No Warmup We are going to go over the quiz from yesterday.

The French Revolution

Key People and Terms King Louis XVI: the king of France, killed in the third year of the revolution. Maximillian Robespierre: a French lawyer who became the leader of France during the Reign of Terror. Killed in the fifth year. Napoleon Bonaparte: French General who ends the revolution, becomes Emperor, and conquers most of Europe. Second Hundred Years War: period of war with Britain from 1689-1815. Contributes to the revolution and its end. Bourgeoisie: the middle class and wealthy who were not nobles.

What Caused the French Revolution? Causes of the Revolution can be sorted into two groups: Reasons people wanted change Reasons the government was vulnerable Today we are going to look at most important reason in both groups.

Cause 1: Social Inequality France was divided politically into 3 formal “estates” or divisions. 1st Estate: Priests 2nd Estate: Nobles 3rd Estate: Everyone Else Priests Nobles Everyone Else Peasants Merchants Bourgeoisie

Who made up the estates? 1st 2nd 3rd 15,000 upper clergy (very wealthy) 130,000 lower clergy (fairly poor) 2nd 350,000 (very wealthy) 3rd 3 million bourgeoisie (middle class) 22 million peasants and working poor Priests Nobles Everyone Else Peasants Merchants Bourgeoisie

What was unequal? The 3rd estate paid taxes to the 1st estate, 2nd estate, and to the crown. The 1st and 2nd estate paid almost no taxes Tax burdens: 3rd estate: 30-60% paid in taxes 2nd estate: less than 2% 1st estate: less than 1% Priests Nobles Everyone Else Peasants Merchants Bourgeoisie

What was unequal? About 70% of 3rd estate lived in crushing poverty. Most of 2nd estate were rich enough they didn’t need jobs. The 3rd estate: 98% of the population 35% of the land 20% of the wealth Priests Nobles Everyone Else Peasants Merchants Bourgeoisie

What was unequal? Additionally, the 2nd Estate had special privileges: Only ones who could be officers in the army. Only ones who could be higher officials in the government. Could carry weapons in public. Were more protected by the law. Priests Nobles Everyone Else Peasants Merchants Bourgeoisie

Cause 2: Debt The most important reason the government was vulnerable was that it owed immense amounts of money. France had been fighting Britain on and off for 100 years. Wars are expensive The government could not pay off its debt.

Cause 2: Debt The French King, Louis XVI, tried many times to get enough taxes to pay off the debts. The problem was that most of the countries money belonged to nobles and priests, who didn’t pay taxes.

Cause 2: Debt The Third Estate paid almost all the taxes but they were already taxed as much as they could pay. By 1789, this had become a disaster and France was heading towards bankruptcy.