The Revolution Begins
Main Idea
Problems in French society led to a revolution, the formation of a
new government, and the end of the monarchy.
Objectives:
• Students will explore the causes of the French Revolution.
• Students will identify the first events of the French Revolution.
• Students will discover how the French created a new nation.
• Students will investigate the Reign of Terror, and how did its
consequences
Causes of the Revolution
Long-standing resentments against the monarchy
• Inequalities in society
– Existing social and political structure
– Called the Old Order, or ancient régime
• King at the top and estates under him
– King Louis XVI, shy and indecisive
– Unpopular, self-indulgent queen, Marie-Antoinette
– Rest of French society divided into three classes,
called estates
The Three Estates
Varied widely in what they contributed in terms of work and taxes
First Estate
Second Estate
• Roman Catholic clergy
• Nobility
• One percent of the
population
• Less than 2 percent of
the population
• Exempt from taxes
• Paid few taxes
• Owned 10 percent of
the land
– Collected rents and
fees
– Bishops and other
clergy grew wealthy
• Controlled much wealth
• Held key positions
– Government
– Military
• Lived on country
estates
Third Estate
• Largest group—97% of
the population
• Bourgeoisie—citydwelling merchants,
factory owners, and
professionals
• Sans culottes—
artisans and workers
• Peasants—poor with
little hope, paid rents
and fees
Further Causes
Enlightenment Ideas
A Financial Crisis
• Inspiring new ideas from
Enlightenment philosophers
• Severe economic problems
affected much of the country
• Great Britain’s government
limiting the king’s power
• France in debt (financing the
American Revolution), spending
lavishly, borrowing money, and
facing bankruptcy
• American colonists rebelled
successfully against British king
• New ideas changed
government and society in other
countries
• Hailstorm and drought ruined
harvest; harsh winter limited
flour production
• People hungry and angry;
clergy and nobility no help
First Events of the Revolution
By 1789, no group happy
• Clergy and nobility lost power to
monarchy
• Bourgeoisie resented
regulations
• Poor worse off
Storming of the Bastille
• King brought in troops
• People of Paris armed
themselves
• Searching for weapons, a mob
stormed the Bastille
Estates General meets
• Desire for reforms
• Voting process a problem
• Third Estate proclaimed
themselves National Assembly
• Tennis Court Oath
Great Fear spread
• King to punish the Third Estate
with foreign soldiers
• Rumors of massacres
• Peasants destroyed records
and burned nobles’ houses
On the morning of 20 June, the deputies were
shocked to discover that the chamber door
was locked and guarded by soldiers.
Immediately fearing the worst, and anxious
that a royal attack by King Louis XVI was
imminent, the deputies congregated in a
nearby indoor tennis court where they took a
solemn collective oath "not to separate, and to
reassemble wherever circumstances require,
until the constitution of the kingdom is
established".
Creating a New Nation
Legislating New Rights
Restrictions on Power
• Feudal dues eliminated
• Louis tried to protect his throne
• Declaration laid out “liberty,
equality, fraternity”
• Angered the common people
• Inspired by the English Bill of
Rights, American Declaration of
Independence, and the writings
of Enlightenment philosophers
• Prices still high; mob broke into
the palace demanding bread
• Royal family seized; National
Assembly took bolder steps
• Men are born equal and
remain equal under the law
• Passed laws against the
church, clergy, and public
employees
• The rights did not extend to
women
• Some outraged by actions
Declaration of Independence
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen
Formation of a New Government
In 1791, the Legislative Assembly is formed. Citizens gained broad
voting rights, but rights were not universal. Constitution restricted power
of king and ended distinctions of birth. King and queen feared they
would be harmed.
Foreign Powers
End of Monarchy
• Austria and Prussia warned against
harming monarchs
• August 10, 1792 royal family
imprisoned by mob
• Austrian army defeats French
• Radical faction took charge with
National Convention
• Financial strain of war, food
shortages, and high prices
• King blamed; action demanded
• Monarchy abolished; France
declared a republic
French revolutionary troops won the Battle of Valmy. New French
republic held ground against Europe’s Old Order.
A Radical Government
In 1792, the radical representatives were in charge of the National Convention. The
constitutional monarchy came to a violent end, and France became a republic.
Factions
• Radical Mountain
• Moderate Girondins
• The Plain (swing voters)
• No group had program
or plan of action
• Personal rivalries
Leaders
• Marat
– Sansculottes,
advocate of
violence
• Danton
– Compromiser
• Robespierre
– Dedicated radical
Executions
• King put to death by
guillotine
• Europeans reacted with
horror
– Revolution savagery
condemned
Maximilien Robespierre
"Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt,
severe, inflexible"
The Reign of Terror
Course of Revolution
• Revolutionary leaders feared counterrevolution and took drastic actions with
accusations, trials, and executions. This period was known as the Reign of Terror.
An Outbreak of Civil War
• Peasants, essentially conservative, only wanted an end to feudal dues.
• Remaining devoutly Catholic, the Vendée region opposed the Revolution in a civil
war. The government put down the counterrevolution to regain control.
Accusations and Trials
• Robespierre used the Revolutionary Tribunal to rid the country of dissent.
• It started with the Girondists, but soon anyone who had ever criticized the
Revolution, or who had connections to the Old Order, was in danger.
An engraving of
Robespierre guillotining
the executioner after
having guillotined
everyone else in France
th
18 century
La Guillotine en 1793 by H. Fleischmann (1908), page 269 Google
BooksInternet Archive copy
No Escape from the Terror
Death by Guillotine
• Most common sentence - death by guillotine
• Condemned paraded through Paris in open carts
• Mobs watched at scaffold; executions took less than one minute
The Terror’s Victims
• No one was spared
• Peasants and laborers affected
• Danton and Robespierre
• 40,000 executed in 10 months
• “Oh Liberty, what crimes are
committed in your name!”
After the Terror
• France started over with new
constitution in 1795
• Voting limited to property owners
• The Directory established
• High prices, bankruptcy, and citizens’
unrest continued
• Power vacuum developed
The revolution eats
its own!