French Revolution

The Estates System• The First Estate: Clergy members were

0,5% of the population. They were exempt from all taxes

• The Second Estate: Nobles were 1.5% of the population. They paid very little taxes.

• The Third Estate: 98% of the population. They were the rich bourgoisie, working class, and peasants. They paid heavy taxes

Financial Distress• France still had to pay war debts from their

loss in the Seven Years War and their aid in the American Revolution

• The Nobles spent a lot of money• Only the poorest people had to pay taxes• It was a time of poor harvests

May 1789King Louis XVI Calls the Estates General

June 20, 1789Tennis Court Oath

When the Third Estate gets locked out of the Estates GeneralThey meet in a tennis court and form the National Assembly

They wrote a constitution for France

July 14, 1789Storming of the Bastille

A rumor spread that the king was raising an army in the Bastille in ParisA mob of peasants stormed the Bastille and killed all the guards

Marks the official start of the revolution

July 20, 1789The Great Fear

Peasants revolted when rumors began that aristocrats were attacking them

August 4, 1789: Nobles abolish feudalism

Declaration of the Rights of Man and

Citizen• The National Assembly

wrote up a basic set of rights that they believed they should have

• Civil liberties (freedom of speech, press)

• New social order• Constitutional Monarchy

October 5, 1789Women’s March on

Versailles

• Groups of peasant women marched from Paris to Versailles to demand lower bread prices

• The king and queen agreed to return to Paris with them

1790Civil Constitution of the Clergy

• Election of clergy members in France• Ended Papal authority• Church lands were sold to the government

Constitution of 1791• Created a constitutional monarchy (similar

to England’s monarchy)• A Legislative Assembly was formed to help

in the law making process• Equal rights were guaranteed to everyone

(including Jews and Protestants)• No more promigeniture

June 1792The Flight to Varennes

• The royal family attempts to flee to Austria because they are afraid of being executed

• They are caught in the town of Varennes and brought back to Paris

1792France goes to war against Austria and

Prussia

• September 1792 – The French halt the Prussians• November 1792 – France takes Austrian Netherlands• Set up independent territories in Italy and Holland

August 1792Tulleries

• The mob attacks the king’s palace, and all the guards are killed• Louis XVI flees to Legislative Assembly for protection

January 1793: Louis XVI is executed

Maximilian Robespierre• Robespierre became

leader of France after monarchy was abolished

• Led France under the Committee of Public Safety

• George Jacques Danton was his assistant

The Revolutionary Calendar

• Used from 1793 to 1805• Renamed all of the months and seasons• The years started at the start of the revolution• All titles were banned (everyone is citizen)

March 1793Revolt in the Vendee

• The peasants liked their nobles in Vendee, France• Didn’t like how the French government abolished the rights of the

nobles• Their revolt was crushed, and quality of life decreased

September 5, 1793: Law of General Maximum

• Limited prices of grain• Food supplies are secured by the French army• There was a strict policy on prices

The Cult of the Supreme Being

• A form of deism created by Robespierre• Believed in reason and virtue• Officially abolished the Catholic Church

Jean-Paul Marat (1744-1793)

• Was a journalist under Robespierre

• Published a series of names who were “enemies of the state”

• These people would be executed

July 13, 1793Marat was murdered

• Noblewoman Charlotte Corday hoped that killing him would stop the murders

• Jacques-Louis David painted this scene

Danton is executed

• Danton believed that executions were happening too frequently in France and without reason

• Robespierre found this as a threat to the revolution and executed Danton

Robespierre is executed

• Made a list of people who are to be executed• He was attacked by those on the list and executed the following day• Marked the end of the Reign of Terror

Legacies of the French Revolution

• Changed the French government– No more feudalism– Peasants had more power

• Led to other revolutions around the world– The Haitian Revolution was a slave revolt inspired

by the French– The Latin American Revolts were inspired by the

French Revolution• Napoleon Bonaparte gained power and takes

over France