The Tennis Court Oath History Essay

Tennis Court Oath- The tennis court oath took place in 1789. The national assembly met on a tennis court on June 20th. They swore the tennis court oath, which was that they would not disperse until France had a written constitution with a new government. After this oath took place, Louis met with all the leaders and made major reforms in the tax system. Louis also merged the three estates. This made the liberals very happy ad they went crazy. Louis had to call in troops to control them. France went downhill from here and everything broke out in chaos.

Storming of the Bastille- On July 14, 1789 some men broke down the draw bridge of the old prison. It was known as the Bastille. The mob of men rushed in and killed 120 guards. Even though this was sad so many men were killed, this day became a symbol of freedom. France’s Independence Day is July 14th and is still celebrated today.

March on Versailles- The march on Versailles took place during October of 1989. When the Paris liberals heard about the Flanders regiment rejecting the assembly, they got very upset. The Paris liberals organized a mob of men and women to march to Versailles to protest. They went to Versailles and demanded the queen’s head. Louis dismissed the Flanders regiment and called the National Guard for protection. This was a big mistake. The National Guard arrived late that night and they went to sleep, leaving the gates unguarded. The mob invaded the courtyard and the chief officer’s head was cut off. They put his head and other officer’s heads on pikes and carried them to Paris. The mob followed Louis and Antoinette to Paris. The assembly took care of the mob. Louis and Antoinette moved into Tuileries palace; the palace at Versailles was never inhabited again.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy- In July of 1790 the assembly passed the civil constitution of the clergy. Even with non-Catholics voting, priests and bishops were to be elected. The priests and bishops who did not take an oath to the constitution were no longer allowed to serve. Only seven bishops took the oath and the others served the people in secret. Pope Pius VI condemned the civil constitution. Louis signed it because he did not want more bloodshed. This caused a lot of chaos in France. Laws were not enforced and no one had any protection.

Flight to Varennes- The flight to Varennes was in June of 1791 when the royal family decided to escape from Paris. The attempted escape was planned by Axel Ferson. His plan was that Louis and Antoinette would secretly leave Tuileries. Then be taken out of Paris by carriage at night. The troops would be awaiting them in three different towns safely away from Paris. But there were several mistakes in this plan even though it was good. While they were trying to escape, someone noticed and rushed to Varennes to stop them. He made Louis agree to return to Paris. The flight to freedom turned into the flight to Varennes. The royal family lost its change to save itself.

September Massacres- The September massacres lasted a full week in September of 1792. It started out with the arrest of the king and the Prussians crossing the frontier on August 19th. The assembly decreed the imprisonment of all families of the émigrés. 150 murderers were hired and sent into the prisons where they massacred 1400 prisoners. They tore their bodies to pieces. This affected so many people’s lives and it was a very tragic event.

Battle of Valmy- On September 20th Brunswick’s allied army stood at Valmy. Brunswick convinced the king of Drussia, to call off the attack. The Prussians retreated and the Revolutionary Army proclaimed victory. We later found out that the Duke had thrown the battle of Valmy in exchange for the blue diamond of the Golden Fleece.

Coup d’état of Brumaire- The coup d’état of Brumaire was an event that took place on November 4th, 1799. This was 18 Brumaire on the revolutionary calendar. Napoleon went to the council on this day and dressed in a toga to try to imitate the old Roman senate. His speech started out bad but he called in his troops and pulled himself together. His troops came in wearing togas and Napoleon succeeded. Napoleon became first consul and the people ratified the constitution of the year VIII. They were grateful for someone who could keep order. The revolutionary violence was finally over and France ruled as a monarch.

Identifications.

Concordat- The Concordat was an agreement between the government and the Vatican and it was concluded in 1801. This agreement involved Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. It reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the major church of France. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly stole Church items and issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy which removed the pope’s authority.

Siege of Zaragoza- On June 15th General Lefebvre sent three columns against the Zaragoza walls. This caused uproar in the city and they broke out into hand to hand combat. When the Spaniards ran out of shot, they filled their cannons with glass and pieces of scrap metal. The French lost 700 men and the Spaniards only lost 300. On January 10th the battle was still going on and the walls began to crumble. The French attacked and they killed several people. On February 19th the streets were filled with dead bodies because not enough people were still alive to even bury the dead. The Zaragoza’s lost the battle.

Congress of Vienna- The Congress of Vienna was held in September 1814 to determine what should be done with the rest of Napoleons Empire. But in February they received news that Napoleon had left for France. This made everyone really upset and the Congress of Vienna turned into a war. The English and Prussian armies did not compare to the size of Napoleons army. The Prussians ended up getting crushed and Napoleon ordered the other general to hold their men while the emperor dealt with the British forces.

Waterloo- The Battle of Waterloo was on June 18, 1815. Forces of the French Empire were defeated by the Prussian army. This defeat put an end to Napoleon’s rule as the French emperor. When Napoleon returned back power in 1815, several states that were opposing him formed the Seventh Coaliltion and they began to mobilize armies. Napoleon chose to attack and was hoping he could destroy them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France. This resulted in the Battle of Waterloo. One of the significances that came out of this battle was that the treaty of Paris was signed a few months after the battle. The treaty restored Louis XVIII to the throne of France and Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena and he died in 1821.

Trafalgar- The Battle of Trafalgar was a battle fought at sea between the British navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy. This was during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleon Wars. The British won this battle and it confirmed the good naval tactics they established throughout the years.

Essays

Summarize the reign of Pius IX

Pope Pius IX was the longest reigning Pope in Church history, he served almost 32 years. He was an excellent Pope and did many things. He created the First Vatican Council in 1869 and he defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This means that he defined Mary was conceived without original sin and lived her life without sin. Pius was a Marian pope and very conservative, he was considered as the first modern pope. Shortly after he was elected pope he introduced political reforms. He began the construction of railways, and the installation of street lighting in Rome. Pius was the first pope to write encyclicals on his views. In 1868 Pius became really sick and got sores all over his body. He ended up dying in 1878 at age 85 and was beatified in 2000.

Define imperialism. Explain one example of good done by imperialism and one good example of harm done by imperialism.

Imperialism was the drive by the European nations for political and economic control over Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Great Britain was the first to become an imperialist power. They controlled India by the late eighteenth century until 1947. In China, England showed an example of imperialism at its worst. In the early 1800’s the Englishmen built a profitable trade in China and bribed the Chinese government. A group of Chinese Protestants rebelled against the government and this was called the “Taiping Rebellion”. The British authorities called in their best general, Charles Gordon to command the Chinese army. Gordon took care of the rebellion and the trade was safe. There were also good examples of imperialism, such as, England’s control over India. Before England came to India, they were very immoral and there were no laws. The England officials took away all the thugs and made laws. This made the Indian’s society more just and fair.