Early Modern (1450 CE - 1800 CE)
The Indigo Plant Farm
This print depicts and labels the essential components of a plantation producing indigo, a blue dye used for coloring cloth. Slaves are shown here working at different parts of the production process. In 1789, over 3,000 plantations in Saint Domingue produced indigo.
The Sugar Mill
This depiction of a sugar plantation in Saint Domingue emphasizes the grinding mill and refining vats. An overseer with a gun supervises the enslaved labor. By 1789 Saint Domingue excelled at sugar production, outpacing other French colonies and the British alike.
The Barnyard
As shown in this print, numerous activities of plantation life were carried out by enslaved people. This scene includes women and children, who formed a relatively small part of the enslaved population.
Progression of Napoleon’s Life
Even when they resisted Napoleon’s efforts to control their destinies, contemporaries of all European nations were fascinated by the Napoleonic legend unfolding before their eyes.
Revolutionary France 1799
Map of Europe in 1799 depicting Revolutionary France, territories occupied by French forces, and Sister Republics.
This source is a part of the The Napoleonic Experience teaching module.
Germaine de Staël, A French Writer Exiled by Napoleon
De Staël was the daughter of Jacques Necker, Louis XVI’s Swiss Protestant finance minister. She published novels, literary tracts, and memoirs and became one of the best-known writers of the early nineteenth century. Napoleon exiled her in 1803.
Rights of Man
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) played a vital role in mobilizing American support for their own independence, and he leapt to support the French revolutionaries when Edmund Burke attacked.
Arrival of the Royal Family in Paris on 6 October 1789
When the revolutionaries, led by thousands of women, marched to Versailles, they triumphantly seized and then brought the king to Paris, where he would live in the midst of his people.
The King Returns to Paris
From Berthault’s series of great moments in the Revolution, this engraving presents a version of events on 6 October 1789 favorable to the King.
The Tennis Court Oath at Versailles by Jacques–Louis David
This amazingly rich sketch by Jacques–Louis David is one of the most famous works from the French revolutionary era. The thrust of the bodies together and toward the center stand for unity. The spectators, including children at the top right, all join the spectators.