1. FRENCH
REVOLUTION

2. OLD REGIME Population First Estate: Church or Clergy
1% of population ,owned % of land, paid little taxes
Second Estate: Nobles / Lords
2 % of the population owned % of land, paid no taxes
Third Estate: Bourgeoisie (or Middle Class), Peasants, Workers, and Serfs
97% of the population, owned % land, paid high taxes (half of their income!
Population

3. ESTATES GENERAL MEETING
(May 1789)
France is in debt
Nobles demand a meeting of the Estates General
King Louis XVI calls an assembly of the three estates to solve the problems of France
In the Estates General each estate had one vote (vote by order)
King Louis XVI

4. Background (not on notes)
The Third Estate is disgusted with their inability to make changes to the government and withdraw from the Estates General and create the National Assembly.
When the Third Estate attempts to meet, their meeting hall is locked and they head to a nearby Tennis Court to continue their plans
At the Palace of Versailles Tennis Court, the Third Estate swore an oath, “The Tennis Court Oath,” to never disband until France has a new constitution.
They invite members of the First and Second Estates to join them in their reforms. Some Clergy and Nobles do join, while others stay loyal to King Louis XVI.
King Louis reluctantly agrees to accept the National Assembly, but rumors spread that the King has secret plans to destroy it.

5. The Tennis Court Oath
June 20, 1789
On your notes…
At the Versailles tennis court the third estate declares a new legislature – the National Assembly. They pledge to write a new constitution.

7. Background (not on your notes)…
As rumors spread that King Louis is going to destroy the National Assembly, more and more peasants begin to starve
Hundreds of hungry people in Paris stormed the Bastille, a medieval prison
They were searching for gunpowder to fight off the King’s forces if he decides to end the Assembly
This signaled the start of the French Revolution
Peasants everywhere began to revolt
Bastille Day is celebrated in France as the Day of French Freedom (like the 4th of July in the United States)

8. Storming of the Bastille July 14, 1789 yes! This part is on your notes…
Hundreds of hungry people in Paris stormed the Bastille, a medieval fort and prison, to search for gunpowder signaling the start of the French Revolution.
Peasants everywhere revolt.

9. Storming of the Bastille

10. Storming of the Bastille

11. March to Versailles October 1789
After months of bread shortages, seven thousand women march 12 miles from Paris to Versailles to demand bread
Marie Antoinette is rumored to have said, “Let them eat cake!” (a term referring to a poor man’s bread scraps)
The king and queen are forced to leave Versailles

12. MARCH TO VERSAILLES

13. Assembly Meets

14. National Assembly
The new government, the National Assembly, created Declaration of the Rights of Man that guaranteed rights and liberties and freedoms
(They end the privileges of the nobles)
Couldn’t solve any financial problems because they were involved in wars and had too many political divisions.
A limited Monarchy was created with a constitution in 1791.

15. The Declaration of the Rights of Man
This was the first step in writing a Constitution
It was modeled after the American Declaration of Independence (written 13 years earlier) and the American Bill of Rights
Its goals are reflected in the slogan of the French Revolution: “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity [brotherhood]”

16. Assembly Begins to Fall Apart
Assembly Weakened by …
Financial Problems
Foreign Wars
Political Divisions

17. French Political Spectrum
RADICAL
LIBERAL
MODERATE
CONSERVATIVE
REACTIONARY
End the Monarchy& Kill the King
(Jacobins)
Republic, King as advisor
King is a figurehead with no power
King has limited powers
(limited monarchy)
Restore the monarchy
Rapid Change
Change within the System
Some Change
Opposed to Change
Return to Old Ways
Third Estate
First and Second Estate

19. Reign of Terror
Maximilien Robespierre and other radicals, the Jacobins, execute Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette

20. Trial and Execution of Louis XVI

21. Trial and Execution of Louis XVI

22. These radicals took control of the National Assembly and created a new legislative body called the National Convention.
A committee of Public Safety was created to deal with the threats to France

23. REIGN OF TERROR CONTINUES
Forty Thousand French people in two years were executed by guillotine

24. ends when a group of moderates creates a new constitution and
The National Convention
turned on their leaders
and executed Robespierre
in July 1794 (killed by
his own people!)
The Reign of Terror
ends when a group of
moderates creates a
new constitution and
created a five man
Directory to run the
country

25. Napoleon
Napoleon overthrows the Directory and rules France as dictator and emperor for 15 years.