AOR: Lesson - Revolutions: The French Revolution - Outcomes

David's painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps shows Napoleon on his horse, leading a charge.

The French Revolution - Outcomes

The Guillotine

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were both executed by guillotine. The victim was made to lie down on the bench with their head through the circle (see the images on the previous page showing Louis and Marie Antoinette). The blade was released and cut off the head in one slice. The head then fell into a basket attached to the contraption. Both Louis and Marie were referred to not by their royal titles but by their first and last names. They were also dressed in white to show that they were common citizens now.

The Reign of Terror and the End of the French Revolution

In the centuries before the revolution, people were executed in all kinds of ways that doubled as torture: hanging, beheading by axe, quartering, etc. However, King Louis XVI died by guillotine, a new device designed to kill swiftly, efficiently, and without regard to status. The summer after the king’s death, the Jacobin leader Maximillian Robespierre instituted more changes in the government. Inspired by Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire that criticized the church, he got rid of the Gregorian calendar and abolished Christianity. Anyone that disagreed with the revolution or the new government was subject to arrest and execution. 300,000 French citizens were arrested, and 40,000 (or more) were executed by guillotine. This was called the Reign of Terror. Eventually, Robespierre himself faced trial and was executed.

By this point, the new government, which lasted until 1799, seemed to be just as corrupt as the monarchy. The military, led by General Napoleon Bonaparte, staged a successful coup d’état. The people, now exhausted from a decade of revolution that never quite seemed to fix their immediate economic problems, accepted Napoleon Bonaparte as their new leader and approved a constitution that gave him total power. He created the Napoleonic Code (that guaranteed equality before the law), returned personal property and Christianity, instituted safe banks, and provided universal education. However, this was not Napoleon's endgame, as he had larger aims.

Practice Activity

Below is a list of events that happened on the following dates:

  • May 1774
  • May 1789
  • July 1789
  • August 1789
  • 1793-1794
  • November 1799

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