Write short notes on
(i) French slave trade (ii) Reign of Terror (iii) Fall of Napoleon.
Answers
Answer:
1 ) An acute shortage of labour in the French Caribbean colonies Martinique Guadeloupe and San Domingo led a triangular slave trade between Europe, America and Africa in the 17th century. French merchants sailed from Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast where they brought slaves from local chief and sold them to plantation owners in the Caribbean. Slave labor enabled the Caribbean colonies to meet the demand for sugar, coffee and indigo. The convention in 1794 passed laws freeing slaves in the French overseas possessions. However, ten years later, slavery was reintroduced by Napoleon. It was finally abolished in 1848.
2 ) The Reign of Terror, commonly The Terror (French: la Terreur ), was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, anticlerical sentiment, and accusations of treason by the Committee of Public Safety .
3 ) The fall of Napoleon was only achieved by the creation of a special alliance between Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. By the Treaty of Chaumont of March 1 o, 1814, these four powers bound themselves together in a bond which was not to be dissolved when peace was concluded. When Napoleon had been beaten, France conceded to these allies by a secret article of the first Treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, the disposition of all countries which Napoleon's fall had freed from French suzerainty. This stupendous task was reserved for a general congress, and it was agreed to meet at Vienna. The visit of the allied sovereigns to England and the pressing engagements of the emperor Alexander and Lord Castlereagh delayed the congress until the autumn, when all Europe sent its representatives to accept the hospitality of the impoverished but magnificent Austrian court.
Answer:
(i) French slave trade
(ii) Reign of Terror
(iii) Fall of Napoleon
Explanation:
1) Though the Portuguese and British led the transatlantic slave trade, the French rose to third place thanks to the massive number of Africans sent to Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in the late eighteenth century. Of the 1,381,000 Africans carried onto French ships during the transatlantic trade, 1,165,000 made it across the Middle Passage and ended up in difficult conditions in French Caribbean territories. Though significant numbers departed aboard French ships to Guadeloupe (73,000) and Martinique (217,200), the great bulk (773,000) went to Saint-Domingue, the most successful eighteenth-century colony in the New World.
2) During the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, commonly known as the Terror, was a time of state-sanctioned violence and mass executions. Thousands of individuals were arrested and executed by France's revolutionary government between September 5, 1793, and July 27, 1794.
3) Despite Napoleon Bonaparte's early triumphs in bringing order to France at the turn of the century, the 10 years following his accession to the throne would be marred by failures, finally leading to his demise.
The Continental System was one of the earliest movements in seeking to conquer or gain an edge over most of Europe. Napoleon made this proclamation in order to undermine England. In it, he urged any countries that were either neutral (did not take sides) or friends with France to avoid doing commerce with England. His aim was for England to suffer economically. The Continental System, on the other hand, failed, in part because England possessed natural resources to maintain itself. The country that suffered a setback