Post on 14-Dec-2015
What to know about the French Revolution…
• What were the Three Estates? How did each feel about the Enlightenment?
• Why did the Third Estate resent the other two?• How did the Enlightenment inspire the Third Estate?• What was bad about the economy?• How did Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette make things
worse?• What was the National Assembly?• What was the Tennis Court Oath?• What was the storming of the Bastille?• What was the Great Fear?
First Estate
• Roman Catholic clergy
• Anti-Enlightenment
• Less than 1% of population
• Owned 10% of the land
Second Estate
• Rich nobles• High government
offices• Anti-Enlightenment• 2% of population• Owned 20% of the
land• Paid few taxes
Third Estate
• Bourgeoisie – wealthy middle class who paid high taxes; well-educated (bankers, merchants)
• Urban lower class – laborers who were often out of work
• Peasants – Paid high taxes• No power to influence government• Embraced the Enlightenment• Resented wealthy upper classes• 97% of population
Spread of Enlightenment
• Members of Third Estate inspired by American Revolution
• Influenced by Enlightenment ideals
Economic Trouble
• Taxes too much of a burden
• High cost of living• Bad weather had
caused crop failure• Price of bread doubled
in 1789• Government in debt• Borrowed money to
fight Britain
Marie Antoinette
• Queen • Unpopular because
she was Austrian• Interfered in gov’t
affairs• Spent money on
luxuries for herself• Known as “Madame
Deficit”
Meeting of Estates-General
• May 5, 1789 - Versailles
• Louis XVI calls meeting of representatives from all three estates to get approval for a new tax
• First meeting in 175 years
• Members of each estate meet and vote separately – one vote per estate
• First two estates usually outvote the Third
National Assembly
• Third Estate demands more power• Name themselves the National Assembly
and pass laws of reform• Locked out of meeting room• Break down door to indoor tennis court• Refuse to leave until a new constitution is
drawn – Tennis Court Oath• Joined by nobles and clergy who want
reform
Storming the Bastille
• July 14, 1789 – Mob storms the Bastille, a prison, overwhelming the guards
• Hacked the prison commander and guards to death
• Parade through streets with heads on pikes
• Becomes known as Bastille Day, the start of the revolution
The Great Fear
• Panic grows as rebellion spreads through France; peasants fear retribution by nobles
• Peasants destroy nobles’ homes
• Mob of women march on Versailles, killing guards
• King, family, and servants leave their palace
War
• Monarchs of Austria and Prussia urge France to restore monarch
• Legislative Assembly declares war• Prussian commander threatens to destroy Paris
if royal family is harmed• Royal guards killed, royal family taken prisoner• Paris troops sent to reinforce army• Nobles, priests and royalist sympathizers being
held prisoner are killed because of fear of counter-revolution
The National Convention
• Constitution of 1791 set aside
• King deposed• Assembly broken up; new
elections to be held• Abolished the monarchy
and declared France a republic
• Adult male citizens given right to vote and hold office
Jacobins
• Radical political organization
• Jean-Paul Marat– Edited newspaper– Called for the death of
royal supporters
• Georges Danton– Skillful orator– Supporter of the poor
Robespierre
• Robespierre, Jacobin leader, gains power
• Tries to establish “republic of virtue”– Eliminate anything
from France’s past– Changed calendar;
eliminated Sunday
War (cont’d)
• French achieve victory against Prussia and Austria at Battle of Valmy
• Great Britain, Holland, Spain join against France
• Jacobins draft 300,000 French citizens
The Reign of Terror• Robespierre establishes
Committee of Public Safety to protect revolution from its enemies
• Troubled by fellow radicals who challenged his leadership
• 1794 – Danton and Marie Antoinette executed
• 40,000 executed; 85% from lower class