FRE.NCH
REVOLUTION
1789-1791
I. “Old Regime” (anciem regime)
1. Medieval “estates” system
outdated
Louis XIV
“Sun King”
a) 1st Est.- clergy
(r.1638-1715)
nd
b) 2 Est.- nobility
c) 3rd Est.- everyone else: 95% (mostly
peasants)
2. Peasants bore most of tax burden
–
corvee: unpaid labor to repair roads
3. Enlightenment ideas lead people
to question inequalities
II. Economic turmoil
1. Debt from aid to American Revolution
2. Widespread crop failures1780s (price of bread
doubles in 1789)
3. Failure to reform
a) Nobles and clergy resisted taxation
b) Louis XIV and XV lavish spenders. XVI very
indecisive
4. Louis XVI calls meeting of Estates General in
1789 to raise more taxes
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Voted by Estate (not according to each person)!
Had not met in 175 years!
• What is happening in this image? What does it represent?
• Consider the Estates system and the plight of peasants in
France. Why and how did the situation get severe? Why
wasn’t there a revolution in France like the Civil War in
England a century earlier?
III. Revolution! Political Change and violence
1. “Tennis Court Oath”- 3rd Est.
vow to write a Constitution
2. Peasants attack Bastille.
“Great Fear”- peasants
attack manor houses and
burn feudal contracts
3. Nobles agree to give up
special privileges
4. Women march on Versailles
to seize royal family
5. “Declaration of Rights of
Man” 1789 modeled after
Declaration of Independence
–
Ends “Estate” system, purpose
of gov’t is to protect rights
What are the most obvious features of this painting?
Where is the emphasis and how is it illustrated?
What do you think the “light” coming in through the window and shining on the
central figure represents?
Who do you think the three figures in the front coming together represent?
The “fleur de lis” was the symbol of the House of Bourbon.
The symbol of the Revolution was the French tri-color. It
would become a symbol of the rising French nationalism,
especially under Napoleon.
IV. Internal Changes and External Fears
1.
Constitution of 1791
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2.
3.
Established Legislative
Assembly
End privilege of Church
Gave voting rights only to
landowning citizens
Proved ineffective, eventually
dissolved
Austria (Marie Antoinette’s
homeland)and Prussia fear
revolutions. Go to war
w/France
Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette executed
V. “Reign of Terror”
1.
Radical Jacobin lawyer Maximillian
Robespierre came to power, executed
40,000 by guillotine to put down rebellions
and restore order. Killed:
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2.
Suspected royalists
Political enemies, his own allies
Anyone who opposed principals of the
Revolution
Attempted to create new religion+calendar
to erase Christianity from French history
Was last victim of guillotine himself
Bloody chaos of “Terror” left French people
wanting order and stability
3.
4.
–
Enter Napoleon, the great dictator
Questions to consider:
• Why did the French Revolution descend into chaos,
bloodshed and terror after Revolution, while America
experience relative stability?
• Why was the backlash against the rich so severe
during the Revolution?
• Just how “enlightened” were the ideals of the
Revolution?
• More importantly, how “enlightened” was the reality,
actual events and fallout of the Revolution?
Can you read French? You don’t really
need to be an expert to figure this out:
“Liberty, equality, brotherhood” was the
motto of the Revolution.
However, while “liberty” was stressed in
America: allow everyone to live freely
apart from the tyranny of a strong gov’t,
in France, the emphasis was on
“equality”.
That is, let’s MAKE everyone equal.
Anyone who dressed like a noble had
good reason to fear for their lives,
because “equality” was forced, in a way.
Look at the blue strip on the flag on the
left. What does it say? “Terreur”
These men are the san culottes
(literally without knee-breeches). It was
a social statement of solidarity with the
Revolution because it was the nobility
who had always worn knee-breeches