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World history
Course: World history > Unit 5
Lesson 4: France's many revolutions and republicsLes Miserables and France's many revolutions
Overview of early 19th century French history and context for Les Miserables. Created by Sal Khan.
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- Why are those in power often greedy?(55 votes)
- "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." --Lord Acton.
It's easy to be greedy with all the power, you could have anything you want--so some of them said: "Why not?"(141 votes)
- Did the establishment of America (and what is now Canada) have anything to do with the start of the French revolution?(72 votes)
- Yes it did. Louie XVI agreed to help the Colonialists (financially) to finance the revolution. This meant raising taxes in France and more poverty----which let to the French Revolution and Louie the XVI's and Marie Antoneitte's deaths.(113 votes)
- Books and movies say Napoleon Bonaparte declares himself emperor, but how he he just "declare" himself emperor? What allowed him to name himself emperor?(35 votes)
- In a way, it was not a meanless title. By declaring himself an emperor, he retorded the country from the French Revolution.
Because the Revolution was bloody and very dangerous time to french citizens, going back to monarchy was thought to bring back the stability and safety of "old times", while maintaining most of its liberal benefits.(5 votes)
- During the whole video, what exactly was the French revolution? What did they revolt against?(5 votes)
- The French Revolution was a violent liberal movement against the conservative French monarchy. Its aims evolved over a decade. At first the revolutionaries attempted to form a constitutional monarchy. Later the monarch was tried and executed and a republic was formed. The revolutionary's skepticism that a single person could run the government effectively without giving in to the temptations of corruption was their undoing. They founded governments without executive branches, but this did not prevent radicalism. Maximilien Robespierre was a radical liberal who sought to abolish not only the nobility, but all trappings of monarchical France including the Catholic church. His radicalism led to the execution of even moderate liberals like Georges Danton and this led to his own demise.
Napoleon Bonaparte filled the power vacuum of an executive branch. He was a popular military commander who won battles in Italy and Egypt. He led a military coup against the French government and installed himself as a dictator. At first he reconciled with the Catholic church and foreign nations that opposed the French Revolutionaries. But then he, himself, gave in to the trappings of monarchy and declared himself a hereditary emperor. He attempted to conquer all of Europe, but failed. Eventually he was defeated and exiled. The borders of France reverted back to their revolutionary boundaries.(22 votes)
- Was French Revolution like American Revolution?(5 votes)
- This question has been asked by a lot of people over time and I am sure one could find a lot of similarities and differences. I will toss down a few though.
Similarities: Both seemed to have their roots in economic problems. The American colonist wanted more representation and fewer taxes. The French were suffering a pretty heavy burden from the near constant war in Europe. Both of these led to economic problems that led to conflict.
Differences: The American Revolution as far less bloody than the French. The French revolution had to find a way to deal with its nobility and this lead to quite a few executions and several attempts by the nobility to maintain power using violence. The American Revolution didn't really have an official nobility. They had a wealthy and educated elite that in some ways acted like a nobility, but they lacked the official government approval of their status as nobles.
More comparisons could be made but that would be the topic for an entire research paper and it is something that you should consider doing here.(19 votes)
- During this time there was a new calendar created that referenced the Revolution or Republic depending on the source. It consisted of of a 30 day month with a leap year and it had 10 hour days, 100 minute hours and 100 second minutes. ( This was the metric version of the calendar.) How did this complicate the timing of wars and religious services during this time and site any specific challenges?(3 votes)
- It completely disregarded the catholic calendar that previously existed and did not involve any religious days. Religion was in the decline. The working-class suffered because they worked longer. Neglecting religion as a whole hampered them because the Catholic church was the only charity organization in existence.(7 votes)
- If Napoleon supported the French Revolution, why did he proclaim himself Emperor of France? Didn't it effectively reinstall monarchy?(3 votes)
- His ego was huge, and after beating the major powers of Europe several times, he felt better to boost his ego by calling himself the Emperor of France.
In some ways, yes. The people of France were happy as they were getting food and wealth from his huge empire of France. Napoleon masked his own purposes, saying that he was doing all this for France. He was partially, but he also wanted to be known throughout history as "Napoleon the Great".(6 votes)
- French money, soldiers and naval forces proved essential to US's victory over the Britain (Monarchy), but what did France gain besides what I learn from these videos huge debt which led to French revolution? Did France expect help from US in their revolution and did US provide them help?(4 votes)
- The help had come from the royal french government so they definitely did not want the US to help the french revolution, all they wanted was to cause problems for Britain with whome they were in a constant struggle.(3 votes)
- How did Louis the 17th died in prison?(2 votes)
- Louis XVII may have died from Tuberculosis, but the French 'Revlutionists' essentially starved him, from my reading. There was also rumors that young Louis went mad-he was a spoiled child, that was much loved by his mother, Marie Antoinette, and without anything, locked up in a tower, alone, he couldn't mentally hold himself together. Then again, the first French Revolution had many mysteries that surrounded it that we still may never uncover.(4 votes)
- Why did the French people not like King Louis and Marie Antoinette?(3 votes)
- That's a pretty complicated question actually but i'll try to break it down.
The government was broke in part from over-spending and having funded the American Revolution (Foreign Wars) as well as fighting with their arch-enemy the British empire. This lead the king to raise taxes on an already impoverished peasantry.
It was a particularly bad time for crop harvest hence, not enough food, people were starving while the monarchy was feasting. Also the French Monarchy/Aristocracy were known for their poor treatment of their people, as well as being utterly disconnected with the realities of everyday life in France. The seat of government was moved by Louis the 14th from Paris to Versailles, further distancing the rulers from the ruled.
This then lead the people to reflect on the success of the American Revolution, at which point people began to organize. King Louis tried to stop them at every turn. This lead to riots and protests which eventually culminated in the king and queens forcible removal from Versailles back to Paris where the newly formed National Assembly was in the middle of drafting a Constitution in order to limit the powers of the monarchy and the aristocracy. In short they wanted a constitutional monarchy like England had. Fearing for their lives and unable or unwilling to cooperate with the french people, the king and queen attempted to flee the country to Austria, where Marie Antoinette was from. They got caught, and the people were so outraged at the attempted abandonment by their monarchs from the country that they started a revolution. In a nutshell. Look up the French Revolution on Youtube, it's quite enlightening. Hope this answered your question.:)(5 votes)
Video transcript
There's a very popular, and
I thought, good movie out, based on the play, which
is based on the novel by Victor Hugo, Les Miserables. And I'm sure I'm
mispronouncing it. It means "the
miserable," for those for whom it was not obvious. And what I want to give
is a little bit of context because in that
book, play, movie there is an
attempted revolution. And sometimes people
try to associate it with the French Revolution. But that is not depicting
the French Revolution that people talk
about when they talk about the French Revolution. And so I thought I would
give a little bit of scaffold of French history in the
late 1700s and all the way through the mid-1800s to
give a little bit of context on the matter. So let's start off in 1789. That's when you have
the French Revolution. The First French
Revolution, we could say, or the French Revolution,
which is the French Revolution that people talk
about when they're talking about the
French Revolution. It was all about deposing
Louis XVI and his wife, Maria Antoinette. This is her body there. I think she just
got guillotined. This is her head. It was very bloody revolution. This is the storming of the
Bastille right over here. And that starts the beginning
of the First Republic in France. The First Republic. So there were all these
dreams and aspirations that France would now be
a country of the people. Not too dissimilar
to the United States. But revolutions are not so
easy, or so clean, or so fast. And France had to go through
a long period of pain before it could really establish
itself as a real republic. But let's keep going on
further off in history. Let me do that in
a different color. I'll do the timeline in white. So let's fast forward. Let's fast forward to 1799. This is when Napoleon
Bonaparte comes to power. So when people talk
about Napoleon, they are talking about
Napoleon Bonaparte. We'll see that there
are other Napoleons. But if people just say, hey,
Napoleon did this or that, they're talking about
Napoleon Bonaparte. So this is, Napoleon
comes to power. Napoleon. And he officially ends
the First Republic in 1804 because he declares
himself emperor. But let's fast forward. There's many videos on
the Khan Academy dealing with the Napoleonic Wars
and the French Revolution. But let's fast forward to 1815. So let me do that
in white again. So you get to 1815. So let's see. That was about 10 years. I need to go about 16 years. So that would put us at
1815 right over there. 1815 is, essentially,
Napoleon faces his Waterloo, which was
literally at Waterloo. That's why people talk
about facing your Waterloo. So he was banished for
a little bit to Elba. He was able to come back. He had 100, actually
111 days in power. But then he was
finally defeated. And then he was
finally put into exile at Saint Helena, where he died. In 1815, you essentially
have the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. So Louis XVI's younger
brother comes to power. And they call him Louis XVIII. So this is Louis XVIII, which
raises a very good question-- What happened to Louis XVII? Louis XVII was
Louis XVI's son, who died in prison at the age of 10
in 1795 during the Revolution or during the revolutionary
period, I guess we could say. So this right over here. This right over here. Napoleon ends -- let me draw. This is Napoleon's-- let me do
this in the same color I did Napoleon in. So 1799 to, actually, 1814 is
when Napoleon's reign ended but then he came back
for a little bit. So I'll draw a little bit
of a dotted line here. A little dotted line. And then 1814 was the
formal restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. And, but of course, Napoleon
comes back a little bit. But after Waterloo, it's
really firmly established. So you have the restoration
of the Bourbon monarchy. So this is Louis the XVIII. And then in 1824 he dies. And he dies childless. 1824. So let's see. It's about nine years. So that will put us
about right over there. 1824. He dies childless. And so his younger brother,
Charles X comes to power. So then you have
Charles X. Charles. I'll do all the
Bourbons in purple. Charles X. And this is
Charles X right over here. And so let's go a little bit
further off into history. You fast forward
all the way to 1830. You fast forward to 1830. A lot of discontent. And now you have the
Second French Revolution. You might say, oh
hey, this must be what Les Miserables
is all about. No, we're not there yet. Les Mis is not about the
Second French Revolution, sometimes called
the July Revolution. July Revolution. And this revolution actually
did not-- it was successful-- but it did not establish
a republic at this point. It instead installed--
and this whole time there was a liberalization. The monarchy, even when
it was put in power, had a gradual decline in
how much power it had. But after the July Revolution,
they put in Charles X's cousin. Charles X's cousin who
was the Duke of Orleans. Who was this guy, this
guy right over here. Louis Philippe I. So
let me write that. So this is Louis Philippe I. And so you're saying,
Sal, you started off this video talking
about Les Mis. You haven't mentioned
Les Mis yet. Give me a little bit of context. So now I will give you context. So if you watch the movie, it
starts off with Jean Valjean. He's at a shipping
place where they're repairing ships of some sort. That was in 1815 after Waterloo. So it was under
Louis XVIII's regime. So that's right over here. Let me see where the
start of the movie. The start of the movie
is right about there. And then the real climax of the
movie, which is this rebellion. There's these barricades
being set up in Paris. You have all these
young idealistic folks who are trying to
overthrow the government. This does not happen until 1832. This is 1832. I'll do it right over here. 1832. And what catalyzed
that-- there were several things that
was catalyzing that. And, actually, most
revolutions are catalyzed by just
economic discontent. If people are rich, and
happy, and have jobs, and aren't getting
sick, most people aren't in the mood to revolt. But in 1832, as
you could imagine, the economic situation
was not good. There was also a very
nasty outbreak of cholera. And what really catalyzed
the events in Les Mis, and they even refer
to it in the movie, is the death of this
chap right over here. Jean Maximilien Lamarque. Let me write the name down. Jean Maximilien--
and I'm sure I'm mispronouncing it-- Lamarque. And he dies in June of 1832. And he was very sympathetic
to the plight of the poor, to the plight of the common man. And the average folks
said, hey look, he's our guy in government. And he had an influential
role in government. When he died, they
were like, look, we don't have anybody else
in a high position who can speak for us. Let's use his funeral as
a catalyst for revolt. And you saw that happening
in the movie Les Mis. So Les Mis, that
climactic moment, that is the June
Rebellion of 1832. And it's not-- you don't have
to have amazing comprehension of watching movies to realize
that this was unsuccessful. So this right here, didn't work. Didn't work. If it did work,
It might have been called the Third
French Revolution. But it was not. It was an unsuccessful
revolution or unsuccessful
rebellion, really. And it was that Victor
Hugo observed it. And that's why he's able to
recount it in so much detail. The barricading,
the young people, the shooting in the
streets, all the rest. So this is a little
bit of review. When people talk about
the French Revolution, they're usually talking
about the French Revolution. 1789. Begins to establish
the First Republic. It was a successful revolution. The Second French Revolution. This is the July Revolution. This is in 1830. This puts into power Louis
Philippe I, the person that they're trying to
overthrow in Les Mis. And they don't establish the
Second Republic after this. For the Second Republic,
we have to go all the way to the revolution
of-- let me make sure I can scroll properly. Go all the way. So let me continue my timeline. So this is Louis
Philippe to go 18 years. 18 years to 1848 where you have
the Third French Revolution, which leads to the popular
election of Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew. Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. This guy right over here. But France is still not done. It still can't establish itself
as a long-lasting republic. In 1851, this character
declares himself emperor. So 1851, he too declares
himself emperor. And France is not finally
freed of kings and emperors until 1870. So let's do this run all the
way to 1870 where France, essentially, loses the
Franco-Prussian War. And this character, this
character right over here, is deposed. And you have the establishment
of the Third French Republic.