The French Revolution
1789-1799
Causes of the French Revolution
 Resentment of royal absolutism
 Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles
& clergy
 Rise of Enlightenment ideals
 Large national debt
 Unequal system of tax collection
 Resentment of noble privileges
French Revolution
• 1789 France was the largest & most powerful European
nation
• King Louis XIV died in 1643
• New French rulers were elected
•
They wrote a constitution & reformed laws
• Period before 1789 = Old Regime
Causes of the French Revolution:
The Old Regime
• France was an absolute monarchy
• Its society was organized into THREE
ESTATES (classes) – unequal
•
1st Estate – Clergy = less than 1% of the population
•
2nd Estate – Nobles = less than 2% of the population
•
3rd Estate – Commoners = 97% of the population
st
1
Estate - Clergy
• Did not pay taxes
• Tried only in church courts
• Owned 1/10 of French land & collected large amounts
of taxes, rent & fees
• Most of the money was in the hands of the higher
clergy – archbishops, bishops
• Became lazy, worldly, & neglected spiritual duties
st
1
Estate – Lower Clergy
• Made up of parish priests
• Poorly paid & overworked
• Provided religious guidance, money & food to
the poor and all education
nd
2
Estate - Nobles
• Did not pay the heaviest taxes
• Collected feudal dues from peasants
• Held highest positions in army & government
• As a class, the nobility were thoughtless,
irresponsible & extravagant
rd
3
Estate – Commoners
• Divided into three sub-groups
• Bourgeoisie = city dwelling middle class (merchants,
manufacturers, doctors, lawyers) – wealth & education
• Laborers & Artisans = middle group
• Peasants = bottom of the scale, poorest
•
Peasants owed feudal dues/services – paid rent of land
they worked, heaviest taxes & church tithes
Discontentment =
Revolution
• Discontentment grows in France during 1700’s
• Factors affecting 3rd Estate  Growing population,
rising prices, higher rent/taxes
•
A & M – wages don’t change
•
B – More influence in the government
• Factors affecting 1st and 2nd Estate  resented growing
power of kings because nobles lost their influence over
government
Unifying Ideas
• The two main ideas that united all three estates against
the power of the king were expressed with the words:
“Liberty & Equality”
• These were considered natural rights & came from
Enlightenment thinkers – Voltaire, Rousseau, and
Montesquieu
France in Financial Crisis
•
Louis XIV’s war left France in huge debt
•
Debt increased when France aided U.S. in the American
Revolution & expensive lifestyle at Versailles
•
High taxes could no longer cover the expenses  peasants had
highest taxes (can only tax them so much) & the wealthy NOT
taxed at ALL!!
•
Louis XV borrowed $$ from bankers  Didn’t care what France’s
financial situation would be for the next king
France in Financial Crisis
• Louis XVI takes power in 1774
•
Cared more about leisure than running France
• Tried to fix the tax problem by proposing taxes on
Estates 1 & 2  nobles rebelled
• By 1787 France is financially finished!
• Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General
to meet at Versailles in May 1789 – Hoped to get his
tax plan passed
Causes of the French Revolution
 Resentment of royal absolutism
 Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles
& clergy
 Rise of Enlightenment ideals
 Large national debt
 Unequal system of tax collection
 Resentment of noble privileges
King Louis XVI
 B. 1754, D. 1793
 Married Marie
Antoinette (Austria) in
1770
 Became absolute
monarch in 1774 until
his death in 1793
 Found guilty of treason,
and executed marking
the end of absolutism in
France
Marie Antoinette (Austria)
 Born 1755, D. 1793
 Archduchess of Austria
– Queen of France
when she married
Louis XVI at age 14
 Known for being
extravagant in her
luxuries
 Found guilty of treason
& abusing her son,
executed
Meeting of Estates–General
 May 1789 – Meeting called by Louis XVI is first
meeting in 200 years
 In past, each Estate met separately & cast one vote
each – so clergy & nobles usually outvoted
commoners 2-1  this was the 1st meeting where all
estates were together
 What were the rules?? No one was sure!
 3rd Estate wanted to reform voting  each
representative member present from each Estate
should vote – this way 3rd Estate could not be outvoted
Meeting of Estates-General
 Louis XVI wanted old way of voting
 3rd Estate claimed itself a National Assembly on June
17, 1789  1st act of the French Revolution!
 Louis XVI locked 3rd Estate out of meeting place, so
they met at a nearby tennis court
 Tennis-Court Oath - June 20, 1789
 Representatives pledged they would not adjourn until
they wrote a constitution for France & it was adopted
 Louis XVI gave in & all three Estates met together
Storming of the Bastille Prison
 Louis XVI brought troops to Paris & Versailles –
people feared he was trying to drive out EstatesGeneral by force
 July 14, 1789 the people of Paris stormed the Bastille
Prison in search of weapons
 Angry because of food shortages, unemployment, and
high prices
 Bastille Day is still celebrated in France as its
Independence Day
The “Great Fear”
 The “Great Fear”
 Attacks on towns and villages by the peasants
 Attacked homes of nobles
 Burned, pillaged
 Paris becomes the revolutionary center
 National Guard – moderate group led by Marquis de
Lafayette
 Paris Commune – radical group, wanted to end the
monarchy
Moderate Reforms
 End of Privilege: August 4, 1789
 Nobles in the National Assembly voted to end special
privileges and abolish feudalism
 Set up the Enlightenment notion of equality under the
law
 Declaration of the Rights of Man: Late August 1789
 “All men are are born free and remain equal in rights”
 Governments exist to protect the natural rights of
citizens
 Freedom of Religion
 Equality in taxation
Moderate Reforms
 French Catholic Church put under state control
 Ended papal control and disbanded monasteries
 This split the revolutionaries in Paris and those in the
countryside
 Those in the country were devout Catholics
 Constitution of 1791
 Limited the monarchy
 Set up a legislative Assembly, elected
 Protected private property
 Supported free trade
Radical Stage of the Revolution
 Constitution of 1791 – End of the first stage
 In the Second Stage:
 Flight of the monarchs (June 21, 1791)
 Death of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (1793)
 War with Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, Spain
 Jacobins vs. Girondists
 Reign of Terror
 1792  Abolition of monarchy, 1st Republic
 New republic, The Directory (1795-1799)
Death of Louis XVI
Death of Marie Antoinette
After the Revolution
 A rise in NATIONALISM
 French people are tired of war  leads to the rise of
Napoleon
 France moves from a dictatorship to an empire