French Revolution & Napoleon I. Causes of the French Revolution.
Ch 12 Sec 1 "French Revolution"
Transcript of Ch 12 Sec 1 "French Revolution"
French Revolution
Reasons for Revolution
1. Social Discrimination – The social ladder was divided into three parts.
Population of France
Third EstateSecond EstateFirst Estate
First Estate
• Leaders of the French church• They were exempt from most taxes
Second Estate
• Nobles and aristocrats• Also exempt from taxes• Charged rent to
peasants who farmed their land and charged fees for the use of their mills, wine presses and bakeries.
Third Estate
• Contained a wide variety of citizens– Middle class, artisans,
townsmen and peasants
• The wealthy produced little of the wealth• Those who produced the nation’s wealth were
taxed heavily
2. Economic Collapse– France was nearly bankrupt
• King Louis XVI called for the Estates-General
• This was the only political body with the authority to reform the tax system.
• It consisted of representatives from the First and Second Estates elected by the king and from the Third elected by the people.
3. Political Incompetence• King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette proved to
be totally unqualified to lead the nation
• When the Estates-General met things went bad– The Third Estate demanded one vote per
representative– First and Second Estate refused and the Third
Estate walked out
National Assembly
• The Third Estate formed this group• They signed the Tennis Court Oath• They simply wanted a constitution that would
guarantee basic rights to all French citizens
• The citizens began to panic• The crowd charges the Bastille on July 14• July 14 is celebrated as France’s Day of
Independence
• National Assembly signed the Declaration of the Rights of Man on August 26, 1789
• Many French nobles fled France and went to Austria.
• France declared war on Austria
Reign of Terror
• Called for the removal of opposition and had a period of mass execution
• A five-man committee known as the Directory headed up the new government