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Background

Nineteenth Century France History

Late 1788 – Louis XVI calls the Estates General, which had not met since 1614, into session to deal with the financial problems and the impending insolvency of the empire.

Later 1788 - Elections for Estates General were held, the Paris parlement decides that votes in the Estates General would be by Estate (nobility, clergy, and commoners), not by head.

May 1789 - Estates General meets and takes up the issue of how voting in the Estates General would occur, not the issue of the finances of the realm.

June 1789 – Third Estate (commoners) meets on its own and declares the National Assembly to be the true representative institution of the people, then invites the nobility and the clergy to join it. At first rejected by the King, it is soon reluctantly accepted by the King.

July 14, 1789 - Famine leads to soaring bread prices and riots. The hungry people of Paris stormed the Bastille, an old fortress that had been turned into a notorious prison.

August 1789 – National Assembly declares the end of the old feudal regime, voids the feudal dues that peasants had traditionally owed to the nobility, enacts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, and begins drafting a new constitution that was not finished until 1791.

October 1789 – A mob forces the Royal family to leave Versailles to take up residence in Paris where "the people" can keep an eye on the king.

June 1791 – The Royal family attempts to flee France and is stopped near the border.

1789-1791 – The National Assembly reorganizes the nation into 83 departments, eliminates the nobility as a legally defined class, makes the Catholic Church an agency of the state, appropriates Church property and sells it to pay off the monarchy's debt, and extends full citizenship to Jews and other religious minorities.

October 1791 – A constitution is adopted, establishing a constitutional monarchy.

April 1792 – War is declared on Austria.

Sept. 1792 – The National Convention meets, abolishes the monarchy, establishes a republic, tries Louis XVI for treason, convicts him, and, on January 21, 1793, executes him. A counter-revolutionary revolts begin.

Spring 1793 - Moderates are purged from the government by the radicals.

Summer 1793 – Summer 1794 Reign of Terror in which an estimated ¼ million Frenchmen were arrested and 30,000 executed, often on questionable grounds.

1795 – The Directory is established to prevent another reign of terror, distributing power between a 5 man executive branch and a bicameral legislature.

Nov. 9, 1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte's troops force the legislature to vest state power in a new provisional government called the Consulate.

1800 – 1802 - Napoleon assumes almost dictatorial power, is declared First Consul for Life, institutes many changes, reaches a concordant with the Pope, reorganizes the civil service, strengthens state finances, creates secondary schools, and compiles laws into a written law code, called the Code Napoléon.

1804 - Napoleon crowned Emperor of France.

1810 – Through conquest and diplomacy, Napoleon establishes an empire of satellite kingdoms, many ruled by his relatives, throughout Europe. Napoleon’s empire extends from Spain to Poland, includes an alliance with Russia, and subordinates Prussia and Austria.

1813 - Napoleon is defeated and Louis XVIII restored to the throne.

1815 - Napoleon attempts a comeback, is defeated at Waterloo and is exiled to the island of St. Hellena in the Atlantic. Louis XVIII is once again restored to the throne but he has to rule with the assistance of a bicameral legislature (Parliament).

1815 – 1816 Conservatives unleash a reign of terror.

1816 The King calls for new elections and the power of the ultra-conservatives is crushed.

Spring 1830 - After periods of liberalization then reaction, the new king, Charles V appoints an ultraconservative minister, Jules de Polignac. Liberals win the election, Polignac voids the elections, Paris revolts, and the monarchy falls.

July 1830 – The monarchy is re-instituted under Louis Philippe of the house of Orléans, who rules from 1830 to 1848. France is more liberal than under the Restoration, but nonetheless Louis Phillipe does not support democracy, although he did give up the theory of the divine right of kings. Problems due to industrialization begin to emerge and Louis Phillipe takes a laissez-faire attitude.

1848 - Revolution. The monarchy is again overthrown by the Paris crowds and a republic is again declared. Elections are held in April 1848 by truly universal male suffrage. Peasants, overwhelmingly conservative, vote for a conservative government, ending the experiment with democracy. Parisian workers revolt and the government sends in troops to bloodily suppress the revolt in what becomes known as the June Days of 1848. The informal alliance between the workers and the bourgeois breaks down. A new constitution is formed.

Spring 1848 – Feed by a multi-year famine, Revolution spreads across Europe, breaking out in Milan, Paris, Prague, Vienna, Rome, and other major cities. Monarchs totter on their thrones.

December 1848 – Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, is elected President.

May 1849 - A new legislature is elected. Monarchists are the biggest winners; left wing radicals become the second largest party; and moderate republicans are decisively defeated. French politics is highly polarized.

Dec. 1851 - Louis Napoleon has legislators arrested and amends the constitution to allow himself to have a 10 year term. Voters approve the amendments and elect Louis Napoleon to 10 year term.

1852 - Louis Napoleon declares himself emperor as Napoleon III, the Second Republic ends and the Second Empire begins. Initially oppressive, Louis Napoleon relaxes state controls as time passes.

1870 - French troops are defeated in the Franco-Prussian war. The war unifies Germany under Prussia and its chancellor, Bismarck. The French Second Empire falls when the Left is not ready to agree to peace. A republic is proclaimed, monarchists win the elections, possibly because they support peace. Workers revolt and establish the Commune of Paris in 1871. The Commune is suppressed with 20,000 dead and 50,000 sent to trial.

1871 - The French Third Republic is proclaimed. Much to the amazement of all observers, the Third Republic survives until France is overrun by the Germans in 1940. Except for the period 1940 – 1945, France has remained a republic since 1871. Yet, in its early years, the Third Republic was weak. No single party dominated during the elections and most governments were coalitions.
          If any party withdrew from the coalition, the government fell, leading to a series of timid governments. Neither workers nor women had their agenda items attended to during the long stalemate.
         However, the Third Republic did create a system of primary and secondary schools, oversee the French colonial empire, disestablish the Catholic Church, and led the nation through WW I.

Reference:

France (from Encarta 2002) Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation

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last updated February 2003