The French Revolution
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Old Regime
• Old Regime = Monarchy + Feudalism
• By the1770’s it no longer worked
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French Society
•Three Estates
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First Estate
• Roman Catholic Clergy (high officials)
–
–
–
–
–
1%
Owned 10 % of all the land
Extremely wealthy
Paid no direct taxes
Gave a “Free gift” (2 % of their income)
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Second Estate
• Nobility (Army, govt., and court officials)
– Less than 2 %
– Owned 25 % of the land
– Paid no taxes
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Third Estate
• Commoners – everyone else
–
–
97 %
Three groups
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Third Estate
1. Bourgeoisie
•
middle class, educated: believed in the ideas
of the Enlightenment
•
•
•
I.e. liberty & equality
Owned 20 – 25% of land
Merchants, bankers, industrialists, Lawyers,
doctors, holders of public office, writers
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Third Estate
2. Workers • Skilled workers,
shopkeepers, wage earners
• Sans-culottes
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Third Estate
3. Peasant farmers
–
–
–
more than 80 % of total pop.
Owned 35 – 40 % of land
50% of income went to taxes
•
•
•
•
Feudal dues – nobility
Tithes – 10 % of income to the church
Royal taxes – to the king
Corvee – free work for the government
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Estates by Population
1%
2%
97%
First
Second
Third
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What is this political cartoon saying?
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Monarchy
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
“Madame
deficit”
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Economics.
Political & Social
Inequalities.
Taxation.
Debt.
Loans.
Absolutism and
privileged .
Extravagant spending
by the king and queen.
Cost of Bread!
America influence Enlightened ideas
equality,
liberty, and
democracy.
Food Scarcity.
Causes
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Attempt to Avoid Bankruptcy
• The King hoped to tax the nobles
• Nobles refuse unless the king called a
meeting of the Estates General
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Estates General
• King Louis called for the meeting
• First & second Estates expected to
dominate the meeting
– One vote per Estate
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Estates General
• Third Estate demanded that all three
Estates meet together and vote as
individuals
– (610 – 591)
• King said follow the old rules
• The Third Estate refused
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The National Assembly is Born
Abbe Sieyes Spokesman for the Third Estate:
• Suggested – Third Estate change itself to
– The National Assembly
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• On June 17, 1789 the Third Estate became
The National Assembly
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Tennis Court Oath
• Locked out of their meeting hall.
• Vowed to stand fast until a constitution
was established.
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King Makes a deal
Yielded to the demands of the Third Estate
• Meet as one law-making body
• Sent for his mercenary army to march to
Paris
– Felt he couldn’t trust the French Soldiers
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Parisians Stormed the Bastille
• Bourgeoisie feared that the troops were
coming to break up the National Assembly
• Mobs in Paris were rioting over the cost of
bread
• Angry mobs stormed the Bastille
– Looking to defend Paris & the National
Assembly
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Parisians Stormed the Bastille
Results:
July 14, 1789
• Foreign troops are called off
• Reduced Kings’ power
• Saved The National Assembly
• Symbolic act of revolution for the French people.
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Great Fear
• Summer of 1789 throughout France.
– A wave of panic spread!
– Uprisings broke out throughout France
– Citizens feared invasion by foreign troops
– Growing hatred of the entire landholding
system, fees & obligations
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The Destruction of the Old Regime
• On the night of Aug 4, 1789
• The National Assembly eradicated what
was left of feudalism in France
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The Assembly adopted many reforms
• The National Assembly voted to end
–
–
–
–
Feudalism
Serfdom
Church tithes
Special privileges of the nobles & clergy
•The Old Regime was
dead
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The Assembly adopted many reforms
• “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
became the slogan of the revolution
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The National Assembly adopted reforms
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
• Inspired by the American Declaration of
Independence & Constitution, & English Bill of
Rights
• The aim of all governments is the preservation of
the natural rights of man.
– Liberty, Property, Security, Resistance to
oppression
• “Men are born & remain free & equal in rights.”
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Women Marched on Versailles
• In October 1789
• Met with King about the rising $ of bread
• Demanded that the king & queen come live in
Paris
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King approved the Constitution &
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
• In June 1791 Louis XVI & his family attempt
to escape
• Sept 1791 The National Assembly steps down
• Followed by an elected group
– The Legislative Assembly
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France went to war with Austria
• Austria & Prussia threatened to attack
(1792)
• Legislative Assembly declared war on
Austria (April 1792)
War
started
off
poorly!
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Rise of the Paris Commune
Austria threatens to destroy Paris
• Mob storms the royal palace
• Louis & Marie are imprisoned
Threatened by the radicals the Legislative Assembly
gave up on the idea of a limited monarchy
• Set aside the constitution & deposed the King
• Called for the election of a new governing body
– The National Convention
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France was split by factions
• Legislative Assembly split into three general
groups
Left
Center
Right
Radicals
Moderates
Conservatives
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A Republic is born
• These groups had more power than the
government
– Political clubs
• (Jacobin Club Girondins & Mountain)
• Danton & Marat
• National Convention abolished the
monarchy
• Declared France a Republic
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What to do with Louis XVI ?
•
•
•
•
King Louis is tried
Radicals demanded his execution
Executed on Jan 21, 1793
361 to 288, with 72 calling for a
delay
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New Republic faced problems
Problem
• Hostile foreign armies of Austria & Prussia
• Britain, Spain, & Portugal joined them
– First coalition
Solution
• France initiated a draft (1793)
– A people’s army
– French defeated the Austrians & Prussians
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Reign of Terror
Maximilien Robespierre
• Tried to wipe out every trace of France’s
past monarchy and nobility
• Formed & headed the Committee of Public
Safety
• Most famous victim – Marie Antoinette
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Reign of Terror
• Enemies of the Republic and including
those who had helped set it up
• 40,000 people were executed!
• No one was safe
• Members of the National Convention
turned on Robespierre
37
Reign of Terror
• On July 28, 1794
Robespierre was
executed
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Moderates ruled in the directory
• Sick of the terror
• Sick of the high cost of food
• 1795 moderate leaders drafted a new
constitution (third since 1789)
– Two house legislature
– The Directory (five men)
• Also they found themselves a general
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Rise of Napoleon
• In 1795 he saved the
National Convention
• Napoleon dispersed the
mob with what he called
a whiff of grapeshot
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His Brilliant Italian Campaign
• 1796 appointed
commander of
the French
Army in Italy
• Success was based on three factors:
– his supply system,
– Speed and massed surprise attacks by small
compact units
– his influence over the morale of his soldiers
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Napoleon Seized Power
• By 1799 the Directory had lost the people’s
trust – Corruption
• On Nov. 9-10, 1799 – coup d’etat
• Established a new regime – the Consulate
• Bonaparte was one of the three Consuls
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Napoleon Seized Power
• 1800 – He asked the French people to
approve a new constitution (4th)
– Plebiscite (yes or no)
– He becomes the First Consul
• 1802 – Approved as Consul for Life
• 1804 – Voters approved to name himself
Emperor Napoleon I
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Napoleon Seized Power
• By March of 1802 Napoleon had defeated
the Second Coalition
– Austria, Russia, British
• First peace in Europe in ten years
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Napoleon Restored Order
Economic order –
• Balanced the budget
• Set up a national bank
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Napoleon Restored Order
Social order –
• Promoted officials according to merit
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Napoleon Restored Order
Religious order –
• Recognized Catholicism as the faith of the
majority of Frenchmen
• Everyone was free to worship as he or she
wished
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Napoleon Restored Order
Legal order –
• Napoleonic Code; gave the country a single
set of laws.
• Abolished the three estates
• everyone was equal before the law
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Napoleon Restored Order
• By 1810 he had conquered most of Europe
(Third Coalition)
• Napoleon lost only one major battle Vs the
Third Coalition – Trafalgar
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Napoleon’s Mistakes
1. Continental System (1806)
–
Weakened the economies of Europe
2. Made his brother Joseph king of Spain
(1808)
–
–
Peninsula War weakened the French empire
Guerrilla tactics
3. Invasion of Russia (1812)
–
–
–
Czar refused to stop selling grain to Britain
Grand Army wasn’t very loyal
Use of scorched earth policy
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Coalition defeated Napoleon
Grand Alliance
• Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, & Sweden
– In October of 1813 Napoleon is defeated at
Leipzig
• In April of 1814 Napoleon accepted the
terms of surrender
• Exiled to Elba
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The 100 Days
• March 1, 1815 Napoleon escaped
• June 18, 1815 Napoleon is defeated at
Waterloo (Belgium) by the Grand Alliance
– Duke of Wellington (Britain)
• Napoleon is again exiled
– St. Helena
– Where in 1821 he died of a stomach ailment
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The End
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