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HIST 213 - L5 The Age of Napoleon (2 of 2) — Transcript

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0:05Okay, everybody. Welcome back. This is
0:07part two of our discussion of Napoleon,
0:10the age of Napoleon, his rise,
0:13um
0:14kind of the capper on our class in the
0:15French Revolution. If you all just
0:17watched the last video, um hopefully you
0:21know how he came to power, how basically
0:24the Directory um was too weak in the
0:27middle and so it feared its enemies on
0:28the left and then was eventually
0:30swallowed because it used the army um to
0:33crush those folks, the Jacobins, right?
0:35So, the army then rose up and swept them
0:38out of the way, led of course by
0:39Napoleon Bonaparte. We talked about his
0:42innovations, his brilliance, his
0:44ruthlessness, right? He is going to give
0:46the French people order,
0:48um codify legal system, he'll give them
0:51stability, and in exchange they will
0:53lose their liberty. Um and he's going to
0:56normalize relations with the church,
0:57right? Um we talked a lot about those
1:00sorts of things, and we just ended the
1:01last chap
1:03right, with um his smashing victory at
1:06Austerlitz and then spreading that
1:08French system through conquest. Um
1:12now,
1:14not everybody's on board with this, and
1:16right,
1:17the whole um of Europe since the
1:19struggles of the Bourbon monarchs in the
1:21late 1780s have kind of been watching
1:23France because it's big and despite its
1:26money troubles, powerful. Um
1:29so, there'd been these different Your
1:30book talks about this these coalitions
1:32of allied powers checking the power of
1:35France
1:36and in ancient what they call the dance
1:38of nations, right? The dance goes on.
1:40Um the biggest and most implacable foe
1:43was, of course, um Great Britain.
1:46The French
1:47were among the more premier, especially
1:49under Napoleon leadership, for a long
1:51time, them and the Prussians, um
1:53infantry forces in the world. So, if you
1:55wanted to tactics, even as latest the
1:57American Civil War,
1:58um the French were um copied. And of
2:01course, the most powerful navy
2:04um really until the Second World War
2:06uh belonged to England.
2:08So, Britain remains Napoleon's most
2:10persistent enemy. Um British naval
2:12strength, uh British financial
2:14resources, and British commercial
2:16networks, right?
2:18And also, it's on the first wave of the
2:20Industrial Revolution make it a very
2:22difficult enemy to defeat, right?
2:25Um at Trafalgar in 1805, that's October
2:281805, I believe. Admiral Nelson, Horatio
2:30Nelson, his fleet defeats the combined
2:33French and Spanish fleets,
2:35right, preventing Napoleon from
2:37seriously challenging Britain's command
2:39of the sea.
2:40Um unable to invade Britain
2:43successfully, and he did think about it,
2:45um he turns to economic warfare.
2:48So, we get the Continental System.
2:51Um
2:52Right, [clears throat] there it is
2:53there. You can see on the slide.
2:55It attempts to exclude Britain and
2:57British goods from European market. He
2:59wants to choke Britain's economy.
3:01Napoleon wanted economic pressure to
3:03damage British trade, create
3:04unemployment, and force the British to
3:07negotiate with him, right, to concede
3:09his dominance.
3:10Now, this is extremely difficult to try
3:13to enforce because
3:15it's a big coastline. You can't patrol
3:17all of it, and smuggling's going to be
3:18pretty widespread.
3:20Um European merchants and consumers
3:22depended on Britain and colonial goods
3:24from across
3:25British Empire, specifically sugar and
3:28fine silks and other things from China,
3:30um India.
3:31Um and so, French allies resented these
3:33restrictions that harmed their own
3:34economies. They They didn't want to be
3:36broke to help Napoleon's imperial
3:38ambitions.
3:40Britain also found alternative markets
3:42and used its navy to maintain those sort
3:45of global connections. They had done
3:46this for a while, but it kind of
3:47previews the way modern navies work now,
3:50right? The shipping lanes stay open to
3:52prevent protect commerce.
3:55The whole world hates pirates.
3:57Right? So, the attempt to close Europe
3:59to British commerce pushed Napoleon
4:01toward greater interventions in
4:03Portugal,
4:04um Spain, so the whole Iberian
4:06Peninsula, right? And eventually Russia.
4:09Now, the Continental System just kind of
4:11shows us the global nature of this this
4:13war. Napoleonic conflict is absolutely a
4:16uh proto world war.
4:18While Napoleon does control much of
4:20continental Europe, Britain's strength,
4:22right, for maritime commerce, credit,
4:24its colonies, and worldwide trade make
4:26it a very formidable opponent, and
4:28ultimately something he cannot defeat.
4:30Um
4:36The French Revolution also was an
4:38Atlantic world and colonial revolution.
4:41Saint-Domingue, which is Haiti, right?
4:44You can see Florida there on the left
4:46side, and New Orleans, French and later
4:48Spanish and French city.
4:50Um
4:51Saint-Domingue was the French uh their
4:53richest colony and their most profitable
4:55plantation society because its wealth
4:58depended on the brutal exploitation of
5:00kidnapped Africans as enslaved people
5:02working the sugar farms.
5:05They made sugar, sugarcane, and rum.
5:08Um the language [clears throat] of the
5:10rights of man obviously destabilized the
5:13natural supposedly natural order of the
5:16Haitian economy because
5:18quite reasonably the universal
5:20universality of that, the universal
5:23rights of man and citizen,
5:25if you're a black person living in Haiti
5:27or anywhere, really, that makes sense to
5:30you, right? Free people of color, the
5:33sans-culottes, right? Um
5:36demanded equality, enslaved people
5:38themselves launch a massive uprising,
5:41right, in 1791,
5:43and the conflict becomes entangled with
5:45the whole war between the French and
5:46Spanish, and the um English.
5:49By 1794, the French Republic had
5:52abolished slavery in its colonies.
5:54And Toussaint Louverture, he emerges as
5:57probably the most powerful leader um in
5:59Saint-Domingue.
6:01He also maintains a pretty complicated
6:03relationship with them. So, the Republic
6:04at least is trying to live out, you
6:07know, its universal pretensions.
6:10Well,
6:11the emperor, first the first consul,
6:13later the emperor Napoleon had different
6:15ideas.
6:16Um in 1802, right, he sent a major
6:19expedition under his brother-in-law,
6:21Charles Leclerc, um
6:24to reconquer and subdue um
6:27Saint-Domingue or Haiti because, as I
6:29said, extremely profitable.
6:31Um the French did capture Toussaint
6:33Louverture, who was deported to France
6:35and died in prison in 1803.
6:38Um but the expedition itself would face
6:40fierce island resistance and all kinds
6:44of disease.
6:46By the end of 1802, Napoleon had
6:49restored slavery in French colonies
6:51where abolition had not been successful.
6:53Like, if they hadn't moved ahead with
6:54that, they didn't get to move ahead now.
6:57Um but French actions convinced many
6:59black commanders in Saint-Domingue that
7:01preserving their freedom required
7:02complete independence. So, we have um
7:06guys like
7:07Jean-Jacques Dessalines, right, who
7:10defeated the French and declared
7:12independence completely, right? They're
7:13just trying to live out as part of the
7:15French Empire.
7:17The Haitians are basically saying, "Hey,
7:18we're part of France and we want to be
7:20part of this movement toward freedom,
7:22but if that's not going to be honored,
7:24we'll just be independent." They
7:25declared independence um under
7:27Dessalines in on January 1st,
7:311804.
7:34So, why do we care about Haiti?
7:36The Haitian Revolution will destroy
7:38um slavery in Saint-Domingue, defeating
7:40a major European power, the French, and
7:43creating the first independent black
7:45republic anywhere in the modern world,
7:47right? It also exposed the limits of
7:49French universalism, right?
7:52This is a revolution based on
7:54proclaiming human equality.
7:56Um
7:58but that equality did not consistently
8:00extend um across race, gender, or
8:02empire.
8:04Um the loss of Saint-Domingue also
8:06weakened Napoleon's plans for French
8:07America. He had ideas of
8:10um
8:11expanding out from
8:13uh New Orleans into the heartland of
8:15what became the United States.
8:17Losing Haiti convinced him perhaps it
8:19wasn't the best way to go. So, he ends
8:22up in 1803 selling um
8:25not only New Orleans, but all of
8:26Louisiana, the huge chunk,
8:29the Louisiana Purchase,
8:31to emissaries of Thomas Jefferson.
8:34Now, the Louisiana Purchase and the
8:35Haitian independence will also reshape
8:37the essential in North America, right?
8:39The Americans themselves. Um the failure
8:41of
8:42Napoleon's colonial project will
8:44absolutely contribute directly to the
8:46territorial expansion of the United
8:47States because it doubled the United
8:49States.
8:50Um
8:51>> [clears throat]
8:52>> the existence of Haiti as a free society
8:55of black folks
8:56will absolutely challenge the slave
8:57societies in North, Central, and South
9:00America. More specifically, um
9:03the United States and Brazil.
9:05Um any kind of Napoleon limited to
9:08European battlefields misses this key
9:10chunk, Atlantic reflection of his
9:12history, right? The limits of
9:14universalism, the limits of empire,
9:17right? And um I think the limitless
9:20nature of human hope and striving.
9:24>> [clears throat]
9:26>> Now, the Spanish ulcer.
9:29Portugal refused
9:30um
9:31or didn't want to enforce the
9:32Continental System, and so Napoleon led
9:35it um an invasion right of the whole
9:37Iberian Peninsula. Iberia is the
9:39peninsula that includes
9:41um why you would why I'm reaching to the
9:43screen.
9:44All you can see is slide 18 there. It's
9:48the slide it's all where Spain and
9:50Portugal sit. That's Iberia. Right? So,
9:53Napoleon's going to intervene because
9:55the Portuguese, they had a pretty strong
9:56navy themselves, will not they don't
9:58really want to enforce the colonial
10:00system.
10:02In 1808,
10:04um Napoleon force the Spanish Bourbon
10:06monarchs, relatives of the
10:08um deposed dead
10:10French royal family,
10:13he has brothers and he'll come back to
10:14abdicate. So, in 1808, um the Spanish
10:17Bourbons abdicate and he places his
10:19brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish
10:21throne.
10:22He then expects Spain to accept the new
10:24regime particularly um French rule
10:27because he promised administrative
10:29reform.
10:30Um that didn't happen.
10:33Instead, what you get is a broad
10:35uprising. First of all, there was
10:37popular and religious
10:39resistance.
10:40Spanish resistance included regular
10:42armies, local juntas, let's see,
10:44priests, peasants, townspeople, and
10:47guerrilla fighters. Indeed, the term
10:48guerrilla means little war because it
10:50was associated with the regular attacks
10:52on occupying forces. You know, have a
10:54large army, you snipe at them from the
10:55weeds, right?
10:57This war was exceptionally
11:00brutal even for Napoleonic standards.
11:03French troops were carried out um
11:07cleansing missions, reprisals against
11:09civilians, and resistance attacks
11:13um
11:14absolutely hammered soldiers and
11:15collaborators without any
11:17semblance of the rules of war, any kind
11:19of notion of valor.
11:20Uh I didn't include [clears throat] him
11:21in the slides, but you can look him up.
11:23Francisco Goya has all sorts of prints
11:25and paintings capturing the conflicts
11:28moral ambiguity and
11:30deep violence. It's horror, really. It's
11:33terrible. So, if you have a chance, look
11:34up Goya.
11:35Um
11:37in the Spanish war with France there.
11:39Spanish resistance was politically
11:41diverse.
11:42Some opposed France because they were
11:45defending the monarchy and defending
11:47Catholicism.
11:48Others wanted national independence not
11:50to be under the boot of Napoleon and
11:52real constitutional reform.
11:54Uh 1812 representatives met at Cadiz
11:58producing the liberal constitution based
12:01on national sovereignty.
12:03Um after that, resisting Napoleon became
12:06both conservative and
12:08revolutionary cuz everybody wants
12:10independence.
12:12We also see the birth of modern
12:13nationalism in Spain. I would
12:16I argue extend that to um
12:18France as well. The Spanish conflict
12:20kind of lets us see a larger paradox.
12:23Um I think French conquest spread the
12:25principle that sovereignty belong to
12:26nations, but French domination
12:28encouraged conquered peoples to define
12:30themselves as not French.
12:33Right? Napoleon will reorganize Germany
12:35and Italy weakening old dynasties and
12:37dismantle dismantling traditional
12:39institutions.
12:40He did not create a unified German or
12:42Italian nation-state, right? But his
12:44actions intensified arguments about
12:46national identity, what it means to be
12:48German, what it means to be Italian,
12:50what it means to be Spanish,
12:52English,
12:54um Swiss even.
12:56Um he borrowed um from the French
12:58Revolution
13:00nationalism borrowed it to challenge the
13:02French Empire.
13:03So, there's an irony there. The French
13:04Revolution gives us a universal language
13:06and a fierce kind of determinism in the
13:09pursuit of idiosyncratic or culturally
13:11specific goals.
13:18Okay.
13:19This is where Napoleon extends himself
13:20too far.
13:22Um relations between Tsar Alexander the
13:25First um and Napoleon of course,
13:27deteriorate after, um,
13:29Tilsit.
13:30Russia had suffered, um,
13:32immensely from the Continental System
13:34and resented French influence across
13:36Europe.
13:37Napoleon also feared that an independent
13:39Russia would undermine his Continental
13:41order. It was too big and too strong.
13:43So,
13:44June 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia with
13:47his Grand Army. This is one of the
13:49finest armies anywhere
13:51in the world to that point.
13:53I put it on the slide. I'm not sure if
13:55it showed came through as clearly as I
13:58hoped, but at the top right there on
13:59slide 19, you can see the numbers and
14:02how, basically, the French army
14:04dwindles, um,
14:05as it invades the massive Russian
14:07countryside.
14:08Um, the Grand Army included troops from
14:10across the French Empire and its allied
14:11states. They made people from Russia and
14:13the German states, uh, Low Country,
14:15wherever they were, Italians served.
14:17Um, the force's diversity, of course,
14:19demonstrates Napoleon's power, but it
14:21also revealed his dependence on
14:22reluctant people. And the Romans were
14:261,800 years earlier had learned this
14:27lesson.
14:29About 1,400.
14:30Um, Russian forces avoided decisive
14:33battles because they knew Napoleon was
14:35better than them with the bigger army.
14:37So, what do they do? They retreat and
14:38draw him into the countryside. This
14:40tactic will be repeated during the
14:42Second World War.
14:44As they withdrew, they would, uh, deny
14:46the invaders supplies and drew them
14:47farther and farther into the Russian
14:48interior.
14:50Um, it was the Battle of Borodino in
14:53September,
14:55right?
14:57This is all happening in 1812.
15:00Um,
15:02was enormously costly and it failed to
15:04destroy the Russian army. I mean,
15:05technically, he wins, but at what cost?
15:08Alexander also refuses to negotiate and
15:11he waits too long before he retreats for
15:13winter, right?
15:15Um,
15:17Napoleon's going to enter Moscow, but
15:18the city itself was largely abandoned
15:19and destroyed by fire. The Tsar won't
15:22negotiate and then Napoleon waited too
15:24long to get out. His retreat became an
15:26absolute catastrophe. You've got hunger,
15:29disease, desertion, exhaustion.
15:32Russian attacks snapping at the sides,
15:34um brutally cold winter weather. All
15:36this destroying the Grand Army.
15:39Um it can't be explained just by cold
15:42weather though. Napoleon's logistical
15:43system was simply incapable of
15:45sustaining such an enormous force over
15:47such long distances and this will happen
15:49again to the same thing happens to the
15:51Germans. It's just too long a supply
15:54line.
15:55Right?
15:56Um Napoleonic strategy depended on
15:58decisive victories and political
16:00settlements afterward which the Russians
16:01refused to engage. So if you can't
16:04knock them out
16:06you can't persuade them to quit and to
16:08make a concession cuz they're not beat.
16:11Now what does the Russian campaign do?
16:14This absolutely shatters the myth of
16:16Napoleon as invincible, right? European
16:18states now had an opportunity to unite
16:20against him and they surely would.
16:23He'd just been winning before this.
16:29The Sixth Coalition.
16:30Um
16:33It's Russia, Prussia, it's a Poland,
16:36German
16:37um Austria and Britain and a few others
16:39that you don't need to know formed a new
16:40coalition, the Sixth Coalition, right?
16:42So in 1813 Napoleon was defeated at the
16:45Battle of Leipzig, called the Battle of
16:47the Nations.
16:49Allied forces then invaded France in
16:501814
16:52and Napoleon, uh understanding he was
16:54beaten, was exiled to the island of
16:56Elba.
16:58The monarchy was restored under Louis
17:00the 18th, brother of
17:04the executed Louis the 16th, right? And
17:06his son who had died
17:08uh was Louis the 17th. This is why you
17:10got to skip.
17:11The restoration did not want to create
17:13the old regime, right? Louis did issue
17:16constitutional charters many
17:18administrative reforms, and accepting
17:19important changes in property ownership.
17:25Um
17:26they also had to acknowledge legal
17:27equality. So, you have these Bourbons,
17:29right? Um they have to govern in a new
17:32reality.
17:35In 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba and
17:38returned to France. Troops sent to
17:40arrest him instead joined him.
17:43Uh Louis the 18th fled, and Napoleon
17:45resumed power in an episode history
17:47still calls, your book talks about this,
17:49the 100 Days.
17:51The European powers quickly renewed the
17:52war. They did not want to face
17:55the prospect of a reinvigorated
17:56Napoleon.
17:58On June 18th, it is 1815, um Napoleon
18:03was defeated
18:04by the Duke of Wellington and the um
18:07Prussian commander, his name was Gebhard
18:09von Blücher,
18:11at Waterloo.
18:13And um Wellington obviously said it was
18:15a near run thing.
18:17So, Napoleon almost won.
18:19Um Napoleon abdicated again. This time
18:22he was exiled to St. Helena, a remote
18:24British-controlled island in the South
18:26Atlantic. Hard to get to, hard to leave.
18:29He would die there 6 years later in
18:311821.
18:33Waterloo would, of course, end
18:34Napoleon's rule, but it did not erase
18:36his institutions or the impact of the
18:39French Revolution on Europe and the
18:41world.
18:43What happens next?
18:45Your book talks about this, right? The
18:47Congress of Vienna.
18:48It met from 1814 to 1815 to reconstruct
18:52Europe after more than 20-plus years of
18:55war, right? The major powers wanted
18:58stability, they wanted legitimacy, they
19:01wanted a balance, they wanted stability.
19:03They wanted to prevent another French
19:05bid for continental dominance, and they
19:07didn't want another wave of
19:08revolutionary people. They just wanted
19:10to keep the peace.
19:11Okay. So, what does the settlement do?
19:13They restored several dynasties and
19:15withdrew borders and I think I have a
19:17map on the next slide for you on that.
19:19France is going to be contained but not
19:21permanently destroyed.
19:23We also get a kingdom of the Netherlands
19:25to the north, the Dutch to check them.
19:27Prussia [snorts] will get territory in
19:29the Rhineland while Austria will
19:30strengthen its position in the Italy.
19:33And the Russians will get Poland, part
19:36of Poland.
19:37The German territories were organized
19:39into a German Confederation, the Holy
19:41Roman Empire
19:43dead.
19:45So,
19:47the Congress of Vienna is often
19:49described as kind of a conservative
19:50restoration and it certainly will defend
19:53monarchy, right?
19:54As opposed to revolutionary kind of
19:56radicalism.
19:58But the statesmen in Vienna
20:01could not
20:02wind Europe back to 1788.
20:05Let alone 1756. They did not recreate
20:08the Holy Roman Empire, for instance.
20:10They did not restore about every single
20:12abolished principality, corporate
20:14privilege, feudal right, or church
20:16privilege.
20:18They had to accept many of Napoleon's
20:19territorial consolidations and
20:21administrative changes. It just was.
20:23So, what should y'all take away at the
20:24end of a summer class?
20:26The settlement should be seen as both
20:29restorative and innovative. Now, it
20:31attempted to both preserve dynastic rule
20:33using a new international system of
20:35negotiation and great power cooperation.
20:38And this will hold basically through the
20:40first saying and in some ways taking
20:41over war.
20:42When you get the hegemonic rise of
20:46Soviet Union and United States.
20:47Um all the powers of Europe increasingly
20:51treat European stability as a collective
20:53responsibility.
20:55You have to keep the peace.
20:58And this has been called the concert of
20:59Europe. The dance goes on.
21:03So, you can see, right?
21:06The map there, there's the kingdom of
21:08Denmark to the north, right? The
21:10Netherlands, there's the German
21:12Confederation, that patchwork in the
21:14middle of the map, there's Great
21:15Britain,
21:16Sweden,
21:17we see uh of course the French,
21:21the Spanish and the Portugal uh
21:23Portuguese.
21:24And then in the middle there is the
21:26Swiss down by
21:29uh I'm sorry.
21:30The southeastern
21:32chunk uh of the France, right? So, you
21:35can kind of pause there if you want to
21:36see how things have changed, but I'll
21:39summarize now
21:41and wrap this up.
21:44So,
21:46did Napoleon
21:48preserve or betray the French
21:50Revolution?
21:52You can argue it a few ways.
21:54Napoleon did preserve the abolition of
21:56feudal privilege.
21:58He protected the new distribution of
21:59property created by revolutionary land
22:01sales. He maintained legal equality for
22:03men. He standardized administration. He
22:06extended careers based on state service
22:08and prevented a full aristocratic rule
22:11return to power. His armies, right? Um
22:13carried legal reforms, secularization,
22:15so the separation of church and state,
22:17um the destruction of corporate
22:19privilege all across Europe. Even after
22:21he was defeated, even after he had to go
22:23to St. Helena,
22:24um right? And now Elba,
22:26many of these reforms are going to
22:27stick.
22:28He also governed in the name of the
22:30nation.
22:33Yes, he had referendums and they were
22:35certainly manipulated, but their
22:37existence reflected the revolutionary
22:39idea that that um political authority
22:41required some form of popular
22:43ratification.
22:46Um
22:47how did he betray it?
22:48Well, he destroyed the representative
22:50republic. He absolutely censored the
22:52press. He certainly imprisoned political
22:54opponents as any king or czar would. He
22:57manipulated elections and concentrated
22:59all meaningful power in his own hands.
23:02He created a hereditary empire with
23:04himself as emperor.
23:05He established a new nobility.
23:08Um he placed relatives on foreign
23:10thrones.
23:12His legal system strengthened
23:13patriarchal rule.
23:15His police state restricted political
23:16freedom.
23:19His colonial policies, when and where
23:21possible, included the restoration of
23:23slavery.
23:25The Napoleonic War also is an acute
23:27human suffering catastrophe.
23:30Um it treated European populations as
23:32sources of taxes, soldiers, and
23:34resources.
23:35Um [clears throat]
23:38the French army literally at some point
23:40raped its way across Europe.
23:42That's not an exaggeration.
23:44>> [clears throat]
23:46>> So, kind of happens in all wars, but
23:48this is a massive war with a lot of
23:50soldiers unleashed, right?
23:52Um so, what's more useful for y'all as
23:54history students?
23:55The choice between preservation and
23:57betrayal is probably too simple.
23:59He does preserve the revolution in my
24:01mind, social and administrative
24:03transformations, right, while
24:04suppressing democratic and participatory
24:06possibilities. Kind of bottles it.
24:10He institutionalized equality before the
24:12law, but not political equality. In
24:14fact, he protects property, but
24:16restricts liberty.
24:18He rewards talent, but demands
24:19obedience.
24:21He exported reform through conquest and
24:23turned liberation, ironically, into
24:26imperial domination.
24:28Napoleon did not end the revolution by
24:29restoring the old regime. He ended it by
24:31creating an authoritarian state built
24:33from
24:35um the materials of the revolution
24:36itself.
24:42So,
24:44been together almost 8 weeks now. What's
24:46the difference?
24:47Um in 1856, France was ruled by Louis
24:50the 15th. Marie Antoinette was an
24:52Austrian Archduchess, not even queen
24:54yet.
24:55The alliance between the Bourbon French
24:57and the Habsburg Austrians represented a
24:59diplomatic revolution and a major
25:02rearranging of the traditional dynastic
25:04um
25:06alliances.
25:08Oh, my camera's being weird. Let me just
25:10try it this way. Hopefully everybody can
25:11hear me.
25:12Um
25:16Now, remember the Seven Years War was a
25:17global conflict. This involves the
25:19Americans, but most um European
25:21governments did not claim to mobilize
25:23entire nations. Soldiers served kings
25:26and princes rather than any national
25:27community.
25:29France's defeat in 1756, right,
25:31contributes directly to their financial
25:32problems and their desire for revenge
25:36um against the British, right? French
25:38support for the Americans will deepen
25:40their fiscal crisis. So, right, they
25:43fought a losing war at Britain and then
25:44they backed America to winning, but it
25:46also just deepens the red.
25:48Um
25:49that will produce the crisis of 1789,
25:52which eventually will call the Estates
25:53General to kick the king off the throne.
25:55Um
25:56>> [clears throat]
25:56>> The revolutionary era grew in part from
25:58the unfinished consequences of the
26:00imperial and dynastic ambitions of the
26:021750s.
26:03Okay.
26:04What about 1815? Monarchs once again
26:07occupied the major thrones of Europe. On
26:09the surface, restoration appears to
26:11defeated revolution.
26:12But, as I've been telling y'all, that's
26:14too simple because these monarchies rule
26:16a very different world. They now face
26:18constitutions, nationalism, public
26:20opinion, newspapers, memories of popular
26:24sovereignty, veterans of mass armies,
26:26new property owners, legal systems that
26:28are now reformed, and populations that
26:30had witnessed governments rise and fall
26:32and rise again undermining any kind of
26:35um
26:37See if this is working now. I hope so.
26:39Bye.
26:41The Congress of Vienna restored order,
26:42it's true, but it could not restore
26:44innocence.
26:45Europe's rulers now knew the monarchies
26:48could be overthrown.
26:50Kings could be executed. Peasants could
26:53rise, enslaved people could defeat
26:55empires, and ordinary citizens
26:57absolutely could and would mobilize for
27:00politics and war.
27:02Um, I've put this on here, slide 25. You
27:06can feel free like to pause this and
27:08kind of go through that for your notes.
27:10Um,
27:12I hope it's not too badly blurry. I just
27:14I included that here. So, just if you
27:16want, just um, pause me speaking. I'll
27:20just put my thumb up. All right.
27:23Um, to take those notes.
27:27So,
27:29the biggest themes of our class, I
27:30think, involve sovereignty, equality,
27:32liberty, authority, and the centralized
27:34state, universal rights, the idea of
27:36them, right, and the boundaries of
27:37citizenship, where it extends and where
27:39it doesn't. We also talked about
27:41liberation, empire, and nationalism, and
27:44of course, revolution, war,
27:45and violence.
27:48Um, sovereignty moves from the king to
27:50the nation. That's the first thing,
27:51right?
27:52In the old regime, royal authority was
27:54theoretically grounded in dynasty,
27:56religion, and tradition. After 1789, it
27:59rests on the nation.
28:02Equality will destroy privilege, but not
28:04eliminate hierarchy, cuz there's lots of
28:05ways to rank things. If you can't do it
28:07by privilege and family, you can sure do
28:09it by money.
28:12But, the rights of universal, um, became
28:14a political language, right? The
28:15Declaration of the Rights of Man and
28:16Citizen claimed that rights were natural
28:19and universal, apparent, building on the
28:21American example. That's once you put
28:22that out there, such principles can be
28:25used by anybody. Women, free people of
28:27color, enslaved people, religious
28:29minorities, colonial subjects, all could
28:31ask, "Why don't they apply to me?"
28:34Popular politics, right, um, becomes a
28:37permanent force. Crowds, clubs, mobs,
28:40petitions, newspapers, festivals,
28:42elections, political societies, mass
28:44armies bring ordinary people into the
28:46national politics, and they have not
28:47left even to our own day in the age of
28:50Twitter and Instagram.
28:52The voice of the people, crude, rude,
28:54sometimes wise,
28:56has been with us ever since, right? The
28:57most famous for the French are the
28:59sans-culottes.
29:01All right, urban workers and artisans
29:03exerting this tremendous power.
29:06We also get the creation of the
29:08centralized state.
29:10Revolution certainly abolished the old
29:11provinces
29:12um attacking all that independent stat
29:15stat kind of a rule.
29:17Um all this does is centralize
29:19government and bureaucracy.
29:22Right, war
29:24radicalized the revolution. So, fear of
29:26invasion, internal conspiracy also
29:28contribute both to the fall of the
29:29monarchy, the September massacres, um
29:33emergency power in government, right?
29:35The terror
29:36and finally drafting and conscription.
29:39Empire itself gives us the limits of
29:41French nationalism and French
29:43revolutionary goals.
29:44They don't extend to conquered people.
29:46Folks of color are enslaved.
29:50Fate of women,
29:52right? Jacobins will close um political
29:54clubs for women.
29:56Um the revolution will disrupt gender
29:58relations, but ultimately reconstruct, I
30:00think, along bourgeois lines of male
30:03political
30:04and legal dominance that will last for
30:05another century.
30:08Our course um has challenged many easy
30:10distinctions between revolutionary
30:12terror and state violence.
30:14Um the terror, right? We talked about
30:16that at length.
30:19Emergency power in the service of the
30:21state,
30:22at what cost?
30:29Between 1756 and 1815, the Atlantic
30:32world moved from an age of dynastic
30:33competition and privileged order into an
30:35age increasingly shaped by nations,
30:38citizens, rights, centralized
30:40governments, mass warfare, and the
30:43politics of ideas. Ideological.
30:47It's hard to negotiate with an idea.
30:49So, it's going to be rough from here on
30:51out, but interesting.
30:52Now, all of this Napoleon writes that at
30:54the center.
30:55He was the product of the revolution
30:57because his career depended on the
30:59destruction of old regime. That's how
31:00you advance in the army.
31:02He was a consolidator. He transformed
31:04its reforms into durable institutions,
31:06that's the Napoleonic code.
31:08He was its betrayer, extinguishing
31:10Republican liberty and restoring
31:11authoritarian hereditary rule under
31:13himself.
31:14He was also its exporter,
31:17taking the revolution
31:19global.
31:21Probably Napoleon's greatest
31:22contradiction was that he tried to make
31:23revolutionary transformation serve
31:25imperial domination.
31:27Those two things don't make sense.
31:30His armies taught Europe that old
31:32institutions could be demolished, but
31:34occupation taught them to resist the
31:35French.
31:36His empire spread nationalism
31:39while the na- the
31:40um denying national independence. That's
31:43That's not going to work. It's just
31:44going to make people hungry for their
31:45own.
31:46His government proclaimed merit while
31:47enforcing hierarchy.
31:49His legal system right established
31:51equality while subordinating women and
31:53people of color.
31:55He reconciled with the church,
31:57make sure the church stayed under
31:58control.
31:59His colonial ambitions demonstrate the
32:01racial limits of French claims of
32:03universal equality absolutely existed.
32:07Napoleon was ultimately defeated, but
32:09the world that defeated him had been
32:11transformed by the struggle to defeat
32:13him. And that's what we've been talking
32:14about.
32:16So, those people that assembled in
32:18Vienna in 1815 could restore dynasties,
32:20but they could not restore the
32:21political, cultural, and social
32:23assumptions of 1756.
32:26Simply stated, the world had changed.
32:28All right, if you have any questions,
32:30email me. Also, the module is a little
32:33confusing at the end here. You don't
32:35have anything else to watch. There's an
32:36extra credit, but I highly doubt any of
32:38y'all paid 30 bucks for that Blu-ray to
32:40watch a 5-hour
32:41pretty brilliant film, but it's 5 hours
32:44about Napoleon. There is extra credit
32:45for that if you have it. Um you just
32:47send it to me. Um and in the main, I
32:50hope everybody's blessed. Thank you all
32:51so much. God bless.

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