French Revolution: Key Stages, Figures, and Interpretations
The Directory (1795-1799)
A new constitution is drafted, creating a new form of government with five directors. The legislature is divided into two chambers: the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders. Napoleon Bonaparte begins to distinguish himself.
The Consulate (1799-1804)
Napoleon participated in the Italian and Egyptian campaigns, achieving significant victories but also suffering a defeat at the hands of Admiral Nelson. The Consulate is formed with three members, with Napoleon appointed as First Consul.
The legislative power rests with the Council of State, the Tribunate, and the Legislature. Later, Napoleon was declared Consul for Life (1802).
The Empire (1804-1815)
In 1804, the Senate proclaimed Napoleon as Emperor.
His Works:
Drafting of the Civil Code.
His military campaigns aimed to expand territories and bring resources into the French coffers. European coalitions were organized to counter him, resulting in numerous successes and failures, including the Battle of Trafalgar, the Continental Blockade against England, and the Russian Campaign. Napoleon was defeated at Leipzig (1813) and exiled to Elba. He escaped from prison and returned to govern for the Hundred Days before being defeated at Waterloo (1815). He was imprisoned on St. Helena, where he died in 1821.
During this time, liberal and nationalist ideas proliferated in Europe, leading to significant revolutions in the nineteenth century.
Interpretations of the French Revolution
Burke:
Disrespect for tradition, based on speculation and reason, which recognizes only the law and rejects the established order.
Barruel:
The result of an international conspiracy aimed at the destruction of the Church and the Monarchy.
De Maistre:
A plan of providence that uses horror for its elections.
Barnave:
Not fortuitous but responds to a historical need to have had multiple and profound changes in society.
Thiers:
The struggle for equality before the law and greater freedom.
Lamartine and Michelet:
The French people as a great hero of the revolutionary events.
L. Blanc:
With a socialist leaning, he exalts certain features of the Reign of Terror that anticipate a future utopian society.
Carlyle:
Primarily a narrative rather than an interpretive tone.
Tocqueville:
It had begun in earnest in the era of the monarchy and had on the agenda of the first revolutionaries many elements of continuity with the reformist goals of the monarchy.
H. Taine:
The events of the last decade of the eighteenth century are responsible for the conflicts and ills of France from the late nineteenth century.
Aulard:
Connects Republican ideas with the great figures of the process.
Jaurès:
Emphasizes the importance of the struggle and class conflict as drivers of the process, viewing economic and social factors as central arguments.
Mathiez:
A central and emblematic figure of the revolution and its achievements was Robespierre, who, despite the terror, took a more open sense of social revolution and seeking to deepen the lines of change.
Gaxotte:
An unfortunate accident, the result of the wickedness of some and the exaggeration of others.
Aubry:
The end of the monarchy as one of the most negative elements of the process.
Lefebvre:
Connects the Napoleonic experience with the entire revolutionary process and considers multiple variables over a longer period.
Palmer and Godechot:
The culmination of a series of revolts and revolutions that affected the Western world, particularly those tied to the Atlantic.
Vovelle:
Views the revolution from the perspective of the new cultural history, examining the imagination of revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries and their means of expression.
Richet and Furet:
A revolution frustrated that deviates from the constitutional path of England and whose roots responsibility attributed to the more radical.