The French Revolution
Mr. Williamson
Somerville HS
How did it Start?
• Video – Causes of the French Revolution. Complete in your
notebook.
• What were the 3 causes of the French Revolution?
• Who made up the first, second and third estates?
How did it Start?
• French society is divided into 3 classes
• First Estate – made up of the Roman Catholic clergy, did not
pay taxes, owned land/collected rent/fees, wealthy. Did not
follow the same laws as the 2nd/3rd estates
• Second Estate – made up of French nobles, top people in local
government, the military, paid lower/no taxes. Owned the land
& collected rent/fees
How did it Start?
• Third Estate – 97% of the population, most diverse social class
• 3 Levels
• 1st - The bourgeoisie (middle class) made up of factory owners, doctors,
lawyers, etc.
• 2nd – Artisans/workers of the cities. Known as the “sans culottes”
• 3rd – Peasants – farmed the nobles’ fields, paid rent/fees to landowners &
church. Very poor, no hope for a better life
• Spread of Enlightenment ideas (Locke, Rousseau) led people to
question the inequalities of France.
• Knowledge of the king’s limited power in Britain
How did it Start?
• Financial Troubles in France – many years of deficit spending
• Government spends more that it takes in
• France deeply in debt – American Revolution, lavish court
lifestyle, forced to borrow
• 1788 - Bad harvest sent food $$ soaring, people cannot pay for
food
• People are hungry, country is broke. 3rd Estate wanted 1st/2nd to
pay taxes but clergy/nobles resisted
Venn Diagram
• Let’s take a moment to compare/contrast the French
Revolution and the English Civil War
• Take 5-7 minutes with your partner to construct 5-6
items in each “silo”
• We will review as a class. Please hold onto this and use
as a resource for your next quiz.
French Revolution
Scenario Project
• Let’s review…
• What are the problems facing France in the 1780s?
• Goal is come up with at least 6-7 problems/issues.
• Be specific! For example, “economic problems” is not a
sufficient answer.
• Write them down in one of your group member’s
notebooks.
French Revolution
Scenario Project
• Each group will be assigned a specific role
• Monarch, Clergy, Nobility, Bourgeoisie, Artisans, Peasants
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Estates!
• In your assigned groups:
• Brainstorm ideas on how to address the 4 problems selected in
our discussion
• Develop a plan that is in accordance with your roles’
perspectives of the time
• Write your plans on the poster provided (Day 2)
• Rehearse and be able to defend your strategy to bring France
back to glory
French Revolution
Scenario Project
• Day 2
• Finalize your plan with your group in addressing each problem
discussed yesterday
• Place the ideas for your plan on the poster paper provided with
your title at the top
• Prepare a 1-2 minute oral presentation discussing your ideas
and defending your strategy going forward
• Worth 15 Points, good luck!
French Revolution
Scenario Project
• Closing
• Here are a range of the recommendations made by the presentations on
how best to fix France’s problems in the 1780s:
• Equal Tax system for all, install taxes on 1st/2nd Estate, Spending
Budgets for the King/Nobles, Tax 1st/2nd Estate for
farming/technology/seed, More gov’t representation for 3rd Estate,
Build more churches, Approve a religious freedom act, minimum
wage for peasants
• Compose a small paragraph response by selecting the 2 BEST options in
bringing France back to glory. Defend your decisions by providing
evidence from your discussion.
• You have 15 minutes, good luck! Turn into the class bin when complete.
French Revolution
• Declaration of the Rights of Man Activity
• 1. With your partners, highlight/underline the aspects of life in
France that demonstrate or imply a lack of human rights.
• Handout – France Before the Revolution of 1789
• 2. Read the Extracts of the Declaration
• Which abuses of human rights addressed in task 1 were addressed
in the Declaration?
• How do you believe the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Estate reacted to the
declaration? Discuss each estate’s reaction.
French Revolution
• Declaration of the Rights of Man Activity – Human Rights Clip
• 3. Read the Universal Declaration and compare it with the
French Declaration
• Identify the rights which are common to both documents.
• 4. Complete the Venn Diagram between the Universal
Declaration/French Declaration
• Each silo should have 4-5 items on it
• 5. Share as a class and discuss.
How did it Start?
• Desperate, Louis XVI summons the Estate-General
• Legislative body of all three estates to find a solution to economic
troubles
• Louis XVI asks the estates to prepare cahiers or notebooks with their
grievances.
• Grievances include: fairer taxes, freedom of the press, regular meetings
• In the past, each state had 1 vote with the 1st/2nd Estate always
winning 2-1. 3rd Estate wanted to count by “representative”.
• After a stalemate, the 3rd Estate, claiming to represent the people
of France, declared themselves the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
How did it Start?
• Once National Assembly is formed, the king locks the 3rd estate
out of the meeting
• 3rd Estate meets and makes the Tennis Court Oath
• Would not leave the court until they had written a new constitution for
France
• King relents and allows each representative to have a vote
How did it Start?
• The Bastille – medieval fortress in Paris used as a prison for people who
spoke against the king; also used for weapons storage
• King’s troops will occupy the capital, Versailles to protect the monarchy
• Parisians demanded weapons believed to be stored there in order to protect
themselves from the royal military
• DO NOT COPY!
• Bastille commander refused to open and fired at people in the crowd.
The enraged mob overtook the prison and released the prisoners being
kept there.
• Became a symbol of the French Revolution and the many abuses of
monarchy. Served as a wakeup call to Louis XVI. Still celebrated today
in France on July 14 as their national independence.
The Unfolding Revolution
• National Assembly Acts – eliminates dues & services peasants
owed to landowners, removes 1st estates legal privileges
• Creating of the Declaration of the Rights of Man – modeled after
the Declaration of Independence, Enlightenment ideas, English
Bill of Rights
• DO NOT COPY
• All MEN, were born and remain free and equal in rights. Enjoyed
“liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression”
The Unfolding Revolution
• Absence of Women in the “Declaration”
• Olympe de Gouges, journalist, and thousands of women
demanded equal rights for women.
• Met resistance for expressing their ideas in public, and many
including Gouges were executed.
• October 5th – 6 thousand women marched to Versailles and
demand to see king/queen as a result of their extravagant lifestyle.
• King/Queen agreed to return to Paris where they were kept prisoner
for the next three years.
The Unfolding Revolution
• National Assembly place the French Catholic Church under
STATE control and sell church lands to pay debts.
• Constitution of 1791 – set up a limited monarchy and created a
Legislative Assembly to make laws, collect taxes, control
domestic/international issues.
• Lawmakers would by elected by tax paying male citizens over 25.
Radical Days
• 1793 – enters a radical phase and France experiences one of the
bloodiest regimes in its long history.
• Unsuccessful battles abroad bring tensions in France. Parisians
storm the royal court demanding the King/Queen and are thrown
into prison
• Radicals took control of the National Assembly.
• Called for a new legislative body, the National Convention.
Radical Days
• National Convention – more radical body than earlier assemblies.
Abolished the monarchy and established a new republic and
constitution. Sought to erase all traces of old order, seized land of
nobles.
• Convention also put Louis XVI on trial as a traitor of France. He
was convicted along with his wife and killed by the guillotine.
• Convention creates a 12 member group called the Committee of
Public Safety to deal with threats to France and save the
revolution.
• They required a mass levy (tax) that all citizens would contribute to
the war effort. This greatly helped untrained soldiers with weapons,
support from home.
Radical Days
• Maximilien Robespierre – rose to the head of the Committee,
known as the “Incorruptible”
• Embraced Enlightenment thought for legitimate law, promoted
religious toleration, abolished slavery
• “Liberty cannot be secured unless criminals lose their heads”…the
guillotine and the Reign of Terror -- Sept. 1793 – July 1794
• Weary of their own lives, the Convention turned on the
Committee, arrested Robespierre and beheaded.
Radical Days
• Moving away from the radicals, the moderates produced another
Constitution. Set up a 5 man DIRECTORY and 2 house
legislature elected by male citizens with property.
• Middle Class/Professionals dominated this time, 1795-1799.
• Directory faced growing discontent
• Took bribes, did not solve war problems, rising food prices,
nobles/clergy returning to France
• Turn their support to Napoleon Bonaparte, popular military hero
Radical Days
• Revolution dramatically changed France, war gave the French a
national identity.
• Strong sense of nationalism, feelings of pride/devotion to one’s
country, spread throughout France
• Push for social reform/religious toleration, set up schools, aid for
widows and old soldiers, abolishment of slavery in France’s
Caribbean colonies.
Enter Napoleon
• His rise to power – successful in battle against the British,
Austrians
• Decided to move from general to political leader by helping
overthrow the DIRECTORY and set up a 3 man governing board
known as the Consulate. Created yet another Constitution and
named himself First Consul. Later became French emperor.
• Strengthened the central government. Order, security and
efficiency replaced Enlightenment ideas of liberty, etc.
• Controlled prices, encouraged new industry and infrastructure.
Set up public schools, made peace with the Catholic Church,
recognized peasant land ownership, opened jobs based on talent
Enter Napoleon
• Napoleonic Code – embodied Enlightenment principles such as
religious toleration, equality of all citizens, abolition of feudalism
• Women did lose many of their new rights under these new laws
• He decides to expand the French Empire – Netherlands, Belgium,
Italy, Germany, Spain. Greatly increased France’s nationalism
• As French influence spread on the continent, their influence began
to erode as people saw Napoleon as a bully. Did not want French
culture
Enter Napoleon
• 3 Costly Mistakes of Napoleon
• 1. November 1806 – Called for a blockade of Great Britain ports
and other European countries in order to cripple Britain’s
economy. Referred to it as the Continental system
• Smugglers continued to trade with Britain and they began their own
blockade which hurt France’s economy significantly (better navy)
• 2. Portugal ignores the Continental system and Napoleon invades
the country but must go through Spain to get there. Spaniards are
extremely unhappy about the occupation, enflamed their
nationalistic feelings and began a revolt against the French.
• Known as the Peninsula War, Napoleon lost about 300k men as a
result of his offensive and severely weakened the French Empire
Enter Napoleon
• 3. Once an ally with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, their friendship
began to fade with Napoleon’s advances toward the Russian
border.
• Napoleon assembles 600k soldiers to invade Russia. Russians
retreated and destroyed the land (scorched earth policy) leaving
the French hungry and cold as winter came.
• Napoleon realized he did not have the resources to feed his troops
and they retreat only to have thousands of soldiers die because of
a lack of food and brutal winter.
Enter Napoleon
• After his crippling defeat in Russia, Napoleon’s enemies wanted
to take advantage of his weakness.
• Napoleon’s army no longer consisted of trained soldiers.
Therefore, the allies were able to cut his troops to pieces in the
Battle of Leipzig.
• Austrians, Russians and Prussians march toward Paris and
Napoleon unwillingly accepts defeat, gives up his throne and is
exiled to Elba, a tiny island off the coast of Italy.
• 1 year later, after Louis XVIII (brother of guillotined king)
becomes extremely unpopular after undoing the Revolutions
reforms, Napoleon has one final rally at Waterloo.
Enter Napoleon
• Battle of Waterloo – Britain/Prussian crush the French forces in a
town in Belgium and Napoleon is forced to abdicate (leave power)
and go into exile.
• The British ship him to a remote island in the South Atlantic
where he lives for 6 years in solitude
• He writes his memoir and later dies of stomach cancer in 1821
Enter Napoleon
• Napoleon’s Legacy
• Centralized France with a constitution
• Elections with expanded suffrage
• Increased rights to property, access to education
• Failed to make Europe a French empire
• Sparked nationalist feelings in Europe and France
• Decision to sell the LA Purchase doubled the size of the US
Lasting Impact
• Congress of Vienna – European leaders wanted to restore order/stability
to Europe after years of war. Goal was to create a lasting peace by
establishing a balance of power.
• The 5 GREAT POWERS meet to ensure peace in Europe
• Austria, Prussia, Russia, Britain, France
Lasting Impact
• Klemens von Metternich – Austria’s foreign minister, distrusted
democratic ideals of the French Revolution. Main figure of the Congress
of Vienna
• Had 3 goals
• Surround France with strong countries to limit aggression
• Restore a balance of power so no country was a particular threat
• Wanted to restore European’s families to their thrones
Lasting Impact
• Leaders of Europe wanted to weaken France but not destroy it
• If they destroyed it, the French may seek revenge and further
armed conflict
• France’s land remained largely intact, was a major power but
severely diminished.
Lasting Impact
• France’s borders were redrawn, restored the hereditary
monarchies from before the French Revolution. Louis XVIII is on
the French Throne.
• Concert of Europe – periodic meeting to discuss problems
affecting peace in Europe.
Lasting Impact
• Concert of Europe – periodic meeting to discuss problems
affecting peace in Europe.
• This would ensure that nations would help each other out in the
event of an attack on a European power.
• However, the principles of democracy were seen to be the fairest
way to govern