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The French Revolution, that ended with Napoleon Bonaparte, helped to shape France today. The main causes for the revolution was poor leadership by King Louis XVI and division within French society. The third estate that contained a large portion of the French population began to fight back against the unfair treatment from the higher estates. This ultimately led to The Reign of Terror, before Napoleon stepped in and settled the disagreements within France.

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Causes of the French Revolution

As the 18th century drew to a close, France's costly involvement in the American Revolution, combined with extravagant spending by King Louis XVI, had left France on the brink of bankruptcy.

Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but several years of poor harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. Many expressed their desperation and resentment toward a regime that imposed heavy taxes-yet failed to provide any relief-by rioting, looting and striking.

In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI's controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, proposed a financial reform package that included a universal land tax from which the aristocratic classes would no longer be exempt.

Estates General

To garner support for these measures and forestall a growing aristocratic revolt, the king summoned the Estates General ( les états généraux) - an assembly representing France's clergy, nobility and middle class - for the first time since 1614.

The meeting was scheduled for May 5, 1789; in the meantime, delegates of the three estates from each locality would compile lists of grievances ( cahiers de doléances) to present to the king.

Rise of the Third Estate

France's population, of course, had changed considerably since 1614. The non-aristocratic, middle-class members of the Third Estate now represented 98 percent of the people but could still be outvoted by the other two bodies.

In the lead-up to the May 5 meeting, the Third Estate began to mobilize support for equal representation and the abolishment of the noble veto-in other words, they wanted voting by head and not by status.

While all of the orders shared a common desire for fiscal and judicial reform as well as a more representative form of government, the nobles in particular were loath to give up the privileges they had long enjoyed under the traditional system.

Tennis Court Oath

By the time the Estates General convened at Versailles, the highly public debate over its voting process had erupted into open hostility between the three orders, eclipsing the original purpose of the meeting and the authority of the man who had convened it - the king himself.

On June 17, with talks over procedure stalled, the Third Estate met alone and formally adopted the title of National Assembly; three days later, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court and took the so-called Tennis Court Oath (serment du jeu de paume), vowing not to disperse until constitutional reform had been achieved.

Within a week, most of the clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles had joined them, and on June 27 Louis XVI grudgingly absorbed all three orders into the new National Assembly.

The Bastille

On June 12, as the National Assembly (known as the National Constituent Assembly during its work on a constitution) continued to meet at Versailles, fear and violence consumed the capital.

Though enthusiastic about the recent breakdown of royal power, Parisians grew panicked as rumors of an impending military coup began to circulate. A popular insurgency culminated on July 14 when rioters stormed the Bastille fortress in an attempt to secure gunpowder and weapons; many consider this event, now commemorated in France as a national holiday, as the start of the French Revolution.

The wave of revolutionary fervor and widespread hysteria quickly swept the entire country. Revolting against years of exploitation, peasants looted and burned the homes of tax collectors, landlords and the aristocratic elite.

Known as the Great Fear ( la Grande peur), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from France and inspired the National Constituent Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789, signing what historian Georges Lefebvre later called the "death certificate of the old order."

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

IIn late August, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), a statement of democratic principles grounded in the philosophical and political ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The document proclaimed the Assembly's commitment to replace the ancien régime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and representative government.

Drafting a formal constitution proved much more of a challenge for the National Constituent Assembly, which had the added burden of functioning as a legislature during harsh economic times.

For months, its members wrestled with fundamental questions about the shape and expanse of France's new political landscape. For instance, who would be responsible for electing delegates? Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or the French government? Perhaps most importantly, how much authority would the king, his public image further weakened after a failed attempt to flee the country in June 1791, retain?

Adopted on September 3, 1791, France's first written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly, establishing a constitutional monarchy in which the king enjoyed royal veto power and the ability to appoint ministers. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre, Camille Desmoulins and Georges Danton, who began drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and for the trial of Louis XVI.

French Revolution Turns Radical

In April 1792, the newly elected Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, where it believed that French émigrés were building counterrevolutionary alliances; it also hoped to spread its revolutionary ideals across Europe through warfare.

On the domestic front, meanwhile, the political crisis took a radical turn when a group of insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked the royal residence in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, 1792.

The following month, amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries, the Legislative Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic.

On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette suffered the same fate nine months later.

Reign of Terror

Following the king's execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention brought the French Revolution to its most violent and turbulent phase.

In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity.

They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (la Terreur), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794.

Did you know? Over 17,000 people were officially tried and executed during the Reign of Terror, and an unknown number of others died in prison or without trial.

Thermidorian Reaction

The death of Robespierre marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror's excesses.

On August 22, 1795, the National Convention, composed largely of Girondins who had survived the Reign of Terror, approved a new constitution that created France's first bicameral legislature.

Executive power would lie in the hands of a five-member Directory ( Directoire) appointed by parliament. Royalists and Jacobins protested the new regime but were swiftly silenced by the army, now led by a young and successful general named Napoleon Bonaparte.

French Revolution Ends: Napoleon's Rise

The Directory's four years in power were riddled with financial crises, popular discontent, inefficiency and, above all, political corruption. By the late 1790s, the directors relied almost entirely on the military to maintain their authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field.

On November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d'état, abolishing the Directory and appointing himself France's " first consul." The event marked the end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, during which France would come to dominate much of continental Europe.

Photo Gallery

Sources

French Revolution. The National Archives (U.K.)
The United States and the French Revolution, 1789-1799. Office of the Historian. U.S. Department of State.
Versailles, from the French Revolution to the Interwar Period. Chateau de Versailles.
French Revolution. Monticello.org.
Individuals, institutions, and innovation in the debates of the French Revolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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French Revolution: Timeline, Causes & Dates | HISTORY

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The French Revolution began in 1789. Soon, the Bastille was stormed and the monarchy eliminated. After the Reign of Terror, France established a new government.

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The Brazilian nobles revolted in order to run the Portuguese off of their land. Due to the revolution, King John VI moved to Portugal and left his son to rule Brazil in his place. Brazil eventually wins, and they gain a new government run by Jose Bonafico de Andrada e Silva, and Pedro is made the new governor.

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-Dom Pedro: Son of King John. Ruled Brazil.The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures. 1st Ed. ed. Vol. 1. New York: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva : Later known as the Patriarch of Independence.

-Jan 1, 1820: Revolt begins
-Apr 26, 1821: King John leaves Brazil to go back to Portugal
-Sep 1, 1821: Pedro was left with the Rio de Janeiro which was just a providence because he was put on provincial subordination by the Portuguese.
-Jan 23, 1822: Brazil wins!! They get a new government headed by José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva. Pedro is the new governor.

Dom Pedro hired Lord Thomas Cochrane, an admiral who had been thrown out of the British navy, to enforce his authority in Brazil. There was a minor battle but the Portuguese fleet was defeated. The Portuguese recognized Brazil as independent in 1825. Many Brazilians were suspicious of Pedro because he was originally Portuguese, though he was completely against them. They were unhappy with many of his decisions. He resigned from ruling in 1831. Brazil suffered a major military defeat at the hands of the Argentines in 1827.

The Brazilian Revolution assisted with the freedom of Latin America as a whole because it freed one of the many countries in Latin America from foreign rule.
Bibliography
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Portuguese+Revolution+of+1820
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/78101/Brazil/25040/Independence
http://www.countriesquest.com/south_america/brazil/history/independence.htm https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/brazil-s-revolution-timeline

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Dom Pedro: Son of King John. Ruled Brazil.The History of Latin America: Collision of Cultures. 1st Ed. ed. Vol. 1. New York: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print. Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva : Later known as the Patriarch of Independence.

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Haitian slaves overthrew the controlling French government. The slaves were treated poorly, which led to the slaves creating a plan to overthrow the government and gain independence from France and abolishing slavery.

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Haitian Revolutions: Crash Course World History #30

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The Haitian Revolution led to Haiti becoming the first nation to be formed by a slave revolt. The Haitians fought to become the first independent, post-colonial republic in Latin America as well as the first modern Black-led republic. Toussaint L'Ouverture was a former rebel and slave, and a well liked military strategist. Two years after L'Ouverture's death in French captivity, Haiti was declared an independent and slave-free nation.

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Toussaint L'Ouverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution. Editorial credit: Georgios Kollidas / Shutterstock.com.

The Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804) created the only nation ever to be formed by a slave revolt. Haitians fought French, British, and Spanish forces to become the first independent, post-colonial republic in Latin America and the first modern Black-led republic. The struggle highlighted the brutality of slavery and the universal desire and capacity for self-determination. Historians recognize the Haitian Revolution as a significant factor in the abolition of slavery in the Americas

Historical Context of the Haitian Revolution

Early Colonization

Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. The Spanish colonized what the indigenous people called "Ayti" (mountainous place) shortly after Christopher Columbus learned of the island's existence in 1492. Colonizers enslaved the indigenous Taino people to work in gold mines. The harsh forced labor and imported diseases wiped out most of the native population. In the early 1500s, Spain brought the first African slaves to the Americas to work in Haiti.

Brutal Conditions for Massive Numbers of African Slaves

In the 1600s, Haiti (Saint Domingue) came under French rule. The French used exceptionally brutal slave conditions to turn Saint Domingue into the world's most profitable colony. Slaves worked the labor-intensive tobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations for an average of three to seven years before dying. Conditions were so harsh that few slaves reproduced. Plantation owners often freed any surviving children they fathered with slaves. By the late 1780s, the French were bringing 30,000 new African slaves to Haiti each year.

Most slaves in Saint-Domingue at this time were Africans who had been born free. In 1789, the estimated half a million slaves greatly outnumbered the 35,000 white colonialists and 25,000 free people of African or mixed descent in Saint Domingue.

Influence of Foreign Events

Trade brought news frequently to Saint Domingue. Word of the American and French revolutions strengthened slaves' dreams of liberation. Wealthy free persons of color, who could not vote, also drew hope from these revolutions.

France issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens in late 1789 stating that all men are born equal under the law. However, the poor white workers who did not own land feared that France would leave them powerless while giving full rights of citizenship, including voting, to wealthy landowners of color.

White plantation owners worried that France might undermine slavery by granting rights to free descendants of slaves. White owners also sought to end France's burdensome taxes and trading restrictions.

The Precursors to War

The Haitian Revolution was not the first slave rebellion. Historians have recorded slave rebellions on ships as early as 1699. In Saint Domingue, it was not uncommon for escaped slaves, known as maroons, to hide in the mountainous interior and raid plantations.

Just before the start of the revolution, Vincent Oge led an uprising primarily of free men of color who demanded that France abide by their 1791 ruling giving all landowners the right to vote. Oge's cruel public execution hardened the resolve of rebels to put an end to French rule in Saint Domingue.

The Start of the Revolution

In August 1791, days before the revolution, Dutty Boukman, a slave and a voodoo priest, reportedly led a ceremony at the Bois Caiman. Maroons and slaves from nearby plantations formed a plan and declared their loyalty to rebellion.

On the night of August 22-23, 1791, slaves began a coordinated attack in the north on the country's largest plantations. Burning each estate, they added slaves to their army and killed white landowners and any slave who would not join.

Complex and Changing Alliances

France was at war with many European countries. Thus, rebel factions found support from Spain, Great Britain, and even briefly, the United States. France faced rebellion from foreign-backed upper-class whites who opposed the egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution. In 1793, French military envoys offered freedom to any slave who fought white separatists to protect the capital for the French.

In 1794, pro-slavery Britain threatened to attack Saint Domingue if France was not in control of the population. France took the historic step of making slavery illegal in all is colonies to gain the support of the inhabitants of color. However, many black revolutionary leaders remained distrustful of the French and maintained an alliance with Spanish and British forces.

The Leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture

Toussaint L'Ouverture, a rebel and former slave, had a reputation as a brilliant commander and military strategist. He had negotiated with the Spanish for supplies and with the British for the removal of its troops from western Saint Domingue. However, he supported the ideals of the French Revolution and believed an alliance with France provided the best chance for universal rights.

In 1799, L'Ouverture won a civil war against a rival general of mixed race. Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte declared French colonies would be subject to new rules. Many feared the reinstatement of slavery.

In 1801, L'Ouverture created a constitution banning slavery on Hispaniola. However, the constitution also appeased powerful interests: it declared Saint Domingue a French colony and codified forced paid labor by former slaves.Napoleon Responds

In early 1802, France sent military forces to Saint Domingue, captured the cities and appeared poised to resume slavery. They arrested L'Ouverture and jailed him in France, where he died less than a year later. General Jean-Jacques Dessalines now led the fight against the French. In 1803, the French army, already weakened by rebel fighting and Yellow Fever, lost naval access to the island when Britain renewed its war with France.

On January 1, 1804, after 300 years of occupation and slavery, Dessalines declared Haiti an independent and slavery-free nation. Some 200,000 slaves lost their lives during the revolution.

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What Happened in the Haitian Revolution?

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The Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804) created the only nation ever to be formed by a slave revolt. Haitians fought French, British, and Spanish forces to become the first independent, post-colonial republic in Latin America and the first modern Black-led republic. The struggle highlighted the brutality of slavery and the universal desire and capacity for self-determination.

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King John VI,

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Latin American Revolutions: Crash Course World History #31