The French Revolution

Timeline from 1789-1782

WAHG II NOTES

• Copy down the information you do not know (which is probably all of it . . . especially if you didn’t read Sections 1 and 2)

• No matter what, be sure to copy the underlined words and definitions

• Copy ALL of the last slide

May, 1789King Louis XVI calls a meeting of the Estates General• Cause: riots and MAJOR financial problems • Representatives from all three estates meet

Tennis Court Oath• Cause: The 3rd Estate knows that they will be outvoted

if they remain in the Estate’s General• The Third Estate’s representatives form the National

Assembly to replace the Estates General• They vow to form a Constitution for France

June, 1789

July 14, 1789Storming of the Bastille prison•Cause: people of Paris are afraid Louis XVI will send troops to the city to control mobs• The mob overruns the Bastille in hope of finding weapons•The Storming becomes a symbol of the Revolution

August, 1789Declaration of the Rights of Man•Cause: the 3rd Estate was tired of special legal privileges for the other Estates•Declared all men equal before the law with equal rights

October, 1789Royal Family moves to in Paris• Cause: In spite of new rights, many Parisians

are starving while the wealthy party• Mob of women force Louis XVI and family to

Paris to see the despair• The royal family is confined to a palace there

for three years

1790Civil Constitution is passed• Cause: The government was still in huge debt• The Catholic church’s land was taken to raise money• Angered France’s MANY Catholics of all social classes

causing them to dislike the National Assembly

1791Constitution of 1791• Cause: The Tennis

Court Oath• Limited Monarchy (king

has little power)• Legislative Assembly

(elected by tax-paying men) has all the power

• Nobles must give up some land but are paid for it

June, 1791

King Louis XVI and family are caught trying to escape from Paris

• This attempt strengthens the arguments of the people who want NO monarchy

April, 1792

France’s new Legislative Assembly declares war on several European countries.

• Cause: Many monarchs across Europe disliked France’s new government and feared revolutions in their own countries. Emigres (nobles who fled France) were telling horror stories of how they were treated.

But in 1792, tension is building in France . . .

• The wars are not going well• The san-culottes (working-class French) were

demanding a republic (totally elected government) instead of a limited monarchy

• Some people wanted an absolute monarchy back

• Assignats (the French dollar) is losing value• Food shortages continue