1. Detail From Triumph of Marat, Boilly, 1794 (Musee des Beaux-Arts)
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité
The French Revolution
Detail From Triumph of Marat, Boilly, 1794 (Musee des Beaux-Arts)

2. Setting the Stage Louis XVI – Absolute Monarch Enlightenment –
Versailles Lifestyle
Marie Antoinette
Enlightenment –
Enlightenment ideas popular within French society
French philosophers: Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire
Success of ideas in American Revolution

3. Setting the Stage
Before the Revolution French people were divided into three groups:
First Estate
Second Estate
Third Estate
The Third Estate

4. The First Estate The First Estate = Clergy
Consisted of both rich and poor
Wealthy church officials, members of the aristocracy, lived in luxury from wealthy church lands
Poor parish priests, lived much like peasants
Pay no taxes

5. The Second Estate The Second Estate = Nobility
Inherited titles, wealth from the land
Most enjoyed privileges and wealth
Some nobility had little money, but still had all the privileges of noble rank
Pay little or no taxes

6. The Third Estate The Third Estate = Common People
98% of the population of France
Included:
Wealthy merchants
Doctors and lawyers
Shopkeepers
Urban poor - Paris
Peasants on the land
Tax burden was the heaviest

7. Financial Crisis France was bankrupt in 1789 The crisis resulted from:
Unfair tax burden on the Third Estate
An empty treasury the result of:
Overspending on luxury – Versailles
Years of war with England
Aid to the American Revolution
Declining supply and high cost of bread
Greatest impact on the poorest of the Third Estate

8. Calling the Estates General
Louis XVI tried to solve the financial crisis by removing some of the nobility’s tax exemptions and collect more taxes
Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates General in 1789
Had not met in 175 years
Second Estate expected to “vote” down new taxes with help from First Estate
Third Estate has different ideas

9. The meeting of the Estates General May 5, 1789

10. To Vote by Head or by Order
Traditional vote was 1 vote per order (another name for estate)
Third Estate delegates insisted that the three estates meet together and the vote be taken by head, rather than by order
Third Estate would have a majority with more delegates
Louis XVI refused their request
The Third Estate would not back down 

11. The Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate declares itself a National Assembly
The delegates agree to an oath:
Known as the Tennis Court Oath
It said: "The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom... decrees that all members of this assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate... until the constitution of the kingdom is established on firm foundations..."  June 20, 1789

12. The Tennis Court Oath by Jacques Louis David

13. Triumph of the Third Estate
Louis XVI orders the Third Estate to disperse the National Assembly
Third Estate refuses; Louis XVI was unwilling to use force and ordered the First and Second Estates to join the new National Assembly
The new National Assembly created the influential document The Declaration of the Rights of Man
Based on ideas of the Enlightenment

14. Declaration of the Rights of Man
"Men are born free and equal in their rights....These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.
The fundamental source of all sovereignty resides in the nation.
The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part personally, or through representatives, in the making of the law."
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

15. Revolution Spreads to Common People
Price of bread extremely high and supplies short due to harvest failures
Rumors spread that the King and Queen were responsible for the shortages
French troops marched to the capital
Rumors spread quickly among the already restless mobs that Louis XVI was intending to use them against the people 
On July 14, 1789 the Paris mob stormed the Bastille
A prison and fortress in Paris, symbol of repression
Arm themselves for expected clash with French troops

16. The Fall of the Bastille

17. Revolution Spreads to Common People
July and August 1789 peasant riots in the countryside
It was called "The Great Fear" 
First and Second Estates give up feudal rights; feudalism dead in France
October Women’s March to Versailles
Demand bread and force Louis XVI and family to return to Paris

18. Women's march to Versailles

19. VIDEO: CAUSES OF FRENCH REVOLUTION

20. ESTATES GENERAL GAME

21. The End of Constitutional Monarchy
Louis XVI becomes increasingly unpopular and foreign monarchies attack France out of fear Revolution will spread
Many believe Marie Antoinette is aiding her native Austria
National Convention establishes a radical republic and put Louis XVI on trial
Executed by guillotine January 1793
Marie Antoinette executed October 1793

22. The Reign of Terror
After the death of Louis XVI, Reign of Terror implemented to prevent counter-revolution
Robespierre mastermind of the Reign of Terror
Committee of Public Safety
“Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible...”
2,400 people executed in Paris by July 1794; across all of France 30,000 people executed
Support for Robespierre and the Terror ends
Robespierre himself was arrested and sent to the guillotine, the last victim of the Reign of Terror

23. Napoléon Bonaparte
By 1795, the radical republic replaced by the conservative Directory
Napoléon – strong military leader, won victories, popular with people
Coup d'etat of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1799
France and Europe enter a new era

24. VIDEO: REIGN OF TERROR