The French Revolution

Causes of the French Revolution

Causes of the RevolutionPoor Leadership Louis XVIA Divided Societyinfluence of the American Revolutioninfluence of Enlightenment ideas

Political & Legal Equality (Rousseau)Personal Freedoms (Voltaire)Popular Sovereignty &

Natural Rights (Locke)

Inept Ruler? King Louis XVI

Q. What can you infer from the pie graphs on why a revolution occurred in France?

A Divided SocietyFirst Estate: 100,000

Catholic clergyDid not pay taxes

Second Estate: 400,000 noblesExempt from many taxes

Third Estate: Rest of Populationmade up of peasants,

commoners, & Sans-culottes – working class

Provided bulk of French tax revenue

Political inequalities for Middle Class

First Estate Second Estate Third EstateX X X X X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

X X X X

1 Vote1 Vote

1 VoteX= Representative

Financial CrisisDuring 1780s, 50% of revenue went to pay off debts

American Revolution?Lavish lifestyle of the monarchy

Series of bad harvests 1787 & 1788Bread prices went up 50% in 1789

Need for tax reformLouis XVI hoped to raise taxes on the aristocracyAristocracy resisted reformsForced Louis to call the Estates-General for the first time

since 1614 start movie at 20:00 end 23

Phase I

Moderate/liberalGoal- create constitutional

monarchy

Calling of the Estates-GeneralMay 5, 1789

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Debriefing: Meeting of the Estates General

Describe what happened at the Estates General.How does it feel to be a member of the 3rd estate?Do you agree with the results of the Estates

General?What options do the members of the 3rd estate

have to change their status?How many people of the 3rd estate would now vote

to meet apart from the 1st and 2nd estate and be the true representatives of the people of France?

Who else might support members of the 3rd Estate who want to start a new government?

The National Assembly and Tennis Court Oath

Third Estate removed themselves and created their own assembly

a. renamed themselves the National Assembly and met at a nearby indoor tennis court

b. Tennis Court Oath – promised not to disband until they had written a constitution for France

The National Assembly andTennis Court Oath

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

June 20, 1789

Storming of the Bastille-

- July 1789: people were hungry and desperate. a rumor spread that the king’s troops were coming to sack Paris.- hundreds of people marched to the Bastille (a medieval fort and prison) to get gunpowder - soldiers fired on the crowd, killing many people.- Importance = Symbolized the start of the revolution- France enters “Great Fear” – general revolts against Old Feudal Regime.

Women’s March

Storming of VersaillesOctober 1, 1789

• October 1789: • thousands of women marched to Versailles and

demanded the King and Queen come to Paris and leave Versailles

• Their exit signaled the change of power and the radical reforms about the overtake France

Creation of a “The Declaration of the Rights of Man”

nobles in the First and Second Estates joined the National Assembly scared of the violent commoners voted to end their own privileges

National Assembly adopted a statement of revolutionary ideas “A declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”

Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen

Passed by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789

Not a Constitution but a statement of general principlesDefines individual and

collective rightsDoes not address women or

slavery

Marquis de LafayetteThe Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen - 1789

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

June 20, 1789

Phase II

(1792-1794)Radical

Goal- a republic; eliminate monarchists and

counterrevolutionaries

Radicals Take Control

Arrest of Louis XVIAugust 10, 1792• June 1791 Louis and is Family try to escape France

• They are recognized near the border and brought back to Paris

• September 1791 National assembly creates a constitutional monarchy• Stripping the king of most of his authority• Frances assemblymen would have the power to

make laws• Louis reluctantly approves it

• Hands over his power to the Legislative Assembly

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neighboring countries began to worry about their own monarchies

French émigrés (nobles who fled from France) tried to convince other countries to restore Louis XVI

French revolutionary leaders declared war on Austria, then Prussia radicals imprisoned Louis XVI,

Radical Reforms of the JacobinsJacobins was a radical political club

Led by Jean Paul MaratGoal: remove the king and establish a

Republic

National Convention September 21 1792abolishes the monarchy and creates arepublic

Men were given the right to vote, not womenLouis XVI’s role went from King to common citizen

He was sentence to death for treason and was sent to the guillotine

Execution of Louis XVIJanuary 21, 1793

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“Reign of Terror”1793 - 1794

Reign of TerrorLed by Maximilien Robespierre

Goal was to build a “public of virtue”

1793 became leader of the Committee of Public Safety

He decided who was an enemy of the republic

According to records 16,000+ died under the guillotine

Historians estimate could be as high as 40,000

British View of Reign of Terror

End of the TerrorJuly 28, 1794

Robespierre is killed

Phase III (1794-1815)

Conservative/reactionary

Goal- To end “terror” and establish Directory

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Directory and Rise of Napoleon

1799 - 1815

Napoleon BonaparteModerate government,

the Directory, rules for five years following Reign of TerrorFailed to solve economic

problems of FranceNapoleon staged a

coup d'état in 1799Becomes emperor in

1804

Domestic Policies of NapoleonMaintained some rights gained

during the revolutionFreedom of religionNapoleonic Code (Civil Code)Schools and universities

Reversed other gainsRights of womenFreedom of expression

Reformed economyRevised tax codeCentral bank

Napoleon’s Empire

Napoleon’s Failed Invasion of Russia

Napoleon’s Empire

Left: Napoleon’s Empire by 1812Above: Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia

Napoleon on Elba

This should NOT be a prison

Battle of WaterlooBritish and Prussians Defeat Napoleon for good

Napoleon Banished to St. Helena

Napoleon’s DownfallCould not conquer British navyGuerilla movements in Spain and PortugalFailed invasion of RussiaFinal defeat at Waterloo

Legacy of NapoleonUnsuccessful attempt to unify Europe under

French domination.

Napoleonic Code – great influence on modern European legal codes

Spread of nationalism in EuropeGerman and Italian unificationGreek independence

Legacy of the French RevolutionGlobal Independence movements

Haitian RevolutionLatin American independence

• Triggered by Napoleon’s invasion of SpainEgypt broke away from Ottoman Empire

Slave Trade and SlaveryEngland abolished slave trade in 1807; slavery in 1833Brazil—Last to abolish slavery (1888)

Abolition of serfdomExcept in Russia