The French
Revolution
Causes of the Revolution
•Enlightenment ideals
•Money troubles (debt)
•Bad harvests
•Class conflicts of the
Ancien Regime
Ancien Regime
Causes of the Revolution
The Enlightenment:
• An intellectual movement
based on reason and logic that
was applied to human nature
• Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu,
Rousseau, Voltaire
Causes of the Revolution
Money troubles/Debt:
• French spent most of its money
on war (especially the French
and Indian War and the
American Revolution and
excesses such as the Palace of
Versaillies.
Causes of the Revolution
Bad harvest/drought:
• Less food leads to larger
demand which makes prices
increase.
• Very high bread prices
• King doesn’t help!
Causes of the Revolution
Ancien Regime:
• The 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 and province. All rights and
status flowed from the social institutions,
divided into three orders (estates)
•0.5% of the population
•Does not pay taxes
Clergy
•1.5% of the population
•Does not pay taxes
•98% of the population
•Pays taxes
Nobility
First Estate
Bourgeoisie
(middle
class, merchants, etc.)
and peasants
Meeting of the Estates General
• Summoned May 5, 1789
• King Louis XVI calls a meeting of
the estates general
• First time in 175 years. Why?
• Met to solve France’s economic
problems
st
nd
rd
• 1 & 2 Estates gang up on 3
Estate. Why?
Meeting of the Estates General
Second Estate
First Estate
Third Estate
National Assembly & the Tennis Court Oath
• June 17, 1789
• Fights break out over the number of
votes each Estate gets
• Third Estate breaks off and renames
themselves the National Assembly
• National Assembly gets locked out of
meeting so they go to the tennis court
and won’t come out until they get
what they want: a constitution. This is
called the Tennis Court Oath.
Tennis Court Oath
Results of the Tennis Court Oath
•Storming of the Bastille
•Declaration of the Rights
of Man and of the Citizen
•Women’s March on
Versailles
Results of the Tennis Court Oath
Storming of the Bastille
• July 14, 1789
• Medieval fortress and prison
• People heard Louis XVI was sending
out his military to keep order
• Had a cache of weapons
• Symbol of the French Revolution
Results of the Tennis Court Oath
Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
• Issued Aug. 26, 1789
• A document that guaranteed due
process in judicial matters and
established sovereignty among
the French people.
• Effectively ended the ancien
régime
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Results of the Tennis Court Oath
Women’s March on Versailles
• Oct. 5, 1789
• An angry mob of nearly 7,000 working women
armed with pitchforks, pikes, and muskets
marched in the rain from Paris to Versailles to
demand bread.
• Became focused on Marie Antoinette, “Let them
eat cake.”
• Women demanded royal family hand out the
bread in the palace and then go to Paris to see the
plight of the people.
• The royal family goes to Paris and are imprisoned
until their execution in 1791.
Louis XVI
and
Marie
Antoinette
The National Assembly
Made up of 3 groups
1. Jacobins
2. Girondins
3. Royalists
The National Assembly
Jacobins
• A group of radical liberals
• Wanted to drive the Revolution
forward aggressively
• In favor of executing the king
• Sat on the left side of the Assembly
(today anyone who is a liberal is
considered “to the left”)
• Led by Maximilien Robespierre
The National Assembly
Girondins
• A group of moderate
revolutionaries
• Wanted a constitutional
monarchy
• Thought the king had the right
to a trial
• Did not want to execute the king
The National Assembly
Royalists (Monarchists)
• Conservatives (don’t like change)
who supported the king
• Would have an absolute monarch
or a constitutional monarch
• Sat on the right side of the
Assembly (today anyone who is a
conservative is considered “to the
right”)
Reign of Terror
• Started with the death of Louis XVI
• Led by the Committee of Public Safety
• Mission: to kill anyone against the
Revolution
• Led by Robespierre
• Killed 16,000 people (some reports say
up to 40,000)
• Ended when Robespierre got out of
control and was executed
Reign of Terror – Death of Louis XVI
“The National Razor”
National Convention
• The era after Robespierre’s downfall
• Constitution of 1795 – made up a new type
of government
• The new legislature would consist of two
houses and an executive body:
1. Upper house – made up of 250 members
2. Lower house (called the Council of Five
Hundred) – made up of 500 members.
3. Directory – made up of 5 officers