7.1 The French Revolution Begins

Inequality leads to upheaval

The Old Order• The Old Regime – Social and

political system in France during the 1770’s

The French social system

• Estates – Three social classes of France’s Old Regime

The Estates• First Estate – Catholic

Clergy – own 10 percent land, pay few taxes

• Second Estate – rich nobles – 2 percent population, own 20% of the land

Third Estate• 97% of the people are

peasants, urban workers, middle class

Taxation without privilege

• Few privileges, pay heavy taxes, want change

Force of Change• Enlightenment ideas inspire

some in Third Estate

Economic Troubles• High taxes and rising costs

damage economy by 1780’s

• King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette known for extravagance

Rising debt in France

• Louis doubles nation’s debt; banks refuse to lend more money

A Weak Leader• Louis’s poor decisions and lack

of patience add to France’s problems

• He calls the Estates-General – meeting of Representatives from all three estates

Revolution• The National Assembly – Third

Estate has little power under old rules

• Third Estate sets up National Assembly – new legislature to make reforms

• Tennis Court Oath – delegates decide to write new constitution for France

Violence Begins• Rumors fly in Paris that

Louis wants to suppress the National Assembly

Storming of the Bastille

• Mob attacks and seizes the Bastille (prison) and kills guards July 14, 1789

Rebellion and Fear• The Great Fear – peasant

attacks throughout France begin after panic and rumors spread

• Peasants destroy legal papers binding them to feudal system

• October 1789 women revolt over price of bread

Louis Returns• Revolt forces Louis to return

to Paris from Versailles