The French Revolution and European Unification Movements

The Constitutional Monarchy (1789–1792)

The moderate bourgeoisie sought an agreement with the King to transform France into a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy.

• Abolished feudalism and approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, establishing individual freedoms and equality before the law and in taxation.
• Drafted a Constitution (1791) based on the separation of powers, national sovereignty, and legal equality, though the King reserved the right of veto.

Once the Constitution was approved, a Legislative Assembly was formed. This body drafted new laws to implement liberalism, forced the nobility to pay taxes, and abolished the guilds. The state promised to fund the practice of Catholicism, while the Civil Constitution of the Clergy separated the Church and the state.

The royal family and the privileged classes rejected these changes and requested that absolute monarchies in Europe restore absolutism. Consequently, the Austrian army invaded France, and Louis XVI fled Paris (Flight to Varennes, June 1791).

The Directory (1794–1799)

Following the Reign of Terror, a new Constitution (1795) granted executive power to a collegial government known as the Directory and restored census suffrage. In this context of crisis and war against absolutist powers, General Napoléon Bonaparte organized a coup in 1799 that ended the Directory.

Economic Liberalization

• Guilds, which regulated and hindered the growth of production, were abolished, and freedom of trade and contract was implemented.
• Internal customs that charged taxes on goods and made trade difficult were ended.
• A new decimal system of measurement, the metric system, was introduced to make the exchange of goods easier.

Italian Unification

In 1859, the liberal monarchy of Piedmont-Sardinia, governed by Prime Minister Cavour, initiated a unification process. They declared war on Austria and annexed Lombardy. Simultaneously, a popular uprising led by Garibaldi overthrew the absolute monarchies in central and southern Italy.

In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy was proclaimed King of Italy. In 1866, Austria ceded Venetia, and in 1870, the Papal States were annexed. The newly unified state established its capital in Rome.

German Unification

In 1834, Prussia created a customs union (Zollverein) that united the majority of Germanic states. In 1861, the first moves toward a united Germany were made as Wilhelm I became King of Prussia and appointed Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor.

Prussia declared war on Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and France in 1870. Prussia was victorious in all three conflicts, making the unification of Germany possible. In 1871, Wilhelm I was proclaimed Kaiser (Emperor) of the Second German Empire (Reich).