Download THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
A REPUBLIC BORN IN BLOOD
CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION
Society based on inequality
Three estates
First Estate = Catholic clergy
Made up 1% of the population, owned 10% of the land,
and paid no taxes
Second Estate = nobility
Made up 2% of the population, owned 35% of the land,
paid some fees, but no taxes
Got the best positions in gov’t and military
Third Estate = peasants, bourgeoisie (middle class)
Made up 97% of the population, paid all the taxes
Relics of feudalism = aristocratic privileges
Peasants had to pay rents and fees to use village facilities
All part of the Ancient Regime, or the old order
Weak King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette, whom
the people of France despise
She is Austrian, unpopular, and spends lots of money
Ideas of the Enlightenment
Want to put Enlightenment ideas into effect, see how
successful the American colonists were
American Revolution
American colonists are successful and the money France
gives to the colonists partially bankrupts France
Financial crisis
The near collapse of gov’t finances is the immediate cause
1/3 of the country is starving – no food, bad winters
France deeply in debt, half the taxes used to pay off debt
Gov’t still spends lots of money
First and Second Estates refuse to pay taxes
START OF THE REVOLUTION
Meeting of the Estates-General
Each estate gets one vote
First and Second Estates could always outvote the Third
Members of the Third Estate demand that each
representative gets one vote
Have a new sense of importance
The king refuses, saying he is in favor of the old system,
but he does double the number of representatives in the
Third Estate
In response the Third Estate declares itself a National
Assembly with the right to make laws for France and to
draft a constitution
The king has them locked out of their meeting hall
They meet at a nearby indoor tennis court instead
Tennis Court Oath = swear that they will continue to meet
until they create a French constitution
Louis XVI orders troops to Paris and Versailles to protect
the monarchy
The National Assembly feared the king was preparing to
use force against them
Storming of the Bastille – July 14, 1789
A mob of Parisians attack the Bastille, an armory and prison
Were looking for gunpowder to protect themselves from the
king’s troops
They dismantle the prison and kill the commander, then cut off
his head and parade it around the streets on a long stick
Creates The Great Fear – violence in the countryside
Great Fear was a time of rumors that people would be attacked
Some peasants rebelled and burned homes of nobles, along
with records of feudal dues
A NEW GOVERNMENT
National Assembly 1789 to 1791 – liberal
Creates the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
Inspired by the American Declaration of Independence
and Constitution, and the English Bill of Rights
Co-written by Thomas Jefferson
Proclaims free and equal rights for all men
Access to public office based on talent, no exemptions
from taxation, and free speech and press
States basic principles of the Revolution – “liberty, equality,
fraternity (brotherhood)”Did not extend to women
Olympe de Gouges wrote a declaration of rights for
women, she is later beheaded
Women’s march to Versailles
Louis remains at Versailles, refusing to accept the
Declaration and the abolition of the relics of feudalism
In October 1789 women of Paris grew upset over the price
and lack of bread and decide to bring their grievances to the
king. Thousands of women march to Versailles and demand
to see the king
When they king hesitates about seeing them, the women
become enraged and break into the palace, intent on killing
the queen
They massacre the palace guards, decapitate them, and
put their heads on pikes
They force the king to accept the decrees and Louis and
his family go to Paris to take up residence in the Tuileries
Palace
He brings wagonloads of flour as a goodwill gesture, but
the royal family are now prisoners in Paris
In 1791 the National Assembly finishes the constitution,
which creates a moderate gov’t called the Legislative
Assembly
Sets up a limited monarchy
Still a king, but the Legislative Assembly will make the
laws
Only men over 25 who pay a certain amount of taxes can
vote
The old order is completely destroyed and there is
opposition to the new order
Louis watches his power slowly taken away and decides its
time to flee France
He and his family, wearing servant disguises, flee Paris in
the middle of the night
Get within miles of the Austrian border before they are
recognized and dragged back to Paris
FACTIONS SPLIT
Radicals - opposed the monarchy and wanted extreme
changes in the way the government was run
Conservatives – upheld the idea of a limited monarchy and
wanted few changes in government.
Emigres – Nobles who fled France during the peasant
uprisings and hoped to restore the old system
Sans-culottes – Workers and small shopkeepers who
wanted a greater voice in the French government.
Foreign reaction to the Revolution
In the beginning other nations are delighted – thought they
could gain new territory at the expense of France
Great Britain hopes this will lead to better relations
between the two nations and they celebrate the revolution
Eventually European leaders feared that revolution will
spread to their countries
–Austria and Prussia start massing troops at the border
and the Legislative Assembly declares war
• Foreign troops are now on French soil
–A Prussian general issues a warning to the people of
Paris, warning that he will destroy their city if any harm
comes to the royal family
• In response the people of Paris attack the Tuleries
Palace, but the king and his family make it to safety in
the meeting hall of the Legislative Assembly
• The palace guards are slaughtered and those not killed
will be the first at the guillotine
Radical leaders of the Revolution
Jean-Paul Marat –advocates violence in his newspaper
Spends most of his time in his bathtub due to a skin disease he
acquired while living in the sewers
Feels that the way to make France better is to kill more
and more people
Maximilien Robespierre – great speaker who will lead the
gov’t during its bloodiest phase
THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
1792 The National Convention splits into factions (dissenting
groups) over the fate of the king
The most prominent faction were the Jacobin Club –
Members were called Jacobins and represented the rights
of Frances poorest people.
King Louis XVI is reduced from a king to a common citizen
and prisoner. He is put on trial for treason
January 21, 1793 King Louis XVI is beheaded by the
guillotine
Invented by a doctor, it was adopted because it kills
quickly and humanely
The execution of the king creates enemies both in France
and abroad
Domestic Crisis
Foreign armies were not the only enemies of the French
republic.
Many peasants – horrified by the kings execution, priestswho didn’t want gov’t control, and rival leaders did not
like what was going on.
In response, the Committee of Public Safety is created by
the National Convention who gives broad powers to this
special committee of 12 – led by Maximilien Robespierre
ROBESPIERRE’S - REIGN OF TERROR
Lasted from spring of 1793 to 1794
Revolutionary courts set up to prosecute internal enemies
of the republic, goal was to eliminate people who
threatened the revolution
Robespierre stated that terror needed to be used to defend
the republic
Most executions take place by guillotine
in a public place for everyone to view
People would watch and usually throw food
Efficient – could execute more than one person a minute
People in Paris complained of the blood overflowing the
city’s drainage ditches
In all, 300,000 people were arrested, 17,000 were executed
by the guillotine
The queen Marie-Antoinette, was beheaded a year after her
husband
The Committee of Public Safety also sent armies to bring
rebellious cities in the Vendee under control
Makes an example out of Lyons
1,880 citizens were executed
First guillotined, then shot over open graves when the
guillotine proves too slow
In Nantes the victims were executed by being sunk in barges in
the Loire River while their family and friends watched
The Great Terror
the last phase of the Reign of Terror, the pace of execution picks
up
At the end 800 a month were being executed in Paris alone
THE REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE
The Committee of Public Safety, under Robespierre, wants
to create a new order and society of good citizens
Erase all connections to the old ways
Some of the Changes
“citizen” and “citizeness” replace mister and madame
Women wear long robes inspired by ancient times
Slavery abolished in the colonies
Set up schools to produce good citizens
A metric system replaces the old system of weights and
measures
Churches are closed and priests encouraged to marry
Priests and nuns who refuse visit the guillotine
the title on the Bible is changed to “Declaration of the
Rights of Man”
Notre Dame is designated as a “temple of reason”
Adoption of a new calendar
12 months with new names
Each month has 3 ten day weeks, with the tenth day as a
day of rest
Cult of the Supreme Being created by Robespierre, worship
the goddess of wisdom and reason
Fearing for their own safety, some members of the
National Convention turned on Robespierre demanding
his arrest and execution.
 Robespierre tries to commit suicide, but only ends up shooting his jaw
The next day Robespierre and his followers are executed
by the guillotine
The death of Robespierre ends the Reign of Terror
The power of the Committee of Public Safety is reduced
and churches reopen
THE DIRECTORY
With the end of the Reign of Terror, a new constitution is
created that establishes the Directory, a reactionary gov’t,
in 1795
It had a legislative assembly with two chambers and five
directors who acted as the executive committee
Gov’t was weak and corrupt
The Directory is brought to an end by the coup d’etat by
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799
Coup d’etat = sudden overthrow of the gov’t