1. The French Revolution

2. Prerevolutionary France
Political
King/Queen had absolute power
Believed in Divine Right
Nobles dependent upon King
Lived in palace = didn’t oversee land at home
Intendants (gov’t people) collected taxes, administered justice and reported directly to the king
History
110 years of war to expand French influence and territory
XIV lives extravagantly = DEBT
Builds Palace of Versailles (Arts)
Spanish Succession (Prevention of the union of French and Spanish throne)
League of Augsburg

3. Prerevolutionary France
Beliefs and Values
3rd Estate ?ed status quo
Catholic Beliefs = Support Clergy
Edict of Nantes (Religious Tolerance) cancelled
Huguenot’s (French Protestants) fled
Culture
Palace of Versailles = small city
Expensive clothing
500 cooks, waiters and servants
Aided the Arts (Glorifying the King

4. Place of Versailles

5. Prerevolutionary France
Social
Society divided into 3 estates
First - Clergy
Nobles families = no taxes
Priests
Second – 2% Nobility
Received gifts from king
Pd little taxes
Third – 98% Peasants
Largest group
Heavily taxed
Economic
Financial crisis
Due to wars and extravagant lifestyle of king
High Taxes pd by peasants to pay for kings wants/debt
Crops fail = prices soar
Merchantilist used policies to control economy
Prevents wealth from leaving
Sell more than bought

6. King Louis XVI Who am I? When did I reign? Who was my Queen?
I was the king of France
When did I reign?
During the 1770s and 1780s
Who was my Queen?
Marie Antoinette, from Austria

7. Three estates First Estate- Catholic Clergy owned 10% land
Second Estate – Rich Nobles (2% population) owned 20% land
Third Estate –Peasants (97% working class)
1st and 2nd Estates use the 3rd (1780s)
Doubling the nation’s debt, banks refuse to lend more money.
50% budget goes to interest payments
25% goes for military expenses
6% spent for Versailles life-style
As a result, taxes are raised

8. Meeting of the Estates General
King XVI calls for a meeting to solve financial crisis
Haven’t met since 1614
King calls for cahiers (List of grievances)
Representatives from all three estates attend
3rd Estate dissatisfied create a National Assembly

9. Tennis Court Oath
Third Estate refused to conduct business under rule by order
Wanted all three estates as a single representative body
Adopt title of National Assembly and became the true representative body of France (Clergy joined on June 19th)
Locked out, members of National Assembly move to Tennis Court on June 20th because of “repairs” being done in the hall
Purpose: write a new constitution for France (1789)
Result: constitutional monarchy accepted by king in 1791
Lawmaking power in hands of Natl. Assembly
King still head of state with veto power
Tried to solve financial problems by taking land of Catholic Church and nobles who fled France
3 factions—
conservative (right wing)—wanted a limited monarchy w/few changes
radicals (left wing)—opposed king and idea of monarchy, favored a republic w/commoners having full power
moderates—favored some changes but not like radicals
other extreme groups emerge---emigres (nobles who fled) and sans-culottes (workers who wanted more of a voice in govt.)

10. Tennis Court Oath

11. Storming of the Bastille
Built in the 1300s, imprisoned those ordered by the king
Symbol of royal abuse of power
Rumor of attack on Paris by King’s army
On July 14, 1789 mob seize weapons & march to the Bastille (Prison)
Soldiers at Bastille fire on crowds (100 died)
Symbol of the beginning of the revolution
Declarations of the Rights of Citizen and Man by August
Stated that all male citizens were equal before the law

12. Conquerors of the Bastille

13. March on Versailles Great Fear – attacks by peasants
Destroying legal papers
Financial crisis grows
More hunger and unemployment
On Oct. 5th 7000 women march 12 miles to Versailles demanding bread
King promises bread and to go back to Paris with them

14. March on Versailles

15. Bringing about change
King signs Constitution of 1791 limiting the monarchy
Falling currency values, rising prices, and food stortage cause turmoil
Émigrés – nobles who fled, wanted Old Regime
Sans-culottes (working men and women) wanted change (gained support by the Jacobins)
National Convention is elected 1792
Legislative Assembly – power to create laws, reject or approve declarations of war
Divide into Radicals, moderates, amd conservatives
National Convention—radical government formed by the radical faction of the legislative assembly
Led by Robespierre
Declared France a republic
Jacobins(Radical political club)—found Louis XVI guilty of treason

16. Radicals Gain Control
Jacobins (radical political organization) take control
King is tried, found guilty of treason and executed by guillotine (beheaded people)
The Declaration of Pilnitz: France continues the Revolution to fight off Austria and Prussia

17. Rise of a Dictator
Maximilien Robespierre calls for measures to save France from enemies (Build a republic of virtue)
Leader of the Committee for Public Safety
Job was to protect the Revolution from its enemies
Revolutionary courts set up to try citizens for treason including Marie Antoinette
Reign of Terror
2 yrs. 40,000+ executed
85% of those that die are the middle or lower class
Ends with Robespierre’s execution
Committee of Public Safety—decides who are enemies of the state
Beginning of Reign of Terror
Members turn on Robespierre and put an end to Reign of Terror

18. Napoleon Bonaparte
Directory takes control for 5 years after Robespierre’s death
Napoleon seizes control from Directory
Rules for 15 years as dictator and emperor
Turns France into centrally controlled police state
Maintained moderate reforms
Abolished feudal privileges
Secured advances of the middle class and peasants
Abdicated in 1814
Directory
Replaces nat’l convention after Robespierre’s death
Power given to upper middle class, bicameral legislature and an executive body of 5 men
Lasted 5 years until a coup-d’etat which established a 3 man consul
Napoleon
One of the 3 consuls
Pretends to be a constitutionally elected by a plebiscite
Signs concordat with Pope establishing new rule b/t state and church
Napoleonic Codes along with other reforms
Crowned emperor
Abdicated throne in1814 after Fourth Coalition of allies defeated him
Sent to Elba
Comeback--Waterloo