The French
Revolution:
A Brief History
Gary Brown
Central Michigan University
Technology in Education
The World at 1788
 The world was in a new Age after the Enlightenment.
 People began using Enlightenment ideas like the Natural
Rights of Man to question traditional/medieval
authorities.
 The U.S.A had already founded a nation with a Democratic
political system.
France in 1789: How it Began
The Estates General
 Each Estate had 1 vote, even though the first 2 Estates
only comprised 20%-25% of the population.
 The 3rd Estate, angry at the lack of equality, demanded
individual rights for equal representation.
 Angry at the 3rd Estate for its supposed “insubordination”,
King Louis the 16th locked the 3rd Estate out of the meeting
chamber.
The Start of a Revolution: The
Tennis Court Oath
 Refusing to give up, the 3rd Estate met at a tennis court
close to the meeting chamber at the palace Versailles.
 Here the 3rd Estate made an oath to form a National
Assembly and a Constitution.
 The French Revolution had begun.
Violence and The National
Assembly
 It took two years for the Assembly to write a constitution,
1789-1791.
 During this time many peasant mobs roamed France
targeting the aristocratic class.
 By Breaking into their houses, killing them, and running
them out of the country the peasants significantly
lessened the power of the 2nd Estate.
 The time is often referred to as the Great Fear.
The legislative Assembly and War
 Unfortunately the Constitution and its government, the
Legislative Assembly, only lasted 1 year, 1791-1792.
 In 1792 the two great powers in Europe, Prussia and
Austria, afraid of the spread of Democracy, declared
war on France in order to restore the Monarchy.
 The Legislative assembly was dissolved and a National
Convention was set up by a more radical less well to do
group of 3rd Estate Members, the Sans-Culottes.
 At home however
Reign of Terror
cont.
Robespierre dealt with
“Enemies of the Republic”
with the guillotine.
 It is estimated that 16,000
people were executed
between 1793 and 1794,
including the King Louis the
16th.
 Though successful in
defending and saving the
revolution, Robespierre and
the Terror was a violent and
scary time.
The Directory
The Fall of the Directory
 This was a time of stagnation in the revolution.
 The Directory’s representative’s where those who could
afford to pay taxes many times greater than the average
citizen.
 As a result only the rich could become representative’s.
 The Directory quickly became corrupt and little was done
to improve the Nation.
The End of the Revolution
 The Directory came to rely too
heavily on its grand army to
rule the country.
 In 1799 a Coup de ‘etate was
held in Paris by the military
and a talented, young military
officer came out the winner.
 His name was Napoleon
Bonaparte, and he would
come to dominate all of
Europe for the next 16 years.
The French Revolution’s Lasting
Legacies
Sources
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First Picture: http://www.success.co.il/knowledge/images/Pillar10-History-FrenchRevolution-Delacroix.jpg
Second Picture: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2059/2275100991_2c9dd034c2.jpg
Third Picture: https://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/tennis_court_oath.jpg
Fourth Picture: http://les.guillotines.free.fr/robespierre.gif
Fifth Picture: https://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/medieval-guillotine-4800.jpg
Sixth Picture:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/uncyclopedia/images/4/41/NapoleonBike.jpg
Seventh Picture: http://maxdunbar.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/france-flag.jpg
All information used in this presentation was obtained from;
Spielvogel, J. (2008). Western Civilization: A Brief History. Volume 2: since 1500. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.