1. The French Revolution

2. Preliminary Stage

3. Causes of the French Revolution

4. Inept Ruler? King Louis XVI

5. Financial Crisis 50% of revenue went to pay off debts
Series of bad harvests 1787 & 1788
Need for tax reform
American Revolution?
Lavish lifestyle of the monarchy
Bread prices went up 50% in 1789
Louis XVI hoped to raise taxes on ancien régime
Aristocracy resisted reforms
Forced Louis to call the Estates-General for the first time since 1614

6. Estates General First Estate: Second Estate: Third Estate:
Catholic clergy
Second Estate:
Nobles
Third Estate:
Serfs, peasants, urban workers
1st Estate: 100,000
-did not pay taxes
2nd Estate: 400,000
-exempt from many taxes
3rd Estate: 97%-98% (24,000,000)
provided bulk of French tax revenue

7. By Abbe Sieyes, a clergyman who became a revolutionary, 1789
“What is the Third Estate? All. But an ‘all’ that is fettered (chained) and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? It would be all; but free and flourishing. Nothing will go well without the Third Estate; everything would go considerably better without the other two.”
To a smaller scale: Enlightenment thought and the American example

8. Discussion Questions
What were the similarities between the long-term causes of the American and French Revolutions? Differences?

9. Initial Stage ( )

10. Calling of the Estates-General
May 5, 1789
First time since 1696
Deadlock vote

11. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The National Assembly
June 20, 1789
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The third estate and some members of the first
Tennis Court Oath: pledged to write a constitution that would value popular sovereignty

12. Storming of the Bastille
Only 7 prisoners locked up
French citizens fearing King Louis XVI would use violence to put down the revolution stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789

13. Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen
Passed August 26, 1789
Not a Constitution
A statement of general principals
-Defines individual and collective rights
-Does not address women or slavery
-like the declaration of independence

14. Women’s March
Storming of Versailles
October 1, 1789

15. The Constitution of 1791 Limited monarchy and representative assembly
Consent of the governed
Church under state control
Declared the people had natural rights and that it was the job of the government to protect these rights

16. Crisis Stage ( )

17. Radicals Take Control
Arrest of Louis XVI
August 10, 1792

18. Execution of Louis XVI January 21, 1793
Louis tries to escape and it leads to his execution along with his wife’s

19. Radical Reforms of the Jacobins “National Convention”
All men can vote
Abolished slavery
Universal military conscription
Spirit of nationalism
Set price controls & seized crops from farmers

20. Reign of Terror Led by Maximilien Robespierre
16,000+ died under the guillotine
the Incorruptible,” leader of “Committee of Public Safety
Historians estimate could be as high as 40,000
“The first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the people by terror.”

21. British View of Reign of Terror
Perspective of the counter-revolutionaries: "The Radical's Arms", it depicts the infamous guillotine. "No God! No Religion! No King! No Constitution!" is written in the republican banner.

22. End of the Terror
July 28, 1794
National Convention voted for the arrest and death of Robespierre

23. Discussion Question
How were the actions of American radicals and French radicals similar? How were they different?

24. Recovery Stage ( )

25. Napoleon Bonaparte The Directory:
Failed to solve economic problems of France
Napoleon staged a coup d’etat in 1799
Becomes emperor in 1804
Ruled for 4 years following the reign of terror
Popular authoritarianism

26. Domestic Policies of Napoleon
Greater internal stability and protection of property
Freedom of Religion
Denied rights of women
Restricted speech and expression
Property and political

27. Napoleon’s Empire Left: Napoleon’s Empire by 1912
Above: Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia

28. Napoleon on Elba This should NOT be a prison
Weakened by invasion of Russia, could not hold off Russia, Austria, Prussia, and England
Abdicated in 1814
Escaped

29. Battle of Waterloo
Tried to regain control, but couldn’

30. Discussion Question
At what point in time were the French closest to achieving their original goals of the revolution?

31. Legacy of the French Revolution
Global Independence movements
Haitian Revolution
Latin American independence
Triggered by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain
Egypt broke away from Ottoman Empire
Slave Trade and Slavery
England abolished slave trade in 1807; slavery in 1833
Brazil—Last to abolish slavery (1888)
Abolition of serfdom
Except in Russia

32. Legacy of the French Revolution
Women’s Rights
Played major role in the revolutions
Sewing uniforms, nurses, running businesses, some even fought
Lost many rights after revolution
Napoleon
Feminist Movements
Mary Wollstonecraft
Spread of nationalism in Europe
German and Italian unification
Greek independence