French Revolution Review
France’s problems leading up to the French Revolution:
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Enlightenment ideas (using logic and reason to think about human nature)
Financial problems (Starts when Louis the XIV spent too much on wars and the
Palace of Versailles, Louis XVI spent a lot on the French and Indian Wars and
the American Revolution)
Bad harvests (drought caused high bread prices, people are starving)
Ancien Regime (society divided into the 3 Estates which causes problems)
Meeting of the Estates General:
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Louis XVI needs needs help fixing France’s money problems so he calls a
meeting of all the Estates.
1st and 2nd Estates gang up on the 3rd Estate. They fight over the amount of
votes each Estate should get.
3rd Estate leaves the meeting and locks themselves in the tennis court. They
rename themselves the National Assembly. They won’t come out until they get
what they want: RIGHTS! This is called the Tennis Court Oath.
Results of the Tennis Court Oath:
 Storming of the Bastille (People heard King Louis XVI was sending troops to
Paris to stop people from gathering in the streets. People reacted by storming
the Bastille – former fort and prison – for weapons. Start of the Revolution.
People were willing to take up arms against the king. Bastille Day – July 14,
1789
 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (gave French citizens rights.
No longer separate members of the Estates)
 Women’s Bread March (women marched to Versailles demanding food.)
National Assembly:
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Broken into 3 parties
1. Jacobins – radical liberals, anti-monarch
2. Girondins – moderate liberals, will have a monarch if there is a
Constitution
3. Royalists – conservatives, pro-monarch
Reign of Terror:
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Led by Robespierre (radical Jacobin)
Committee of Public Safety (killed anyone against the Revolution)
Guillotine became the “National Razor”
National Convention:
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Took over after the Reign of Terror
New Constitution of 1795
3 branches of government: 2 legislative houses and an executive branch
The Directory (5 person executive branch…corrupt!)