Napoleon and the French Revolution

The Causes of the French Revolution were both the long-term conditions of French society and the immediate precipitating of the events. The French population, made up of 27 million people, was divided into three orders: The First estate consisting of the clergy, numbered 130,000 people and owned 10 percent of the land. The Second Estate consisted of 350,000 noblemen. They held nearly 30 percent of the land. The Third Estate, otherwise known as the Commoners, made up the balance of the French population. There were vast divisions among the Commoners. The majority of the commoners were peasants who consisted of over 75% of the population and 35% of the land. While there was no longer serfdom in France, the peasants had an obligation to the local landowners, usually the nobility, that they greatly resented. The Third estates also consisted of skilled artisans and shopkeepers. Finally, about 8% of the population was made up of the bourgeoisie, otherwise known as the middle class.
There was much resentment among all parts of the Third estate at the privileges extended to the First and Second Estate. The immediate causes of the French Revolution were economic. The French state finances were in ruins due to the high cost of wars and the luxury that the French kings lived in. King Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General, the first such meeting since 1614. Traditionally the Estates-General voted in blocks, with each estate having one vote. The third estate demanded that deputies receive a vote; when the King rejected the demand, the third estate called their own national assembly on June 17, 1789. When three days later, the deputies arrived, they found their meeting place locked and moved to a nearby tennis court, thus was born the Tennis Court Oath. The members vowed to continue to meet until they developed a new French Constitution. The King prepared to use force against the Third Estate. However, the common people came to the aid of the third estate. They stormed the Bastille, the hated symbol of noble authority in Paris. Throughout France, the commoners revolted, and King XVI was told that he could no longer count on the support of the army. The new national assembly was now in complete control of France.
The assembly voted to eliminate the privileges of the nobility. They then went on to adopt the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The underlying principle was the equal rights for all men. During this period, Louis XVI remained at Versailles. After he refused to accept the action of the National Assembly, Thousands of Parisian women descended on Versailles. They forced the King back to Paris, where he remained a virtual prisoner. Other European leaders slowly developed a fear that the French Revolution would spread. When Austria and Prussia threatened to use force to restore the power of the King, the French National Assembly declared war on Austria. The war went badly for the French, and demonstrations broke out against the King, who was accused of collaboration with the Austrians.
A newly elected national assembly began its session in September 1792. They immediately abolished the monarchy and established a republic. The French national assembly then voted to execute the King. The execution of the King outraged the royalty of Europe, who created an informal coalition to attack France and restore the monarchy. To meet the threat, a special committee known as the Committee of Public Safety with broad powers under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre was appointed. To meet the foreign threat, the Committee decreed universal mobilization. In a little over a year, the French were able to field an army of 1,1169,000, the largest in the history of Europe. The age of total warfare had begun. The French quickly pushed foreign troops off their soil. Even though the foreign threat receded, Robespierre's domestic terror reign had begun. Over 30,000 threats to the revolution were guillotined. Finally, the assembly member started to fear Robespierre and voted to have him executed. On July 28, 1794, he met his death on the guillotine. The middle-class leader then took control of the country.
From 1795 to 1799, the Directory ruled France. It was a time of corruption, with the Directory unable to come to grips with France's economic difficulties. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a famous general, seized power. He created a new form of government, the consulate. Napoleon was the first consul and, as such, controlled all levers of power. Napoleon came to peace with the Catholic Church. His most outstanding achievement was his codification of the French law, known as the Code Napoleon. It enshrined the right of equality under the law for all males. Napoleon made peace with the Second coalition, but in 1803 war was once again renewed with Great Britain, which Austria, Prussia, and Russia soon joined.
Napoleon swiftly defeated the allies of Great Britain. From 1807 to 1812, Napoleon was the master of Europe; he hoped to maintain that empire for generations. However, it soon unraveled. First, he could not defeat England, and second, Napoleon could not overcome the growing nationalism in Europe. Napoleon's hope of beating England had ended when the British navy defeated a combined French Spanish fleet at Trafalgar. Napoleon hoped to bring England to its knees through the Continental system. This was an attempt to deny England the ability to trade with Europe. However, the Continental system was hard to enforce, and England rapidly developed alternative markets.
When Russia threatened to withdraw from the Continental System, Napoleon felt he had no alternative to attack. Napoleon counted on a quick victory over the Russian army. Unfortunately for Napoleon, the Russians did not cooperate and retreated before Napoleon, not allowing him to defeat their army. Napoleon attacked in June 1812. The Russians retreated all the way to Moscow. When Napoleon arrived in Moscow, he found a destroyed city, and he was forced to withdraw before his army starved. When Napoleon invaded Russia, his grand army consisted of 600,000 men; only 40,000 men managed to return with him from Russia in January 1813. Napoleon's defeat in Russia inspired other European states to rise up and fight Napoleon. In March 1814, Paris was captured. Napoleon was sent to exile on the island of Elba. Louis the XVIII, the brother of the executed Bourbon King Louis XVII, was made King of France. Napoleon escaped from Elba and ruled France for one last period, March through June 1815. In June, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, thus ending his career and a period in European history.