The French Revolution
1789-1815
Ms K Boring
The
Scientific
Revolution
The Ripple Effect
Continues
The
Enlightenment
The American
Revolution
The French
Revolution
I. Causes of the
French
Revolution
Saw the
American
Revolution as
an example
The French
Revolution
Enlightenment
Ideas
Economic and
Social
Inequalities
and Troubles
A. Economic and Social Inequalities and Troubles
• Gap between poor and rich was huge
• Years of bad harvests
• High prices on foods, housing and necessities
(supply and demand)
• High taxes (not for the rich)
B. The Old Order
• Old Regime—Political and social system of France
prior to the French Revolution. Under the regime,
everyone was a subject of the king of France as
well as a member of an estate. (“Old Order”)
• Estate—social class
– There were 3 large estates in France until the French
Revolution
B. The Old Order
a. The Three Estates
Estate/Social Class
Privileges/ Characteristics
A. First Estate
1. Made up of clergy from the Roman Catholic
Church
2. HATED/SCORNED the ideas of the
Enlightenment
B. Second Estate
C. Third Estate
1. Made up of rich nobles
2. Held highest offices in government
3. Mostly disagreed about Enlightenment
ideas
1. Included bourgeoisie, lower class, and
peasants
2. Had no power or influence in government
3. Embraced Enlightenment ideas
4. Resented the wealthy First and Second
estates
C. The Enlightenment Ideas
• Third Estate—inspired by the success of the
American Revolution
• Began to demand equality, liberty, and
democracy
• “The Third estate is the People and the People is
the foundation of the State; it is in fact the State
itself; the…People is everything. Everything
should be subordinated to it…It is in the People
that all national power resides and for the People
that all states exist.”—Comte D’antraigues
D. Weak Leadership
King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette (heavy spender)
D. Weak Leadership
• The monarchy living in luxury, the peasants and
working classes in misery
1st and 2nd Estate--Privileges
3rd Estate Misery
Full course meals
No meals, only bread or rummaging
through garbage
No taxes (or hardly any at all)
Nearly the entire country’s taxes came
from this estate, most money to the
government
Held lavish parties
Struggled to survive
Ignored the lower estate
Could not help but notice the differences
between them and the wealthy
D. Weak Leadership
• “Madame Deficit”—
spent so much on
gowns, jewels, parties,
etc
• Gave Louis poor advice,
because of Austrian
Hapsburg lineage-very
unpopular in France
• Marie Antoinette Trailer
II. Dawn of the Revolution
• Debt continued to grow in France until Louis XVI
decided to tax the nobility
– Nobility (2nd Estate) forced him to call an EstatesGeneral to approve/deny tax
• Assembly of representatives from all three estates
A. The National Assembly
• Third Estate delegates become the National
Assembly
– NA = representatives acting for the people
• This was the FIRST ACT OF REVOLUTION—
declared end of absolute monarchy in France
and enacted a representative form of
government
B. The Tennis Court Oath
• During Estates-General, after the Third Estate
declared themselves the National Assembly,
they were locked out of their meeting room.
The Third Estate broke into a room, which
happened to be a tennis court. There, they
held their meeting and pledged to stay until
they drew up a new constitution for France.
Because of these events, Louis XVI sent an
army to surround and guard Versailles.
C. Storming of the Bastille
• French citizens angry about the guards around
Versailles
• They gathered weapons, and marched towards the Bastille,
storming it and took it over. They tore it down, brick by
brick.
• Bastille—Paris prison, city arms stored inside
• Storming of the Bastille
D. The Great Fear
• Wave of panic (they feared
that nobles were hiring
outlaws to terrorize
peasants)
• Peasants became outlaws,
reacted to fear, stealing,
breaking into and burning
down nobles’
manors/houses.
• Weapons: pitchforks, other
farm tools, axes, knives,
other weapons
Video Clips
• The Affair of the Necklace—Marie Antoinette
Beheading
• Family Guy-Beheading of Louis XVI
Questions
• Sec 1 Questions--The French Revolution
Begins
• *questions are at the bottom of your notes
• Use your notes and the chapter (23 pdf)
Section 2—TERMS TO KNOW:
• Legislative Assembly: legislative body that had the
power to create laws and to approve or reject
declarations of war
• Faction: A group of persons forming a cohesive,
usually contentious (argumentative) minority
within a larger group.
• Declaration of the The Rights of Man and of the
Citizen: inspired by Declaration of Independence—
very similar, declared men free and equal
Section 2—TERMS TO KNOW:
• Reign of Terror: time when Robespierre ruled
virtually as a dictator
– mass executions of "enemies of the revolution”
– Caused distrust and fear in the nation
– Guillotine
Section 2—Pairing Activity
• It’s a competition!
• Whichever team finishes first with ALL the
correct answers will receive candy.
Ch 23, Section 2
Revolution Brings Reform and Terror
Answers
1. National Assembly adopts Declaration of the
Rights of Man
What are some rights this documents guarantees
French citizens?
Liberty, property, security and resistance to
oppression
2. National Assembly reforms status of church
What caused the peasants to oppose many of
these reforms?
Peasants were Catholic, wanted separation of
church and state
b. What did selling church lands help pay off?
French debt
3. National Assembly hands power to Legislative
Assembly
What political factions made up the Legislative
Assembly?
Radicals, moderates, conservatives
4. Legislative Assembly declares war on Austria,
Parisian invade Tuileries and imprison royal family
What did European monarchs fear from France?
Feared similar revolts might break out in their own
counry
a. Who declared war?
Legislative Assembly
b. Why did France go to war?
Austria/Prussia wanted Louis XVI back as the
absolute monarch of France
5. Parisian mobs massacre more than 1,000 prisoners,
Louis XVI is executed
What effects did the September Massacres have on
the government?
Set aside the constitution, deposed the king, dissolved
the assembly, called for a new legislature
a. What was the guillotine and who was beheaded?
Beheading machine, Louis XVI
6. Robespierre leads Committee of Public Safety;
Reign of Terror Begins
What was the state aim of Robespierre and his
supporters?
Build a republic of virtue
7. Robespierre is executed; Reign of Terror ends
What were some consequences of the Reign of
Terror?
Public opinion changed, grew tired of terror and
skyrocketing prices for bread, salt and other
necessities of life
Part III--The F Rev
B. Summarizing
A. émigrés: nobles and others who had fled
France and wanted to restore the Old
Regime
B. sans-culottes: those without knee
breeches and did not have a role in the
assembly but discovered ways to have
power on the streets of paris
C. Jacobins: club members-radical political
organization and involved in governmental
changes
Outlining Section 5
The Congress of Vienna
Chapter 23, Section 5
The Congress of Vienna
• A series of meetings to bring order, stability
and peace to Europe.
Metternich’s Plan for Europe
• Five European “great powers”
– Austria
– Prussia
– Russia
– Great Britain
– France
Representatives of Austria
 Foreign Minister, Prince
Klemens von Metternich
--MOST INFLUENTIAL

Emperor Francis I of Austria
Representatives of Prussia
 Karl von
Hardenberg

Wilhelm von
Humboldt

King Frederick William
III of Prussia
Representatives of Russia
Count Karl Nesselrode
• Czar Alexander I of Russia
Representatives of Great Britain
 Robert Stewart,
Viscount Castlereagh
Arthur Wellesley, 1st
Duke of Wellington
Richard Trench, 2nd
Earl of Clancarty
Representatives of France
• Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Périgord
Goals of Metternich’s Plan
•
•
•
•
Establish lasting peace and stability in Europe
Prevent future French aggression
Restore balance of power
Restore royal families to thrones
The Containment—Actions Taken
•
•
•
•
Formed Kingdom of the Netherlands
Created German Confederation
Recognized independence of Switzerland
Added Genoa to Kingdom of Sardinia
The Balance of Power
• Metternich sought to maintain peace between
European nations by creating a balance of
power among rival countries so no country
would be a threat to the others.
Legitimacy
• France, Spain, and several states in Italy and
Central Europe were restored to power
underneath the principle of legitimacy.
• They agreed to come to each other’s aid
whenever in need.
POLITICAL CHANGES BEYOND
VIENNA
Britain and France had constitutional
monarchs
Prussia, Russia and Austria had absolute
monarchs
Conservative Europe
• To guard against revolutions, he set up a series
of alliances called the Concert of Europe,
which required nations to help one another if
a revolution erupted.
Long-Term Legacy
•
•
•
•
•
Established and maintained balance of power
Diminished power of France
Increased power of Britain and Prussia
Sparked growth of nationalism
Permanent change of authority = democracy
started