French Revolution Begins
• Apparent success in France due to world trade and the Enlightenment aren’t representative of the _______________ in France. Series of bad _____________,
_______________________, ________________________, and ______________________________ left the middle and lower classes unhappy
The Old Order
• Under the “Old Regime”, people were classified into estates
• The __________________________- two estates had privileges (exemption from taxes, etc.)
• The Catholic clergy (1% of population) owned _________of the land
• The Nobles (2%of population) owned _________ of the land
•  how do you think the “Privileged Estates” felt about the Enlightenment?
The Third Estate
• 97% of population belonged to the third estate (30% of land controlled by
3% of population)
• The Third Estate is broken into three groups: ___________________________
(merchant, bankers, professionals), the second group were
________________________ who could barely afford food, and the last group was
____________________ (80% of total pop.)
• Peasants paid about half the income they did generate in dues to the nobles, tithes to the Church, and taxes to the king’s agents
The Forces of Change
• In addition to resentment from lower classes, _________________ about government, _________________________________, and ________________________________ helped bring the French Revolution
___________________________________
• Third Estate was impressed by the success of the American Revolution, and started thinking about revolution in France
• They used the works of Rousseau, Montaigne, and Voltaire as their blueprint
Economic Troubles
• By 1780’s, France’s economy had begun to decline  caused the
____________________ to panic
• Bad weather caused _____________________, the ________________________ was rising, and the ______________________ in France made it impossible to make profit  price of bread doubled!
• 1770’s-1780’s the government fell into deep debt thanks to Louis XVI and
Mary Antoinette, and the American Revolution
A Weak Leader
• Louis XVI was ____________________ and let matters “drift”
• Since Marie Antoinette was a descendent of the ________________________________, most French hated her married to their king
• Her spending led to her nickname  _____________________________
• In order to generate money to pay the increasing debt, Louis XVI wanted to raise taxes
• The 2 nd Estate forced him to call a meeting of the ____________________ on May
5 th , 1789 at Versailles

Dawn of the Revolution
• The 1 st and 2 nd Estate had always dominated the 3 rd – each estate got one vote
The National Assembly
• Members of the 3 rd Estate agreed that they should rename themselves the
“____________________________”, request ___________________________________, and declare laws and reforms in the name of the French people  this was the first deliberate act of the revolution
• Three days later they found themselves locked out of their meeting room, and broke down a door to an indoor tennis court promising to stay until they had drawn up a new _______________________  _____________________________
______________________________________
• In Paris, rumors were spreading about whom Louis XVI was going to use to put down the rebellion– French forces or foreign troops?
• On ____________, a mob stormed the _____________ looking for weapons and gunpowder
• The mob outnumbered the guards at the Bastille and ransacked it  celebrated equivalently as 4 th of July in America today
Great Fear Sweeps France
• Rebellion spread outward from France, and rumors spread that nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants  led to the ______________________
• The peasants soon became outlaws themselves by arming themselves with
_____________________ (pitchforks, shovels, etc.) and breaking into nobles’ manors to ______________________________ that bound them to pay feudal dues
• In October of 1789, thousands of _____________________________ rioted over rising bread prices. They stormed the palace at Versailles, killing some of the guards, and demanded that the king and his wife _____________________________  this marked the change of power and the radical reforms about to come to
France