The French Revolution: The mother of all revolutions

In this PowerPoint presentation, we will be discussing about the

reasons which sparked the revolution, its struggle and its

effects.

The French Revolution• Finally, a group of several hundred

people marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress prison , the Bastille, where they hoped to find hoarded ammunitions .

• In the armed fight that followed the commander of the Bastille was killed and the prisoners released-though there were only seven of them. Yet the Bastille was hated by all, because it stood for despotic power of the king.

The French Revolution

• In 1774, Louis XIV of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the throne of France. He was 20 years old and married to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette.

The French RevolutionUpon his accession the new king found an empty

treasury because-• Long years of war had drained the financial wealth .• The cost of maintaining the immense palace of

Versailles ,running government offices etc. .• France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain

independence.• Lenders who gave the state the credit ,began charging 10%

interest on loans.

The French Revolution To meet these expenses they increased the

taxes . However , these taxes were levied only on the third estate.

The French society in18th century, was divided into 3 estates-

1. Clergy2. Nobility3. Peasants , lawyers , 4. merchants ,court officials etc. .

The French Revolution The First and the Second Estate -• Enjoyed certain privileges ,like exemption from

paying taxes.• The Church issued birth and marriage certificates.• Owned lands.• Collected taxes from the 3rd estate (usually 10%) .• Peasants were obliged to render services to the

lord.• 60% of the land was owned by them. The tax collected by the Church was called tithes

from peasants . These included a direct tax & an indirect tax.

Hence all the members of the third estate had to pay taxes.

The French RevolutionThe Third estate –• Included big businessmen, merchants,

court officials ,lawyers , peasants , artisans ,small peasants, landless labourers and servants.

• Bore the burden of the taxes imposed by the 1st & 2nd estates , though they made up about 90% of land.

• Were looked down upon and paid taxes even on the articles of everyday use like salt, tobacco.

• There were many educated people & intellectuals like lawyers or administrative officials.

The French Revolution

The root causes the French revolution-

• Shortage of grains for growing demand of the people & the price rise.

• Subsistence crisis.• Feudal rights to some • The inequality amongst the people.• Unanswered demands &

grieviances of the 3rd estate.

The French RevolutionThe ideas like –• No group should be privileged by birth .• A person’s social position should depend on his merit.• Envisaged a society based on freedom and equal laws

and opportunities for allThese ideas were put forward by John Locke

and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his Two Treatises of Government , Locke sought to

refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.

Rosseau carried forward,proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives.

In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

When the king decide to impose more taxes,this sparked anger protest.

The French RevolutionIn The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.When the king decide to impose more taxes,this sparked anger protest.The king called together an assembly ,the1st &2nd estate sent 300 representatives each while 3rd estate had sent 600 representatives. Each estate had 1 vote each.The third estate demanded that each member had one vote.

The French RevolutionThe Tennis Court Oath-i. On 20th June, the representatives ofthe

third estate assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court& declared themselves a National Assembly.

ii. They were led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes.

iii. On the night of 4th August 1789,the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes.

iv. The king finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the principle that his powers would be checked by a constitution.

The French RevolutionThe Constitution of 1791-• Vested the powers to make laws in

the National Assembly ,which was indirectly elected.

• Only men above 25 years who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer’s wages were entitled the right to vote. They were seen as active citizens.

• The remaining men and women were classified into passive citizens.

• Right to life, freedom of speech& opinion, equality before the law etc. were established as the natural and unalienable rights.

The French Revolution The reasons for the execution of

Louis XIV & Marie Antoinette –• The king was an inept ruler.• He entered secret negotiations with Prussia &

Austria even though he had signed the constitution.

• He tried to put down the recent developments with brute force.

• The queen was a wasteful spender.• She was despised by all and people often

called her ‘the Austrian’.• The courtiers and people alike rebelled against

the king.Both of them were sent to guillotine.

The French Revolution

The Reign of Terror-• Before the execution of the king ,Maximilian Robespierre was

the leader of a very successful club , the Jacobins.• After the killing , Robespierre took over the government.

The French Revolution Robespierre -• Followed a policy of severe control and

punishment.• Anyone who seemed to disagree him were sent to

guillotine.• Meat and bread was rationed.• Peasants were forced to transport grains to the

city & sell it at the prices fixed by the government.• All citizens had to eat whole wheat bread& all

French men &women were to be addressed as Citoyen and Citoyenne(citizen).

• Churches were shutdown and converted into barracks or offices.

• He was sent to guillotine in July1794.

The French RevolutionThe involvement of the women in the series

of rebellions was very high. For the first time in history ,the women struggled for their equality and their rights. Many clubs like The Society of Revolution and Republican Women came up .Because of their struggle -state schools were created , schooling was made compulsory for girls , divorce was legalised and no one could force them into marriage against their will. Olympe de Gouges was a revolutionary women activist. The French women got their right to vote in 1946. The example of the political activities of French women during the revolutionary years was

The French Revolution

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