Chapter 21
The Roots of Revolution
You're a hard worker, but you barely earn
enough money to survive. YOU earn 15 monetary
units of a 12-to 16 hour workday, but a loaf of
bread costs 1 monetary unit, a pound of meat
costs 3 monetary units and a dozen eggs cost 10
monetary units. You also have high rent to pay,
and you give one-tenth of your income to the
church. You pay the heaviest taxes and no voice
in Government. How do you feel?
The Roots of Revolution
• You are a noble and you see two children on
the road, their mother and father have past
away. The two kids are only 7 and 5 they ask
you for money for food and ask you for extra
shoes; What would you do?
• Old Regime- before 1789
• Society was divided, into three estates, or classes
• First estate
– Clergy of the Roman Catholic Church (less then 1
%)
– Church owned 15% of Frances land
– Collected large amounts of money from, rents,
taxes and fees
– Held by higher clergy, (bishops, archbishops, and
abbots)
– Parish priests, performed most of the church’s
work with little pay.
Roots of Revolution
• Second estate
– The nobility (less than 2 %)
• Paid few if any taxes, collected dues from peasants, and
held the highest positions in the army and government.
• Eldest sons had the right to inherit titles and lands.
Roots of Revolution
• Third Estate
– Rest of the people Of France
– 97 %
– Top of the third Estate was the Bourgeoisie- or urban
middle class
– These people were merchants manufacturers and
professional people such as doctors and lawyers
– Below was three groups
• City workers, artisans and rural peasants
• Peasants made up larges group (paid the heaviest taxes and
paid a tithe one 10th of there income to the church
Growing discontent
• Growing population of France, needed more
food and money to support families
• Economic conditions
• People hated to pay taxes and nobles and
clergy didn’t have to pay anything
• Poor took to streets started riots against these
higher prices and taxes they had to pay.
• Bourgeoisie prospered and wanted political
power during the 1700’s.
Growing discontent
• the third estate wanted Liberty & Equality as
their natural rights.
• These two things united France and
challenged the kings power.
Financial Crisis
• Louis XV- 59 year reign, one of the longest in
France’s history.
• 20 years of peace under him
• But the debts inherited from Louis XIV
continued to grow
• Taxes didn’t provide enough money so he
would barrow from the banks
Financial Crisis
• Louis XVI succeeded him as king.
• Louis XVI married Marie- Antoinette daughter of
the Austrian empire
• French people didn’t like her because she
became involved with the French politics
• Debt grew also because France’s involvement in
the American Revolution
• Banks refused to lend money
• Louis called a meeting with all three estates
because the debt grew, meeting in Versailles
Meeting of the Estates General
• Meeting took place
• Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes represented the
Third Estate (he was a clergyman)
• Third Estate wanted to express their vote
• 1st and 2nd Estates can vote together or
outvote the 3rd.
• May 5, 1789 meeting took place and Louis
wanted to keep old tradition,
Meeting of the Estates General
• Meaning 3rd Estate had no voice.
• National Assembly
• 3rd estate wanted to hold meetings all
together
• This started the French Revolution
• All the 3rd Estate wanted was a voice and more
reorientation to the French people.
Warm up
• How did France’s social structure lead to
discontent and financial crisis.
• Why did Louis XVI take the unusual step of
calling all three estates together?
The French Revolution
• Spread of the Revolution
– King allowed the estates to meet together
– King moved troops into Paris and Versailles
– July 14, 1789 people took to streets, captured
Bastille prison, people looted it for weapons and
destroyed it
– Outbreak of violence lead to the formation of a
new government
The French Revolution
– The events of July 14,1789 changed France: led to
formation of a new government and people’s
army.
– Members of the National Assembly believed that
thy could stop the violence through reforms.
– Outlawed the tithe, canceled all feudal dues and
services owed by the peasants.
– Removed privileges that the 1st and 2nd estates
had.
The French Revolution
• Declaration of the Rights of Man
– Document that had basic human rights and
political powers
– Men are born = and remain =
– Granted freedom of speech, press and religion
– Right to take part in the government declaring
that all men had an equal right to hold public
office
– Fair trial
The French Revolution
• Liberty, equality, fraternity
– Rights didn’t apply to women
– Olympe de Gouges: play and the women wrote
their own document, the Declaration of the Rights
of Women and Citizenes.
– National Assembly rejected it
– Women not = as men
The French Revolution
• Emigres and royalists
– Nobles fled to Great Britain, Switzerland and
Germany
– They plotted to overthrow the Revolution
– Emigres (emigrants)
– King and Queen and nobles who sided with them
had a party and insulted the National Assembly
– A crowd led by women forced the king, queen and
family to return to Paris.
The French Revolution
• Reforms in government
– Divided the country into 83 equal districts
(departments)
– Called for the election of local officials.
– National Assembly also seized lands owned by the
Catholic Church
– Property sold to public (used to pay down the
national debt)
The French Revolution
• Constitution of 1791
– Limited the authority of the King and divided the
government into three branches
– Executive, legislative and judicial
– King could no longer block or make laws on his
own
– Legislative Assembly (people who were elected to
office)
The French Revolution
• French constitution created by the National
Assembly during the French Revolution. It
retained the monarchy, but sovereignty
effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly,
which was elected by a system of indirect voting.
The franchise was restricted to “active” citizens
who paid a minimal sum in taxes; about twothirds of adult men had the right to vote for
electors and to choose certain local officials
directly. The constitution lasted less than a year.
The French Revolution
• Legislative Assembly & War
– Constitution of 1791 went into effect in October
lasted less than a year
– Revolutionaries didn’t create a sound government
– Catholics priest and nobles opposed order, the
poorest members of French society had been hurt
by a rise in the cost of living.
– LA divided into 3 groups: conservatives, radicals
and moderates
Warm-up
• Why did the Legislative Assembly exist for so
short a period of time?
• In what ways was the first government after
the revolution a weak one?
• What kind of government did the Constitution
of 1791 provide?
The French Revolution
• Conservatives- felt the revolution had gone far
enough, ideal government was one in which
the king had limited authority
• Radicals- wanted more drastic changes than
those proposed by the National Assembly. No
king, set up a republic and make broad
reforms
• moderates- no extreme views. Sided with
both depending on issues.
The French Revolution
• In the Legislative Assembly the conservatives
sat on right, moderates in the center and the
radicals on left…..
• Declaration of Pillnitz- invited other European
rulers to support the return of royal rule in
France.
• 1792 France declared war on Austria
The French Revolution
• End of the Monarchy
– French citizens grew alarmed and searched for
someone to blame.
– Failures in war, along with economic shortages at
home, led to a mass uprising in Paris.
– Prussians vowed to destroy Paris if any harm came
to the royal family
– The Legislative Assembly accused Louis of plotting
with foreign powers.
The French Revolution
• End of the Monarchy
– Revolutionary troops arrived from the city of
Marseilles to defend Paris .
– Marching song was called , “ La Marseillaise”
national anthem of France
– August 10, 1792 captured the king and imprisoned
him.
The French Republic
• National Convention
– Delegates were elected to this convention by the
universal manhood suffrage.
– Meant every adult male could vote whether he
owned property or not.
– Georges-Jacques Danton
– Maximilien Roberspierre
– They were Jacobins: Republics who favored
domination by Paris.
The French Republic
• National Convention governed France for
three years
• First act: declare the end of the monarchy
start of the Republic
• National Convention brought Louis XVI to trial,
charging him with plotting against the security
of the nation
The French Republic
• Exporting the Revolution
– French army defeated the Austrian and Prussian
forces. Invaded Austrian Netherland
– Other European countries feared that they would
attack and try to over through other royal families
– So formed an alliance against France and to invade
The French Republic
• Committee of Public Safety
– This was to direct the army in crushing foreign
invaders.
– Also established a special court, the Revolutionary
Tribunal to try, “enemies of the Revolution.”
– Public Safety adopted a conscription
– Conscription- Draft, all unmarried, able-bodied
men, 18-25 were subjected to military service
The French Republic
• Opposition
– Some people rose up against the revolutionary
government. (western France)
– Counterrevolutionary- meaning their aim was
counter to or against the Revolution
– Also called the Royal and Catholic army.
– Girondin: people who feared the domination of
France by Paris.
The French Republic
• Reign of Terror
– Lasted from 1793- July 1794
– Revolutionary Tribunal punished the enemies of
the Republic and occasionally executed people
who were simply suspected of counterrevolution.
– Nobility/ anyone suspected of disloyalty.
– Many Girondin opponents when to the guillotine.
– Robespierre finally got arrested and killed by the
guillotined he was the last.
The French Republic
• Work of the National Convention
– Changes effected every level of French society.
– Convention created a body called the Committee
of Public Saftey. (controlled by Jacobins) this
committee tried to establish the Republic of
Virtue.
– Demorcratic republic in which people would act
according to the principles of good citizenship.
The French Revolution
• The Directory
– 1795 National Convention completed another
constitution
– Two house legislature
– 500 member lower house/proposed laws
– 250 member upper house/ powerful/ accepted or
rejected the proposed legislation/ power to select
new government’s executive branch.
– New government called Directory
– Eliminated universal manhood suffrage/only male
property owners could vote.
– Four years.
The French Revolution
• Napoleon Bonaparte
– Attended military school in France
– General at the age of 26/stopped an uprising in
Paris that would have prevented the creation of
the Directory.
– Married Josephine de Beauharnais, leader of
French society
The French Revolution
• Rise of Napoleon
– One of the greatest generals of all time. / because
of his dominant role that he played starting in
1796
– France wars that were fought from then until 1815
are called the Napoleonic Wars. He was able to
move troops rapidly on the battlefield.
– Directory worried Napoleon would gain power
because of the popular vote.
The French Revolution
• Napoleon takes power
– British organized an alliance of nations to oppose
France armies.
– Napoleon supporters only believed he could win
victories.
– 1799 the legislature did away with the four out of five
directors.
– Troops surrounded the legislature and forced most of
its members to leave.
– Some members stayed and gave power to Napoleon
The French Revolution
• Seizing power by force is referred to as a coup
d’ etat. (French for “stroke of state”
• “I found the crown laying around France and
picked it up with my sword.
The French Revolution
• The Napoleonic Era
– Napoleon’s government kept the form of a
republic.
– The Coup d’ etat of 1799 made him dictator of
France.
– 1799-1814 : Napoleonic Era
The French Revolution
• The Consulate
– France accepted him as a dictator ( afraid of him
and wanted stability after chaos.)
– Organize and centralized the government to give
himself unlimited power.
– First five years Napoleon ruled was called the
consulate.
– Comes from the executive branch of government.
Made up of three counsuls.
The French Revolution
• Consulate
– Napoleon first Consul (commanded the army & navy)
– Power to appoint or dismiss most officials and to
propose all new laws.
– All consulate Legislative bodies could do was approve
reject Napoleons decision .
– Put the new constitution before the people to vote.
– Plebiscite- people could vote only yes or no and could
not suggest any changes.
The French Revolution
• Napoleonic code- French Law; established a
bank of France, public of education
• Concordat-recognized that most French
citizens were catholic, but it still allowed
religious freedoms. Church gave up claims to
property that the government had seized.
Return to Peace
• Congress of Vienna
– Other monarchy's feared that rebellion against
their monarchy's would spread to their country.
– Monarchy’s wanted to restore order and suppress
the ideas of the Revolution
Return to Peace
• to place in Austria
– Decision making authority rested with Great Britain,
Austria and Prussia and Russia.
– representative of France Charles-Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord
– Three guidelines
• Countries that suffered most from Napoleon had to be paid
• Balance of power had to be restored to Europe. So no single
nation would be too powerful
• All decisions would follow the rule of legitimacy
Return to Peace
• Legitimacy; all former ruling families should be
restored to their thrones.
• France also had to pay indemnity- financial
reward to other countries for the damages it
had caused.
• Reaction followed the Napoleonic Era.
Meaning that people in authority wanted a
return to the way things had been before.
Return to Peace
• Age of Metternich believed in absolute
monarchy. He feared the movement known as
liberalism.
• Liberalism: extended the ideas of the
American and French revolutions.
• Liberals believed in individual rights and the
rule of law.
• He used secret police and suppression to stop
the spread of Liberalism .
Return to Peace
• Tension in the region began to spread.
• The Greeks began to fight against the
Ottoman Turks.
• Russia, Great Britain , and France brought
pressure to the Ottoman Turks.
• Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 Greece won its
independence.
The French Republic
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