1. -- Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…
-- Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities

2. It is not so good to be king anymore…

3. Europe on the Eve of the French Revolution

4. Causes of the French Revolution
Debt
Louis XIV- Wars and Versailles
American Revolution
Royal spending- Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
Weak King
Social Structure
Hunger
Enlightenment ideas 4

5. Financial Problems in France, 1789
Urban Commoner’s Budget:
Food %
Rent %
Tithe %
Taxes %
Clothing 20%
TOTAL 170%
King’s Budget:
Interest %
Army %
Versailles 25%
Coronation 10%
Loans %
Admin %
TOTAL %

6. French Budget, 1774

7. The French Urban Poor

8. It’s good to be the King 1774 Louis XVI- 19 yrs. Weak- many problems
Wants to be an Absolute Monarch
“After me comes the flood”
Marie Antoinette- “Madam Deficit” 8

9. The French Monarchy:
Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI

10. Marie Antoinette and the Royal Children

11. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant Cottage”

12. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant Cottage”

13. The Necklace Scandal Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan
1,600,000 livres [$100 million today]
Cardinal Louis René Édouard de Rohan
The Countess de LaMotte

14. Enlightenment and Revolution
The Philosophes were mainly French or living in France
Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau
American Revolution- Liberty, Brotherhood, Equality 14

15. The Old Regime 1st Estate: 10% vs. ½% 2nd Estate: 35% vs. 11/2 %
3rd Estate: 97%
Bourgeois 7% 15

16. Where is the tax money?

18. Lettres de Cachet
The French king could warrant imprisonment or death in a signed letter under his seal.
A carte-blanche warrant.
Cardinal Fleury issued 80,000 during the reign of Louis XV
Eliminated in 1790.

19. Bankrupt
By 1788
Tax Plan
Estates General- May 1789 19

20. Old Regime Map, 1789