Causes of the French Revolution

Take notes from the film1. List the 3 causes of the French Revolution.2. Describe who are the 3 Estates.• First Estate – • Second Estate – • Third Estate - 3. What U.S. document gave the French peasants the incentive to revolt?

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/18457-the-french-revolution-causes-of-the-revolution-video.htm

What do we see in the picture?

People of France were divided into three estates:

1. FIRST ESTATE: made up of clergy of the Roman Catholic Church;

• scorned Enlightenment ideas ----• (owned 10% of all land)

2. SECOND ESTATE: made up of rich nobles• Held the highest offices in government• Disagreed with Enlightenment ideas• Owned 20% of all land

3. THIRD ESTATE: included bourgeoisie, urban lower class, and peasant farmers

• Had no power to influence government• Embraced Enlightenment ideas• 98% of population

WEAK LEADERSHIP:• Louis XVI became king in 1774• Liked to spend large amounts of

money• Borrowed heavy in order to help the

Americans with their war• Bankers refused to lend the

government any more money

• Louis XVI spent his time hunting, or tinkering with locks instead of attending to the details of governing

• Married Marie Antoinette when he was 15 and she was was 14

• Marie was from Austria, enemy of France• Very unpopular with the people

• Liked to spend money on jewels, gowns, and gifts• Became known

as “Madame Deficit”

The Marble Court

Latona Basin

Chapel Royal

REVOLUTION BEGINS:• Third estate unhappy with the heavy

taxes & started to rebel• Storming of the Bastille: July 14,1789,

mob tried to get gunpowder and weapons from the prison at Bastille.• Bastille =‘ed tyranny to the peasants • Angry crowd stormed the prison and

took control • http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/17945-the-french-revolution-the-storming-of-the-bastille-

video.htm

Became a symbol for the revolution (national holiday today, similar to the U.S. Fourth of July)

TERROR GRIPS FRANCE:

• Radicals execute the King in 1792• Jacobin Club: radical

group made up of middle class citizens, found the king guilty of treason and sentenced him and his wife to be killed

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10844-napoleon-the-french-revolution-and-the-reign-of-terror-video.htm

• Maximilien Robespierre: leader of the radicals, started the “Reign of Terror”—1793-1794

• Killed thousands of people who were “enemies of the republic”

• 85% were common people• http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/18303-the-french-revolution-the-

reign-of-terror-video.htm

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE:

7 Causes of the French Revolution

French Revolution

1. Inequalities

among classes

2. Third Estate

ready to revolt

3. Soaring national

debt

4. Failed Economic

Reform

5. Soaring Food Prices

6. Bread Riots

Spread

7. Parisians Storm the Bastelle

Answers

1. C – it had no political voice

2. A –The Third Estate is the backbone of France