1789-1799
Causes of the French Revolution
• Bad Harvests
(1780s)
• Rising Food
Prices
• Inadequate
transportation
network
Causes of the French Revolution
• Fiscal Crisis
*ineffective taxation system
*debt from Wars (Seven Years’ War +
American Revolutionary War
Causes: Ancien Regime
Ancien Regime – 3 Estates
1st Estate – Catholic Clergy (130,000)
2nd Estate – French Nobility (300,000)
3rd Estate – The rest of the French Population
(Bourgeoisie
Urban/rural middle class
Urban poor/peasants)
Ancien Regime
Causes:
Ineffectiveness of Louis XVI
• Extravagant lifestyle
in Versailles
*removed and indecisive
• Proposed tax reforms
(land tax) – refused
by the Assembly of
Notables
• Call for EstatesGeneral (May 1789) –
first time since 1614 /
weakness of Bourbon
monarchy!
Causes:
Popularity of the Enlightenment
Ideas
• Natural Rights
• Republicanism
• Liberalism
• Religious
Tolerance
• Feminism
Causes:
Social Tensions within French Society
• Bourgeoisie vs. Nobility
• Peasants vs. Nobles
• General resentment
toward:
- power and influence of
the Catholic Church
- inequalities of
Ancien Regime
"This will not long endure." ["Ça ne durera pas
toujours"]
1789 – Major Events Leading up to
the Storming of Bastille
*Assembly of Notables
- refused land tax
*Meeting of the Estates – General
- reps from each estate (old rule:
1 vote per estate)
*The Tennis Court Oath (reps from
the 3rd estate + some from the
first two)
- Goal: To write a new
constitution
- Declared themselves The
National Assembly
*Soldiers in Paris (mostly foreign
mercenaries)  Storming of the
Bastille (July 14, 1789)
1789 -“The Great Fear” and End of
Feudalism
• Storming of the Bastille
• Sporadic violence and
peasant uprisings
throughout France
• National Assembly
abolishes privileges and
tithes
• Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the
Citizen (statement of
revolutionary principles)
Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
• Fundamental document of
the Revolution
• Reflects ideas of the
Enlightenment, such as:
*Natural rights
*Popular sovereignty
*Individual freedoms
(speech and press)
The Women's March on Versailles
• Poor harvests of 1789  shortages of grain
• Traditional view: “Father of the People” will
provide for his flock
• Louis XVI and his family – forced to return to
Paris and recognize the National Assembly
Decline of the Church's Power
• Prior to the revolution
*1st Estate – 130,000 members
*Largest landowner in France
*Collected tithes (10% tax)
(resented by Protestants and
Enlightenment thinkers, like
Voltaire)
Decline of the Church (cont.)
• Reforms under the National
Assembly’s Constitution:
*All Church property –
“disposal of the nation”
(nationalized)
*Abolishment of tithes,
monastic vows, and religious
orders
*Civil Constitution of the Clergy
(1790) – clergy=“employee of
the state”
(conflict for the clergy over their
“loyalty oath”)
“The Patriotic De-Fattening
Machine”
Foreign Threat
• Revolution perceived as a threat to
European absolutist monarchies
• Louis XVI with the moderates – unlikely
alliance – different motivations
(strengthen the king/army vs. exporting
revolution)
• France at war with Austria and Prussia
(eventually the Dutch and the British join
the anti-French alliance)
June 1791 – The Royal Flight
• Royal family flees
Paris – caught at
Varennes (5 mi. from
the border)
• Brought back to
Paris
• Louis XVI signs a
new constitution
*Weak constitutional
monarchy!!!
Legislative Assembly
• Conservatives vs.
centrists (moderates)
vs. radicals
• Radicals’ support
grows after Louis’
failed escape
• Jan.1793 – Louis XVI
executed
• Continued war =
increase in food prices
(anger by sansculottes)
• The French Republic –
1792- year 1 (Cult of
Reason, etc.)
The Radical Phase – The Reign of
Terror (1793-1794)
• Rise of Jacobin radicals
(The Mountain – Maximilian
Robespierre)
• Execution of “Enemies of the
Revolution” (Committee of
Public Safety)
• Counter-reaction
(Robespierre loses support
– guillotined)
The Directory (1795-1799) and the
Thermidorian Reaction
• New constitution of 1795 (conservative pushback)
*Limited (property) suffrage instead of universal suffrage
*Establishes the Directory
• The Directory – ineffective and corrupt social unrest  use of army
• Napoleon comes to power - END OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Napoleon Bonaparte
• 1799 – Consulship (first consul
of the Republic)
• 1804 – Decline of republicanism
/ declares himself an emperor
• Reforms:
*The Napoleonic Code
*The Concordat
*Reforms in tax code, higher
education, urban infrastructure
*Established Central Bank
*Emancipation of Jews
*Limits on personal freedoms
(freedom of press no more!)
• Popular authoritarianism!!!
The French Empire – Napoleonic Wars
• Successes in Prussia and
Austria (early 1800s)
• The Continental System –
commercial boycott of Britain
• Peninsular War – against
Spain and Portugal
• 1812 –Invasion of Russia
(big disaster!)
• Exile to Elba
• Escape = 100 days
• Final defeat – The Battle of
Waterloo (1814)
• Exile to St.Helena
Legacy of the Revolution
• “Dawn of the modern
era”
• Decrease in the power
of aristocracy and the
Church
• Influence of the
Enlightenment ideas
(republicanism)
• Challenge to absolutism
• Inspired other
revolutions
"Liberty leading the People" by
Eugène Delacroix, 1830
Timeline of the French Revolution
Work Cited:
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Slide 1: http://edu.glogster.com/media/4/27/26/97/27269711.jpg
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Slide 2:
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Slide 3: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=125658
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Slide 4: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b50000/3b51000/3b51500/3b51557r.jpg
http://learnearnandreturn.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/imgsrv.jpeg
http://general-history.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ancien-regime.jpg
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Slide 5: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/searchimages/165.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ish7688voT0/TLb20E8K2kI/AAAAAAAACu0/btdetXWoP5c/s1600/429px-Ludvig_XVI_av_Frankrike_portr%C3%A4tterad_av_AF_Callet.jpg
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Slide 6:
http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/2c/images/1775GeoffrinSalonIdent$Fr485pxw.jpg
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Slide 7:
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/spielmag/docs/legrandsiecle/lgs4.htm
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Slide 8:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist151/French%20Revolution%20II/album/slides/old%20regime%20not%20long%20to%20endure.jpg
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Slide 9:
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Slide 10:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist151/French%20Revolution%20II/album/index.html
http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/98/90498-004-CEB880DC.jpg
http://weissworldhistory.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/tiers-etat.jpg
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Slide 11:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Declaration_of_Human_Rights.jpg
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Slide 12:
http://www.historywiz.com/images/frenchrevolution/womensmarch1.jpg
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Slide 13:
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http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YIQJvLNdNK8/TtFYaRYXiRI/AAAAAAAABM8/YCR2t0PlJLA/s1600/three+estates+caricature.jpg
http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/09/myth-ofignorant-priests.html
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Slide 15: http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/27567ddb73a00a9dc3846838d17812b9_1M.png and http://www.imperialtometric.com/Edition/batailles/Sections/Battle_of_Valmy.jpg
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Slide 16:
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Slide 17:
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Slide 18: http://bastille-day.com/media/Robespierre.jpg
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Slide 21:
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/robes.jpg and
http://www.oocities.org/eurohist1916/eurohistory/APFrenchRevolution.htm