The French
Revolution
Setting the Stage: The Estates
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French class system broken up into 3 Estates
First Estate – High Church Positions
Second Estate – Nobility
Third Estate – Everyone Else (Peasants, workers, shopkeepers, merchants,
bankers, lawyers, doctors…..)
Setting the Stage: Nation in Crisis
• Bad Harvests
• Food Shortages
• Rising cost of Food
• Spending of the Royal Family
• Constant War – Support of the American Revolution
• Royal Luxuries – Extravagant spending of the Royal Court
• Maria Antoinette and her lavish parties
Setting the Stage: Estates General
• Louis XVI calls meeting of the Estates General
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Representatives of all three estates
1st – 300 representatives
2nd – 300 Representatives
3rd – 600 representatives
• Vote to raise taxes
• Voting System unfair
• Tax System unfair
The National Assembly
• Disgusted w/system, 3rd Estate declares itself The National Assembly
• Vow to draw up a fair constitution
• Locked out of their meeting place by 1st & 2nd Estate
• Tennis Court Oath
• Vow to continue meeting until new constitution drawn up
Storming the Bastille
• Hundreds of Parisians gather around the Bastille
• Prison thought to also serve as an armory
• People are hungry and scared of troops
• They break into Bastille to steal guns to defend themselves
• Prison warden is beheaded
• No guns, so Bastille is torn down
The Great Fear
• Louis XVI has lost control of Paris
• Royal troops have betrayed him
• Peasants revolting all over France
• Troops rumored to be coming from other countries to help put down revolt
• Peasants destroy records of debts
• National Assembly continues action
• Takes away legal privileges of nobles and clergy
Change hits the Royal Family and the Estates
• Although his palace is at Versailles, Louis XVI moves to Paris
• Forced there by angry mob of women
• Afraid Louis would seek help from allies if not watched closely
• Catholic Church is turned over
• All lands sold off for profit
• Church positions would now be elected by people
• Not appointed by pope
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen
• Dealt with the individual rights of man:
• Liberty
• Property
• Security
• Resistance to oppression
• Enlightenment Ideas
• Freedom of speech and press
The King Tries to Escape
• In 1791, new constitution is signed
• Limited the monarchy
• All taxpaying men over 25 could vote
• All positions political and religious were elected
• Louis XVI and his family try to escape Paris
• Captured and brought back
War with Austria
• Foreign monarchies are afraid
• Revolution may spread outside French borders
• Threaten the French revolutionary government
• France strikes first and declares war
• Unorganized, badly beaten
Paris Commune
• French Revolution about to take a violent turn
• Parisian mob attacks new French gov’t & monarchy
• Call for new government
• All male citizens can vote
• Paranoia grips the streets
• People don’t trust each other
The End of the French Monarchy
• Mobs are now controlling France
• Fear of foreign invasion
• Violence in streets
• National Convention called to draft new constitution
• Political parties form
• Abolish the monarchy
“Off, with his head…”
• Two major political parties form
• Girondins – represent people outside of Paris
• Mountain/Jacobins – represent people in Paris
• Decide the fate of the King
• Execution
• guillotine
Things Fall Apart
• The beheading of the king sets off a chain reaction of violence
• Three Men responsible:
• Jean-Paul Marat
• Georges Danton
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Danton and Marat condone the use of violence during the revolution
The Reign of Terror
• Maximilien Robespierre – Jacobin, becomes head of Committee of Public Safety
• Reign of Terror
• Revolutionary courts that tried “traitors”
• 40,000 killed in a year
• 16,000 guillotined
• The Republic of Virtue
• People referred to each other as “citizens”
• New Calendar
• De-Christianization
A Call to Arms
• To save Revolution again, France goes to war, again
• Massive draft
• Largest army ever seen in Europe
• Over a million soldiers
• Defeats all foreign invaders
• Success seen as a true people’s war
“Off with HIS head…”
• After the war, Robespierre passes gains more power
• Law of 22 Prairial
• More power to arrest and execute
• Afraid of Robespierre’s growing power, action is needed
• National Convention arrests him
• Robespierre is executed
• Jacobins are removed from power
FINALLY, a constitution
• The Terror is over and the CPS is removed
• New Constitution is signed
• Separation of powers
• Executive branch known as the Directory
• Corrupt
• Small percent of population can vote
• 30,000 people
Coup d'état
• French government still a mess
• Political parties fighting
• Corruption dominates new government
• Economic Problems
• Expensive Wars
• One Military leader seizes opportunity and overthrows government
• Napoleon Bonaparte
DBQ
• Read the verses from William Wordsworth, and the illustration by George
Cruikshank on page 592 and answer the questions related to foreign views of
the French Revolution.
• Read the Primary Sources on pages 594-595 and answer the question son
page 595. #’s 1-6