Conditions in France 1789• France spends more than it received in income,

taking out loans with England to pay for failing wars• By 1788 France spent half of its annual budget on

paying the interest on the ever-increasing national debt

• Peasants were beset by poor harvests, the price of bread soared, and famine spread

• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived extravagant lives at Versailles with no notice of their country’s problems

• France raises taxes; This fell on the commoners. Clergy and Nobility were tax exempt

The Meeting of the Estates General

Desperate to solve the financial crisis, King Louis XVI called for the Estates General to meet. This medieval representative body, which had not been convened since 1614, divided France into three orders, or estates: the clergy, nobility, and commoners.

The Tennis Court Oath

• Members of the Third Estate wanted to meet with the other two Estates as one body with one person one vote. The king refused

• The Third Estate adopted the name of National Assembly and met in a large indoor tennis court and swore an oath to never disband until they had a constitution for France

• The National Assembly Voted on a Constitutional Monarchy.

The National Assembly and Its Constitution

• Louis XVI caved on the “one man, one vote” issue

– The Third Estate and a few others join to declare themselves a National Constituent Assembly

– June 20, 1789- resolve not to disperse until they have a constitution

• Confrontations occur– Storming of the Bastille (July 1789)– The mob playing a role in political

events– August 4, 1789- nobles voluntarily

renounce their legal privileges – Declaration of the Rights of Man and

Citizen– Constitution of the Clergy– By 1791, the new constitution is

completed• Provided for power to be shared

by the king and Parliament• National election for Legislative

Assembly

The Storming of the Bastille

• By 1789 ¼ of the people of Paris were unemployed. • Rumors spread that the king’s army was going to sack

Paris, angry Parisians seized arms for defense. • They stormed the Bastille in order to take gunpowder.

The Bastille was a symbol of royal power. • July 14, 1789 is still celebrated in France today. • As news spread across France about the Storming of the

Bastille. Commoners rose up against the lords.

The March on Versailles

• October 5, 1789, 7,000 desperate women marched the 12 miles to Paris to Versailles to demand bread.

• The women invaded the palace and killed several guards.

• The king promised to give them bread and to come back to Paris with his family.

• The heads of two nobles, stuck on pikes, led the way, followed by the unarmed royal guard.

• The king and his family would never return to Versailles

The Execution of King Louis XVI

• On June 21, 1791, the royal family attempted to flee France, but was caught a few miles from the border and returned to Paris.

• In November 1792 the king was placed on trial by the National Convention.

• He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by the guillotine The Queen was beheaded in October 1793.

The Reign of Terror

• The Revolution then turns violent. Led by Maximilien Robespierre called for drastic measures to save France from enemies of the nation.

• The National Convention established 1792 as Year One of the Republic

• Robespierre sets up a revolutionary court, The Committee of Public Safety, responsible only to him, which tried people for crimes against the revolution.

• In two years, 40,000 people were killed by the guillotine.

Maximilien Robespierre

• After September 1792, France is no longer a monarchy but a republic– Executive power exercised by

the Committee of Public Safety with Robespierre as its leader

– Under him, Christianity overthrown

• Patriotism measured by devotion to reason rather than to God and king

• Names of days and months changed and the year 1792 became the year one

• Eliminated even his coworkers for being lukewarm supporters of the Revolution, thousands of innocents guillotined

• Robespierre was mutinied against in July 1794, and guillotined, bringing an end to the Reign of Terror

Reaction• Jacobins had also started an

army during the Revolution and were on the offensive from 1794 onward against Prussia, Austria, Britain, and Holland

• Machine of terror dismantled after Robespierre

• Thermidorean Reaction– Middle class and wealthy

come back to power– A new executive formed called

the Directory, made up of five conservative minded directors

– Economic condition of the poor goes down, and ongoing war causes severe inflation

• Widespread discontent

The Coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte

• After five years of disastrous rule by a five-man executive called the Directory, Napoleon ruled France as dictator and emperor of France for 15 years 1799 to 1814.

• Napoleon repressed some of the freedoms of the revolution, but made many moderate reforms. He abolished feudal privileges and securied the advances of the middle class and the peasantry.

• Napoleon’s reformed France’s legal system and launched a series of wars against continental Europe

The Reign of Napoleon• Napoleon gains

popularity as his military campaigns go well– Spain, Portugal, Italian

peninsula, Austria, Prussia, Holland all conquered

• Napoleon is defeated by the British and then leads a disastrous campaign against Russia

• Napoleon is exiled and France is devastated