Download FrRev ppt - Cabarrus County Schools

The French Revolution &
Napoleon 1789-1815
The Old Regime
Three Estates or Classes
% of the % of the
population
land
Estate
Members
First
The Clergy
< 1%
10%
Second
Nobility
2%
25%
Third
Bourgeoisie =middle class
Urban workers
peasants
97%
65%
Causes of the
French
Revolution
Enlightenment
Ideas
Inequalities of
Estates System
Crop failures
Bread Shortage
Financial Crisis
Debt
Frustration
with the
Government
Efforts at
Reform Failed
1st and 2nd Estates
paid no Taxes
Louis XIV’s
War & Versailles
Inspiration of
Amer. Rev.
Louis XV’s
Lavish Royal Court
Louis XVI’s
Support for Amer. Rev.
B. Estates General
Louis XVI called
for a meeting of
the Estates
General to deal
with the crisis
Hoped to gain
support for
additional taxes
The Estates General was a body
representing Frances’ three estates
It had not met in 175 years
Each group hoped to use the
meeting as a chance address
their individual concerns.
The Estates General
% of
population
Votes
First
Number of
Representatives
300
< 1%
1
Second
300
2%
1
Third
600
97%
1
Estates
What problem existed with this system?
Members of the Third Estate
demanded reforms:
Want all three Estates to meet
together with each delegate
getting an individual vote.
However, no progress was made
and frustration grew when Louis
rejected these demands.
C. The National Assembly
1.
Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly.
a.
Invited delegates of other estates to meet with them
b. Claimed the right to create a constitution for France.
c. Third Estate was locked out of their meeting hall.
Met instead on a tennis court outside the hall……took the
“Tennis Court Oath” that they would fight against this
oppression.
5.
Storming of the Bastille
July 14, 1789
The Bastille = fortress used as a prison for
political opposition.
Fearing the king was going to take action against the
reforms, mobs of people attacked the Bastille in Paris.
*Shows common people were willing to support
revolutionary changes
Bastille Day is celebrated as a national
holiday in France.
The Great Fear
Peasants hungry from famine and
frightened by rumors of
government intervention take action:
a.
1. Attacked nobles and burn their homes
2. Stole grain from storehouses
The National Assembly
1789-1791
a. Peasant uprisings and the
storming of the Bastille push
the National Assembly to act:
b. Assembly ended the privileges of
the nobility.
c. Assembly issued the Declaration of
the Rights of Man.
Based on Enlightenment
principles the Declaration
included:
1. Equality of all people
before the law,
2. Guarantees of
freedom of speech,
freedom of press,
freedom of religion,
and protection against
unfair arrest and
punishment.
Reaction to the new constitution varies.
The Middle class generally favored the
new government and it reflected their
desires.
Other groups felt the reforms had not gone
far enough or had gone much to far.
Growing factions within France
The Legislative Assembly(1791)
Delegates were seated based on political views.
Radicals
Moderates
Liberals
Reactionaries
Conservatives
Today we include two additional groups.
The Legislative Assembly
France goes to war
• April 1792, declared war on
Austria.
1. Feared Austria’s intervention.
2. Desired to spread revolution.
• Prussia joined war against France.
•
War went poorly and turmoil increased within France.
The National Convention
• Made France a
republic
• universal male
suffrage
• Louis XVI was put on
trial as a traitor and
convicted.
In January 1793, Louis XVI is executed by the
guillotine before crowds of Parisians.
Months later Marie Antoinette was also
executed by the guillotine.
Reign of Terror
Committee of Public
Safety ruled France.
Maximilien Robespierre
controlled Committee.
Believed in the use of
“prompt swift and
severe justice”.
Reign of Terror
• Revolutionary courts sentenced thousands to
death after hasty trials
• As many as 40,000 died during the Terror
the majority of which were peasants or
sans-culottes.
Napoleon Bonaparte
What comes to mind when you think of Napoleon?
B. Napoleon comes to power
1. In 1799, Napoleon
participated in
coup d’etat against
the Directory.
2.In name, the new
government was a
republic but in
reality it was a
dictatorship.
3. Napoleon gained greater power
and control over the next few years.
a. French people approved each step in
a plebiscite.
4. Napoleon promised order,
security and efficiency.
5. In 1804, Napoleon is crowned
Emperor of France.
C. Napoleon introduced reforms:
1. Improved education establishing
schools
*Lycees – secondary schools
2. Napoleonic Code – system of laws
based in part on Enlightenment ideas.
3. Economic reforms restored prosperity.
Legacy of Napoleon:
1. Spread ideas of French revolution.
2. Increased nationalism.
Definition: pride in one’s own country or desire
for independence.