French Revolution

Louis XVI 1754 – 1793 Became king at 11 Inherited a France with BIG economic problems Married - Marie Antoinette (Austrian princess) Weak and indecisive – NOT an effective absolute monarch

Marie Antoinette 1755 – 1793 At first she was a very popular queen, failed for years to produce an heir so lost popularity Her enemies – exaggerated most parts of her life (political influence, stories of her spending & sexual depravities )

The Three Estates First Estate = clergy (priests, monks, nuns) Powerful, rich church leaders; from noble families, supported king Village priests were poor  supported change Second Estate = nobility Gov’t or military positions; rich, powerful & supported the king “land rich” but “money poor”  supported movement to make reforms

The Three Estates Third Estate = everyone else (98% of French people) Most resented the privileges of the clergy and nobility and supported the movement to make reforms

Economic Issues Debt from: many years of kings spending & fighting wars Several years of poor harvests caused food prices to go up sharply (poor - no longer afford bread  food riots became common King Louis XVI forced to convene the Estates General (France’s version of Parliament) in 1789 tried to raise taxes

The Estates General of 1789 Third Estate representatives - ignored the king & declared themselves the National Assembly (new body of gov’t) They pressured the other two Estates into joining them in writing a constitution

The Tennis Court Oath June 20, 1789 After the king attempted to block the new National Assembly from meeting, the group reconvened at a tennis court (the sport was played indoors in those days) and took an oath to complete their work

The New Constitution The Declaration of the Rights of Man Transformed France into a republic and constitutional monarchy (still have a king, but he must share power with the legislature) Abolished the 3 Estates, made all men equal Called for “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” (Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood)

The Revolution Begins King moved troops into Paris  people of Paris revolted  Parisians stormed the Bastille (a prison) on July 14, 1789 (released the political prisoners inside) Peasants rebelled in the countryside over food prices

Royal Family Captured Rioting Parisian women marched to Versailles and attacked the palace King Louis XVI & his family forced to move from Versailles back to Paris - kept there under house arrest for 3 years Louis pretended to cooperate with the National Assembly in order to ensure his safety

The National Assembly Made many moderate reforms that mostly helped the middle class Nobles agreed to give up all of their special privileges To pay off the government’s debts, the Assembly seized all of the Catholic Church’s land and sold it – this upset the Pope – it also upset many peasants, who were religiously conservative, creating a rift between the urban and rural revolutionaries

War on Top of Revolution In June 1791, Louis XVI and his family tried to flee to Austria, but were caught and brought back to Paris as traitors Prussia and Austria, alarmed by the revolution in France, threatened to invade In April 1792, the Assembly declared war on Austria, Prussia, and England The war did not go well at first for France; many accused the nobles and clergy of secretly aiding France’s enemies, leading to class violence

Radical Takeover Radicals took over the National Convention (the new name for the Assembly) and passed a series of more drastic reforms Seized the estates of all of the nobles and abolished titles of nobility Late in 1793 the tide of war turned in France’s favor as they overran the Netherlands and Italy

The Guillotine Named for it’s inventor, Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin Designed to sever the head cleanly, resulting in a more “humane” form of execution and immediate death Remained the only legal means of execution in France until 1981! (Last used in 1977)

Louis XVI’s Fate Louis: stripped of title of king, charged with treason against France January 21, 1793: Louis was publicly executed October 16, 1793: Marie Antoinette was also publicly executed for “crimes against Nature”

Louis XVII 1785 – 1795 Louis & Marie’s only son Kept in solitary confinement after his father’s execution Beaten, tortured, forced to stay drunk, sing and curse, sleep with prostitutes, all to entertain his guards Told that his parents were alive and just didn’t want him anymore Died at age 10 of combined tuberculosis & malnutrition His sister was exiled to Austria

The Reign of Terror July 1793 – July 1794 Gov’t lead by Maximilien Robespierre Hasty trials sentenced thousands to death for treason Guillotine - standard means of execution during Reign of Terror So many were executed (about 40,000 in 1 year) that the streets of Paris actually ran red with blood Eventually the people turned on Maximilien  he was executed  ended the Reign of Terror

The Revolution Fails Maximilien killed  New constitution passed in France & gov’t was reorganized again Napoleon Bonaparte became leader in France in 1799 & stabilized the gov’t