ASPECT 2: POLITICS

                                          ASPECT 2: POLITICS

• 1748- Separation of powers: In 1748, Baron de Montesquieu established the separation of powers which means that the government it's divided into:

1. Executive power, the king and his ministers ( to carry out the laws)
2. Legislative power, members of the Parliament ( to make the laws)
3. Judicial power, the judges of the courts ( to interpret the laws)

• 1789-French revolution begins: The 14th July of 1789 the French revolution begins. Louis XVI refused to accept the National Assembly and begun collect troops. Parisians, angry and impatient stormed the royal armoury, the Bastille. Citizens begun to form militias, National Guards to defend the Assembly.

•  1789- The Declaration: By August, the Assembly felt they needed a solution for the situation. They made the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the Citizens, in which they abolished the nobility titles in France. Everyone is declared to be equal before the law. The motto of the revolution was also made in that time:  "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"

• 1793-Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette executed: Most of the people involved in these changes are members of a radical political organization, the Jacobin Club. Their influence helped the National Convention reduce Louis XVI's role from being a king, to be a prisoner. His trial ended in January, 1793 and he and his family are sentenced to death. The 21 January the execution is done.  

• 1797- Napoleon defeats Austrians: He takes the leadership of the French troops in Italy. Although the army is in ruins, demoralized and poorly equipped, he manages to lead them to a series of victories driving the Austrians out of Italy.

• 1800- Napoleon makes himself First Consul: When Napoleon returns from Egypt, his friends urge him to seize political power. In 1799 his troops surround the national legislature and drive out most of its members. The lawmakers who remain then vote to Napoleon and dissolve the Directory. Napoleon quickly takes the title of first consul and assumes the powers of a dictator.

•  1804- Napoleon transforms the consulate into an empire: The new French  constitution appoints him head of state for life but he is clever enough to keep many of the achievements of the revolution. He manages to put together a comprehensive system of laws, known as the code of Napoleon. He decides to make himself emperor.

• 1812- Napoleon invades Russia: Is Napoleon's biggest mistake. Tsar Alexander I refuses to stop selling to Britain, which becomes a reason for war to Napoleon. He begins the invasion in June but as he advances, the tsar pulls back is troops. Napoleon finds Moscow, the Russian capital, in ashes and abandoned. Frustrated and starving, having having waited too long for the tsar, the 100,000 survivors of the Grand Army begin  their hellish retreat trough the cruel Russian winter. Many soldiers are killed or died of their wounds. Lots of them died from exhaustion, hunger and cold. The grand army is lost.

• 1825- Liberal rebellion in Russia: The Russian army has destroyed the Grand army so Napoleon's enemies are quick to take advantage of his weakness. Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden join forces against him.

• 1830- Liberal revolutions in Europe: Austria also declares war on him. Although he is able to raise a new army in few months, these troops are untrained and ill prepared for battle. Later the Holy alliance is done. Russia, Prussia and Austria agree in mutually help one another, if any time in any parts of Europe, a liberal revolutionary movement begins.