The French Revolution

liberté égalité fraternité

Part I: Revolt and Rights

Most important event in European history

Fall of absolutism (end of “l’ancien regime”)

Concept of right and left› King & followers = conservative right› Wanted distance = liberal left

Ideas can change reality

Long Term Causes

Enlightenment ideals (liberty, equality, etc.)

Divided nation

Huge national debt (extravagance, wars, etc.)

Long Term Causes (cont.)

Corruption

Population pressures

Society of Orders (The Three Estates)

Short Term Causes

Seven Year’s War

War of American Independence

Harsh winter/food shortage

Estates General/ National Assembly

The Three Estates

Since the Middle Ages, French society had been divided into three separate classes:› The First Estate = clergy› The Second Estate = nobility› The Third Estate = everyone else

Three Estates (cont.)

Discontent grew in 1700s First Estate always exempt from

taxes (resented) Second Estate many privileges &

rights:› Land ownership› Hunting rights › Collect money from peasants

Three Estates (cont.)

First & Second Estates held power Third Estate = 97% of population Substructure:

› Bourgeoisie = middle class, usually educated – doctors, lawyers, merchants, manufacturers

› Urban poor = laborers & artisans› Peasants = worked as farmers

Third Estate

Peasants lived in poverty & burdened by:› Feudal dues to lords› Rent payments for land they worked › “Taille” (heaviest gov’t tax)› Tithes to the Catholic church (1/10 of

income)

Estates General

Louis XVI convened the Estates General

Representatives from each of the three estates – Louis hoped to gain approval to raise taxes

Met at Versailles in May 1789

Estates General

Each estate had its own agenda & wanted to improve its position by taking power from the monarchy

Abbé de Sieyès – “What is the Third Estate?”

What is the Third Estate?

1st. What is the third estate? Everything.

2nd. What has it been heretofore in the political order? Nothing.

3rd. What does it demand? To become something therein.

Group ActivityDiscuss as a group then write(individually) your answers in thejournal section of your

notebooks:

Who are the subjects of the political cartoon?

What symbolism is used?

To which Estate did the artist most likely belong? Why?

National Assembly

Third Estate formed the National Assembly

Main goal = French Constitution

Louis closed down their meeting

Tennis Court Oath

National Assembly met on a tennis court

Took the Tennis Court Oath – vowed to stay until they had written a Constitution

Constitution

National Assembly

Louis recognized the N. A.

Tremendous citizen support allowed the N. A. to assume power

By mid-summer 1789, rumors that royal troops would crush the N. A.

National Assembly

Revolution Begins

Louis XVI fired the beloved finance minister, Jacques Necker

July 14, 1789 – working people of Paris stormed the Bastille – a prison symbolic of despotism and torture

Initial goal = obtain weapons & gunpowder to defend the National Assembly…

REVOLUTION!

The Moderate Stage (1789-1792)

Moderate Stage

Revolutionary mentality created – drives the revolutionaries forward

Two distinct stages: Moderate & Radical

July 14, 1789 – 800-900 Parisians, mostly women, went to the Bastille

La Bastille

La Bastille

Looking for weapons & gunpowder Stormed the prison – 98 killed and

73 wounded No weapons, but significant

because La Bastille was a symbol of the Revolution

Louis’ reaction…

RIEN

Moderate Stage

To many – no turning back

Moderate Stage = Clash between 2nd Estate (nobility) and 3rd Estate (peasants) WHY??

Moderate Stage (cont.)

Includes fall of Bastille and the general events that led to it

After the fall of the Bastille, many nobles fled & Louis withdrew troops

Grievances

Peasantry believed Estates General would solve the problems they had outlined in a list of grievances called “cahiers de doléances”

Cahiers were ignored – Peasants attacked food convoys en route to Paris

Grievances (cont.)

Peasants refuse to pay taxes, tithes, and manorial dues as they perceived their landlords to be responsible for their economic plight

End of July 1789 – peasants began to burn down the homes of their landlords & with them the records of their obligations

Fear & Violence Spread

Rumors began – aristocracy to raise an army and kill the peasants – known as “The Great Fear”

The Fear – advantage to the reformers – gave National Assembly the opportunity to criticize aristocratic privilege

End of Feudalism

August 4, 1789- French aristocrats surrendered privileges by decree

That night, the General Assembly drew up “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen”

Outlined man’s natural rights – symbolic of the new French Social Order

March on Versailles

Louis XVI did not approve

October 5, 1789 – Parisians marched 12 miles to Versailles to protest the lack of bread

20,000 Paris Guards joined the mob

March (cont.)“We are going to cut off her head, tear

out her heart, fry her liver, and that won’t be the end of it!”

Promises, Promises

Louis promised bread & approved decrees/declaration and returned to Paris

Called “October Days”

Restored peasant’s faith

Louis’ Fatal Error

June 20, 1791 – attempted to flee France

In contact with Leopold II – plan to raise army in Austria and crush the revolution

The Flight to Varennes…

"Arrest of Louis Capet at Varennes, June 22, 1791"This print shows an angry crowd of fervent revolutionaries breaking down doors to arrest the King.”

Flight to Varennes

Showed Louis could not be trusted

NA had wanted a Constitutional Monarchy – now, this was unlikely

Reforms of the N. A.

Goal = dismantle the Ancién Regime Six basic reforms to accomplish:

1. Abolish birthright – legalize equality2. Declaration of the Rights of Man3. Subordinated church to state4. Constitution (1791)5. More efficient government6. Economic reforms

Revolution Done??

End of Sept. 1791 – N. A.’s work done

Revolution over 1792 – drastic change – not desired

or anticipated Was this the end??

Bell Ringer

What were some of the consequences ofKing Louis XVI’s “Flight to Varennes”?

Discuss with Partner30 Seconds

The Radical Stage1792-1794

The Players…

The Sans-Culottes

French for “without knee britches”

Term created by the nobility to describe the poorer members of the Third Estate because they wore long pants instead of the chic shorter culottes.

Sans-Culottes (cont.)

Typical dress of a sans-culotte › Page 349 in your textbook

Red liberty cap Pantaloons (long trousers) Carmagnole (short-skirted

coat) Sabats (wooden shoes)

Sans-Culottes (cont.)

They demanded that the revolutionary government immediately:› Increase wages› Fix prices› End food

shortages› Punish hoarders› Deal with

counterrevolutionaries

Sans-Culottes (cont.)

Wanted laws to prevent extremes of both wealth & poverty

Ideal nation = one of small shopkeepers and farmers

Revolutionary Drum

Sans Culottes

Arms for the Revolution

The Jacobins Predominately

bourgeoisie Well-organized &

disciplined Wanted a strong

central government with Paris being the center of power

Supported temporary governmental controls to deal with the needs of the economy

The Jacobins (cont.)

Combined with the sans-culottes, the Jacobins WERE the revolution

Above all else, the Jacobins unleashed extreme terror

Girondins

This moderate faction of the Assembly drew its support from businessmen, merchants, and government officials

Their fall from popularity began with their refusal to join the more radical revolutionaries in overthrowing the monarchy

La Montagne

The Mountain A political group

(members = Montagnards)

Sat on highest benches in NA

Often synonymous with Jacobins

Under the sway of such men as Marat, Danton, & Robespierre

Marat

Jean Paul Marat Swiss-born Physician “L’Ami du

Peuple”

L’Ami du Peuple

The Death of Marat by David

Charlotte Corday by Baudry