Post on 27-Dec-2015
transcript
The French Revolution
Freedom! …..Equality!...Brotherhood!
The French Revolution
The Old Regime
Outbreak of Revolution
Radical Stage of the Revolution
Political Alliances1770 - The Palace of Versailles
Louis XVI marries Marie Antoinette establishing an alliance between France and Austria
Outside Versailles…The people of France are deprived and hungry…The people of France are deprived and hungry…
- Seven Year’s War (1756–1763)- France’s economy brutalized by loss to Great Britain in North America
- population continues to grow while economy suffers more and more
- France becomes a nation on the brink of chaos. Wealthy nation, but bankrupt government (50% of budget to pay debt)
Three Estates
First Estate – clergymen- lived lives of luxury, owned land and paid little taxes
Second Estate – nobility- highly privileged, land-owners, government and military officials, paid little to no taxes due to close relationship with the King and traditional privileges
Three EstatesThird Estate – peasants, city-workers, middle class
Peasants - small farmers; most owned small farmsBourgeoisie (middle class) – doctors, bankers, lawyers, merchants, intellectuals, government bureaucrats; lacked the prestige of the nobility
- highly motivated by the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment
French Revolutionaries- inspired by Voltaire, Rousseau and the like, the Enlightenment provides an opportunity for the people to question their class structure, the government, etc- encourages the people not to trust what they know (church, government), but to think and to question what they do not…
Bread RiotsFinancial Reform
Louis XVI raises taxes for the poor; the nobility refuses to be taxed at all
Jacques Necker
- believes it is the government’s duty to assure there is enough bread and grain for all
- convinces Louis XVI to call The Estates General
The Estates GeneralMay 1789
The Estates General meets at Versailles- The Third Estate desires to change the method of voting in the interest of fairness and meet as one body- The Third Estate sets up The National Assembly
The Tennis Court Oath – the decision to write a new constitution for
France- Louis XVI gives in and the nobility and
clergy join the National Assembly
The National AssemblyLouis XVI responds to the National Assembly,
exercising his power as monarch, by sending 18,000 soldiers to Versailles
FEAR overcomes the people as it appears Louis XVI will crush the National Assembly
A MOB FORMS…
RevolutionWhat is a revolution?What is a revolution?
Revolution – 1. a sudden, complete or marked change in something; 2. an (often sudden) broad, fundamental, and lasting change in people's behavior, culture, and world view AND/OR in society's social, political, and cultural institutions
What causes revolution?What causes revolution?How does a revolution succeed?How does a revolution succeed?
Does a revolution need to be violent?Does a revolution need to be violent?
Storming the Bastille
July 14, 1789 – Paris, France
- to save the National Assembly the people of Paris storm the Bastille for guns and gun powder
- the heads of the Commander of the Bastille and the Mayor of Paris placed on pikes and paraded through the streets of Paris
Victory at the Bastille
- Louis XVI calls back his troops and the people of Paris declare VICTORY!
- July 14th Bastille Day
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Declaration of the Rights of Man
August 27, 1789
- class distinctions are abolished
- all men are considered equal
- seize power from the monarch and create a Constitutional Monarchy
- equal rights, justice under reasonable laws,
-freedom of the press and religion restored
Women’s March on VersaillesOctober 5, 1789
- despite the (unsigned) Declaration of the Rights of Man, conditions seem to worsen, Parisian women protest the shortage of bread and increasing food prices
“To Versailles”- women march 12miles and force the royal family to return to Paris at knifepoint- Louis XVI signs the Declaration of the Rights of Man
Constitutional Monarch
May 1791
French Constitution
- limits power of the king
- sets up law-making body, the Legislative Assembly
- loss of church authority
French Revolution
Causes of the French RevolutionClass Conflict? (The Marxist Explanation)
Economic Misery? (Bad Harvests = Angry People)
Culture? (The Enlightenment, Public Sphere, Secularism)
Political Crisis (Angry Aristocrats & Excluded Bourgeoisie)