The French Revolution Begins

Inequality leads to upheaval

Goals and Objectives

• Upon completion students should be able to:

1.Explain the political and social conditions of France prior to the revolution.

2.Detail the ways in which France was organized socially.

3.Describe the relationship between the French government and its three estates.

The Old Order• The Old Regime – Social and

political system in France during the 1770’s

The French social system

• Estates – Three social classes of France’s Old Regime

The Estates• First Estate – Catholic

Clergy – own 10 percent land, pay few taxes

• Second Estate – rich nobles – 2 percent population, own 20% of the land

Third Estate• 97% of the people are

peasants, urban workers, middle class

Taxation without privilege

• Few privileges, pay heavy taxes, want change

Force of Change• Enlightenment ideas inspire

some in Third Estate

Economic Troubles• High taxes and rising costs

damage economy by 1780’s

• King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette known for extravagance

Rising debt in France

• Louis doubles nation’s debt; banks refuse to lend more money

A Weak Leader• Louis’s poor decisions and lack

of patience add to France’s problems

• He calls the Estates-General – meeting of Representatives from all three estates

Revolution• The National Assembly – Third

Estate has little power under old rules

• Third Estate sets up National Assembly – new legislature to make reforms

• Tennis Court Oath – delegates decide to write new constitution for France

Violence Begins• Rumors fly in Paris that

Louis wants to suppress the National Assembly

Storming of the Bastille

• Mob attacks and seizes the Bastille (prison) and kills guards July 14, 1789

Rebellion and Fear• The Great Fear – peasant

attacks throughout France begin after panic and rumors spread

• Peasants destroy legal papers binding them to feudal system

• October 1789 women revolt over price of bread

Louis Returns• Revolt forces Louis to return

to Paris from Versailles