1. What to know about the French Revolution…
What were the Three Estates? How did each feel about the Enlightenment?
Why did the Third Estate resent the other two?
How did the Enlightenment inspire the Third Estate?
What was bad about the economy?
How did Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette make things worse?
What was the National Assembly?
What was the Tennis Court Oath?
What was the storming of the Bastille?
What was the Great Fear?

2. The French Revolution

3. The Three Estates

4. First Estate Roman Catholic clergy Anti-Enlightenment
Less than 1% of population
Owned 10% of the land

5. Second Estate Rich nobles High government offices Anti-Enlightenment
2% of population
Owned 20% of the land
Paid few taxes

6. Third Estate
Bourgeoisie – wealthy middle class who paid high taxes; well-educated (bankers, merchants)
Urban lower class – laborers who were often out of work
Peasants – Paid high taxes
No power to influence government
Embraced the Enlightenment
Resented wealthy upper classes
97% of population

7. Spread of Enlightenment
Members of Third Estate inspired by American Revolution
Influenced by Enlightenment ideals

8. Economic Trouble Taxes too much of a burden High cost of living
Bad weather had caused crop failure
Price of bread doubled in 1789
Government in debt
Borrowed money to fight Britain

9. Weak Leadership Louis XVI indecisive, lack of interest in governing
Wasteful spending

10. Marie Antoinette Queen Unpopular because she was Austrian
Interfered in gov’t affairs
Spent money on luxuries for herself
Known as “Madame Deficit”

11. Meeting of Estates-General
May 5, Versailles
Louis XVI calls meeting of representatives from all three estates to get approval for a new tax
First meeting in 175 years
Members of each estate meet and vote separately – one vote per estate
First two estates usually outvote the Third

13. National Assembly Third Estate demands more power
Name themselves the National Assembly and pass laws of reform
Locked out of meeting room
Break down door to indoor tennis court
Refuse to leave until a new constitution is drawn – Tennis Court Oath
Joined by nobles and clergy who want reform

14. Tennis Court Oath

15. Storming the Bastille
July 14, 1789 – Mob storms the Bastille, a prison, overwhelming the guards
Hacked the prison commander and guards to death
Parade through streets with heads on pikes
Becomes known as Bastille Day, the start of the revolution

17. The Great Fear
Panic grows as rebellion spreads through France; peasants fear retribution by nobles
Peasants destroy nobles’ homes
Mob of women march on Versailles, killing guards
King, family, and servants leave their palace

19. War Monarchs of Austria and Prussia urge France to restore monarch
Legislative Assembly declares war
Prussian commander threatens to destroy Paris if royal family is harmed
Royal guards killed, royal family taken prisoner
Paris troops sent to reinforce army
Nobles, priests and royalist sympathizers being held prisoner are killed because of fear of counter-revolution

20. The National Convention
Constitution of 1791 set aside
King deposed
Assembly broken up; new elections to be held
Abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic
Adult male citizens given right to vote and hold office

21. Jacobins Radical political organization Jean-Paul Marat Georges Danton
Edited newspaper
Called for the death of royal supporters
Georges Danton
Skillful orator
Supporter of the poor

22. Robespierre Robespierre, Jacobin leader, gains power
Tries to establish “republic of virtue”
Eliminate anything from France’s past
Changed calendar; eliminated Sunday

23. Trial of Louis XVI
National Convention puts Louis XVI on trial for treason - Sentenced to death

24. War (cont’d)
French achieve victory against Prussia and Austria at Battle of Valmy
Great Britain, Holland, Spain join against France
Jacobins draft 300,000 French citizens

25. The Reign of Terror
Robespierre establishes Committee of Public Safety to protect revolution from its enemies
Troubled by fellow radicals who challenged his leadership
1794 – Danton and Marie Antoinette executed
40,000 executed; 85% from lower class

27. End of Terror July 1794 – Robespierre arrested
Executed on July 28, 1794
New plan of government
Two-house legislature
The Directory – executive body of 5 men
Established sense of order