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VIVE FRANCE!
An Intro to the French Revolution
1789 - 1794
Key Players
• King Louis
XVI
• Queen Marie
Antoinette
• Maximilien
Robespierre
• The Jacobins
• The Three
Estates
• The Guillotine
The Three Estates
• 1st Estate: the Clergy
– Catholic Priests,
bishops, other church
people
• 2nd Estate: the Nobility
– Lords, Royalty
• 3rd Estate: Commoners
– Peasants, teachers,
workers, doctors,
lawyers, servants
Tennis Court Oath
• The 3 Estates made up the Estates General;
each Estate = 1 vote
• The 3rd Estate was locked out of a meeting hall
so they could not vote for reforms
– They created their own oath of allegiance:
• Stay together until a Constitution was written
• Resist pressure from the other Estates to
disband
• Rule of the people belongs to the people, not a
King
MISSION:BASTILLE
• An angry mob of 300+
attacked Paris’ Bastille
prison to get
gunpowder and to
release the king’s
prisoners
• They captured the
Warden and his
soldiers, dragged them
through the streets, and
beheaded them
July 14, 1789
The Declaration of Rights
• Basically, it was what
the Revolution was
about:
– No absolute rulers
– No privilege (sorry, rich
people)
– Liberty
– Political equality
– Signed by Louis XVI on
Oct. 5, 1791
The Constitution of 1791
• Restricted the King’s
power
• Made a permanent
law-making body
– King couldn’t get rid of
it
• Everyone thought the
Revolution was over
but then . . .
. . . The Jacobins
• Very radical
–
–
–
–
–
No more social classes
All should be able to vote
Gov’t should give welfare to the poor
No more monarchy
Share the land, man!
• Called a Nat’l Convention to make
a new constitution in 1792
– It declared France a republic (no
more monarchy!)
– It ruled until 1794
Maximilien Robespierre
 A leader of the
Jacobins
 Took over the gov’t
by killing his rivals;
under him, it was a
dictatorship
 He started the Reign
of Terror
 Overthrown and 4
days later, he was
executed
The Reign of Terror
• Robespierre’s idea to
destroy enemies of
the Revolution
• 18,500 – 40,000
people were killed
• 1,300 were killed in
the last month
• It ended when
Robespierre was sent
to the guillotine
Trial/Death of Louis XVI
• Nat’l Convention
acted as a court
• It tried Louis for
treason
• Convicted of treason
– The penalty for
treason is death
• Louis was sent to the
guillotine on Jan. 21,
1793
Marie Antoinette
Louis’ Austrian wife
 The French people
blamed her for
France’s financial
problems
 She was convicted of
treason and sentenced
to be guillotined
 She was executed on
Oct. 16, 1793
