CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Enlightenment ideas began to spread.
Military defeats in 1748 and 1763 undermined the
prestige of the French monarchy.
After 1760 the French population grew somewhat faster
than did the economy.
King Louis XVI was less talented than his predecessors,
and Queen Marie Antoinette became very unpopular.
The French nobility raised new barriers to hinder the rise
of talented commoners.
Support for the American Revolution bankrupted the
French government.
Bad weather caused a miserable wheat harvest in 1788,
and the price of bread soared.
Popular engraving
to celebrate the
recall of Necker,
August 1788.
He persuaded the
King to call for the
election of the
first Estates
General since
1614.
PAMPHLETEERS DEMANDED TWO REFORMS
OF THE OLD ELECTION PROCEDURE
(see Western Heritage, pp. 532-34)
1. “The doubling of the Third,” i.e., authorization for
the Third Estate to elect as many delegates as the
First and Second combined.
2. “Vote by head and not by order,” i.e., abandonment
of the old rule that the delegates of the three
estates meet and vote as three separate bodies.
Louis XVI soon granted the first demand but NOT the
second, without which the first meant nothing.
“Let’s hope it’s all
over soon”
(print from
1788/89;
compare Western
Heritage, p. 536)
Opening session of the Estates General, May 5, 1789
THE DELEGATES OF THE THREE ESTATES
The Commoner:
The Priest:
The Nobleman:
“I am a Deputy of
“What am I?”
“I am a Citizen”
the Third [Estate]”
Jacques-Louis David, “The Oath of the
Tennis Court, June 20, 1789”
(the Estates General become a “National Assembly”)
Louis XVI
(reigned 1774-1792)
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, “Marie
Antoinette with her Children” (1788)
“Camille Desmoulins at the Palais-Royal,” 12 July 1789.
He predicted a great “massacre of patriots” following the
dismissal of Necker.
“The Charge of the
Prince of Lambesc,”
July 12, 1789
“Paris Guarded by the People,”
July 12/13, 1789 (the enrollment of a “National Guard”)
Map of Paris in 1789
"View of the Bastille" (print from ca. 1788)
Jean-Francois Janinet, “The Storming of the Bastille” (1789):
The garrison “treacherously” opens fire on the crowd
Claude Cholat [?], “The Storming of the Bastille”
from the first shots fired to the capture of the Marquis de Launay
J.-F. Janinet,
“The Governor of
the Bastille
Surrenders”
J.-F. Janinet,
“The Assassination
of Flesselles, the
Provost of
Merchants”
(1789)
“Louis XVI,
King of a Free People”
The Marquis de Lafayette,
commander of the Paris
National Guard
“The Hanging of Foulon at the Place de Grève,”
22 July 1789
Prieur, “The Intendant Bertier de Sauvigny, Led to the Hotel
de Ville, Recognizes the Head of Foulon,” 22 July 1789
“The Liberation of the Count of
Lorges by the Nation,” July 14
“The Skeleton in the Iron
Mask,” July 22, 1789
“The Declaration
of the Rights of
Man”
(1789/90)
Prieur, “The Women of the Market Go from Paris to
Versailles,” October 5, 1789
“The Memorable
Day at Versailles
on October 5,
1789: The
People March
with the Heads
of the Murdered
Bodyguards on
their Pikes”
(1789)
BLUNDERS OF THE
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHISTS
• July 1790: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy imposes
democratic election of priests on the Catholic Church.
• 1790/91: Mismanagement of the new system of paper
money, the assignats, results in massive inflation.
• September 1791: The new constitution designates
poor men and all women as “passive citizens,” ineligible
to vote or hold government office (DOCUMENTS, p. 32).
• April 1792: The Legislative Assembly declares war on
Austria, seeking to compel Louis XVI to choose sides.