Sunday, December 20, 2015

Episode Summaries of Revolutions Podcast: French Revolution

1. The Three Estates

Marxist view of the French Revolution as a bourgeoise revolution and its problems; estates: first (clergy), second (nobility), third (everyone else); French population is 27 million people, 4/5 peasants, Paris population 650,000; peasant categories: landless, small landholders/leasers, independent farmers; worker categories: unskilled workers, skilled workers, bourgeoisie; venal offices as a way to buy way into nobility; nobility is 1-2 percent of population; sword nobility (real) vs robe nobility (venal); first estate microcosm of French society: rich bishops, poor priests, etc.; Bourbon dynasty; Edict of Nantes; Cardinal Richelieu; Louis XIV (sun king, creates Versailles); Louis XV; French Enlightenment; Louis XVI; Marie Antoinette

2. The Broken Regime

Administrative / legal complexity of France; financing schemes of government; regressive tax structure; Gabelle; Corvée; loans regime had taken out and interest; Enlightenment: Republic of Letters, Philosophes, increase in literacy, lax censorship, EncyclopédieVoltaire and anti-clericalism, Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws) and political theory, Rousseau and proto-romanticism

3. Resistance to Reform

Provincial parlement as check on royal power; let de justice as royal override of parlement; Maupeou attempts reforms with parlement, fails; Turgot (Physiocrat) enacts financial reforms including abolishing price controls on grain; the Flour War is a short-lived revolt in reaction, supporting "moral economy"; Turgot argues against getting involved in American Revolutionary War, foreign minister Vergenees supports it; hopes for enlightened absolutism increasingly appear in vain

4. Necker and the Necklace

Jacques Necker (commoner, Swiss, Protestant background causes some holdup) replaces Turgot; publishes Compte rendu, an account of royal finances (that is enormously influential: teaches a lot of France to read; but also fraudulently does not report extraordinary expenses (loans), only ordinary expenses), is tremendously popular; Calonne succeeds Necker as finance minister, realizes how dire the regime's economic situation is; Marie Antoinette unpopular due to initial failure to have children, frivolous expenditure, Diamond Necklace Affair (which she really has nothing do do with)

5. The Assembly of Notables

Vergenees dies (argument that he is stability within regime, opens up way for factional fighting); Calonne calls the Assembly of Notables to approve his reforms, they balk, especially since he won't open up the royal books and his account differs from Necker's; Colonne's plan proposes indefinite (vs finite time) and uniform (vs estate-discriminatory) more progressive taxation based on production (not holdings), abolishing internal custom barriers; Brienne emerges as critic of Colonne's plan; Colonne is dismissed after disputes with notables; Brienne succeeds Calonne

6. The Stately Quadrille

Stately Quadrille: old powers: France, Austrian Habsburgs (Holy Roman Empire) and new powers: Britain, Prussians, Russians; War of the Austrian Succession; Diplomatic Revolution; Seven Years' War; Russo-Turkish War; First Partition of Poland; career of Vergenees; Eden Treaty floods France with British goods; failure of France to support Dutch Patriots reveals regime's weakness

7. The Séance Royale

Assembly of Notables disbanded, proposals taken to parlement; leaders of French Revolution always have crowd to play to (vs English or American Revolutions); influential parlement members: Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil, Adrien Duport; parlement rejects stamp tax; Louis issues let de justiceparlement again resists; Louis issues lettres de cachet; Colonne (blamed for entire controversy) leaves for England; King orders registration of edicts at Séance Royale, exacerbating the tension; increasing rhetoric and bitterness between King and parlement

Provincial confusion and resistance to edicts establishing provincial assemblies; Brienne attempts to reduce influence and power of parlement; this causes unrest in many areas, including The Day of the Tiles in Grenoble (first appearance of mob in narrative); Jean Joseph Mounier calls for doubling the Third Estate in Estates General, voting by head; Brienne, faced with failure of his plan and near state bankruptcy, resigns; Estates General called; Necker recalled

Commoners replace aristocracy as leading edge of agitation; Poor weather: Laki eruption, 1788 hailstorm, poor harvests; population celebrates return of Necker, return of parlement; official encouragement of public involvement in debate; parlement advocates traditional composition of Estates General, plummets in popularity; second Assembly of Notables votes for traditional composition; Duport starts hosting Society of Thirty (Lafayette, Target, Condorcet, Mirabeau, Abbé Sieyès, Talleyrand); ambiguity about rules approaching Estates General; Sieyès issues What is the Third Estate? advocating Third Estate determining their own fate; people of France draw up massive list of grievances

Delegates to Estates General mostly urban, mostly well-off (contrast to France's majority poor, rural population); On day 2, Third Estate refuses to transact separate businesses aside from other orders; nobility refuses to work with Third Estate; Third Estate roll call after other two estates rebuff their invitation, some defectors from other estates join, National Assembly created; find themselves locked out of building they're supposed to be in, migrate elsewhere and take the Tennis Court Oath (painting has Bailly at the center); King fails to keep estates separate, defectors join National Assembly in single body; King refuses to let Necker resign

Tense atmosphere in Paris, troops called in from provinces; conservative elements in regime convince King to fire Necker order him to leave France, he goes to Switzerland; populace incensed by Necker's dismissal; Camille Desmoulins gives speech agitating the crowd to action; Paris in revolt; blue and red cockades dawned; Bastille stormed; de Launay tries to negotiate surrender; he fails and is killed, along with some of his soldiers

Guibert introduces cost saving reforms into the army, engendering the resentment of some, support of others in army; King appears in front of National Assembly and declares provincial troops are withdrawing; Bailly elected Mayor of Paris, Lafayette elected head of national guard; King dawns blue and red cockade, promises to recall Necker; some aristocrats start leaving France; Great Fear sweeps the countryside, peasants burn feudal records; Breton Club (proto-Jacobins) schemes to end serfdom, but Assembly session snowballs into nobles voluntarily renouncing privileges, others attacking others' privileges, etc., ends up all but abolishing feudalism

Assembly session mollifies peasants, exposes divisions within Assembly; Mounier starts trending towards conservatism, founds the Monarchiens; unified voting blocs form; Assembly's name changed to National Constituent Assembly;  Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen passed; only supposed to apply to active (vs passive) citizens; debate over constitution (collaboration of Duport, de Lameth and Barnave); Necker suggests suspensive veto for King; vote to retain single house (vs bicameral house); but details of King's veto make it de facto permanent veto

Verbatim text of document

Marat starts publishing L'Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People); tense mood in Paris due to ominous weather, perceived bread shortages; King calls elite Flanders Regiment into Versailles; King waffles on his veto promises, support for DotRoMaC; reports of Flanders Regiment welcome banquet insulting nation; women angry about bread shortages ransack Hôtel de Ville, proceed to Versailles; Lafayette unable to stop troops from joining, so decides to lead parade to Versailles; someone opens up gates to inner courtyard the next day, women rush in and kill guards; Lafayette conveys demands to King; National Guard members declare themselves King's bodyguard, escort him to Paris

Assembly approves Necker's Patriotic Contribution, but is never enforced; Assembly reconvenes in Paris at Manège inside Tuileries Palace (left / right distinction comes from here); Mounier quits politics in outrage over Women's March, Monarchiens influence splinters and declines; Church property auctioned and used to shore up national fiscal problems, Assignat issued; Jacobin club formed, also has branches in provinces, unlike other clubs; introduction of Robespierre; Impartials (declare revolution over) a less successful political club; Augustinians (counter-revolutionary) are unpopular, secretive arch-conservatives; Marquis de Favras tried an executed for counter-revolution; Assembly nationalizes Church lands, suppresses religious orders

King's speech accepting new order at Assembly fractures Left; Society of 1789 formed as moderate club, many former Jacobins join it; debates on who can declare war; Assembly strips aristocratic titles (some believe this is the turning point alienating some nobles); Pope unhappy about revolutionary changes, but lower rungs of clergy happy; Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed, subordinating Church to government; great unified national effort to hold Fête de la Fédération celebrating first anniversary of fall of Bastille; high point of Lafayette's career; King refers to himself as "King of the French", not "King of France"

Administrative apparatus rationalized, reorganized, many democratic elections (although turnout falls as revolution continues); Cordeliers Club founded, led by Danton, are radical/populist; Mirabou secretly accepts paid post as advisor to Monarchy; Necker forced to resign; Comte d'Artois plans counter-revolution, but is exposed and thwarted; Treaty of Reichenbach; paralysis in army, mutiny in one province put down; Assembly forces clergy to take Civic Oath, only half take it, rest dismissed; liberal nobles only people satisfied with political order, everyone else has grievances

Louis increasingly resentful of revolutionary changes; Louis allows Aunts to leave to visit Pope, causing controversy; Mirabou takes up King's case; committee set up to approve entrance and departure from France; Day of Daggers sees mobs attempt to dismantle another prison, Lafayette tries to control it but fails, armed nobles rush to protect King, King orders nobles to hand weapons over to Lafayette, Lafayette loses standing with everyone; Mirabou dies of sickness, Panthéon created and Mirabou buried there (but later disinterred when his treason discovered); King and family planning to go on short trip outside Paris, but surrounded by mob, Lafayette fails to disperse crowd after order refused, King retreats and resolves to escape; Flight to Varennes fails, King's legitimacy plummets

Paris Commune led by Bailly passes laws against strikes, mobilizations, etc. and other efforts against lower classes; introduction of Danton, Fabre d'Églantine; all join Jacobin club; Danton advocates for a republic after King's failed escape; second anniversary of fall of Bastille, mood different from celebratory first anniversary; Assembly declares King was abducted, would remain King; crowds gather on Champ de Mars demanding removal of King; Lafayette announces martial law, no orders are given to fire but troops fire (Champ de Mars Massacre); Cordeliers Club leaders go into hiding

Triumvirate of Duport, Barnave and de Lemeth (introductions of later two) lead mass walkout of Jacobins, found Feuillants;  Society of 1789 falls apart; Triumvirate passes laws restricting freedom of press, mandating registration of political clubs, raise election requirements, clubs can't really organize; Jacobins ignore law, are organized while Feuillants abide and are not; 60% of French officer core emigrated after King's escape attempt; Padua CircularDeclaration of Pillnitz; Robespierre helps pass Self-denying Ordinance saying members of National Assembly prevented from sitting in first session of Legislative Assembly; King agrees to support Constitution of 1791

Legislative assembly members: no clergy or former nobles, living and working in districts they represent for past 2 years; Feuillants fade because they're out of power, undermined by conservatives, deliberately de-politicizing themselves; Pope denounces revolution; French forces annex two Papal enclaves Avignon and Comtat Venaissin, provoking conflict in enclaves;  Refractory priests given stipends and unused churches; taxation on emigre property increased; Brissot introduced;  Brissot advocates for expropriating emigre property and making war on those that harbored emigres; Brissot advocates on war because it would expose traitors at home, neutralize emigres, send a message to other European powers; King agrees with war (since he thinks it will reinstate him when France loses), but vetoes new civic oath for clergy and emigre conspiracy law; Bailly retires from politics; Jérôme Pétion trounces Lafayette in election for mayor; German Princes agree to disperse emigres, but Austrians threaten France if they're attacked; popular support for war because it might boost value of Assingat, hatred of Austrians, belief in quick and easy conflict; Robespierre opposes war because it's uncertain, downside would be disastrous, our army isn't ready, opens the way for military dictatorship (Lafayette) if we win, need to solve domestic strife before going to war; Prussia and Austria sign alliance, also believe war will be short lived

Life and career of Talleyrand

22. War

Leopold II dies, Francis II succeeds Austrian throne; Louis dismisses his ministry and appoints (warmonger) Girondin ministry with Dumouriez (popularized Phrygian Cap) as foreign minister; Madame Roland's salons as social space for Girondins; Louis gets Assembly to approve war; Francis II declares war on France; French people misread Austrian Netherland's revolt against Austrian rule as pro-reformist; French army disgraces itself with cowardice, incompetence in first engagement of war; Dillon murdered by own troops; Brissot alleges internal conspiracy undermining French war effort; Rochambeau resigns after government rejects his advice to sue for peace; interior minister Roland criticizes Louis, is dismissed; Dumouriez resigns, leaves for front; sugar shortages in Paris due to Saint-Domingue unrest; Lafayette urges shutdown of political clubs in name of national unity; Sans-culottes emerge as political force; June 20th Demonstration: mob breaks into king's chambers, confronts him about policy

Lafayette secretly sends feelers out to Austrians to allow him to march on Paris; Lafayette goes before Assembly to argue his position and is hostilely received (as well as by King and National Guard) and told to get back to his post; to-be Fédérés converge on Paris for third anniversary of fall of Bastille; Jacobins call for end to the monarchy; Girondins open secret negotiations with King to plot to preserve constitution; Danton joins Robespierre in opposition to war; Danton opposes June 20th demonstrations; Brunswick Manifesto issued, solidifying revolutionary sentiments; soldiers from Marseille arrive singing La Marseillaise; Danton forms Coordinating Committee formed, turns into Insurrectionary Commune; Insurrection of August 10th overthrows national government and seizes control of Paris -- considered by some to be the "Second French Revolution"

Insurrectionary Commune, Provisional Executive Council, Legislative Assembly in awkward power sharing arrangement; crackdown on perceived counter-revolutionaries; warrant issued for Lafayette's arrest, Lafayette flees to Austrian Netherlands, imprisoned by Prussians; Guillotine beginning to be used in executions; Marat channels desires of sans-culottes, increases in prominence in vitriol after August 10th; Allied armies approaching on Paris; Danton and Brissot decide to stay in, defend Paris; Robespierre attacks Girondins, but doesn't resonate; Danton gives Tallyrand a passport out of Paris; Danton gives "Audacity, more audacity, always audacity and the Fatherland will be saved!" speech; September Massacres; Brunswick strangely turns Allied army around after light skirmish (possibly because of Russian invasion of Poland?)

Point of National Convention was to write new constitution, but functions as legislative body; Thomas Paine elected, along with others; factions: The Mountain (anti-war) faction, the Girondins (pro-war, controversy over how cohesive they are), The Plain (undecided, non-factional section); unanimous vote to abolish monarchy, declare a republic; debate over what to do with Louis; Girondins try to associate Robespierre with Marat/Massacres, fail; attacks on Danton for financial mismanagement; Robespierre parries Girondins accusations of desiring to be a dictator; Robespierre gives "Did you want a revolution without revolution?" speech explaining September Massacres

Louis now being referred to as Louis Capet; Mountain wants to execute Louis; Girondins want to spare Louis for various reasons; Mailhe leads committee to decide if Louis can legally be put on trial; introduction of Saint-Just, youngest member of assembly; Saint-Just gives "No man can reign innocently" speech arguing for execution of Louis; Mirabou discovered as posthumous traitor; Trial of Louis XVI; Girondins propose appeal to people about Louis, Mountain pushes back; Convention votes for execution; Louis guillotined

Dumouriez commands force in North; Battle of Jemappes; French success due to citizen soldiers giving them more reserves, self-purge of deserting officer corps; Decree of Fraternity says French will support oppressed peoples; French decree to institute revolutionary principles in conquered territories; Robespierre objects with "liberty can never be founded by the use of foreign force" speech; War of the First Coalition; Second Partition of Poland; Danton leaves for front, partially to keep tabs on Dumouriez; Amalgame pairs new troops with old troops; Levee of 300,000 alienates Vendée; Battle of Neerwinden; desertions in French army; Dumouriez plans to march on Paris after defeat, plan thwarted by rest of army, he defects to Allied side

28. Provincial Revolt

War in the Vendée; Vendée is isolated region, don't have similar tensions with clergy and nobles as rest of France; Vendée townspeople do support revolution, tension between town and country; Infernal ColumnsRepresentatives on Mission enforce laws in provinces; Committee of Public Safety created, Robespierre initially opposes it, Danton initially dominates it; Marseille and Lyon sour on the revolution because of breakdown on maritime and silk (luxury) trade, become in open revolt against Paris

Shortages of food; Assignat value declines; introduction of proto-anarchist Enragés (Roux, VarletLeclerc) and Society of Revolutionary Republican Women (Claire Lacombe, Pauline Léon); Enrangés demonstrate purge of Girondins, Robespierre denounces them; Marat impeached but acquitted; Convention enacts maximum on grain; arrest of Varlet and Hébert; Robespierre calls for Paris to rise up against Girondins; new Insurrectionary Commune organized by Enragés, launches insurrection on May 31-June 2 assisted by Hanriot, Girondins kicked out of Convention; Federalist Revolt in provinces as a result of the insurrection

30. (not related)

Political commissars sent to oversee generals; Army of the North cycles through generals: Dampierre (killed in action), Lamarche (relieved for retreating), Custine (relieved, later guillotined); Vendée uprising continues; minor Spanish invasion of France; Saint-Just elected to Committee of Public Safety; Constitution of 1793 drawn up and overwhelmingly approved by provinces, but never implemented; had provisions for education, welfare, right of insurrection, etc.; Festival of Unity and Indivisibility of the Republic held to celebrate its ratification; Federalist army recruitment fails since one of provincial grievances is impressment; Charlotte Corday kills Marat, she's guillotined, Marat put in Pantheon only during Thermidor; Allies linger on French periphery, missing chance to press their advantage

Danton removed from CoPS for moderation; important members of CoPS: Saint-Just, Robespierre, Lazare Carnot (the future "Organizer of Victory"); Levée en masse successful because greater necessity (vs earlier draft) of recruiting forces due to French setbacks, also mobilizes rest of society; Toulon allowing British to sail into French naval yards provokes outrage; Hébert becomes most influential Left journalist after death of Marat; "Insurrection" of September 5th helps consolidate power of CoPS in "concessions" to radical populists; Law of Suspects; Enrangés leaders silenced; General Maximum sets price of standard commodities; all these provisions diffuse sans-culottes agitation

Houchard put in command of Army of the North; Seige of DunkirkBattle of Hondschoote; Houchard fails to pursue enemy, is guillotined, replaced by Jourdan; Battle of Wattignies; Westermann in Vendée; Battle of Cholet; introduction of CoPS member Georges Couthon; Siege of Lyon; Couthon ordered to decimate city of Lyon, decides halfway though he can't do it and responsibility transferred to CoPS member Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois

Girondin Vergniaud quote about revolution being like Saturn devouring his children; emergency suspension of Constitution of 1793; shift from fair trials to show trials; d'Églantine accuses CoPS member Hérault de Séchelles of being involved in a foreign plot; but plot is totally fictitious and d'Églantine fabricates it to distract from his own misdeeds; Robespierre and concept of cis and ultra revolutionaries with himself being on true path; execution of Marie Antoinette; Trial of Girondins; 22 Girondins guillotined

French Republican Calendar (not revolutionary calendar); first day is abolition of the monarchy in 1792 / autumnal equinox; 10 day weeks; d'Églantine comes up with naming of 12 months

Duke of Orléans oversees the Palais-Royal, a clearinghouse for radical literature in the lead up to revolution; royal family suspects Duke of orchestrating revolutionary events instead of merely a sponsor; changes his name to Citizen Phillippe Egalite and joins National Convention and The Mountain; arrested in 1793 and later guillotined; Louis Phillippe, who becomes King in 1830, is son of Duke

Edmond-Charles Genêt initially arrives in America to great acclaim; conflict with George Washington over privateer fleet; ambiguity about whether old treaties with France apply, Washington wants neutrality; Genêt polemicizes against Washington to public causes backlash against Genêt; new ambassador sent from France to recall Genêt; Genêt asks for and is granted asylum in USA 

Madame Roland guillotined, last words: "Oh Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name"; Roland commits suicide when he learns of his wife's death; Pétion commits suicide; Bailly guillotined; Collot d'Herbois intensifies repression in Lyon with mass executions, etc.; Battle of Savenay marks end of one phase of Vendée conflict; Jean-Baptiste Carrier and his repression of Nantes, including mass drownings; severity of repression in various provinces of Terror varies widely depending on personality of administrator; Robespierre believes dechristianization a plot to undermine revolution; Joseph Fouché enthusiastic in dechristianization; Hébert and others organize Cult of Reason / Festival of Reason; Robespierre and Danton oppose dechristianization; Danton wants to wind down Terror now that domestic and international problems have resided, his position is  supported by "The Indulgents"; Terror administration increasingly centralized into CoPS via Law of 14 Frimaire; Toulon retaken after Napoleon leads after Seige of Toulon; introduction to Napoleon Bonaparte

Desmoulins begins publishing the anti-dechristianization The Old Cordelier; opponents of dechristianization coin word "Vandalism"; d'Églantine denounces RonsinVincent, Collot d'Herbois; d'Églantine profits from French East India Company Scandal, concocts false conspiracy to distract from his own crimes, but he is discovered; Robespierre sick, withdraws; Hébert tries to organize another insurrection, but discovers sans-culottes wrath dried up, insurrection fails; new version of Friend of the People launched by Hébert; Robespierre returns; Hébert and Hébertists arrested after Saint-Just denunciation, executed; Paris Commune now takes orders from CoPS; Seems like this could be end of terror?  But isn't; Robespierre and Danton meet twice to try and hash out differences, fail; trail of Danton and others on absurd charges; Danton executed along with Hérault de Séchelles, d'Églantine, Desmoulins

Robespierre gives terror and virtue speech; Robespierre purges Paris Commune, Committee of General Security; provincial tribunals closed, prisons overcrowded; Robespierre initiates Cult of Supreme Being; Festival of Supreme Being supervised by David; Saint-Just announces Law of 22 Prairial, beginning the Great Terror; Great Terror unique in domestic repression in that it's not correlated with domestic/international emergency; Turreau leads Infernal Columns into Vendée, conducts quasi-genocide; Saint-Just reorganizes Army of the Rhine, then Army of the North; Battle of Fleurus

Conspiracy against Robespierre begins: Fouché, TallienPaul BarrasVarenne, Collot d'Herbois, Committee of General Security, Carnot; assassination attempts against Robespierre by Cécile Renault, another that (perhaps mistakenly?) targets Callot d'Herbois; Robespierre denounces conspiracy; increasingly contentious Convention sessions; on Coup of 9 Thermidor Robespierre struggles to speak as he is denounced, never allowed to take the floor; he and supporters arrested, but escape from jail and rendezvous at Hôtel de Ville; forces sympathetic to Robespierre melt away; Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon and others executed, other associates rounded up and executed next day

Law of 22 Prairial repealed; power of CoPS curtailed; rotating membership rules; Reign of Terror ended; prisons emptied (freeing Tom Paine); pattern repeated in provinces; July 14 not really celebrated this year, but August 10 celebrated; Mirabeau disinterred from Pantheon, Marat and Rousseau instated; rise of right wing publications; Muscadins ("gilded youth") appear, co-opted/organized by Fréron; revelations of former Terror atrocities in the countryside turns political tide against Jacobins; Muscadins attack Jacobins; Convention orders Jacobin club to close

Kościuszko leads failed Kościuszko Uprising, distracting Austria and Prussia; Third Partition of Poland; cold weather of 1794-5 freezes rivers, allows French army to move freely; Dutch fleet captured (by cavalry); Batavian Republic declared; General Maximum repealed; Assignat loses almost all of its value; Muscadins successfully pressure Convention to remove Marat from the Pantheon; Babeuf publishes Tribune of the People, shut down by authorities; Convention enacts freedom of worship, abolishes national church; Carrier convicted for crimes in provinces, guillotined; Hoche offers concessions to Vendée

Left now deprived of organizing base and leaders; Convention invites back 75 barred from sitting during Girondin purge; Left purged and deported: Callot d'Herbois, Varenne, Barère, Vadier; Convention makes marches on Convention illegal after women march over bread shortages; mob marches on Convention demanding bread and the Constitution of 1793, fails to effectively press demands and disperses; Pichegru agrees to impose martial law in Paris, Police Law passed; White Terror; Prussia withdraws from Allies in Treaty of Basel; Treaty of the Hague; Insurrection of 1 Prairial is largest mass confrontation in Paris during course of revolution (but almost no fighting initially), reprisals against failed revolt participants; sans-culottes now effectively defeated

42. The Whiff of Grapeshot

Louis' son dies; Count of Provence declares himself Louis XVIIIPuisaye organizes emigre Invasion of Quiberon Bay with help of British; Hoche defeats it and executes prisoners; Constitution of Year III / of 1795 returns active vs passive citizen distinction, establishes bicameral legislature: Council of Ancients, Council of 500, establishes Directory; Two Thirds law retains two thirds of Convention member in legislature, is unpopular with many political factions; Barras fingers Napoleon to defeat right-wing Insurrection of 13 Vendémiaire with "whiff of grapeshot" (although the fighting was more prolonged than that); last popular insurrection in Paris

Directors chosen: Barras, Carnot, RewbellRévellière-LépeauxLetourneur (and Sieyès, who refuses it); introduction of Barras; land speculation rampant; Panthéon Club founded by ex-Jacobins; Babeuf released, resumes publishing Tribune of the People; introduction of Babeuf; Babeuf advocates nationalization of all land, food for everyone; he doesn't seem to be much concerned about urban workers; Babeuf's innovation: small cadre of dedicated conspirators / party vanguardism; Assignat printing plates smashed by government; Directory closes Panthéon club; Conspiracy of Equals betrayed, then crushed by Carnot

Representatives on mission recalled from army, increases power of officers; Army told to live off the land due to supply shortages, provides incentives for conquest and develops loyalty to officers; attack on Mainz fails; Pichegru resigns as general; Napoleon given command of Army of Italy, he turns it from dilapidated to elite; Napoleon debuts Strategy of the central position; French defeat Sardinia; Battle of Lodi; Napoleon's conquests provide financial windfall to government; Battle of CastiglioneMoreauBattle of Würzburg; Napoleon and Directory's war plans for Italy are different

Hoche finally ends war in Vendée; ex-Jacobins attempt to free Babeuf, fail; Napoleon founds Cispadane Republic, Transpadane Republic from conquered territories in Italy; Battle of Bassano; Battle of Arcole (Napoleon depicted as waving flag on bridge, but they weren't that advanced at that point); excess troops freed from Pyrenees, Vendée used to invade Ireland, order arrives to cancel expedition a day after it leaves, expedition thwarted by terrible weather, some British attacks, French never land in Ireland; Battle of Fishguard sideshow (last invasion of Britain); Battle of Rivoli; Siege of Mantua

Napoleon's advance on Rome results in Treaty of Tolentino with Pope which has renounce claims on Papal enclaves in France; Treaty of Leoben offers Venice to Austria in exchange for securing natural French borders, anticipates Treaty of Campo Formio; Jourdan blamed for failure of Rhine campaign, replaced by Hoche; elections send conservative delegation to legislature; Letourneur replaced in Directory by Barthélemy; coup by Republican Genoese results in Ligurian Republic; Napoleon merges Cispadane and Transpadane republic into Cisalpine Republic to create more favorable political constituency; Hoche enters Paris with army before Directory reshuffles government; Hoche appointed war minister but resigns when he realizes he might be asked to move on legislature; Talleyrand appointed by foreign minister; Barras, Rewbell and Révellière-Lépeaux execute Coup of 18 Fructidor to thwart monarchists, "Second Directory" created; Pichegru's treason revealed and publicized; Pichegru, Barthélemy and others deported; Carnot escapes to Switzerland

Purges of monarchists from government; crackdown on emigres, clergy and nobles; fiscal crisis: finance minister Ramel renounces two thirds of state debt, announces lots of taxes; annexed Belgians' tensions with Directory; tensions between Netherlands and Directory; riot in Rome kills French general; France occupies Rome, establishes Roman Republic, loots city; Switzerland invaded and Helvetic Republic established

Napoleon recalled to Paris, asked to lead invasion of Britain (Hoche initially considered, but he dies), he convinces Directory to let him invade Egypt instead; Americans agree to Jay Treaty to stop British harassment of their ships; America polarized by pro-British Federalists and pro-French Jeffersonians; Talleyrand demands bribe from American negotiators, Americans refuse; XYZ Affair; Quasi-War begin between Americans and French in Caribbean; Babeuf guillotined; Directory rigs upcoming elections to thwart left-wing; bloodless Coup of Floréal engineered by Directory; Treilhard elected to Directory; Napoleon prepares for Egyptian expedition, brings a lot of scientists and engineers along, keeps destination a secret until almost there; British fleet led by Nelson attempts to discover destination of French expedition; French take Malta, reveals to his men Egypt is destination

Napoleon finds Egypt occupied by foreign Mamluks; Napoleon uses divisional squares in battle; Battle of the Pyramids; Mamluk rule in Egypt ended; Nelson destroys French fleet at Battle of the Nile; French modernization of Egypt; Institute of Egypt founded by French scientists (mistakenly burned down during Arab Spring); discovery of Rosetta Stone; Revolt of Cairo crushed; Canal of the Pharaohs discovered; French take Jaffa; plague sweeps through Napoleon's army; General Kléber wins Battle of Mount Tabor; Napoleon abandons Siege of Acre; Battle of Abukir; Napoleon leaves, abandoning army in Egypt; Battle of Heliopolis; British win Battle of Alexandria, take Rosetta Stone

Diplomatic deadlock at Congress of Rastatt, foreshadows decline of Holy Roman Empire; Irish Rebellion of 1798 crushed by Cornwallis; Battle of Vinegar Hill; Humbert and French forces land in Ireland after main revolt is over and win at Battle of Castlebar, but are later defeated; Catherine the Great of Russia dies, Paul succeeds as Tsar; French invasion of Malta angers Russia; French invasion of Egypt pushes Ottomans into coalition with Russia; Jourdan Law introduces conscription into France; Naples goes on offensive against French forces in Italy; Championnet counterattacks and creates Parthenopean Republic, Championnet dismissed; Jourdan warns of French army unpreparedness; War of Second Coalition looms

Army of the Danube created; Jourdan crosses Danube, gets into trouble, asks for and is granted sick leave; General SchérerSuvarov defeats Moreau at Battle of Cassano; General André Masséna retreats from Zurich; Rewbell replaced by Sieyès in Directory; French pushed back to pre-Napoleonic boundaries, but still have patchwork of garrisons in enemy territory; legislature calls for accounting of Army inefficiency; Gohier, Ducos and Moulin join Directory in bloodless Coup of Prairial; cabinet reshuffle follows, Talleyrand dismissed; neo-Jacobin Manège club formed; Law of Hostages passed (directed against emigres); former directors indicted; de facto levée en masse declared; various French garrisons surrender; Mantua falls; Joubert killed in battle with Suvarov

Fouché appointed as minister of police, closes and outlaws Manège club; indictments against former directors tossed out; peasant uprisings break out in opposition to draft; Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland; Jourdan calls for emergency powers, motion is defeated; Battles of Bergen, Alkmaar and Castricum push British and Russians out of Netherlands; French wins Second Battle of Zurich, causing Russia to withdraw from Second Coalition; Napoleon cheered as bringer of peace (populace doesn't know about his role starting War of Second Coalition or his defeat in Egypt); Sieyès, Talleyrand, Lucian Bonaparte, Napoleon scheme overthrow government, execute Coup of 18 Brumaire; French Consulate and Constitution of the Year VIII enacted with Napoleon as First Consul

Bonaparte diffuses potential Vendée uprising; Napoleon leads army into Italy, wins Battle of Maregno; Napoleon welcomes emigres back, but all land purchases are enforced; attempted assassination on Napoleon, leads to crackdown on Left for (invented) role in crime; Tsar Paul dies, succeeded by Alexander; Britain's Pitt resigns, his successor sends out peace feelers to France; Napoleonic Code instituted; Napoleon signs Concordant of 1801 with Pope to make peace with Catholic Church; drops republican calendar in 1806; Treaty of Amiens brings peace between British and France; Constitution of Year X makes Napoleon Consul for Life; economic situation of state healthy; debate: is Napoleon end of revolution or its fulfillment?; Napoleon's execution of a Duke in Baden for a plot to assassinate him outrages other European powers, prompts "It was worse than a crime, it was a blunder" quote from Fouché (probably); French Empire created; Beethoven plans to dedicate his Third Symphony to Napoleon but decides against it after creation of Empire

54. The Empire

War of the Third Coalition breaks out; Grande Armée conquers Vienna; Battle of Austerlitz ends Holy Roman Empire with Treaty of Pressburg; Nelson defeats French at Battle of Trafalgar; Britain able to circumvent Napoleon's Continental BlockadeWar of Fourth Coalition begins (Austria replaced by Prussia in coalition), Berlin conquered after Battle of Jena–Auerstedt; Napoleon defeats Russians at Battle of Friedland, ends War of Fourth Coalition; Napoleon tries to woo Russians, but punishes Prussia in Treaty of Tilsit; Talleyrand resigns as foreign minister; Napoleon makes family rulers of various territories; Napoleon invades Portugal; puts brother on Spanish throne, Peninsular War follows; Tallyrand betrays Napoleon's attempted deal with Tsar; War of the Fifth Coalition: Napoleon loses at Aspren-Essling, but wins at Wagram, forcing Treaty of Schönbrunn which punishes Austria; Napoleon divorces Josephine, marries Marie Louise; War of Sixth Coalition: Napoleon invades Russia because they're not going along with the Blockade, terrible disaster ensues; Napoleon then beaten at "Battle of Nations" (largest pre-WW battle) at Leipzig; Wellington pushes into France from Spain; Metternich offers Napoleon Frankfurt Proposal, but Napoleon declines; Talleyrand helps Allies restore Bourbons (Louis XVIII) to power; Emperor's Demise Act passed; Talleyrand briefly serves as head of state; Napoleon wants to march on Paris, his generals decline, Napoleon abdicates; Talleyrand masterfully negotiates at Congress of Vienna; Napoleon exiled to Elbe, tries to commit suicide but pill has lost potency, returns to France, defeated at Waterloo, exiled to St. Helena; reactionary Charles X (former comte d'Artois) succeeds to throne in 1824

55. The Retrospective

Mike Duncan's opinions about various things; periodization of revolution; crucial turning points; summary of events; achievements of the revolution

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