The French Revolution
Western Civilization II
L’Ancien Regime
First Estate = Clergy


100,000 – 130,000
Owned 10 – 20% of the land
Second Estate = Nobility


Less than 400,000
Owned 20% of the land
Third Estate = Everybody Else



King Louis XVI
Bourgeoisie – owned 20% of the land
Urban Proletariat (sans-culottes)
Peasants – 16 – 21 million, owned 30 – 40% of the land
Causes of the Crisis
Recession after a century of overall economic growth &
expansion
Grain shortages caused bread shortages, leading to
urban unrest
Government bankrupt

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Lost overseas empire in 7 Years War
Owed millions for wars (esp. American Revolution)
By 1788, ½ of budget went to pay interest on the debt.
Assembly of Notables (1787) refused Louis XVI’s
request for tax increase
The Estates-General
Cahiers de Doleances listed
grievances
3rd Estate opposed voting by
estate
Tennis Court Oath (June
20, 1789)


Declared themselves to be
National Assembly
Swore not to disband until
constitution written
Standoff ensued as Louis
XVI vacillates
The Tennis Court Oath
by Jacques-Louis David
The Storming of the Bastille
July 14, 1789
The Work of the National
Assembly
Great Fear prompts
nobles to renounce their
feudal rights, Aug. 4-5,
1789
Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen
issued Aug. 26, 1789
Women of Paris drag
Louis XVI & family back
to Paris, Oct. 5, 1789
The Constitutional Monarchy
1789 - 1792
Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)
Made clergy government officials
 Confiscated land sold & assignats issued based
on value

Constitution of 1791 embodied ideals of
Enlightenment
King made executive & given 6-month veto
 Provinces reorganized into smaller departements
 Only property-owning men could vote, & higher
property requirement to be elected

The Fall of Louis XVI
Louis XVI flees to Varennes in
June 1791, but captured & placed
under house arrest
Austria & Prussia issue
Declaration of Pillnitz on Aug.
27, 1791, threatening war if king
harmed
France declared a republic in Sept.
1792
King Louis XVI executed in Jan.
1793
The Radical Republic
1792 - 1794
Maximilien Robespierre
National Convention dominated
by radical Jacobins
Maximilien Robespierre’s
Committee of Public Safety
institutes Reign of Terror, April
1793 – July 1794
Cult of Reason
Revolutionary Calendar
Metric system
Robespierre’s Purifying Pot
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The Directory
1794 - 1799
Robespierre killed in
Thermidorian Reaction,
July 1794
1795 Constitution
established 5-man
Directory & new
bicameral legislature
Barras & Siéyès staged
coup d’etat on Nov. 9,
1799, with help of
Napoleon Bonaparte
The Coronation of Napoleon on
Christmas Day, 1804