politics in france, 1774-1900
Since a number of works we will cover refer either directly or indirectly to the political situation in France, here is a handy sketch of the broad outlines of French political history during the time covered by this course.
• 1774-1789 The Bourbon monarchy, under Louis XVI, a.k.a. the Ancien Regime
The king is believed to rule by divine right, in consultation with a parliament of three ‘Estates’: the First Estate (the Catholic Church) and Second Estate (the aristocracy) dominate the Third Estate (the ‘people,’ i.e. the bourgeoisie and lower classes). There is huge economic inequality and lots of unrest and riots.
• 1789-1792 The Revolution and the Assemblée Nationale
The unrest culminates in the French Revolution of 1789, after which a new parliament called the Assemblée Nationale (dominated by the Third Estate) is in charge of a severely limited, constitutional monarchy.
• 1793-1794 The Terror, under Robespierre
Amid continuing unrest, the director of the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre, decides that what is needed is a massive purge of the remains of the Ancien Regime. Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and scores of aristocrats and other suspected Royalist sympathizers are guillotined in a period subsequently called The Terror.
• 1795-1799 The Directory
The Terror discredited the Revolutionaries; Robespierre is himself guillotined, and a more moderate republic led by a ‘Directory’ of five executives is formed. J.-L. David is briefly jailed for his part in the Terror (he was their chief propagandist, and even signed the execution orders for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette).
• 1799-1804 The Consulate, under Napoleon
Economic problems continue, and with them social unrest. When the Directory calls in the military to stop the riots and restore order, their leader Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d'etat and becomes ‘First Consul’ of a group of three executives (triumvirate), modeled after an ancient Roman system.
• 1804-1815 The First Empire, under Napoleon
With a series of military victories, Napoleon had become more and more popular and powerful. By 1804 he had kicked out the other two members of the triumvirate and made parliament into a rubber stamp for his policies. All pretense at a democratic government is discarded, and Napoleon has himself crowned Emperor and tries to either 'spread democracy to' or 'subjugate' the rest of Europe, depending on how you want to look at it. He is resisted by Prussia, Russia, and most famously Great Britain, led at sea by Admiral Nelson and on land by General Wellington.
• 1815-1830 The Restoration of the monarchy, under Louis XVIII and Charles X
Napoleon is defeated by Wellington and his Prussian allies in 1815 at a little village in Flanders (Belgium) called Waterloo, and the English re-install the Bourbon monarchy: Louis XVIII, succeeded by Charles X.
• 1830-1848 The July Monarchy, under Louis-Philippe
The July Monarchy was so called because it began with another revolution in July 1830 that overthrew Charles X, installing in his place a more progressive ruler, the so-called ‘bourgeois king’ Louis-Philippe.
• 1848-1852 The Second Republic, under Louis-Napoleon
Popular democratic revolutions broke out all across Europe in 1848; this time informed as much by lower-class Socialist politics as by middle-class democratic politics. Louis Napoleon (nephew of ‘the’ Napoleon) is elected president.
• 1852-1870 The Second Empire, under Napoleon III
Louis Napoleon stages a coup d’etat, dismissing parliament in 1851 and having himself declared Emperor Napoleon III (Napoleon’s son was briefly Napoleon II in 1815). This is the period in which Haussmann rebuilt Paris.
• 1871 The Paris Commune
France enters into war with Prussia in 1870, is quickly defeated, and Paris briefly separates from France and forms its own Socialist commune. Courbet is involved, helping to topple the Vendôme column that is symbolic of the French Empire.
• 1871-1940 The Third Republic
The Communards are put down by the French army and the Republic is restored. This time it sticks until Hitler conquers France in 1940, but that's another story.