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The French Revolution
Liberty Equality
Fraternity
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Cause 1 : Enlightenment The scientific revolution shattered long-held views about
the universe. This encouraged Enlightenment thinkers to question
society and government:◦ Locke (contract between government and governed)◦ Montesquieu (checks and balances)◦ Rousseau (individual freedom)◦ Voltaire (freedom of thought and expression)
◦ Their beliefs in the natural rights of man inspired the American and French Revolutions.
◦ These ideas were RADICAL!
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Key Concept…
Scientific revolution
New thinking encouraged
New thinking leads to revolutions in America and France
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Cause 2: Social Structure Social Structure In France:
◦ The Estates in France 1st Estate = clergy = wealthy/no taxes = privileged 2nd Estate = nobles = wealthy/few taxes = privileged 3rd Estate = everybody else
◦ Bourgeoisie/middle class = some wealth = high taxes = some rights
◦ Bankers◦ Merchants◦ Professionals◦ Business owners
Farmers and peasants!
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Monarchy: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette◦ Put country in debt
Supporting American Revolution Personal luxuries
◦ Louis XVI
Weak leader◦ Couldn’t control country’s spending
◦ Couldn’t control wife’s spending
Needed more money = taxes on the 2nd Estate
◦ 1789: 2nd Estate forces Louis to call a meeting of Estates-General
First such meeting in 175 years
First two estates could out vote the 3rd
Estate, even though the 3rd Estate had more people.
◦ Louis sides with 1st and 2nd Estates
Cause 3: Monarchy
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Cause 5: Foreign Wars
Failing harvests Poor manufacturing Inflation Excessive spending Only taxing the poor
7 Years War French and Indian
War Helping the Americans War with Austria
Cause 4: Financial Crisis
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The Fuse Is Lit!◦ Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes gets 3rd Estate to declare themselves
the National Assembly and become government of France
National Assembly locked out of their meeting room by king
Tennis Court Oath: National Assembly breaks down door to tennis court and vows to stay until a constitution is created
◦ Some nobles and clergy join
Painting of the National Assembly in the tennis court at Versailles
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The Revolution Goes Off! Rumors
◦ King to use military against National Assembly
◦ King to send troops to Paris to massacre French citizens
Citizens arm themselves with whatever they can
July 14, 1789: The Bastille prison is stormed by a mob looking for weapons
◦ Release prisoners
◦ Take some guards hostage and killed others
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The Great Fear Spreads Rumor
◦ Nobles hiring outlaws to attack peasants
Citizens break into houses of nobles◦ Destroy legal papers (can’t owe
king or lord what can’t be proved)
◦ Kill nobles
◦ Burn houses
A chateau burns as peasants
riot in the countryside
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The Great Fear Spreads…
October 1789: Women riot at Versailles over cost of bread
◦ Demands:
National Assembly provide bread
King and queen return to Paris
August 1789: Great Fear spreads to clergy and nobles, more of whom now (out of fear) support National Assembly
◦ National Assembly ends Estate system
◦ Commoners/peasants now equal to clergy and nobles
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Statement of Revolutionary Ideals August 1789: National Assembly adopts Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen
◦ Influenced by Enlightenment & U.S. Declaration of Independence
“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”
◦ Rights included
Liberty
Property
Security
Resistance to oppression
Equal justice
Freedom of speech
Freedom of religion
Revolutionary leaders adopt “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as motto (fraternity = brotherhood)
Illustration of Declaration
of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen
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State-Controlled Church National Assembly goes
after Catholic Church◦ Takes lands
Sale of church lands helps pay off French debt
◦ Declares clergy will be elected and paid as state officials
◦ French peasants (mostly Catholics) take offense Creates division in
revolution Cartoon: “The Zenith of French Glory;
The Pinnacle of Liberty.” A French revolutionary watches a beheading while resting his foot on the head of a hanging clergyman.
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Royals Arrested June 1791: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette try to
sneak out of country◦ Arrested near Austrian border
◦ Attempted escape made revolutionaries even angrier at royalty
Arrest of Louis XVI and his Family, Varennes, 1791
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Divisions Develop 1791: National Assembly creates a new constitution
◦ Creates a limited constitutional monarchy Strips king of most authority Creates a Legislative Assembly King Louis XVI agrees (no choice!)
Old problems still exist◦ Food shortages
◦ Government debt
◦ Poverty Factions split revolutionaries
◦ Radicals/Left: get rid of king, redo government- Jacobins/Mountains
◦ Conservatives/Right: wanted to keep a limited monarchy with few changes in government. Girondins
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Two illustrations of sans-culottes
Divisions Develop…
Émigrés (the rich who fled France during the revolution) took actions to try to undo the revolution to get back their land
Sans-culottes (the lower-class in Paris) wanted even more radical change
◦ They had no power in the assembly (but that didn’t stop them!)
Movie poster for A Tale of Two Cities, based on the novel by Charles Dickens about the French Revolution and an émigré
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War and Execution Austria and Prussia fear revolution will spread.
◦ They pressure France to restore monarchy.◦ 1792: France responds by declaring war.
Prussian commander warns that he will destroy Paris if royal family is harmed.
August 10, 1792: Parisians furious at threat.◦ They storm the Tuileries (place where the royals were
under arrest). Mobs massacre royal guard, takes royal family
prisoners
Storming of the Tuileries Palace, Paris
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War and Execution… Rumor: King’s supporters in Paris prisons are
going to break out and retake Paris◦ Mobs raid prisons, and murder over 1,000 nobles
= September Massacres
Radicals force◦ Legislative Assembly to set aside the 1791 Constitution◦ Creation of a new government, National Convention
New government◦ Abolishes monarchy◦ Declares France a
republic◦ Adult males given
right to vote
Illustration by Armand Fouquier of the September Massacres
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War and Execution…
National Convention, led by radical Jacobians put Louis XVI on trial and sentence him to death
◦ January 21, 1793: Louis beheaded by guillotine.
War with Prussia continues.◦ Prussia and Austria are joined by
England Holland Spain
◦ National Convention takes extreme step of ordering a draft of men and women
Illustration of the execution of Louis XVI
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Reign of Terror Many groups in France fighting for power
◦ Peasants loyal to Catholic Church and/or king◦ Clergy resisting government control◦ Rival leaders in different regions of France
1793: Maximilien Robespierre gains power◦ Vowed to build a “republic of virtue” by erasing
France’s past. Changed calendar
◦ Eliminated Sundays
Closed churches Reign of Terror = Robespierre = leader of
Committee of Public Safety and virtual dictator◦ Goal = protect revolution from its enemies
Bogus arrests, trials Lots of torture and death
◦ Many “enemies of the revolution” = personal enemies of Robespierre because of their challenges to his power
◦ Apprx. 40,000 killed◦ 85% = peasants or middle class, those
who were supposed to benefit from the revolution
Top: Robespierre Bottom: Poster for movie
version of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a story of intrigues and love during the Reign of Terror
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End of Terror 1794: Fearing for own safety, members of
National Convention turn on Robespierre◦ Demand his arrest and execution
Reign of Terror ends on July 28, 1794 with Robespierre’s execution
◦ Public opinion shifts Tired of terror Tired of inflation for necessities
◦ 1795: National Convention creates third government since 1789 Gives more power to upper middle class Creates two-house legislature (like U.S.
Congress) Created Directory = five men acting as
executive body (like U.S. president) The Directory was unable to maintain order
or gain support because of corruption and its inability to solve the problems France continued to face.
Directory gives command of France’s armies to Napoleon Bonaparte
Top: Illustration of the execution of Robespierre Bottom: Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte
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Review Ideas are powerful!
◦ The scientific revolution shattered long-held views about the universe. Enlightenment questioned society and government:
◦ Locke (contract between government and governed)◦ Montesquieu (checks and balances)◦ Rousseau (individual freedom and civilization corrupts)◦ Voltaire (freedom of thought and expression)
◦ Their radical beliefs in the natural rights of maninspired the American and French Revolutions.
New thinking encouraged
New thinking leads to revolutions in America and France
Scientific revolution