The French Revolution

A country divided between very rich and very poor ALL taxes were paid by poor people – rich people paid

NO taxes Country was ruled by Louis XVI – an absolute ruler –

whatever he said was law! Queen Marie Antoinette was hated by the French

people – reported to have said “let them eat cake”

France before 1789

France – the poor support the rich through their taxes

Ancien Regime – the old system of Government where the King, Nobles and Clergy had all the power

Lettre de cachet – Allowed the King to imprison anyone without trial

The Three Estates were the three main groups in French Society

1. First Estate – the Clergy of the Church – Bishops and Cardinals. Paid No taxes.

2. Second Estate – Royalty and Nobility – King Louis and his Lords. Paid No taxes

3. Third Estate – Ordinary People, The middle class (the Bourgeoisie), workers and peasants. Paid ALL taxes

The “Three Estates”

A Chateaux – a mansion of a member of the second estate (nobility)

The Three Estates

This refers to a period when many people began to question old ideas and attitudes

People began asking - was it fair that rich people paid no taxes?

Printing allowed enlightenment ideas to spread rapidly

The Enlightenment

Who is this man?

Power of the King should come from the People, not God Governments should be based on reason and respect for

human rights Everyone should be treated equally

These were all ideas that had influenced the American Revolution

Enlightenment ideas

France had become short of money after helping America gain its freedom

The nobles did not want to pay any more taxes and demanded that King Louis call a Parliament to set new taxes – this was known as the ESTATES GENERAL

First and Second estates felt they could control the Third estate in this new system

They were wrong!

The Nobility refuse to pay more taxes…

The Estates General – France’s “Dail”

The Tennis Court Oath of the National Assembly

“Declaration of the rights of man and the citizen”

In France before the revolution the rich people paid the most taxes

The Bourgeoisie was a type of French cake Louis XVI was an absolute ruler The enlightenment refers to the invention of the light bulb The Queen of France was Queen Elizabeth 1 The first estate consisted of all the ordinary people of France The second estate was made up of the nobility A chateaux is a mansion belonging to a member of the

Nobility

True or False

Estates General An enlightment writerClergy Paid mostly by poor

peopleBourgeoise Rich peopleEnlightenment The Second EstateVoltaire An earlier revolutionLouis XVI France’s ParliamentTaxes Another name for the Third EstateAmerica A time of new ideasNobles Taken by the Third EstateTennis Court Oath King of France

Matchup

Sans Culottes means “without knee breeches” – they were ordinary people who deliberately dressed differently to the nobles.

They were happy with the new National Assembly and wanted to defend it

When they heard a rumour that the King was going to close down the National Assembly they attacked the Bastille Prison in response

The Sans-Culottes

“Culottes”“Sans Culottes”

Crossword

Robespierre and the “Reign of Terror”

Robespierre and the “Reign of Terror” So far the Revolution had led to:◦ Reduction in the power of the first and second estates (clergy and

nobility)◦ New freedoms for everyone◦ Fairer tax system◦ Release of wrongly jailed prisoners from Bastille

But some people wanted to get rid of the King completely – these people were known as Jacobins and were led by Maximillian Robespierre

Many Jacobins wanted to reduce the power of the Clergy (First Estate)

A law was passed called the “Civil Constitution of the Clergy” – this tried to bring the Clergy under the new government’s control. This was condemned by the Pope and many Priests refused to support it.

The Church’s power is reduced

The Royal Family try to flee…but are captured

War breaks out

Trial of King Louis

Execution of Louis XVI

2011 – Junior Cert History

The execution of Louis meant that more countries joined the war against France

In response Robespierre executed 40,000 people who he felt were threats to the revolution

Laws were passed to raise a large army to defend France Robespierre’s actions helped defend France but caused great

bitterness Once the danger of war was over, Robespierre was executed

The reign of terror

2013 Ordinary Level Junior Cert

At Higher Level this question is worth 20 marks and has NO hints

Execution of Robespierre

Napoleon takes over as Dictator of France

The Jacobins were led by Robespierre Napoleon was a member of the First Estate Tennis Court Oath was a tennis match between Robespierre

and King Louis The Printing Press helped to spread the Enlightenment The Second Estate contained all the Poor People of France Britain helped France to execute Louis XVI The Bastille was the name of one of King Louis’s Palaces Napoleon became King of France in all but name The National Flag of France is a tricolour

True or False