontese and had conquered Savoy, another French success was the daring expedition into Germany made by Custine from Alsace. Custine captured Mainz on 21 October 1792 and penetrated as far as Frankfurt, in the north, the Austrian siege of Lille had completely failed, and Dumouriez now resumed his interrupted scheme for the invasion of the Netherlands. Controlling enormously superior forces, he made his late in the season. Custines invasion of the German Palatinate forms the background for Goethes Hermann and Dorothea, original text from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Campaigns of 1792 in the French Revolutionary Wars
–
The Battle of Valmy
18.
Wikisource
–
Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
Wikisource
–
The original Wikisource logo
Wikisource
–
Screenshot of wikisource.org home page
Wikisource
–
::: Original text
Wikisource
–
::: Action of the modernizing tool
19.
Causes of the French Revolution
–
Financial, Frances debt, aggravated by French involvement in the American Revolution, led Louis XVI to implement new taxations and to reduce privileges. Political, Louis XVI faced virulent opposition from provincial parlements which were the spearheads of the privileged classes resistance to royal reforms, economic, The deregulation of the grain market, advocated by liberal economists, resulted in an increase in bread prices. In period of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, all these factors created a revolutionary atmosphere and a tricky situation for Louis XVI. The essence of the situation which existed in France in the 1780s was the bankruptcy of the king. This economic crisis was due to the increasing costs of government. These costs could not be met from the sources of state revenue. Since the 1770s, several attempts by different ministers to introduce financial stability had failed, the taxation system was burdensome upon the middle class and the more prosperous peasants, given that the nobles were largely able to exempt themselves from it. As a result, there was an insistent demand for reform of abuses of privilege, for an equitable means of taxation. The population of France in the 1780s was about 26 million, few of these owned enough land to support a family and most were forced to take on extra work as poorly paid labourers on larger farms. There were regional differences but, by and large, French peasants were better off than those in countries like Russia or Poland. Even so, hunger was a problem which became critical in years of poor harvest. The clergy numbered about 100,000 and yet they owned 10% of the land, the Catholic Church maintained a rigid hierarchy as abbots and bishops were all members of the nobility and canons were all members of wealthy bourgeois families. As an institution, it was rich and powerful. As with the nobility, it paid no taxes and merely contributed a grant to the state five years. The upper echelons of the clergy had considerable influence over government policy, dislike of the nobility was especially intense. The American Revolution demonstrated that it was plausible for Enlightenment ideas about how a government should be organized to actually be put into practice. Some American diplomats, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, had lived in Paris, furthermore, contact between American revolutionaries and the French troops who served in North America helped spread revolutionary ideas to the French people. France in 1787, although it faced difficulties, was one of the most economically capable nations of Europe
Causes of the French Revolution
–
The Third Estate (commoners) carrying the First (clergy) and Second Estate (nobility) on his back.
Causes of the French Revolution
Causes of the French Revolution
–
Jacques Necker
Causes of the French Revolution
–
Hôtel de la gabelle (House of the Salt Tax) in
Bernay, Eure, Upper Normandy, built in 1750 by Bréant and
Ange-Jacques Gabriel.
20.
French First Republic
–
In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
French First Republic
–
Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power during the Coup of 18 Brumaire
French First Republic
–
Flag
21.
French Directory
–
It gave its name to the final four years of the French Revolution. The Directory was continually at war with foreign coalitions which at different times included Britain, Austria, Prussia, the Kingdom of Naples, Russia and it annexed Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine, while Bonaparte conquered a large part of Italy. The Directory established six short-lived sister republics modelled after France, in Italy, Switzerland, the conquered cities and states were required to send to France huge amounts of money, as well as art treasures, which were used to fill the new Louvre museum in Paris. An army led by Bonaparte conquered Egypt and marched as far as Saint-Jean-dAcre in Syria, the French economy was in continual crisis during the Directory. At the beginning, the treasury was empty, the money, the Assignat, had fallen to a fraction of its value. The Directory stopped printing assignats and restored the value of the money, but this caused a new crisis, prices and wages fell, and economic activity slowed to a standstill. The Jacobin political club was closed and the government crushed an uprising planned by the Jacobins. The Jacobins took two seats in the Directory, hopelessly dividing it. In 1799, after several defeats, French victories in the Netherlands and Switzerland restored the French military position, Bonaparte returned from Egypt in October, and was engaged by the Abbé Sieyès and other moderates to carry out a parliamentary coup détat on 8–9 November 1799. The coup abolished the Directory, put the French Consulate led by Bonaparte in its place, Robespierre and his leading followers were declared outside the law, and on 28 July were arrested, and guillotined the same day. The Terror quickly came to a halt, the Revolutionary Tribunal, which had sent thousands to the guillotine, ceased meeting and its head, Fouquier-Tinville, was arrested and imprisoned, and after trial was himself guillotined. More than five hundred suspected counter-revolutionaries awaiting trial and execution were immediately released, in the wake of these events, the members of the Convention began planning an entirely new form of government. They wished to continue the Revolution, but without its excesses and this executive will have a force concentrated enough that it will be swift and firm, but divided enough to make it impossible for any member to even consider becoming a tyrant. A single chief would be dangerous, each member will preside for three months, he will have during this time the signature and seal of the head of state. By the slow and gradual replacement of members of the Directory, you will preserve the advantages of order and continuity and will have the advantages of unity without the inconveniences. To assure that the Directors would have some independence, each would be elected by one portion of the legislature, the members of this legislature had a term of three years, with one-third of the members renewed every year. The Ancients could not initiate new laws, but could veto those proposed by the Council of Five Hundred, the new Constitution required the Council of 500 to prepare, by secret ballot, a list of candidates for the Directory. The Council of the Ancients then chose, again by secret ballot, the Constitution required that Directors be at least forty years old
French Directory
–
Paul Barras, the only Director to serve during the entire term of the Directory
French Directory
–
The
War in the Vendée was a royalist uprising that was suppressed by the republican forces in 1796.
French Directory
–
Lucien Bonaparte, President of the
Council of 500, who engineered the coup that brought his brother to power.
French Directory
–
First Republic (1792–1804)
22.
French Consulate
–
The Consulate was the government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to period of French history. Due to the institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the Consulate one of the most important periods of all French history, Napoleon brought authoritarian personal rule which has been viewed as military dictatorship. French military disasters in 1798 and 1799 had shaken the Directory, an irregularity emerged in the election of Jean Baptiste Treilhard, who retired in favor of Louis Jérôme Gohier. Within days, Philippe-Antoine Merlin and Louis-Marie de La Revellière were driven to resign, Baron Jean-François-Auguste Moulin, the three new directors were generally seen as non-entities. A few more military disasters, royalist insurrections in the south, Chouan disturbances in a dozen departments of the part of France, Orléanist intrigues. In order to soothe the populace and protect the frontier, more than the French Revolutions usual terrorist measures was necessary, the new Directory government, led by Sieyès, decided that the necessary revision of the constitution would require a head and a sword. Jean Victor Moreau being unattainable as his sword, Sieyès favoured Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, but, success was reserved for Bonaparte, suddenly landing at Fréjus with the prestige of his victories in the East, and now, after Hoches death, appearing as sole master of the armies. In the coup of 18 Brumaire Year VIII, Napoleon seized French parliamentary and military power in a two-fold coup détat, the initial 18 Brumaire coup seemed to be a victory for Sieyès, rather than for Bonaparte. Sieyès was a proponent of a new system of government for the Republic, Bonapartes cleverness lay in counterposing Pierre Claude François Daunous plan to that of Sieyès, and in retaining only those portions of both which could serve his ambition. Ultimate executive authority was vested in three consuls, who were elected for ten years, popular suffrage was retained, though mutilated by the lists of notables. Napoleon vetoed Sieyès original idea of having a single Grand Elector as supreme executive, Sieyès had intended to reserve this important position for himself, and by denying him the job Napoleon helped reinforce the authority of the consuls, an office which he would assume. Nor was Napoleon content simply to be part of an equal triumvirate, by consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into an unavowed dictatorship. On 7 February 1800, a referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the power in the hands of the First Consul. A full 99. 9% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results and he gave everyone a feeling that France was governed once more by a real statesman, and that a competent government was finally in charge. Bonaparte had now to rid himself of Sieyès and of those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man, particularly of Moreau and Masséna, his military rivals
French Consulate
–
A portrait of the three Consuls,
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès,
Napoleon Bonaparte and
Charles-François Lebrun (left to right).
French Consulate
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Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul, February 1803 by
François Gérard
French Consulate
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The provisional Consuls (10 November – 12 December 1799)
French Consulate
23.
Day of the Tiles
–
The Day of the Tiles is an event that took place in the French town of Grenoble on the 7th of June in 1788. It was one of the first disturbances which preceded the French Revolution, Grenoble was the scene of popular unrest due to financial hardship from the economic crises. The causes of the French Revolution affected all of France, tensions in urban populations had been rising already due to poor harvests and the high cost of bread in France. These tensions were exacerbated by the refusal of the classes, the Church. They insisted on retaining the right to collect feudal and seignorial royalties from their peasants and this acted to block reforms attempted by the kings minister Charles Alexandre de Calonne and the Assembly of Notables that he convoked in January 1787. Added to this, Brienne, appointed the kings Controller-General of Finance on 8 April 1787, was regarded as being a manager without experience or imagination. Shortly prior to the 7th of June in 1788, in a meeting at Grenoble those who attended the meeting decided to call together the old Estates of the province of Dauphiné. The government responded by sending troops to the area to put down the movement. At roughly 10 in the morning of Saturday, June 7, merchants closed down their shops as groups of 300 to 400 men and women formed, armed with stones, sticks, axes, bars. They rushed to the city gates to prevent the departure of judges who took part in the Gernoble meeting, some rioters attempted to cross the Isère but faced a picket of 50 soldiers at the St. Lawrence bridge, while others headed to the Rue Neuve. The cathedral’s bells were seized by French peasants at noon, the crowd swiftly grew, as the bells provoked the influx of neighboring peasants to creep in the city, climbing the walls, using boats on the Isere and for some, pushing open the city gates. Other insurgents boarded the ramparts and rushed to the hotel the Duke of Clermont-Tonnerre was staying in at the time. The Duke had two regiments in Grenoble, the Regiment of the Royal Navy whose colonel was Marquis dAmbert. The Royal Navy was the first to respond to the growing crowds, however, as the mob stormed the hotel entrance, the situation escalated. Soldiers sent to quell the disturbances forced the townspeople off the streets, some sources say that the soldiers were sent to disperse parliamentarians who were attempting to assemble a parlement. During an attack, Royal Navy soldiers injured a 75 year old man with a bayonet, at the sight of blood, the people became angry and started to tear up the streets. Townspeople climbed onto the roofs of buildings around the Jesuit College to hurl down a rain of roof-tiles on the soldiers in the streets below, many soldiers took refuge in a building to shoot through the windows, while the crowd continued to rush inside and ravage everything. A noncommissioned officer of the Royal Navy, commanding a patrol of four soldiers, one civilian was killed and a boy of 12 wounded
Day of the Tiles
–
La Journée des tuiles en 1788 à Grenoble, 1890 painting by
Alexandre Debelle
24.
Assembly of Vizille
–
The Assembly of Vizille was the result of a meeting of various representatives in Grenoble. Its purpose was to discuss the events of The Day Of The Tiles, on 7 June 1788, riots broke out all over the town of Grenoble. Soldiers sent to quell the disturbances forced the townspeople off the streets, some sources say that the soldiers were sent to disperse parliamentarians, who were attempting to assemble a parliament. However, the townspeople climbed onto the roofs of buildings, hurling roof-tiles at the soldiers in the streets below and this drove royal troops out of the city in the first outbreak of political violence that became the revolution. Almost 500 men gathered that day at the banquet hosted by Claude, in attendance there were many notables including churchmen, businessmen, doctors, notaries, municipal officials, lawyers, and landed nobility. Demanded at this meeting, the Convocation in Paris of an Estates-General and this meeting marked the first portion of the French Revolution. Opposition to absolutist monarchy finally came out into the open, with increasing support for its demands, culminating in the meeting of the Estates General
Assembly of Vizille
–
Day Of the Tiles by
Alexandre Debelle
25.
Estates-General of 1789
–
The estates general, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm, the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. It was brought to an end when the Third Estate formed into a National Assembly and this signals the outbreak of the French Revolution. The suggestion to summon the Estates General came from the Assembly of Notables installed by the King on 22 February 1787 and it had not met since 1614. The usual business of registering the Kings edicts as law was performed by the Parlement of Paris, in this year it was refusing to cooperate with Charles Alexandre de Calonnes programme of badly needed financial reform, due to the special interests of its noble members. Calonne was the Controller-General of Finances, appointed by the King to address the state deficit, as a last measure, Calonne was hoping to bypass them by reviving an archaic institution. The initial roster of Notables included 137 nobles, among them many revolutionaries, such as the Comte de Mirabeau. Lafayette had served in George Washingtons army, much of the debt had been incurred on behalf of the Americans. The final defeat of Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown was due in part to the participation of the French army. If Calonne thought he would find more cooperation by changing the assembly and he proposed a land tax, Subvention Territoriale, to be imposed on all land-holders, rich or poor. Calonne was dismissed on 8 April 1787, and then was exiled and he commented on the French political scene from London. Calonnes replacement was Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, President of the Assembly of Notables and he was offered the post of Prime Minister, which was to include being Controller. They made a number of proposals but they would not grant the King money, Lafayette suggested that the problem required a national assembly. Brienne asked him if he meant the Estates General, on receiving an affirmative answer, Brienne recorded it as a proposal. Frustrated by his inability to obtain money, the King staged a day-long harangue and their proposals reverted to the Parlement. Turning again to the Parliament, the King found that they were inclined to continue the issues that had raised in the Assembly of Notables. Unless registered, the edicts were not lawful, on 6 July 1787, Loménie forwarded the Subvention Territoriale and another tax, the Edit du Timbre, or Stamp Act, based on the American model, for registration. Parlement refused, an act, demanding accounting statements, or States. It was the Kings turn to refuse, the members of the Parlement began to jest that they required either the accounting States or the Estates General
Estates-General of 1789
–
Engraving by Isidore-Stanislaus Helman (1743-1806) following a sketch by Charles Monnet (1732-1808). The title is L'Ouverture des États Généraux à Versailles le 5 Mai 1789, "Opening of the Estates-General in Versailles 5 May 1789." It was one of a series by Helman: Principales Journées de la Révolution.
Estates-General of 1789
–
Painting by
Auguste Couder showing the opening of the Estates-General
26.
National Assembly (French Revolution)
–
The Estates-General had been called on Dec 4,1789 to deal with Frances financial crisis, but promptly fell to squabbling over its own structure. Its members had elected to represent the estates of the realm, the 1st Estate, the 2nd Estate. They refused this and proceeded to meet separately, on June 13, this group began to call itself the National Assembly. This newly created assembly immediately attached itself onto the capitalists — the sources of the credit needed to fund the national debt — and to the common people. They consolidated the public debt and declared all existing taxes to have been illegally imposed and this restored the confidence of the capitalists and gave them a strong interest in keeping the Assembly in session. As for the people, the Assembly established a committee of subsistence to deal with food shortages. Jacques Necker, finance minister to Louis XVI, had proposed that the king hold a Séance Royale in an attempt to reconcile the divided Estates. The king agreed, but none of the three orders were formally notified of the decision to hold a Royal Session, all debates were to be put on hold until the séance royale took place. Events soon overtook Neckers complex scheme of giving in to the Communes on some points while holding firm on others. On June 19, he ordered the Salle des États, the hall where the National Assembly met, closed, when, on June 23, in accord with his plan, the king finally addressed the representatives of all three estates, he encountered a stony silence. He concluded by ordering all to disperse, the nobles and clergy obeyed, the deputies of the common people remained seated in a silence finally broken by Mirabeau, whose short speech culminated, A military force surrounds the assembly. Where are the enemies of the nation, I demand, investing yourselves with your dignity, with your legislative power, you inclose yourselves within the religion of your oath. It does not permit you to separate till you have formed a constitution, Necker, conspicuous by his absence from the royal party on that day, found himself in disgrace with Louis, but back in the good graces of the National Assembly. The French military began to arrive in numbers around Paris. This move failed, soon part of the deputies of the nobles who still stood apart joined the National Assembly at the request of the king. Louis offered to move the assembly to Noyon or Soissons, that is to say, public outrage over this troop presence precipitated the Storming of the Bastille, beginning the Revolution. This article incorporates text from the public domain History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, by François Mignet and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. French Revolution. Http, //www. assemblee-nationale. fr/english/8am. asp History of the National Assembly http, //www. saylor. org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/National-Assembly-French-Revolution. pdf National Assembly
National Assembly (French Revolution)
–
Tinted etching of
Louis XVI of France, 1792, wearing a
Phrygian cap. This caption refers to Louis's capitulation to the National Assembly, and concludes "The same Louis XVI who bravely waits until his fellow citizens return to their hearths to plan a secret war and exact his revenge."
27.
Tennis Court Oath
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It was a pivotal event in the early days of the French Revolution. On 17 June, the Third Estate, led by the comte de Mirabeau, on the morning of 20 June, the deputies were shocked to discover that the chamber door was locked and guarded by soldiers. There,576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate took an oath not to separate. The only person who did not join was Joseph Martin-Dauch from Castelnaudary and this oath would come to have major significance in the revolution as the Third Estate would constantly continue to protest to have more representation. The oath was both an act, and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than from the monarch himself. Their solidarity forced Louis XVI to order the clergy and the nobility to join with the Third Estate in the National Assembly in order to give the illusion that he controlled the National Assembly. This oath would prove vital to the Third Estate as a step of protest that would lead to more power in the Estates General. The Oath signified for the first time that French citizens formally stood in opposition to Louis XVI, and it was foreshadowed by, and drew considerably from, the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence, especially the preamble. The Oath also inspired a variety of revolutionary activity in the months afterwards. Likewise, it reinforced the Assemblys strength and forced the King to formally request that voting occur based on head, not power. The Tennis Court Oath, which was taken in June 1789, preceded the 4 August 1789 abolition of feudalism and the 26 August 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Tennis Court Oath
–
Drawing by
Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath. David later became a deputy in the
National Convention in 1792
28.
Storming of the Bastille
–
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress, armory, and political prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The prison contained just seven inmates at the time of its storming but was a symbol of abuses by the monarchy, in France, Le quatorze juillet is a public holiday, usually called Bastille Day in English. During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced an economic crisis, partially initiated by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which subsequently renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July. The commoners had formed the National Guard, sporting tricolour cockades of blue, white and red, formed by combining the red and blue cockade of Paris and the white cockade of the king. These cockades, and soon simply their colour scheme, became the symbol of the revolution and, later, Paris, close to insurrection and, in François Mignets words, intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm, showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the Assemblys debates, political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares, the Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting. The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen to the clemency of the king, they returned to prison, the rank and file of the regiment, previously considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause. News of Neckers dismissal reached Paris in the afternoon of Sunday,12 July, the Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal and this very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all, one resource is left, to take arms. By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris, the crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, the Prince de Lambesc unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde. The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres. Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food, the people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a property of the clergy. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat and that same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of chaos in Paris during those days
Storming of the Bastille
–
Prise de la Bastille by
Jean-Pierre Houël
Storming of the Bastille
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Jacques Necker (1732–1804), French minister of finance
Storming of the Bastille
–
The
Bastille of Paris before the Revolution.
Storming of the Bastille
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Engraving, c.1789: French soldiers or militia hoisting the heads of Flesselles and the
marquis de Launay on pikes. The caption reads "Thus we take revenge on traitors".
29.
Parlement
–
A parlement was a provincial appellate court in the France of the Ancien Régime, i. e. before the French Revolution. In 1789,13 parlements existed, the most important of which was by far the Parlement of Paris, while the English word parliament derives from this French term, parlements were not legislative bodies. They consisted of a dozen or more judges, or about 1,100 judges nationwide. They were the court of appeal of the judicial system. Laws and edicts issued by the Crown were not official in their respective jurisdictions until the parlements gave their assent by publishing them, the members were aristocrats called nobles of the gown who had bought or inherited their offices, and were independent of the King. From 1770 to 1774 the Lord Chancellor, Maupeou, tried to abolish the Parlement of Paris in order to strengthen the Crown, however, when King Louis XV died in 1774, the parlements were reinstated. The parlements spearheaded the resistance to the absolutism and centralization of the Crown, but they worked primarily for the benefit of their own class. Alfred Cobban argues that the parlements were the obstacles to any reform before the Revolution. In November 1789, early in the French Revolution, all parlements were suspended, the political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the Kings Council, and consequently enjoyed ancient, customary consultative and deliberative prerogatives. In the 13th century, the parlements acquired judicial functions, then the droit de remontrance against the king, the Paris parlements jurisdiction covered the entire kingdom as it was in the 14th century, but did not automatically advance in step with the Crowns ever expanding realm. The Parlement of Paris played a role in stimulating the nobility to resist the expansion of royal power by military force in the Fronde. In the end, the King won out and the nobility was humiliated, in such a case, the parlements powers were suspended for the duration of this royal session. King Louis XIV moved to centralize authority into his own hands, in 1665, he ordained that a Lit de justice could be held without the king having to appear in person. In 1667, he limited the number of remonstrances to only one, in 1671–1673, however, the parlements resisted the taxes occasioned by the Dutch War. In 1673, the king imposed additional restrictions that stripped the parlements of any influence upon new laws by ordaining that remonstrances could only be issued after registration of the edicts. After Louis death in 1715, all the restrictions were discontinued by the regent and these locations were provincial capitals of those provinces with strong historical traditions of independence before they were annexed to France. Nevertheless, the Parlement of Paris had the largest jurisdiction of all the parlements, covering the part of northern and central France. In some regions provincial States-General also continued to meet and legislate with a measure of self-governance, tenure on the court was generally bought from the royal authority, and such positions could be made hereditary by payment of a tax to the King called la Paulette
Parlement
–
Façade of the palace of Parlement of Brittany
Parlement
–
Kingdom of France
30.
French nobility
–
The French nobility was a privileged social class in France during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to the revolution in 1790. The nobility was revived in 1805 with limited rights as an elite class from the First Empire to the fall of the July Monarchy in 1848. Hereditary titles, without privileges, continued to be granted until the Second Empire fell in 1870 and they survive among their descendants as a social convention and as part of the legal name of the corresponding individuals. In the political system of pre-Revolutionary France, the nobility made up the Second Estate of the Estates General, although membership in the noble class was mainly inherited, it was not a fully closed order. New individuals were appointed to the nobility by the monarchy, or they could purchase rights and titles, sources differ about the actual number of nobles in France, however, proportionally, it was among the smallest noble classes in Europe. For the year 1789, French historian François Bluche gives a figure of 140,000 nobles and states that about 5% of nobles could claim descent from feudal nobility before the 15th century, with a total population of 28 million, this would represent merely 0. 5%. Historian Gordon Wright gives a figure of 300,000 nobles, in terms of land holdings, at the time of the revolution, noble estates comprised about one-fifth of the land. The French nobility had specific legal and financial rights and prerogatives, the first official list of these prerogatives was established relatively late, under Louis XI after 1440, and included the right to hunt, to wear a sword and, in principle, to possess a seigneurie. Nobles were also granted an exemption from paying the taille, except for lands they might possess in some regions of France. Furthermore, certain ecclesiastic, civic, and military positions were reserved for nobles and these feudal privileges are often termed droits de féodalité dominante. With the exception of a few isolated cases, serfdom had ceased to exist in France by the 15th century, in early modern France, nobles nevertheless maintained a great number of seigneurial privileges over the free peasants that worked lands under their control. They could, for example, levy the tax, an annual tax on lands leased or held by vassals. Nobles could also charge banalités for the right to use the lords mills, ovens, alternatively, a noble could demand a portion of vassals harvests in return for permission to farm land he owned. In the 17th century this system was established in Frances North American possessions. However, the also had responsibilities. Nobles were required to honor, serve, and counsel their king and they were often required to render military service. The rank of noble was forfeitable, certain activities could cause dérogeance, most commercial and manual activities were strictly prohibited, although nobles could profit from their lands by operating mines and forges. The nobility in France was never a closed class
French nobility
–
A
signet ring with coat of arms
French nobility
–
Kingdom of France
French nobility
–
The abolition of privileges, relief by
Léopold Morice at the "Monument to the Republic", Paris
French nobility
–
Joan II, Countess of Auvergne (1378-1424)
31.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
–
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that caused the immediate subordination of the Catholic Church in France to the French government. Earlier legislation had already arranged the confiscation of the Catholic Churchs French land holdings and this new law completed the destruction of the monastic orders, outlawing all regular and secular chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in commendam, for either sex, etc. It also sought to settle the chaos caused by the confiscation of Church lands. Additionally, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy regulated the current dioceses so that they could become more uniform and it emphasised that officials of the church could not provide commitment to anything outside of France, specifically the Pope which was outside of France. Lastly, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made Bishops and Priest elected, the measure was opposed, but ultimately acquiesced to, by King Louis XVI. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy document had 4 tittles with different articles, the document began with an introduction that introduced why the document was written. Title I focused on the dioceses and how they were to be administered, Title II focused on the administration of the dioceses and how elections were to take place. Title III focused on payment because the Clergy was an employee of the State. Title IV focused on the requirements for bishops, parish priests. Even before the Revolution and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, even prior to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, On 11 August 1789 tithes were abolished. On 2 November 1789, Catholic Church property that was held for purposes of church revenue was nationalized, on 13 February 1790, monastic vows were forbidden and all ecclesiastical orders and congregations were dissolved, excepting those devoted to teaching children and nursing the sick. On 19 April 1790, administration of all remaining property was transferred to the State. The Church owned about six percent of the land in France, in addition the Church collected tithes. Owing, in part, to abuses of this system, there was resentment of the Church, taking the various forms of atheism, anticlericalism. Many of the revolutionaries viewed the Catholic Church as a retrograde force, at the same time, there was enough support for a basically Catholic form of Christianity that some means had to be found to fund the Church in France. On 6 February 1790, one week before banning monastic vows, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy came before the Assembly on 29 May 1790. François de Bonal, Bishop of Clermont, and some members of the Right requested that the project should be submitted to a council or to the Pope. Joining them in their opposition to the legislation was Abbé Sieyès, one of the political theorists of the French Revolution
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
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A commemorative plate from 1790 shows a curate swearing the Constitution.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
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In this caricature, after the decree of 16 February 1790, monks and nuns enjoy their new freedom.
32.
Champ de Mars Massacre
–
The Champ de Mars Massacre took place on 17 July 1791 in Paris in the midst of the French Revolution. The event is named after the site of the massacre, the Champ de Mars, two days before, the National Constituent Assembly issued a decree that the king, Louis XVI, would remain king under a constitutional monarchy. This decision came after King Louis XVI and his family had tried to flee France in the Flight to Varennes the month before. Later that day, leaders of the republicans in France rallied against this decision, jacques Pierre Brissot, editor and main writer of Le Patriote français and president of the Comité des Recherches of Paris, drew up a petition demanding the removal of the king. A crowd of 50,000 people gathered at the Champ de Mars on July 17 to sign the petition, jean Sylvain Bailly, the mayor of Paris, used this incident to declare martial law. The Marquis de Lafayette and the National Guard, which was under his command, were able to disperse the crowd, later in the afternoon, the crowd, led by Danton and Camille Desmoulins, returned in even greater numbers. The larger crowd was more determined than the first. Lafayette again tried to disperse it, in retaliation, the crowd threw stones at the National Guard. After firing unsuccessful warning shots, the National Guard opened fire directly on the crowd, the exact numbers of dead and wounded are unknown, estimates range from a dozen to fifty dead. When Louis XVI and his family fled to Varennes, it set off political turmoil, earlier, information had been received by the assembly that there was potentially a plan for the king to flee. The idea that Louis planned on fleeing the Tuileries palace began in early 1791 and was one of the causes of the Day of Daggers on 28 February 1791. The escape event was not subtly planned, and enough suspicions were aroused in those working in the palace that the information trickled down to newspapers. The Marquis de Lafayette promised on his own life such a thing was not true. Lafayette and the Assembly created a lie that the king had been kidnapped, ultimately the king and his family were brought back and the assembly decided that he needed to be a part of the government if he agreed to consent to the constitution. At the time of the massacre, divisions within the Third Estate had already began to grow, many workers were already angered by the closing of various workshops, which took away jobs, leaving some unemployed. Higher skilled journeymen were also angered due to a lack of increase in wages since the beginning of the Revolution, the attempted flight of the King only increased the tensions between groups. The massacre was the result of various factions reacting to the decree by the Constituent Assembly in different ways. The Cordeliers Club, a populist group, chose to create a petition for a protest and this was originally backed by the Jacobins, though support was withdrawn at Robespierres suggestion
Champ de Mars Massacre
–
Lafayette orders his troops to fire
33.
French Constitution of 1791
–
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution in France, created after the collapse of the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. One of the precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality. The National Assembly began the process of drafting a constitution, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, adopted on 27 August 1789 eventually became the preamble of the constitution adopted on 3 September 1791. The Declaration offered sweeping generalizations about rights, liberty, and sovereignty, a twelve-member Constitutional Committee was convened on 14 July 1789. Its task was to do much of the drafting of the articles of the constitution and it included originally two members from the First Estate, two from the Second, and four from the Third. Many proposals for redefining the French state were floated, particularly in the days after the sessions of 4–5 August 1789. The main controversies early on surrounded the issues of what level of power to be granted to the king of France and their greatest controversy faced by this new committee surrounded the issue of citizenship. Would every subject of the French Crown be given equal rights, as the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen seemed to promise, the October Days intervened and rendered the question much more complicated. In the end, a distinction was held between active citizens which had rights, and passive citizens, who had only civil rights. This conclusion was intolerable to such radical deputies as Maximilien Robespierre, a second body, the Committee of Revisions, was struck September 1790, and included Antoine Barnave, Adrien Duport, and Charles de Lameth. Because the National Assembly was both a legislature and a convention, it was not always clear when its decrees were constitutional articles or mere statutes. It was the job of this committee to sort it out, after very long negotiations, the constitution was reluctantly accepted by King Louis XVI in September 1791. Redefining the organization of the French government, citizenship and the limits to the powers of government and it abolished many “institutions which were injurious to liberty and equality of rights”. The National Assembly asserted its legal presence in French government by establishing its permanence in the Constitution, the Assemblys belief in a sovereign nation and in equal representation can be seen in the constitutional separation of powers. The National Assembly was the body, the king and royal ministers made up the executive branch. By the same token, representative democracy weakened the executive authority. The constitution was not egalitarian by todays standards and it distinguished between the propertied active citizens and the poorer passive citizens. Women lacked rights to such as education, freedom to speak, write, print
French Constitution of 1791
–
French Constitution of 1791
34.
Legislative Assembly (France)
–
The Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to 20 September 1792 during the years of the French Revolution. It provided the focus of debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention. The National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 30 September 1791, upon Robespierres motion it had decreed that none of its members would be eligible to the next legislature. The Legislative Assembly entrenched the perceived left-right political spectrum that is commonly used today. The elections of 1791, held by franchise, brought in a legislature that desired to carry the Revolution further. Prominent in the legislature were the Jacobin Club and its affiliated societies throughout France, the Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791. It consisted of 745 members, mostly from the middle class, the members were generally young, and since none had sat in the previous Assembly, they largely lacked national political experience. They tended to be people who had made their name through successful political careers in local politics and they were staunch constitutional monarchists, firm in their defence of the King against the popular agitation. The leftists were of 136 Jacobins and Cordeliers and its most famous leaders were Jacques Pierre Brissot, the philosopher Condorcet, and Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud. The Left drew its inspiration from the radical tendency of the Enlightenment, regarded the émigré nobles as traitors. They were suspicious of Louis XVI, some of them favoring a general European war, the remainder of the House,345 deputies, generally belonged to no definite party. They were called the Marsh or the Plain and they were committed to the ideals of the Revolution, hence generally inclined to side with the Left but would also occasionally back proposals from the Right. The kings ministers, named by him and excluded from the Assembly, are described by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as mostly persons of little mark. For a detailed description of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly and related events, see The Legislative Assembly, the 27 August 1791 Declaration of Pillnitz already threatened France with attack by its neighbors. King Louis XVI favored war hoping to exploit a military defeat to restore his absolute power and this led in April 1792 to the first of the French Revolutionary Wars. Louis vetoed the decree as a matter of conscience, Louis XVI formed a series of cabinets, veering at times as far left as the Girondins. However, by the summer of 1792, amid war and insurrection, it had become clear that the monarchy, on 11 July 1792, the Assembly formally declared the Nation in danger because of the dire military situation. On 9 August 1792, a new revolutionary Commune took possession of Hôtel de Ville, and early on the morning of 10 August, the insurgents assailed the Tuileries, Louis and his family sought asylum with the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
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Medal of the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
Legislative Assembly (France)
Legislative Assembly (France)
35.
War of the First Coalition
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France declared war on the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792. In July 1792, an army under the Duke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France, France suffered reverses and internal strife and responded with draconian measures. The Committee of Public Safety formed and the en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25. The new French armies counterattacked, repelled the invaders, and advanced beyond France, the French established the Batavian Republic as a sister republic and gained Prussian recognition of French control of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the first Peace of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Holy Roman Empire ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France, Spain made a separate peace accord with France and the French Directory carried out plans to conquer more of the Holy Roman Empire. The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the fighting against France. The key figure, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, brother to the French Queen Marie Antoinette, had looked on the Revolution calmly. He became more concerned as the Revolution grew further radical, although he hoped to avoid war. Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion and its soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting en masse, in one case murdering General Théobald Dillon. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, in July 1792 the invasion commenced. Brunswicks army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, took the fortresses of Longwy, although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792. On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial and this united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793, in the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed, the French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them into entering the war on Frances side. The newly formed nation refused and remained throughout the conflict. After a victory in the Battle of Neerwinden in March, the Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles of Wattignies, British land forces were defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September
War of the First Coalition
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The
Battle of Valmy was a decisive victory for the French revolutionary army.
War of the First Coalition
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The British evacuation of
Toulon in December 1793
War of the First Coalition
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The
Glorious First of June, 1 June 1794
War of the First Coalition
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Strategic situation in Europe in 1796
36.
Brunswick Manifesto
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The Brunswick Manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed, then French civilians would be harmed. On 20 April 1792, Revolutionary France declared war on Austria, later, on 28 April, France invaded the Austrian Netherlands. Prussia joined the war against France, and on 30 July Austria and Prussia began an invasion of France, on 25 July, the Duke of Brunswick issued the Brunswick Manifesto. The manifesto promised that if the French Royal family was not harmed, however, if acts of violence or acts to humiliate the French Royal family were committed, the Allies threatened to burn Paris to the ground. The manifesto was written primarily by Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, the leader of a corps of French émigrés in Brunswicks army. On August 1 news of the manifesto began sweeping through Paris, many believed the Brunswick Manifesto was final proof that Louis XVI was collaborating with the Allies. Also on August 1, Prussian forces crossed the Rhine near Coblenz, consequently, in late August and early September, the French were defeated in skirmishes with the Allied army, but on 20 September the French triumphed in the Battle of Valmy. Following its defeat, the Prussian army withdrew from France, recent research, however, argues that the Brunswick Manifesto did not have nearly the impact upon the revolutionaries suggested in earlier source material. Lastly, the French refused to take the Brunswick Manifesto seriously in any respect and this determination stemmed from what they believed to be its illegality, disrespect for the law of war, and denial of national sovereignty. War of the First Coalition House of Bourbon The Proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick,1792 Connelly, the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792–1815. The Myth of the Foreign Enemy, the Brunswick Manifesto and the Radicalization of the French Revolution. The Oxford History of the French Revolution, the empire of the French, a chronology of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1792–1815
Brunswick Manifesto
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Anonymous caricature depicting the treatment given to the Brunswick Manifesto by the French population
37.
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
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The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Paris Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French government. It took charge of routine civic functions but is best known for mobilizing extreme views and actions among the people and for its campaign to dechristianize the churches and it lost much power in 1794 and was replaced in 1795. In 1792, the Commune was dominated by those Jacobins who were not in the Legislative Assembly due to the Self-Denying Ordinance, the all-powerful Commune demanded custody of the royal family, imprisoning them in the Temple fortress. A list of opponents of the Revolution was drawn up, the gates to the city were sealed, the government of the republic was succeeded by the French Directory in November 1795
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
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Hôtel de Ville, Paris during the French Revolution
38.
10 August (French Revolution)
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The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was one of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution. The storming of the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés from Marseilles, King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly, which was suspended. The formal end of the monarchy that occurred six weeks later was one of the first acts of the new National Convention, the war declared on 20 April 1792 against the King of Bohemia and Hungary started badly. The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia joined Austria in active alliance against France, the blame for the disaster was thrown first upon the king and his ministers, and secondly upon the Girondin party. The King vetoed the decrees and dismissed Girondins from the Ministry, events came to a head on 16 June when Lafayette sent a letter to the Assembly, recommending the suppression of the anarchists and political clubs in the capital. The Kings veto of the Legislative Assemblys decrees was published on 19 June, the popular journée of 20 June 1792 was organized to put pressure on the King. The King, appearing before the crowd, put on the bonnet rouge of liberty and drank to the health of the nation and it was a brave but belated gesture. It could do nothing against the universal distrust in which the hero of 89 was now held, the deputies indicted the general for deserting his command. The king rejected all suggestions of escape from the man who had so long presided over his imprisonment, the crowd burnt him in effigy in the Palais-Royal. There was no place for such as Lafayette beside that republican emblem, within six weeks he was arrested whilst in flight to England, and immured in an Austrian prison. He failed because it clashed with national sentiment, the inaction in which he had kept the armies for more than 2 months past seemed inexplicable. It had given the Prussians time to finish their preparations and concentrate upon the Rhine undisturbed, six days later the Assembly declared La patrie est en danger. Banners were placed in the squares, bearing the words. That they devastate our fatherland through fire and murder, in a word, that they overcome you with chains dyed with the blood of those whom you hold the most dear. Citizens, the country is in danger. it is in the name of the King that liberty is being attacked, by this means he put the idea of deposing the King into the minds of the public. His speech, which made an impression, was circulated by the Assembly through all the departments. Evading the royal veto on a camp, the Assembly had invited National Guards from the provinces, on their way to the front, to come to Paris. These fédérés tended to have radical views than the deputies who had invited them
10 August (French Revolution)
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Prise du palais des Tuileries Jean Duplessis-Bertaux (fr) (1747-1819) National Museum of the Chateau de Versailles, 1793
10 August (French Revolution)
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Journée of 20 June 1792
10 August (French Revolution)
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The
Tuileries Palace, Louis XVI's residence at the time of the insurrection.
10 August (French Revolution)
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Louis XVI inspecting loyal troops.
39.
September Massacres
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The September Massacres were a wave of killings in Paris and other cities in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. There was a fear that foreign and royalist armies would attack Paris, radicals called for preemptive action, especially journalist Jean-Paul Marat, who called on draftees to kill the prisoners before they could be freed. The action was undertaken by mobs of National Guardsmen and some fédérés, it was tolerated by the city government, the Paris Commune, by 6 September, half the prison population of Paris had been summarily executed, some 1200 to 1400 prisoners. Of these,233 were nonjuring Catholic priests who refused to submit to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, however, the great majority of those killed were common criminals. The massacres were repeated in many other French cities, no one was prosecuted for the killings, but the political repercussions first injured the Girondists and later the Jacobins. The political situation in Paris on the eve of the September Massacres was highly excited and aroused by rumors of traitors. The next day the insurrectionists stormed the Tuileries Palace, the 48 sections of Paris were fully equipped with munitions from the plundered arsenals in the days before the assault, substituting for the 60 National Guard battalions. Now, supported by a new armed force, the Commune and its sans-culottes took control of the city and dominated the Legislative Assembly, for some weeks the Commune functioned as the actual government of France. These events meant a change of direction from the political and constitutional perspective of the Girondists to a more social approach given by the Commune, besides these measures, the Commune engaged in a policy of political repression of all suspected counter-revolutionary activities. Beginning on 11 August, every Paris section named its committee of vigilance, mostly these decentralized committees, rather than the Commune, brought about the repression of August and September 1792. From 15 to 25 August, around 500 detentions were registered, half the detentions were made against non-juring priests, but even priests who had sworn the required oath were caught in the wave. In Paris, all monasteries were closed and the rest of the orders were dissolved by the law of 15 August. On 2 September, news reached Paris that the Duke of Brunswicks Prussian army had invaded France and he was advancing quickly toward the capital. On 1 August, Brunswick had issued the Brunswick Manifesto, additionally, the Manifesto threatened the French population with instant punishment should it resist the Imperial and Prussian armies, or the reinstatement of the monarchy. Such information fueled this first wave of mob hysteria of the Revolution, by the end of August, rumors circulated that many in Paris – such as non-juring priests – who opposed the Revolution, would support the First Coalition of foreign powers allied against it. Furthermore, Paris lacked extensive food stocks, when news that Brunswick had captured Verdun reached the Convention, they ordered the alarm guns fired, which escalated the sense of panic. Of 284 prisoners,135 were killed,27 were transferred,86 were set free, in the afternoon of 2 September 150 priests in the convent of Carmelites were massacred, mostly by sans-culottes. On 3 and 4 September, groups broke into other Paris prisons, where they murdered the prisoners, from 2 to 7 September, summary trials took place in all Paris prisons
September Massacres
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The September Massacres
September Massacres
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Mass killing of prisoners that took place in Paris
40.
National Convention
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The National Convention was the third government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic. The Convention sat as an assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by a suffrage without distinctions of class, although the Convention lasted until 1795, power was effectively stripped from the elected deputies and concentrated in the small Committee of Public Safety from April 1793. After the fall of Robespierre, the Convention lasted for year until a new constitution was written. The election took place from 2 to 6 September 1792 after the election of the colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Therefore, the increased suffrage had very little impact, the electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy, of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic – though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections, out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause, the members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly,183 in the Legislative Assembly, the full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations, according to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these included the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention held legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three periods, Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin, and Thermidorian. The abolition of the royalty is a matter you cannot put off till tomorrow, the first session was held on 20 September 1792. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, on the 22nd came the news of the Battle of Valmy
National Convention
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Autel de la Convention nationale or Autel républicain
François-Léon Sicard Panthéon de Paris, France, 1913
National Convention
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The trial of Louis XVI
National Convention
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Journées des 31 Mai 1er et 2 Juin 1793
National Convention
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Constitution du Peuple Française du 6 Messidor l'an I (24 June 1793)
41.
Execution of Louis XVI
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The execution of Louis XVI, by means of the guillotine, took place on 21 January 1793 at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. It was an event of the Revolution. He was convicted in a vote and condemned to death by a large majority. He heard his last Mass, served by Cléry, and received Communion, the Mass requisites were provided by special direction of the authorities. Upon Father Edgeworths advice he avoided a last farewell scene with his family, at 7 oclock he confided his last wishes to the priest. His Royal seal was to go to the Dauphin and his ring to the Queen. After receiving the blessing he went to meet Antoine Joseph Santerre. A green carriage was waiting in the second court and he seated himself in it with the priest, with two militiamen sitting opposite them. The carriage left the Temple at approximately 9 oclock, in the neighbourhood of the present rue de Cléry, the Baron de Batz, a supporter of the Royal family who had financed the flight to Varennes, had summoned 300 Royalists to enable the Kings escape. Louis was to be hidden in a house in the rue de Cléry belonging to the Count of Marsan, the Baron leaped forward calling Follow me, my friends, let us save the King. But his associates had been denounced and only a few had been able to turn up, three of them were killed, but de Batz managed to escape. The 13 February issue of the Thermomètre du jour, a moderate Republican newspaper, citing as its source the executioner, Charles Henri Sanson. Charles Sanson responded to the story by offering his own version of events in a letter dated 20 February 1793, I remain strongly convinced that he derived this firmness from the principles of the religion by which he seemed penetrated and persuaded as no other man. In his Causeries, Alexandre Dumas refers to a meeting circa 1830 with Henri Sanson, eldest son of Charles Sanson, now then, you were saying you wanted something, Monsieur Dumas. You know how much playwrights need accurate information, Monsieur Sanson, the moment may come for me to put Louis XVI on the stage. How much truth is there in the story of the bout between him and your fathers assistants at the foot of the scaffold. Oh, I can tell you that, Monsieur. I know, thats why it is you Im asking. Well listen, the King had been driven to the scaffold in his own carriage and his hands were free. So one assistant waited with a rope, while another said to him It is necessary to tie your hands, on hearing these unexpected words, at the unexpected sight of that rope, Louis XVI made an involuntary gesture of repulsion
Execution of Louis XVI
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"Day of 21 January 1793 the death of Louis Capet on the
Place de la Révolution " – French engraving.
Execution of Louis XVI
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"The Death of Louis XVI King of France" from an English engraving, published 1798.
42.
Revolutionary Tribunal
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It was composed of a jury, a public prosecutor, and two substitutes, all nominated by the Convention, and from its judgments there was no appeal. Herman as president and Fouquier-Tinville as public prosecutor, the tribunal terrorized the royalists, soon, too, it came to be used for personal ends, particularly by Robespierre, who employed it for the condemnation of his adversaries. Although Robespierre was the principal purveyor of the tribunal, we possess only one of these lists bearing his signature, the Revolutionary Tribunal was suppressed on 31 May 1795. Among its most celebrated victims may be mentioned Marie Antoinette, the Hebertists, » This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
Revolutionary Tribunal
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The Tribunal, from La Démagogie en 1793 à Paris by Dauban (H. Plon; 1868)
43.
Reign of Terror
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The Reign of Terror or The Terror, is the label given by some historians to a period of violence during the French Revolution. Different historians place the date at either 5 September 1793 or June 1793 or March 1793 or September 1792 or July 1789. Between June 1793 and the end of July 1794, there were 16,594 official death sentences in France, but the total number of deaths in France in 1793–96 in only the civil war in the Vendée is estimated at 250,000 counter-revolutionaries and 200,000 republicans. During 1794, revolutionary France was beset with conspiracies by internal, within France, the revolution was opposed by the French nobility, which had lost its inherited privileges. The Catholic Church opposed the revolution, which had turned the clergy into employees of the state, in addition, the French First Republic was engaged in a series of wars with neighboring powers, and parts of France were engaging in civil war against the loyalist regime. The latter were grouped in the parliamentary faction called the Mountain. Through the Revolutionary Tribunal, the Terrors leaders exercised broad powers, the Reign was a manifestation of the strong strain on centralized power. Many historians have debated the reasons the French Revolution took such a turn during the Reign of Terror of 1793–94. The public was frustrated that the equality and anti-poverty measures that the revolution originally promised were not materializing. Jacques Rouxs Manifesto of the Enraged on 25 June 1793, describes the extent to which, four years into the revolution, the foundation of the Terror is centered on the April 1793 creation of the Committee of Public Safety and its militant Jacobin delegates. Those in power believed the Committee of Public Safety was an unfortunate, according to Mathiez, they touched only with trepidation and reluctance the regime established by the Constituent Assembly so as not to interfere with the early accomplishments of the revolution. Similar to Mathiez, Richard Cobb introduced competing circumstances of revolt, counter-revolutionary rebellions taking place in Lyon, Brittany, Vendée, Nantes, and Marseille were threatening the revolution with royalist ideas. Cobb writes, the revolutionaries themselves, living as if in combat… were easily persuaded that only terror, Terror was used in these rebellions both to execute inciters and to provide a very visible example to those who might be considering rebellion. Cobb agrees with Mathiez that the Terror was simply a response to circumstances, at the same time, Cobb rejects Mathiezs Marxist interpretation that elites controlled the Reign of Terror to the significant benefit of the bourgeoisie. Instead, Cobb argues that social struggles between the classes were seldom the reason for actions and sentiments. Widespread terror and a consequent rise in executions came after external and internal threats were vastly reduced, with the backing of the national guard, they persuaded the convention to arrest 29 Girondist leaders, including Jacques Pierre Brissot. On 13 July the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat – a Jacobin leader, georges Danton, the leader of the August 1792 uprising against the king, was removed from the committee. The Jacobins identified themselves with the movement and the sans-culottes
Reign of Terror
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Nine emigrants are executed by guillotine, 1793
Reign of Terror
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Heads of aristocrats, on spikes (pikes)
Reign of Terror
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Maximilien Robespierre had others executed via his role on the
Revolutionary Tribunal and the
Committee of Public Safety
Reign of Terror
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A
satirical engraving of
Robespierre guillotining the executioner after having
guillotined everyone else in France
44.
Committee of Public Safety
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The Committee of Public Safety succeeded the previous Committee of General Defence and assumed its role of protecting the newly established republic against foreign attacks and internal rebellion. As a wartime measure, the Committee—composed at first of nine, and later of twelve, members—was given broad powers over military, judicial. It was formed as a body to supervise and expedite the work of the executive bodies of the Convention. As the Committee tried to meet the dangers of a coalition of European nations and counter-revolutionary forces within the country, in July 1793, following the defeat at the Convention of the Girondins, the prominent leaders of the radical Jacobins—Maximilien Robespierre and Saint-Just —were added to the Committee. The power of the Committee peaked between August 1793 and July 1794, in December 1793, the Convention formally conferred executive power upon the Committee. The execution of Robespierre in July 1794 represented a period against the Committee of Public Safety. This is known as the Thermidorian Reaction, as Robespierres fall from power occurred during the Revolutionary month of Thermidor, the Committees influence diminished, and it was disestablished in 1795. News of his defection caused alarm in Paris, where imminent defeat by the Austrians, the betrayal of the revolutionary government by Dumouriez lent greater credence to this belief. In light of this threat, the Girondin leader Maximin Isnard proposed the creation of a nine-member Committee of Public Safety. Isnard was supported in this effort by Georges Danton, who declared, This Committee is precisely what we want, the Committee was formally created on 6 April 1793. Closely associated with the leadership of Danton, it was known as the Danton Committee. Danton steered the Committee through the 31 May and 2 June 1793 journées that resulted in the fall of the Girondins, however, when the Committee was recomposed on 10 July, Danton was not included. Nevertheless, he continued to support the centralization of power by the Committee, on 27 July 1793, Maximilien Robespierre was elected to the Committee. At this time, the Committee was entering a powerful and active phase, which would see it become a de facto dictatorship alongside its powerful partner. The broad and centralized powers of the Committee were codified by the Law of 14 Frimaire on 4 December 1793, Hérault de Séchelles—a friend and ally of Danton—was expelled from the Committee of Public Safety, arrested, and tried alongside them. On 5 April 1794, the Dantonists went to the guillotine, certainly the strength of the committees had been made evident, as had their ability to control and silence opposition. The Law of 14 Frimaire was enacted in December 1793 to centralize, the law enumerated various forms of public enemies, made mandatory their denunciation, and severely limited the legal recourse available to those accused. The punishment for all crimes under the Law of 22 Prairal was death, from the initiation of this law to the fall of Robespierre on 27 July, more people were condemned to death than in the entire previous history of the Revolutionary Tribunal
Committee of Public Safety
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Lettre anglaise (English Letter) dated 29 June 1793 as published by the French National convention during the Revolution (1793). This document was used to prove English spying and conspiracy.
Committee of Public Safety
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Maximilien Robespierre, spokesman and a radical voice behind the leadership of the Committee of Public Safety
45.
Jean-Paul Marat
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Jean-Paul Marat was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist who became best known for his role as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution. He was one of the most radical voices of the French Revolution, Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, a Girondist sympathizer, while taking a medicinal bath for his debilitating skin condition. In his death, Marat became an icon to the Jacobins as a martyr, as portrayed in Jacques-Louis Davids famous painting. For this assassination, Corday was executed four days later, on 17 July 1793, Jean-Paul Marat was born in Boudry in the Prussian Principality of Neuchâtel, now part of Switzerland, on 24 May 1743. He was the second of nine born to Jean Mara, a native of Cagliari, Sardinia, and Louise Cabrol. His father was a Mercedarian commendator and religious refugee who converted to Calvinism in Geneva, at the age of sixteen, Marat left home in search of new opportunities, aware of the limited opportunities for outsiders. His highly educated father had turned down for several college teaching posts. His first stop was with the wealthy Nairac family in Bordeaux, after two years there he moved on to Paris where he studied medicine without gaining any formal qualifications. Highly ambitious, but without patronage or qualifications, he set about inserting himself into the scene with works on philosophy. Around 1770, Marat moved to Newcastle upon Tyne and he gave it the subtitle, A work in which the clandestine and villainous attempts of Princes to ruin Liberty are pointed out, and the dreadful scenes of Despotism disclosed. It earned him membership of the patriotic societies of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society Library possesses a copy, and Tyne, a published essay on curing a friend of gleets probably helped to secure his medical referees for an MD from the University of St Andrews in June 1775. On his return to London, he published Enquiry into the Nature, Cause, in 1776, Marat moved to Paris following a brief stopover in Geneva to visit his family. The position paid 2,000 livres a year plus allowances, Marat was soon in great demand as a court doctor among the aristocracy and he used his new-found wealth to set up a laboratory in the marquise de lAubespines house. Soon he was publishing works on fire and heat, electricity and he published, first, a summary of his scientific views and discoveries in Découvertes de M. Marat sur le feu, lélectricité et la lumière in 1779. He then went on to publish three much more detailed and extensive works, expanding on each of his areas of research. His method was to describe in detail the meticulous series of experiments he had undertaken on a problem, seeking to explore and then all possible conclusions. This describes 166 experiments conducted to demonstrate that fire was not, as was widely held and he asked the Academy of Sciences to appraise his work, and it appointed a commission to do so, which reported in April 1779
Jean-Paul Marat
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Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
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"Marat's Triumph": a popular engraving of Marat borne away by a joyous crowd following his acquittal.
Jean-Paul Marat
–
The Death of Marat by
Jacques-Louis David (1793)
46.
The Death of Marat
–
The Death of Marat is a painting by Jacques-Louis David of the murdered French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat. It is one of the most famous images of the French Revolution, David was the leading French painter, as well as a Montagnard and a member of the revolutionary Committee of General Security. The painting shows the radical journalist lying dead in his bath on 13 July 1793 after his murder by Charlotte Corday. Painted in the months after Marats murder, it has described by T. J. Clark as the first modernist painting, for the way it took the stuff of politics as its material. Marat was one of the leaders of the Montagnards, the radical faction ascendant in French politics during the Reign of Terror until the Thermidorian Reaction, Charlotte Corday was a Girondin from a minor aristocratic family and a political enemy of Marat who blamed him for the September Massacre. She gained entrance to Marats rooms with a note promising details of a ring in Caen. Marat suffered from a condition that caused him to spend much of his time in his bathtub. Corday fatally stabbed Marat, though she did not attempt to flee and she was later tried and executed for the murder. As well as being the leading French painter of his generation, David was a prominent Montagnard, and he was also on the Committee of Public Instruction. For example, the painting contains no sign of his problems, his skin appears clean. David, however, drew other details from his visit to Marats residence the day before the assassination, the rug, the papers. David promised his peers in the National Convention that he would later depict their murdered friend invocatively as écrivant pour le bonheur du peuple, the Death of Marat is designed to commemorate a personable hero. Although the name Charlotte Corday can be seen on the held in Marats left hand. Close inspection of this painting shows Marat at his last breath, therefore, David intended to record more than just the horror of martyrdom. The Death of Marat has often compared to Michelangelos Pietà. Note the elongated arm hanging down in both works, David admired Caravaggios works, especially Entombment of Christ, which mirrors The Death of Marats drama and light. David sought to transfer the sacred qualities long associated with the monarchy and he painted Marat, martyr of the Revolution, in a style reminiscent of a Christian martyr, with the face and body bathed in a soft, glowing light. As Christian art had done from its beginning, David also played with multileveled references to classical art, widely admired during the Terror whose leaders ordered several copies of the original work, The Death of Marat slowly ceased to be frontpage history after Robespierres overthrow and execution
The Death of Marat
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La Mort de Marat
The Death of Marat
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Detail of The Death of Marat showing the paper held in Marat's left hand. The letter reads (in French) "Il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre bienveillance" or in English, "Given that I am unhappy, I have a right to your help"
The Death of Marat
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Charlotte Corday by
Paul Jacques Aimé Baudry, painted 1860.
The Death of Marat
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One of two versions of Death of Marat made by
Edvard Munch in 1907
47.
Georges Danton
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Georges Jacques Danton was a leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution, in particular as the first president of the Committee of Public Safety. He was guillotined by the advocates of revolutionary terror after accusations of venality, Danton was born in Arcis-sur-Aube in northeastern France to Jacques Danton and Mary Camus, a respectable, but not wealthy family. As a child, he was attacked by animals, resulting in the disfigurement and scarring of the skin on his face. After obtaining an education he became an Advocate in Paris. He married Antoinette Gabrielle Charpentier on 14 June 1787 at the church of Saint-Germain-lAuxerrois in Paris, Danton was considered a very mischievous boy. Due to this, he went to different schools, also, he had a very high natural IQ. As a result, he was bored and disinterested in his classes. His first teacher was his grandfather and he was able to pass his classes with little effort, when he was 9, he was sent to a boys school. This is where Danton learned Latin and he was later sent to a school in Troyes for a year due to his mother thinking that he hasnt given up his mischievous ways as a child. Later, he attended a boarding house taught by Oratorians until he was 17, here, he learned more Latin and about the Bible, mainly the Acts of the Apostles and about Christian beliefs. He didnt really take to them, however, as early as age 12, he had already acquired the skills to become a leader. He led fellow classmates to either rebel or riot and this showed his leadership skills and how much his classmates already respected him at such a young age. He also consistently questioned authority, which will be seen later during the French revolution when he openly disrespected and called out Lafayette as a traitor during a meeting. At a young age, he had amazing writing and speech skills, as later during a competition, he took all the prizes for French discourse, Latin narration. Was highly influenced by thinkers of the time, such as Montesquieu. Studied at Reim University where he became a lawyer, later become bored of the career and became an orator. Was seen as a man of the people by then because he pleaded for the poor. Both his classmates, teachers and grandfather revered him as a prodigy and his amazing writing and speaking skills later made people give him the nickname “The Thunderer”
Georges Danton
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Georges-Jacques Danton.
Musée Carnavalet, Paris
Georges Danton
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Signature
Georges Danton
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According to a biographer, "Danton's height was colossal, his make athletic, his features strongly marked, coarse, and displeasing; his voice shook the domes of the halls".
Georges Danton
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Danton addressing the
National Convention.
48.
Camille Desmoulins
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Lucie Simplice Camille Benoît Desmoulins, a journalist and politician, played an important role in the French Revolution. He was a friend of Maximilien Robespierre and a close friend and political ally of Georges Danton. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Danton when the Committee of Public Safety reacted against Dantonist opposition, Desmoulins was born at Guise, Aisne, in Picardy. His father, Jean Benoît Nicolas Desmoulins, was a rural lawyer, through the efforts of a friend, he obtained a scholarship for the fourteen-year-old Camille to enter the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Desmoulins proved an exceptional student even among such notable contemporaries as Maximilien Robespierre and he excelled in the study of Classical literature and politics, and gained a particular affinity for Cicero, Tacitus and Livy. Thus stymied, he turned towards writing as an outlet for his talents. In March 1789, Jean Benoît Nicolas Desmoulins was nominated as deputy to the Estates-General from the bailliage of Guise, however, due to illness, he failed to take his seat. Camille Desmoulins, himself limited to the role of spectator at the procession of the Estates-General on 5 May 1789, wrote a response to the event, Ode aux Etats Generaux. Owing to his difficulties in establishing a career as a lawyer, Desmoulins position in Paris was a precarious one, however, he was greatly inspired and enthused by the current of political reform that surrounded the summoning of the Estates-General. The sudden dismissal of popular finance minister Jacques Necker by King Louis XVI on 11 July 1789 proved the spark that lit the fuse of Desmoulins fame. On 12 July, spurred by the news of this politically unsettling dismissal, Desmoulins leapt onto a table outside the Cafe du Foy and delivered an impassioned call to arms. The stationing of a number of troops in Paris, many foreign, had led Desmoulins. This was an idea that his audience also found plausible and threatening, the cockades worn by the crowd were initially green, a color associated with liberty, and made at first from the leaves of the trees that lined the Palais Royal. The forces semi-organized under this banner attacked the Hôtel des Invalides to gain arms and, on 14 July, in May and June 1789, Desmoulins had written a radical pamphlet entitled La France Libre, which his publisher at that time had refused to print. The rioting surrounding the storming of the Bastille, however, and especially Desmoulins personal and publicized involvement in it, on 18 July, Desmoulinss work was finally issued. The politics of the pamphlet ran considerably in advance of public opinion, in it, Desmoulins called explicitly for a republic, popular and democratic government is the only constitution which suits France, and all those who are worthy of the name of men. La France Libre also examined and criticized in detail the role and rights of kings, of the nobility, a famous Revolutionary song, the Ça ira, also immortalizes this lantern, in the lines, Les aristocrates à la lanterne. This hard-edged fervor found an audience in Paris, and Desmoulins, as a result of the pamphlet
Camille Desmoulins
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Portrait of Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins
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Camille Desmoulins
Camille Desmoulins
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Portrait by
Joseph Boze
49.
Law of 22 Prairial
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The Law of 22 Prairial, also known as the loi de la Grande Terreur, the law of the Great Terror, was enacted on 10 June 1794. It was proposed by Georges Auguste Couthon and supported by Robespierre, by means of this law the Committee of Public Safety simplified the judicial process to one of indictment and prosecution. The immediate background to the introduction of the Prairial Law was the assassinations of Collot dHerbois on 23 May. Under these circumstances, indulgence is an atrocity, the result of these laws was that by June 1794 Paris was full of suspects awaiting trial. On 29 April it was reported that the forty prisons of Paris contained 6,921 prisoners, by 11 June this number had increased to 7,321, no Revolutionary Tribunal could work fast enough to prevent the ship of state sinking under such a sea of crime. Precedents had been created at Lyon, Marseille and elsewhere and they considered Amar, for example, to be suspect. He is required to them as soon as he knows of them. As Couthon explained to the Convention, For a citizen to become suspect it is sufficient that rumour accuses him and it limited trials in the Revolutionary Tribunal to three days. It prevented the Revolutionary Tribunal both from calling witnesses, or from allowing defence counsel to the accused, juries were to come to judgement entirely on the basis of the accusation and the accuseds own defence v. It required the Tribunal to come to one of two possible verdicts - acquittal or death. The law cancelled all previous legislation on the same subject, the Prairial Law had an immediate impact on the tempo of executions under the Terror. From an average of five executions a day in Germinal, the rose to seventeen in Prairial. The law thus inaugurated the period known as The Great Terror, the proposals were met with dismay when they were presented to the Convention. The Committee of Public Safety had not reviewed the text before it was presented, the Committee of General Security had not even been informed that the law was being drafted. Some of the deputies were uneasy, in particular, about the removal of their immunity, Robespierre refused and demanded immediate discussion. At his insistence the entire decree was voted on, clause by clause, the next day,11 June, when Robespierre was absent, Bourdon de lOise and Merlin de Douai put forward an amendment proclaiming the inalienable right of the Convention to impeach its own members. Furious, Robespierre and Couthon returned to the Convention the next day,12 June, Robespierre made a number of veiled threats and during the debate clashed particularly with Jean-Lambert Tallien. The Convention acceded to Robespierres wishes and restored the text of the decree Couthon had drafted
Law of 22 Prairial
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contemporary cartoon showing Robespierre executing the executioner. The monument in the background carries the inscription 'Here Lies All Of France'
Law of 22 Prairial
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Revolutionary Tribunal in session
Media related to Declaration of Pillnitz at Wikimedia Commons
