Essay planning: This activity will check your
understanding of the topics covered so far, make
you do some revision and help prepare you for
your exams!
Plan the answer for the following a) part
questions
5, 6, 7, 9, 11 + 12
5. “The shortcomings of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
were the main cause of the Revolution”. How far do you
agree with this judgement?
Louis
• Divine Right – no choice of a
King.
• diffident & weak.
• Out-dated
• poor decisions
• Estate General (events
surrounding them)
•
•
•
•
•
Marie Antoinette
Austrian
Extravagant.
Unpopular = “Madame
Deficit”.
Politically insensitive
Meddles
BUT
• Social structure was inherently reactionary and restricted the
ability to make change.
• Greater pressures, such as the economy, were more responsible.
• Ministers also failed to convince or create acceptable plans.
Ancien Regime
• System is unfair and corrupt.
• Social structure = imbalance of taxation =
economically flawed.
• Lack of uniformity and coherency in law and
tax. Poor administration therefore could lead
to chaos.
The Enlightenment
• Spoke out against the King and Church; in particular the
more vocal elements of Rousseau may be considered to
be discrediting to these institutions.
• Emphasised and highlighted the problems with the
system, such as the King’s unaccountability, albeit
sometimes indirectly such as the corresponding
increase in censorship.
• Wanted improvement.
• BUT!!! The philosophes were not revolutionary, but
reformist, desiring only greater balance and change.
Financial Situation of France and the resultant Economic Crisis
• 20th August 1786 = Calonne = verge of
bankruptcy.
• Not everyone pays taxes & tax farming corrupt.
• Foreign policy = ruinous
• Monarchs overspent = Crown has borrowed
massively
• Failure of Controllers to deal successfully with the
debt.
• Revolts in 1789 – dismissal of Necker = revolution
Conclusion
• Weigh up the factors you have identified.
• Are they linked?
6. How radical was the constitution of 1791?
August 4 1791 “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” accepted.
Based on the philosophes of the Enlightenment. Replace the ancien régime with
system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and
representative government.
Radical
 Limited Monarchy = Louis could not propose laws, Only
had temporary veto to block legislation (Suspensive vote).
 Separation of Powers = Legislative & Executive.
 Independent judiciary
 Created active citizens – more people could vote.
6. How radical was the constitution of 1791?
Not radical
 Written at a time of economic hardship so not very radical.
 Louis still had power to appoint ministers and veto laws.
 Compromise = radicals began drumming up popular support for a more republican
form of government and the trial of Louis (e.g. Robespierre, Desmoulins & Danton)
 Restricted right to vote i.e. “active” and “passive” citizens. Those who could vote
also faced restrictions. 1/3rd of adult males denied the franchise.
 To stand for office or become a Deputy = had to pay more taxes so relied on taxes
and wealth over merit (i.e. not meritocracy)
Conclusion:
Weigh up how radical you think the constitution was.
7. “Too much reform too quickly caused the failure of the constitutional
monarchy between 1789 and August 1792” How far do you agree with this
judgement?
Too much reform too quickly?
 1791 constitution – was the monarchy necessary?
 Economic, Taxes and Finance reform etc
 Religious reforms = The Pope encouraged Louis to reject
the Civil Constitution and the King’s belief in Divine Right
was grounded in faith. The refractory priests were central
to the counter-revolution. The Civil Constitution split
opinions.
 Reforms upset various parties, causing radicalisation and
divisions. They also led to questions about the role of
monarchy.
Louis’ personal failings and mistakes.
increasingly unwilling to support the Assembly,
Flight to Varennes
Increase demand for a republic = The Champs
de Mars Massacre
In November 1791, the King vetoed two laws
the Assembly saw as vital = Suspicion grew that
he was undermining the Revolution.
Maria An = Deeply unpopular.
Trunk of letters aided accusations of royal
treachery immeasurably
Result of war
• By August = dire position = within 60 miles of
Paris
• Brunswick Manifesto
• and an increasing fear of desertion, treason and
danger led the Assembly to grant the power to
arrest counter revolutionaries to local councils on
11th August.
• September Massacres.
• Panic = rise of the radicals = Tuilieres.
• Lafayette = defection
The result of deepening economic crisis
• 1791-2 bad harvest led to the highest corn
prices ever.
• The crisis of the ancient regime- reform wasn’t
resolving problems fast enough, leaving the
people angry (for example, there were riots
when the National Assembly did not
immediately remove the old taxes).
Machinations of a radical minority
 Rise of the political clubs- effectively pressure groups- with
different opinions. The most important were the Feuillants
(constitutional), Jacobins (moderate republicans) and
Cordeliers (radical and violent with working class members).
 The rise of the radicals, especially as controllers of the mob.
 Girondins in power- and their role in encouraging war/laws.
 The influence of the Cordeliers (Tuilieres).
 Personal aims (e.g. Lafayette).
 Radicalisation due to Robespierre’s ‘self-denying ordinance’.
9. How far was the “Terror” of 1793 – 1794 justified?
Justified

Threatened by both external enemies (France was at war with Austria, Prussia, The United Provinces,
Britain and Spain. General Dumouriez had deserted in April 1793, creating panic and fear) and internal
(counter-revolutionaries, particularly the rising in the Vendée which broke out in March 1793).

Repressive response to provincial rebellion. Most of the provinces- particularly in the north-west and south
east- erupted during July-August 1793 following the execution of the king. Control was regained by the end
of 1793.

Revolutionary Tribunal - A court specialising in trying those accused of counter revolutionary activities
(quickly). Set up in Paris and intending to prevent events such as the September Massacres. “Let us
embody Terror so as to prevent the people from doing so” –Danton

Suspension of the new constitution until peacetime by the CPS in October 1793 to ‘help the war effort’.

France faced economic difficulties, partly brought about by the spread of war . The Economic terror aimed
to provide food for the poor & solve the on-going economic crisis. Severe laws were introduced including
the death penalty for hoarding, a compulsory loan for the wealthy and the Maximum. The revolutionary
armies seized grain for the government but became out of control. Measures such as the compulsory loan
and the sale of émigré lands and property were intended to prop up the economy and regain popular
support. JUSTIFIED BECAUSE Parisians get fed (in the short term), Sales of land and the Maximum gain
support
9. How far was the “Terror” of 1793 – 1794 justified?
Unjustified:
 Repressive response to provincial rebellion. BUT UNJUSTIFIED BECAUSE a period of
harsh repression followed, from January-May 1794, labelled ‘pacification’. Across France
peasants were shot, farms burnt, animals killed and women raped. The worst horrors
were perpetrated by representatives on mission and revolutionary armées encouraged
by the Government: for example, in Nantes, 1800 were placed on barges in the Loire,
which were then sunk.
 The Terror continued despite war effort improving e.g. Danton were beginning to
question its necessity – executed.
 Increasing radicalism = The policy of representatives-on-mission placed Jacobins in
control of rebellious provinces and the Law of Suspects enabled local communes led by
fanatical Montagnards to be purged of local administrators in favour sans-culotte
militants.
 Show trials, such as that of Marie Antoinette (16th October), 20 leading Girondin deputies
(31st October), the Duc D’Orleans (6th November) and, perhaps least fairly, Madame
Roland, the wife of a Girondin ex-minister (9th November).
11. ‘The political instability in France in the years 1794–99 arose from the bitter
political divisions created by the events of 1793.’ How far do you agree with this
opinion?
Yes

Terror = Coup of Thermidor - Robespierre’s fall from power (religious, conventions role etc)

Thermidorian Reaction = government was reorganised in an attempt to prevent dictatorship. The
instruments of the Terror were dismantled: the Jacobin Club was closed in November 1794, the
Commune abolished and moderation and freedoms restored. The New Constitution of Year III was
issued in August 1795 and set up the Directory.

The White Terror of 1795 was a reaction against the revolution terror - those who had profited (land
purchasers, constitutional clergy and officials) and the Parisian sans-culottes were attacked by the
angry and the aggrieved; there was particular violence in the west and the Vendee.

On the 5th of October 1795 (13 Vendemiare), 25 000 armed Parisians- including factory and property
owners, civil servants and sans-culottes- marched on the Convention in protest against the new
Constitution, in what was described by contemporaries as a royalist rising. They were resisted by
government troops, led by the young Napoleon Bonaparte, who killed over 300 with a “whiff of
grapeshot”. This was the last attempt to intimidate an elected assembly until 1830.

Violence continued until 1797.
11. ‘The political instability in France in the years 1794–99 arose from the bitter
political divisions created by the events of 1793.’ How far do you agree with this
opinion?
NO
 Directory’s structure = relied on cooperation between the groups. Political
stalemate and a lack of leadership. Any attempt to make change was slow
and bureaucratic.
• Directory – too much change too quickly
• Economic crisis still serious – Directory found it difficult to deal with it.
Measures introduced were unpopular
• Royalist support - did well in elections = rise in support of constitutional
monarchy. Directory actions at manipulating elections.
• Various plots e.g. Babeuf
• War = defeats in Europe and with Britain.
How successful was the Directory in solving the problems facing France
between 1795 - 1799?
Success:
 reduced debt, increasing revenue through new taxes, plunder of occupied
lands and the introduction of a new currency with the withdrawal of the
assignats
 presided over a period of successful conquest so that by 1798, Britain was
France’s sole enemy
 prevented a royalist resurgence – curbing the Chouans, taking action
against émigrés and preventing royalist dominance in the councils
through the Coup of Fructidor (1797)
 curbed the Jacobins and left wing through the defeat of the Babeuf Plot
(1796) and the Coup of Floréal (1798)
 France’s success in the prosecution of total war against external enemies
was only possible because of the success in curbing counter-revolution at
home.
Failure
• the new currency rapidly lost value and coupled with the declining value of government
rentes, this alienated the bourgeoisie property-owners. French finances remained on a
precarious footing and were dependent on the short-term gains of war and forced loans
• the continuation of counter-revolution, e.g. the Chouans; the undercurrent of political
opposition and the need to resort to the army to preserve its existence, subverting
democracy, suggested political problems remained
• the return of royalists, who were elected in large numbers posed a threat to the revolution
and the principles the Directory had been set up to enshrine
• the war went less well in 1799 and its continuance caused hardships to remain. There was
hostility to conscription and economic dislocation
• problems of the Church – juring/non-juring priests and the aftermath of dechristianisation
were ignored.
Good answers are likely to conclude that the Directory was largely unsuccessful in solving
problems although it managed to ‘paper over’ them and to survive longer than any other
regime since 1789. The superficiality of achievements is likely to be identified and the
underlying weaknesses stressed, although it is possible to argue that it was ‘successful’ in its
very survival in difficult circumstances.