The French Revolution and the Unification of Germany: A Concise Overview

The French Revolution

The Gironde Convention

The Republic was in the hands of the Girondins, who called for universal male suffrage elections for the new National Convention. The Convention conducted a trial of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, who were ultimately executed by guillotine. The king's death led to the formation of a coalition of European monarchies against revolutionary France.

In 1793, the Republic was in danger. Internally, counterrevolutionary riots erupted. Externally, allied armies invaded France.

The Jacobin Convention

In 1793, the Jacobins seized power and arrested the main Girondin political leaders. That same year, they promulgated a new constitution based on social democracy: popular sovereignty, universal suffrage, and the right to equality. The executive power was placed in the hands of a Committee of National Salvation, which concentrated all power in Robespierre.

The Republic organized an army, implemented the levée en masse (mass conscription), and initiated the Reign of Terror. The Committee suspended freedoms, and revolutionary courts punished suspected counterrevolutionaries with imprisonment or death.

The Committee of Public Safety approved a series of social laws: price and wage controls, distribution of counterrevolutionary assets among the poor, the sale of clergy lands in small lots, and compulsory education. Churches were closed, and the Cult of Reason was established.

The Fall of the Jacobins

By 1794, the threats had decreased: internal revolts had been quelled, and the French armies were prevailing against the foreign coalition.

The Thermidorian Reaction in 1794 overthrew and executed Robespierre and other Jacobin leaders.

The Bourgeois Republic

After the coup, the conservative bourgeoisie regained control of the Revolution. They drafted a new constitution that vested executive power in a five-person Directory, restored census suffrage, and established a bicameral legislature (the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients).

In 1799, a young Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup, ending the Directory and establishing the Consulate.

The Unification of Germany

The main obstacle to German unification was the rivalry between Prussia and Austria. Prussia, led by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, sought to unify Germany under its leadership. It strengthened the Zollverein, a customs union encompassing all German states except Austria. Bismarck orchestrated wars against Austria and France, which allowed all German states to unite under a single Prussian king. In 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed, and Wilhelm I was appointed Kaiser.