The French Revolution
I. The Old Regime (18th-century France up to 1788): ___________________
A. The Old Regime was composed of three estates, or ___________________:
1. The First Estate = the ___________________ (about ___________________) paid no
___________________.
2. The Second Estate = the ___________________
(=___________________=___________________) (about ___________________):
generally ___________________taxes.
Composed of:
a. The nobles of the ___________________: long-time aristocratic families.
b. The nobles of the ___________________: aristocrats whose ancestors had
purchased government offices in the parlements (= the high ___________________).
- The practice of selling nobility was part of an effort by the French
___________________to lessen the power of the ___________________.
3. The Third Estate = ___________________ (about 25 ___________________):
Composed of 3 sub-groups:
a. the bourgeoisie: e.g.,
b. the ___________________: technically “free” farmers (since
___________________had been virtually eliminated in France)
c.
Each sub-group resented something about the Old Regime:
a. the bourgeoisie resented
(i) ___________________given to the undeserving and incompetent
___________________.
(ii) the power of the ___________________over the ___________________,
courts, and ___________________.
b. the peasants resented
(i) their “noble” ___________________
(ii) heavy ___________________
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c. the city workers resented
(i)
(ii)
B. ___________________ were high for the Third Estate because
1. The government, run by officials who had purchased their nobility, was
___________________ and ___________________.
2. France had a huge debt from the __________________________________ (17561763) and from its support of American in its ____________________________.
C. France’s financial problems forced the French government to propose reforms in the tax
system, to get the ___________________ and ___________________ Estates to pay taxes.
Many ___________________ resisted these reforms.
May 5, 1789: The French government was forced to call a meeting of the ____________
___________________ (a medieval organization composed of ___________________ of
the 3 Estates – something like England’s ___________________ or the Holy Roman
Empire’s ___________________ – but which hadn’t been convened since the
assassination of Henry IV __________ years before).
D. Other influences on the French Revolution:
1. the writings of the philosophes against the authority of the ___________________ and
the ___________________.
2. the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.
-This was especially ___________________ because the French had supported
the ___________________ in the War for Independence!
II. The ___________________Stage, or ___________________French Revolution (1789-1791):
-
May 5, 1789: meeting of the ______________________________________.
-
June 17, 1789: the Third Estate declares itself the _____________________________,
insisting that a ___________________be drawn up for France.
-
June 27, 1789: Kind Louis XVI orders the _____________and _____________Estates to
join with the Third Estate in the _____________________________.
-
July 14, 1789: Members of the ___________________Estate in Paris storm the Bastille,
the notorious _____________________________ in Paris.
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-
August 4, 1789: The rebellion of the ___________________, known as the
___________________, forced the nobles to give up their ___________________ (e.g.,
tax exemptions, monopoly of highest offices, hunting rights on their land, etc.). This was
a big move toward ___________________.
-
August 26, 1789: the National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen: a French ___________________: freedom of ___________________ and
___________________, and ___________________ treatment of everyone under the
law, declaring that all people had “natural, unalienable, and sacred” rights to “liberty,
property, security, and the right to resist oppression.”
-
October 5, 1789: Parisians force King Louis XVI to give them ___________________
and to approve the _______________ _______________ and the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
-
November 1789: National Assembly confiscated and sold ___________________.
-
September 1791: National Assembly drafts a ___________________:
1. limits power of the ___________________
2. guarantees all French citizens equality under the law
3. Nevertheless, the poor were prevented from ___________________.
4. judicial reforms: standardizing ___________________ throughout France, abolishing
___________________.
III. The ___________________ Stage, or ___________________ French Revolution (17921794):
Some nobles, the clergy, and peasants launched a ___________________.
The sans-culottes were non-aristocratic urban workers who demanded not just freedom, but
the “right of ___________________”. This involved:
1.
2. higher ___________________ for the rich
3. Genuine ___________________ and ___________________ with the bourgeoisie.
-
April 1792: France declares war on ___________________.
-
June 1792: King Louis XVI flees Paris to launch a counterrevolutionary army with the
nobles.
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-
September 21, 1792: National Convention (the replacement of the National Assembly)
abolishes ___________________ in favor of a republic (= representative
___________________).
(The National Convention was led by the Girondins, who favored granting
___________________ to the states, or “___________________”.)
-
January 21, 1793: Louis XVI ___________________ by the guillotine (a new, more
___________________ means of execution).
-
Early 1793: France occupies ___________________ and part of ___________________.
-
June 1793: In the National Convention, Girondins replaces by Jacobins, who favored a
strong central ___________________ and had the support of the sans-culottes. The
Jacobins establish the infamous Committee of ____________ ______________ to
enforce their policies.
The leader of the Jacobins was Maximilién Robespierre: a _____________ __________
committed to his ideal of a Republic of ___________________:
1. Abolition of ___________________ and ___________________
2. ___________________ “to do everything which injures no one else; hence the
exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to
the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can
only be determined by law” (from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen)
3. ___________________ for all citizens
4. ___________________: “The source of all sovereignty resides essentially in the
nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed
directly from the nation… Law is the expression of the general will.” (from the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen).
5. Harsh punishment of the enemies of the ___________________, both internal and
external.
To this end, Robespierre established a temporary ___________________, known as the
Reign of ___________________, in which some ___________________ people were
executed.
-
Late 1793: The Jacobins pass a new ___________________:
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1. gave all adult ___________________ the right to ___________________
2. Abolished ___________________ and imprisonment for ___________________
3. Began free ___________________
4. The law of the ___________________: fixed prices of ___________________ .
-
Early 1794: Jacobins begin ___________________into the army. This demanded
___________________, and began modern ___________________: a shift of allegiance
from the ___________________ to the ___________________.
-
July 28, 1794: Robespierre was ___________________by the guillotine.
Robespierre’s Reign of Terror was very paradoxical:
-
On the one hand, it espoused the ideals of ___________________ and
___________________.
-
On the other hand, it pursued these ideals through ___________________ and
___________________, setting the stage for the 20th-Century ___________________ of
___________________, Mussolini, and ___________________.
IV. Napoleon (1769-1821, Emperor from 1804 to 1815): Return to autocratic rule
Napoleon was a brilliant ___________________ who crowned himself
___________________ of France in 1804.
Napoleon was neither a ___________________ or a ___________________, but an
enlightened ___________________.
To maintain his power, Napoleon
1. ended freedom of ___________________
2. employed a ___________________
3. forged an agreement with the ___________________ in the Concordat of 1801,
recognizing Catholicism not as the ___________________ religion of France, but as the
religion of the great ___________________ of the French
4. centralized ___________________
5. stimulated the economy with ___________________ projects (e.g., roads, bridges,
canals).
6. provided cheap ___________________ to the poor
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7. instituted the Napoleonic ___________________: completed the Revolution’s attempt
to give a ___________________ code of ___________________ throughout France:
a. ___________________ before the law, although a person is presumed
___________________ if arrested by the state after an investigation
b. freedom of ___________________
c. protection of ___________________ rights
d. total abolition of ___________________
but
e. denied equal rights to ___________________ and ___________________.
1805-1807: Napoleon defeated Austria, Prussia, and Russia; and dominated
___________________, Holland, ___________________, Switzerland, and
___________________.
___________________ was virtually Napoleon’s only opponent, and came to the aid of
___________________.
1812: Napoleon attacks ___________________, but his army suffered greatly during the
___________________ and Napoleon ___________________.
1814: Napoleon defeated, then ___________________ to the island of Elba, then to St.
Helena.
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