THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
BACKGROUND TO REVOLUTION
Leslie Rhinehart/ljr316@charter.net
Montclair High School
Three Estates
1st Estate-Catholic Clergy (1%)
2nd Estate-Nobles & govt. (2%)
3rd Estate-everyone else (97%)
(merchants & artisans-well educated
but no status or power),
bourgeousis, urban lower class,
peasant farmers
3rd ESTATE pay all taxes!
1st two estates tax exempt.
Clergy owns 10% of land & gives
2% of its income to the govt.,
nobles 20% of land & tax exempt
(1/2 salary)
Louis XVI
Weak, young & Indecisive
Economic Woes
1.
1780s - crop failures –
price of bread doubles
2.
American Revolution
doubles France’s debt
3.
Unequal power/money
and tax!
Marie
Antoinette
“Madame
Deficit”
TAX Crisis – no money! Bankrupt!
Estates-General meet
-Louis tries to tax 2nd
Estate – they refuse
3rd Estate insists all estates
meet & each delegate have
a vote, but Louis refuses
Tennis Court Oath
1789
3rd Estate form National Assembly (representative govt)
Locked out - they meet in indoor tennis court where
they vow to remain until they write a Constitution
King sends troops to stop National Assembly,
so….July 14th Parisians storm the Bastille to seize
weapons to defend themselves against the King
The Great Fear
Peasants burn manor
houses
October - 6000 women
riot over $ of bread
March to Versailles
seize King & his
entourage (60,000) return to Paris
Declaration of the Rights of Man
National Assembly adopts Declaration (similar
to Declaration of Independence)
“the aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural . . .
rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance
to oppression.”
Freedom of religion & speech
Creates a constitutional monarchy and King
and 3rd Estate share power!
A State Controlled Church
To pay France’s debts, Assembly takes
church lands to sell, pope loses power
over French church
WARS WITH EUROPE:
European Nobility fear the spread of
revolutionary ideals
Austria/Prussians threaten to
destroy Paris if royal family
is harmed . . .
mob imprisons royal familyexecute the king & queen.
Constitution abolished by
new National Convention
Reign of Terror: PHASE II
Robespierre (head of
Committee of Public
Safety) and Jacobins
behead 40,000 people –
85% peasants, urban poor
& middle class
REVOLUTIONARIES GO TOO FAR
Leroy? Name change? No playing cards. No Sundays! New calendar.
Churches became museums. The Priests were often forced to marry – no
church power!
JACOBINS LOSE POWER
1794 – Robespierre is beheaded!
1795 – A new government
called THE DIRECTORY
They hire a young general to fight their wars with
Austria and Britain and he wins many battles…
Napoleon Bonaparte: PHASE III
1799-coup d’etat by
Napoleon – gives himself
unlimited power and
a new constitution
1804 - crowns himself
Emperor
His military victories
establish a French empire!
Napoleonic Code
No notes!
Equal Taxation
Stable Economy
Public Education
Religious toleration
Govt. control of church lands
Women lose right to sell property
Restriction of free speech & press
Restore slavery in French colonies
New World Territories
West Indies & Louisiana Purchase
1789 - Toussaint L’Ouverture
leads slave revolt in Haiti
1803-Napoleon sells
Louisiana to US for
$15,000,000 - pays for
war debts
NAPOLEON’S 3 BIG MISTAKES
1st MISTAKE
1806/Continental System –
Napoleon blockades continent from
British
Portugal and others ignore it
2nd MISTAKE:
PENINSULAR WAR
Angry about the blockade not working France invades Portugal through Spain –
puts his brother on Spanish throne!
 1808/Peninsular War infuses Spaniards
with nationalism – other
nations help…loss!

3rd MISTAKE

Napoleon’s invasion of RUSSIA is a huge
failure – thousands die in the cold!

Russia employs “scorched earth” policy –

Europe conspires against Napoleon and he is defeated –
sent to exile in ELBA
10,000 left from almost 450,000
Waterloo
Defeated in Belgium in 1815
Napoleon escapes from Elba –
crowds cheer him in France
and rules for the HUNDRED
DAYS…
His defeat at Waterloo ends
France’s European empire and
he is sent to exile in St.
Helena
Congress of Vienna
1815
Surrounds France with
strong countries
Balance of power/no
country a threat
Restore royal families
PEACE LASTS ALMOST
HALF A CENTURY
Klemens von Metternich
Austria’s foreign minister
1809-1848
Napoleon’s Empire
1810
Europe 1817