The French Revolution

Rages On

Ch. 3 (p. 75-77)

A Job Well Done?

• Third Estate had succeeded in

establishing a National Assembly

– One member = One vote

• No longer dominated by First & Second Estates

– Replaced the Estates General

– Crowds in Paris celebrated

• Crowds in Paris and other French cities

turn into angry mobs

– Riots over high bread prices

– Political prisoners broken out of prisons

Spiraling Out of Control

• Original leaders of French Revolution

losing control of the people

– King Louis XVI sends troops to Paris and

Versailles for protection

– People see this as a threat, arm themselves

• Storming of the Bastille

– Bastille a royal prison and fortress in Paris

• Similar to the Tower of London

– Mob storms the Bastille July 14, 1789

• Attempting to free political prisoners inside

• Bastille a symbol of the oppressive monarchy

Storming of the Bastille

Fall of the Bastille

• Troops sent to protect the Bastille join in

• Bastille overrun

– Governor of the prison’s head cut off,

paraded through the streets

– Political prisoners freed (but only 7 inside)

– Bastille destroyed, taken apart brick by brick

• Important because it showed popular

support for revolutionary changes

Fall of the Bastille

Bastille Day

Louis Losing Control

• Louis frightened by the fall of the Bastille,

agrees to remove soldiers from Paris

• Citizens in Paris (Parisians) set up own

army to keep order

– Named the “National Guard”

– Commanded by Marquis de Lafayette

(general in American Revolution)

– Other cities follow Paris’ example

French National Guard

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

• Millions still starving in rural France

– Many peasants wandering countryside in

search of food and work

– Farmers fear gangs of thieves

• Harvest time 1789: rumours spread that

nobles are hoarding grain for themselves

– Trying to starve people, paying violent gangs

• Peasants panic (“The Great Fear”)

– Destroy nobles’ châteaux, kill hundreds

– Burn documents, tax and debt records

The Great Fear

Darn Rights!

• Aug. 1789: National Assembly meets

– Gets rid of feudalism, agrees on a Declaration

• Declaration of the Rights of Man and the

Citizen

– Document that outlines rights of all French

– Took ideas from Enlightenment philosophers

– Guaranteed freedom of thought, speech,

religion, security, and property

– “All men are free and equal in rights”

– Power belonged to the people, not the king

Visit to Versailles

• Some Parisians feel National Assembly

and King neglecting the cities

– Oct 1789: Women march to Versailles,

joined by others (Assembly and King there)

– Attack National Assembly and storm Palace

of Versailles

• Chase and threaten to kill Marie Antoinette

– Force Louis and Marie to move to Paris

• Live at Tuileries Palace (easy to keep an eye on)

• Palace of Versailles locked and boarded up

Women’s March on Versailles

All Work and No Play…

• National Assembly continues to reshape

France

– Develops a new constitution

• Constitution = document that sets out the major

laws and principles of a government

– No more nobility, everybody a “citizen”

– Takes control of Catholic Church and

prepares to sell its property

– New paper money called “assignats”

– National Assembly replaced by Legislative

Assembly

The Great Escape

• Many nobles leaving France for other

countries, such as England or Switzerland

– Émigrés = people who move to another

country

• Louis, Marie, and children try to escape

– Looking for foreign allies to help restore

monarchy (Marie’s brother Emp. of Austria)

– Headed for Austria in disguise

– Use huge, slow carriage, easily found

– Royal family arrested and imprisoned

Nice Try, Louis and Marie

Assembly Time

• Legislative Assembly meets Oct. 1791

– Unable to establish a working government

– Too many different groups want control

• Radicals want a republic

• Moderates want a constitutional monarchy

• Monarchists want a monarchy

– Legislative Assembly lasts less than a year

• Will things get better or worse?