Clergy
Controller-General
Throne
Manor
Manor
Manor
Manor
Teacher Desk
Background Information
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Who was King Louis XIV?
When did he reign over
France?
What was the Palace of
Versailles?
How did Louis XIV use the
palace to increase his power?
Background Information
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Who was King Louis XVI?
When did he reign over
France?
Who was the Queen of
France during Louis XVI’s
reign??
Where was she from?
Pre-Revolutionary France
Financial Crisis
End of 18th cent. France spent more $ than it made.
Took out Loans to pay for:
war w/ England
gov’t operations
1788
50% annual budget to pay loan interest
25% of annual budget to pay for military
6% of annual budget for king’s lifestyle and court at Versailles
19% of annual budget to run country
Taxes
King has no option but to raise taxes to cover costs
Tax burden goes to peasants
Clergy & Nobles mostly exempt from taxes
Poor harvest hits as taxes increase
caused price of bread to soar
Meeting of Estates
General
Medieval representative body: hasn’t met since 1614
3 orders/Estates: Clergy, Nobility, Commoners
King calls meeting to solve Financial Crisis
Revolution Starts
Tennis Court Oath
3rd Estate declares itself to be National assembly
– the true representatives of France
June 19, 1789 the Clergy joined the National Assembly
National Assembly established a Constitutional Monarch AND
seized church lands
Storming of
the Bastille
March on Versailles
July 14, 1789 100’s of people stormed the Bastille to find gunpowder
when rumors of the sacking of Paris were spread.
Represented the beginning of the French Revolution
Unemployment and hunger went up
October 1789 7,000 women marched to Versailles to demand bread from
the King
King Louis XVI was escorted (forced) back to Paris and never returned
to Versailles
The Reign of Terror
1791
June 21 - Royal Family was caught trying to escape and were
returned to Paris
King Louis XVI forced to sign new constitution, but vetoes all revolutionary
decrees
National
Convention
September 1792 – a more radical government, the National
Convention, is elected
Treason
Royal documents are found which incriminate the King of Treason
January 1793 – King Louis XVI is convicted of treason and sentenced to
death.
- He is beheaded on the Guillotine.
- Marks the Beginning of the Reign of Terror
War with Europe
1794-Patriotic Armies wiped out the European Armies on all fronts
The Reign of Terror
Robespierre
Believed citizens needed to be taught the ‘Virtues” of the new Republic
-Created new calendar
-set up special revolutionary courts to that tried
citizens for treason. These courts answered ONLY to
Robespierre
- Anyone deemed not “virtuous” enough was in danger of
execution
Terror
By July 1794 over 40,000 men & women were executed on the Guillotine
Finally, Robespierre himself was executed.
-the terror ended
The Directory
Napoleon
Bonaparte
The Reign of Terror was followed by a disastrous 5 year rule by a 5 man
executive called the Directory
Napoleon became Emperor of France in 1799
He Ruled France as a Dictator for 15 years (1799-1814)
France became a police state – freedom of speech and press violated
but he maintained some revolutionary changes
-abolished feudal system, helped middle class and
peasants advance.