Notes
The French Revolution
- Causes: unequal estates, debt, bread shortages, Enlightenment ideas and the American example.
- 1789: National Assembly, Tennis Court Oath, storming of the Bastille, Declaration of the Rights of Man.
- Radical phase: war, a republic (1792), execution of Louis XVI (1793) and the Reign of Terror under Robespierre.
Napoleon and after
- Napoleon took power in 1799, created the Napoleonic Code and conquered much of Europe, then failed in Russia (1812) and lost at Waterloo (1815).
- The Congress of Vienna restored monarchies and a balance of power. Liberals and nationalists challenged conservatives, as in the revolutions of 1848.
Revolutions in the Americas
- Haiti (1804) was the first nation founded by formerly enslaved people, led by Toussaint Louverture.
- Bolívar, San Martín and Hidalgo led independence movements; most of Latin America was free by the mid-1820s.
Nationalism
- Italy (1861) was unified by Cavour and Garibaldi; Germany (1871) by Bismarck through realpolitik and war.
- Nationalism weakened multinational empires.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
1789, 1804, 1815, 1871.
Revolutionaries in both regions drew on ideas of natural rights and popular sovereignty.
The French Revolution's ideals spread to France's colonies.
As a conservative, he saw liberalism and nationalism as threats to order.
Cavour led Piedmont-Sardinia's efforts to unify Italy.
He kept some revolutionary reforms but held absolute power.
Free response
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Free-response question
Between 1789 and 1871, revolution and nationalism transformed Europe and the Americas.
(a) Identify TWO causes of the French Revolution.
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The Third Estate paid most taxes but had little power, and the government was deeply in debt. Enlightenment ideas about rights and the American Revolution also inspired change.
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(b) Explain ONE way the French Revolution influenced revolutions in Latin America.
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Ideas from the Declaration of the Rights of Man about liberty and equality inspired Toussaint Louverture in Haiti and creole leaders such as Bolívar. Napoleon's invasion of Spain also weakened Spanish control.
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(c) Explain how nationalism could both unite and divide peoples in the 1800s.
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Nationalism united Italians and Germans into new nation-states in 1861 and 1871. But in multinational empires like Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, groups such as Greeks and Serbs wanted their own states, which broke empires apart.
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