THE ORIGINS OF REVOLUTION
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A LONG TIME COMING
In the second half of the 18th Century, the very
roots of the long-established social, political and
economic foundations of French society – based
on privilege, hierarchy and tradition – were being
challenged. The French king, Louis XVI, faced
with pressure from elite groups in his kingdom,
recognised the need for reform, which in his
assessment was limited to the issue of taxation.
This is one of history’s great understatements.
FEUDALISM
France’s social, economic and political
structure was still built around the principles
of feudalism.
Feudalism was the dominant social system in
medieval Europe, in which the nobility held
lands from the Crown in exchange for
military service. Vassals were, in turn,
tenants of the nobles. Peasants were obliged
to live on their lord's land and give him
homage, labour, and a share of the produce,
in exchange for military protection.
THE ANCIEN RÉGIME
 Largely a rural society
 In 1780, France’s population was approximately 28 million.
 If we define an urban community as one with more than
2000 people, only 20% of France’s population lived in an
urban centre.
 Paris, a walled city, the largest with ~700,000 people.
 Lyon, Marseille & Bordeaux the other significant cities.
 Over 38,000 rural communities with an average population
of approximately 600.
Regardless of where the residents of France lived, they were
still divided up into the three ‘estates’ – a division still
lingering from the old medieval days when society could be
separated into:
1.
2.
3.
Those who prayed
Those who fought
Those who worked
Note: The King was not part of an
estate, but sat atop the pyramid as
he was ‘elected by God’.
Clergy
Nobility
Others
First Estate
Second Estate
Third Estate
THE THIRD ESTATE
THOSE WHO WORKED
 Comprising roughly 98% of the national population, the
Third Estate was populated by those who were not
members of the church or the nobility. Notable subgroups of the rural Third Estate include:
 Free peasants, who owned their land.
 Could rent out land and equipment, and were despised by the lowerclass peasants who, in reality, aspire to join the ranks of the free
peasants.
 Serfs and peasants (owned or leased some land).
 Tiny sections. Many people who passed through France remarked on
the backwards nature of French agriculture, in comparison to the
larger-scale operations throughout the rest of Europe.
 Wage labourers (landless peasants).
 Price inflation was not matched by wage increases – led many to a life
of crime to sustain their families.
THE THIRD ESTATE
THOSE WHO WORKED
The (relatively) urban corollary of the rural peasantry, living in
France’s towns and cities include:
 The unskilled labourer.
 The best job they could hope for was that of a servant in the
homes of the urban elite. They lived either on the street or in
terrible housing.
 The skilled labourer.
 The medieval guild system, in all of its restrictive glory, was still in
full effect in the 18th Century.
 Apprentice  Journeyman  Masters
 In contrast with the progressive idea of free trade, the guild system
was a constant source of frustration for those not directly profiting
from it.
It is from the pool of these urban workers that the (in)famous Sans Culottes
will appear later in our story.
THE THIRD ESTATE
THOSE WHO WORKED
Above the ranks of the skilled workers, we have the secure urban elite, known as the
bourgeoisie.
 In strict Marxist terms, this means the ‘owners of the means of production’.
 In a broader sense, the bourgeoisie included the middle-class professionals, including
doctors, lawyers, and men of letters.
 Collectively, one of the fastest growing groups in 18th Century France and now held a
large portion of the nation’s wealth.
The bourgeoisie would usually not direct their increasing wealth back into the trades that
had enriched them. Rather, they would look to buy their way into the nobility, by one of
two means:
1.
2.
The purchase of land
The purchase of venal office
An office sold by the state to raise money without having to raise taxes.
On the eve of the Revolution, nearly every one of the 70,000 government offices was venal – many of
them an empty title that carried with it certain privileges.
 The most prominent privilege was ennoblement and its wonderful tax exemptions.
 By the late 18th Century, approximately one billion livre was tied up in venal offices.
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THE SECOND ESTATE
THOSE WHO FOUGHT
In the late 18th Century, the population of the nobility was
somewhere between 120,000 and 400,000 – approximately 1% of
the national population.
 This 1% owned between 1⁄4 and 1⁄3 of all the land in France and often
held feudal privileges over the rest.
 Feudal privileges include the right to collect certain taxes, or the right to
force tenants to lease your equipment to work the land.
It’s important to know that the nobility was not one homogenous
class:
 The sword (old) nobility
 The robe (new) nobility
 The super nobility (from the sword class, but still had immense
wealth).
 This group lived with the king at Versailles and held many prominent
positions in the government and clergy.
THE FIRST ESTATE
THOSE WHO PRAYED
In 18th Century France there were approximately 130,000 members of the
French clergy.
 Collectively, the church owned ~10% of all the land in France.
 The clergy was basically a microcosm of the kingdom at large.
 In 1516, the pope allowed the King of France the right to appoint all the
bishops & abbots of the French church.
 These roles that carried huge salaries, the right to collect tithes, etc. went to the
men of the nobility.
 The vast majority of the 130,000 clergy were parish priests, often recruited
from the lower rungs of the third estate.
There was a huge gulf between the high and low rungs of the church,
which will become very important when the estates general is called in
1789. The lowly parish priests will finally have the opportunity to speak
against the parasitic and greedy bishops and the wildly unequal
distribution of church wealth.
THE KING OF FRANCE
AND THE BOURBON DYNASTY
SETTING THE SCENE
LOUIS XIV
Ruling for 72 years, Louis XIV oversaw
a golden age of literature and art,
claimed nearby territories, and
established France as the most
dominant European nation. For this,
he is known to history as the Sun King.
However, in his later years, he:
 Engaged in several lengthy wars
 Expelled protestants from France
 Brain Drain
 Spent extravagantly
1638-1715
SETTING THE SCENE
VERSAILLES
Louis XIV faced a revolt, known as the Fronde, from
provincial nobles.
He converted a hunting lodge on the outskirts of
Paris into the Palace of Versailles for two reasons:
1. To project an image of power, representing the
strength of the French kingdom.
2. To take all those pesky nobles away from the
provinces, where they had been causing
trouble, to jostle for position next to his throne.
Cutting them off from their bases of support
and plying them with lavish gifts, Louis XIV
domesticated the French aristocracy.
SETTING THE SCENE
LOUIS XV
1710-1774
Becoming King in 1715, at the age of 5, Louis XIV’s great great
grandson, Louis XV, is best known for building on the late
failures of his grandfather and further contributing to the
decline and eventual fall of the royal family and Ancien
Régime.
• Initially well liked by the people; nicknamed ‘The well
beloved’.
• Sided with Austria, traditionally France’s enemy, in the Seven
Years War against Britain, the result of which was not great
for the King’s popularity, or the prestige of France.
• Poor harvests and continued spending depleted France’s
economic reserves.
• Louis XV died in 1774, leaving a legacy of diplomatic, military
and economic malaise, if not regression.
SETTING THE SCENE
THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
France was involved in many wars throughout the 18th Century, however we’re only going to pay
attention to the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).
 Sometimes referred to as World War Zero due to its
scale, the Seven Years’ War involved every great
European power and spanned five continents.
 Began with the French & Indian War (1754-1763), but
European territorial ambitions at home dragged
everyone into conflict.
 In the end, France acknowledged the loss of all its
territory on the North American mainland and the
Indian subcontinent, and Britain emerged as the
dominant European colonial power.
THE FINAL KING OF FRANCE
LOUIS XVI
1754-1793
The King of France during the American Revolutionary War
and the beginning of the French Revolution, Louis XVI is
often characterised as a shy, immature, ineffectual leader,
who cared more about his hobbies and indulging his wife’s
extravagant tastes than he did ruling. He was, however,
bright, and athletic during his youth, and genuinely wanted
to tackle the huge task of reforming the kingdom.
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Rule beset by enormous, inherited debts and rising
resentment towards the monarchy.
Successfully supported American colonies’ fight for
independence in the American Revolution.
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A political victory, but achieved via international loans – drove
France near bankruptcy.
SETTING THE SCENE
THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
On 4 July 1776, delegates from the Thirteen British
Colonies in North America approved the Declaration of
Independence in which they outlined the reasons for their
renunciation of British sovereignty, providing the moral
rationale for their decision and a list of grievances against
King George III.
In a clear break from the past, the colonists declared ‘that
all men are created equal’ and were ‘endowed by their
creator with certain unalienable rights’. They declared
these rights to be ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness’. In defiance of the divine right of kings, the
American colonists argued that governments derive their
powers from ‘the consent of the governed’, who have the
right to abolish them when ‘any form of government
becomes destructive’.
THE FINAL QUEEN OF FRANCE
MARIE ANTOINETTE
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The wife of King Louis XVI.
Archduchess of Austria – married to Louis in 1770,
aged 15 and 16, respectively.
Initially popular, however this began to wane.
Seen as overly profligate, promiscuous, and of
hiding sympathies for France’s enemies.
Nicknamed ‘Madame Deficit’ because of her lavish
spending in the face of mounting national debt.
Famous for (not) saying ‘Let them eat cake’.
1755-1793