FOR A POLITICAL REVOLUTION
TO BEGIN…
There must be the 5 As
 1. At least two opposing sides
 2. Access to weapons
 3. Aims expressed in a slogan
 4. Accomplished leaders
 5. Ailments present socially,
economically, and politically
 How does this fit from what you know of
the American Revolution?
For a Revolution to be
successful
 The aims of the Revolution need to be defined and propagandized.
 The leaders must have a social and educational background that
allows them to hold the subsequent government together.
 They must be able to produce a framework and a coalition for a new
government.
 The degree of the opposition can't be too great
 The problems that caused the revolution to occur must be resolved.
How does this fit with what you know of
the American Revolution?
The political spectrum
(TRADITIONAL)
Extreme

Liberal
Extreme
Moderate Conservative
The Political Spectrum
(in reality)
Moderate
Liberal
Conservative.
EXTREME
The French Revolution
3. New
Enlightened
forms of
government
2. Moderate
Phase of the
Revolution –
Changes begin
1. Monarchy
6. Emperor for
Life
4. Murder of the
King
5. Reign of
Terror
The French Revolution- Origins
 The French Revolution
1. The French Revolution,
which occurred in the
1780’s and 90’s was the
overthrow of the
monarchy.
2. It greatly changed the
Western world by
influencing the
formation of
Republican
Governments.
The French RevolutionOrigins
 Factors which led to the French Revolution
 1. Enlightenment ideas of liberty, equality, and

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
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democracy.
2. Heavy taxation on the commoners but not the
nobility
3. Absolutism’s total control of the people
4. The extreme spending of the Bourbons
5. Famine in the 1780’s
6. The Estate System
Causes of the French Revolution!
The French Revolution- Origins
 The Estate System
The First Estate
• The Church and Church Leaders
The Second Estate
• The Kings and Nobility
The Third Estate
• Merchants, Townspeople, and Peasants
• Most of the Population
Estates
 Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes: "What is the
Third Estate?
 Read and Annotate
 Answer questions (HW)
The French RevolutionOrigins
 The Third Estate can be subdivided into three
groups:
 The Bourgeoisie- Merchants, artisans, traders,
professionals. Many were educated and had read works
of the Enlightenment.
 The City Workers- Laborers, apprentices, and domestic
servants.
 The Peasants- Poor farmers. Made up 80% of France’s
population. About half their income was taken in the
form of taxes.
The French RevolutionOrigins
 The Estate System
What does this
cartoon mean?
The French Revolution- Origins
 The Royal Family
1. When the Revolution
began, France was
ruled by the Bourbon
King Louis XVI and his
wife Queen Marie
Antoinette.
2. Louis was an
ineffective ruler and
his wife was a
Habsburg.
3. Both were unpopular.
Clip…
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
The French RevolutionOrigins
 Royal Spending- Despite debt, the Royal
Family spent lavishly on themselves. In fact,
Marie Antoinette became known as
“Madame Deficit” because of her expensive
tastes.
The French Revolution- The
Estates General of 1789
 Estates General of 1789
1. By 1789, the French
Government was broke.
2. Louis XVI called a
meeting of the Estates
General at Versailles on
March 5, 1789.
3. It was the first in 175
years.
4. He hoped to gain
popular approval for a
tax on the nobility.
The French Revolution- The
Estates General of 1789
 Rules of the Estates General:
 Medieval rules stated that the Estates meet
separately
 Each Estate had one vote. The First and Second
Estate could outvote the Third Estate (97 % of the
population)
 Representative from the Third Estate were
educated Bourgeoisie
The French Revolution- The
Estates General of 1789
 The National Assembly
The Third Estate asked
that each delegate gets
one vote.
2. This meant that the Third
Estate could outvote the
First and Second.
3. When they were denied,
they decided to form the
National Assembly which
they declared was the
true representatives of
France.
1.
The French Revolution- The
Estates General of 1789
 The Tennis Court Oath
1. In response, the First
and Second Estates
locked the Third Estate
out of the Estates
General.
2. So the delegates of the
Third Estate broke into
an indoor tennis court
at Versailles.
3. There they pledged to
make a new
constitution.
The French Revolution: The
Estates General of 1789
 The Tennis Court Oath
The French Revolution- The
Bastille
 The Storming of the
Bastille
1. Rumors reached Paris
that the King would use
force to stop the
National Assembly.
2. A mob formed and
stormed the Bastille—a
French Prison and
Armory.
3. They stole weapons
and prepared to revolt
against the king.
4. Seen as the beginning
of the Revolution.
The French Revolution- The
Bastille
 The Storming of the Bastille is seen as the
birth of the French Republic. Every July 14,
the French celebrate Bastille Day which is like
the Fourth of July.
The French Revolution- The
Great Fear
 The Great Fear
1. Soon peasants began to
rebel in most French
towns and cities.
2. Rumors began to fly
that the nobles were
building armies
designed to destroy the
uprising.
3. Mobs began to
terrorize and burn
down noble homes and
manors.
The French Revolution- The
Great Fear
 In October of 1789, a mob of mostly women
descended on Versailles demanding cheaper
bread. They raided the Palace and the mob
forced the royal family to return to Paris.
The French Revolution- The Reforms
of the National Assembly
 In 1789, the National Assembly adopted the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen. This outlined the ideals of the
Revolution and was inspired by the
Enlightenment.
P-Source:
Declaration of the
Rights of Man
The French Revolution- Reforms of
the National Assembly
 "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"
The French Revolution- Reforms
of the National Assembly
 The Assembly then took over the Church and
sold off its wealth to pay for Frances debt.
The made the priesthood a state job.
 Question: How could this create divisions in
the Revolution?
The French Revolution- Reforms
of the National Assembly
 In June of 1791, the royal family attempted to
escape to the Netherlands. They were caught
and then placed under house arrest.
The French Revolution- Reforms of the
National Assembly
 The Legislative
Assembly
1. In September of 1791,
the National
Assembly created the
Legislative Assembly.
2. This was the French
version of Parliament.
3. In doing so they made
the French
government a
constitutional
monarchy.
The French Revolution- Factions
 Factions of the Revolution outside of the
Assembly
 Emigres- Nobles who fled to other countries who
attempted to use their influence to undo the
Revolution
 Sans Culottes- (without knee breeches) Poor
workers who were not in the Assembly but sought
to influence the new French Government through
mob action.
The French RevolutionFactions
 The Sans Culottes
The French RevolutionFactions
 Emigres
The French Revolution- France
at War
 France declares War on
Prussia and Austria
1. The monarchs of
Europe hated the
French Revolution.
2. They feared it would
inspire revolutions in
their countries.
3. When they demanded
the restoration of Louis
or else, France declared
war on Prussia and
Austria in April of 1792.
The French Revolution- France
at War
 September Massacres-
1792
1. Panic set in as Prussian
forces neared Paris.
2. In response to Prussian
demands to restore the
old order, mobs raided
prisons and murdered
the nobles in them.
3. Then the Legislative
Assembly disposed the
king—and created the
new government the
National Convention.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The panic caused by the war allowed a radical
group known as the Jacobins to take control
of the convention.
The French RevolutionFrance at War
 The Jacobins called for the execution of
anyone who still supported the king. Louis
XVI was put on trial. On January 21, 1793,
King Louis XVI was executed.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The Execution of Louis XVI
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The Execution of Marie Antoinette
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The Guillotine- An
execution devise used
by the French
Revolutionaries. They
regarded it as a
humane execution
(although quite
gruesome) in
comparison to the
tortures committed by
the monarchy.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 Reading the Death of Jean Paul Marat
Jacques Louis David’s
Death of Marat
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 In order to win the war against Austria,
Prussia, Great Britain, Spain and the
Netherlands, the National Convention
ordered a draft which grew the French ranks
of 800,000 including women.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The Reign of Terror-
Summer of 1793 to
Summer of 1794.
1. In order to solidify
control, the Jacobins
restructured French
society, including the
removal of Sundays.
2. They further removed
their enemies by using
the Committee of
Public Safety.
3. This committee found
anyone who disagreed
with the Jacobins and
executed them.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The leader of the Jacobins was a man named
Maximilien Robespierre. From the
Committee of Public Safety, he ruled France
as a Dictator.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The End of the Reign of
Terror
1. Fearing for their own
lives, Jacobin leaders
turned on
Robespierre.
2. On July 28, 1794,
Robespierre was sent
to the Guillotine.
3. The Reign of Terror
was over.
The French RevolutionRadicalism
 The Execution of Maximilien Robespierre
The French RevolutionModeration
 The Directory- The Revolution changed the
government again. It placed most power in
the hands of the a bicameral legislature which
was composed of middle to upper class
moderates.
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Napoleon Bonaparte
1. Napoleon was a
Corsican born French
artillery officer.
2. He had great success
defending France
from the invasion of
European powers.
3. He became a hero
when he won victories
in Italy and invaded
Egypt.
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Napoleon was so popular, that many urged
him to take power. In 1799, he returned from
Egypt and conducted a Coup D'état.
Napoleon takes
control from the
Directory
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Napoleon, a very skilled military leader, then
drove the allied forces out of France and
negotiated a peace treaty in 1802.
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Reforms of Napoleon:
 Stabilized the economy and government spending
through tax reforms and a national bank
 Set up public schools called Lycees to train
officials
 By popular demand, he restored the Church
 Set up universal law Code known as the
Napoleonic Code
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Despite the goals of the Revolution,
Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of
France in 1804.
The French RevolutionNapoleon Builds and Empire
 Napoleon Lays Siege to
Europe
1. Napoleon abandoned
his ambitions in the
Americas and sold the
remainder of his
colonies the U.S.
2. He then decided to
build an Empire in
Europe.
3. The British, Russia,
Austria, Prussia and
Sweden united against
him.
The French RevolutionNapoleon Builds and Empire
 The Louisiana Purchase
The French RevolutionNapoleon Builds and Empire
 Napoleon was able to defeat everyone but
Great Britain.
Napoleon’s
Empire in
1812
The French RevolutionNapoleon Builds and Empire
 All lands under Napoleon’s Influence by 1812.
The French Revolution- The
Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
 Jacques Louis David’s Napoleon at St.
Bernard’s Pass
The French RevolutionNapoleons Mistakes
 The Continental
System
1. Napoleon attempted
to destroy Great
Britain by preventing
it from trading with
Continental Europe.
2. He attempted to
blockade their ships.
3. In response, the
British blockade ships
from entering France.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 The Peninsular War
1. In 1808, Napoleon
invaded Spain. He
placed his brother
Joseph on the Spanish
Throne.
2. For six years the
Spanish led a guerilla
campaign against the
French.
3. Napoleon lost
300,000 men.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 Francisco de Goya’s Tres de Mayo
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 The Russian Invasion
1. Napoleon’s greatest
mistake was his
invasion of Russia in
1812.
2. He invaded with
420,000 men, but the
Russians kept
retreating.
3. As they retreated, they
burned their crops and
killed their live stocks.
4. Scorched Earth Policy.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 When Napoleon reached Moscow he found it
in flames.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 Napoleon was forced to retreat. When the
Russian winter hit, most of his men died of
starvation and exposure. Only 10,000 made it
home.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Austria
declared war on him, invaded France, and
captured Napoleon. He was exiled to the
Island of Elba. They put Louis XVI’s brother
on the throne—Louis XVIII.
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Mistakes
 The Island of Elba
The French RevolutionNapoleon’s Return
 The Hundred Days
1. Napoleon escaped
and landed in France
on March 1, 1815.
2. He was greeted as a
liberator and made
emperor again.
3. He ruled for a
Hundred Days, but
the British and
Prussians wanted him
gone.
The French RevolutionWaterloo
 The Battle of Waterloo 1815- Napoleon met
the British and Prussian forces at Waterloo in
Belgium. He was defeated and exiled to the
island of St. Helena.
The French RevolutionWaterloo
 The Island of St. Helena
The French Revolution- The
Congress of Vienna
 Reading- The Congress of Vienna