Download The French Revolution Unfolds

The French
Revolution
Unfolds
Chapter 3
Section 2
Video
 Go
to www.khanacademy.org
 In the box “search for a video or topic” at
the top of the page, type “French
Revolution”
 A series of videos will appear
 Click on “French Revolution (Part 2)”
 Watch the video
 Read the remainder of this PowerPoint
 Answer the PowerPoint questions for
homework
What were the four phases of the
French Revolution called?
 Moderate
Phase—National Assembly turned
France into a constitutional monarchy
(1789-1791)
 Radical
Phase—Escalating violence, end of
monarchy, and Reign of Terror (1792-1794)
 Age
of the Directory (1796-1799)
 Age
of Napoleon (1799-1815)
What were economic conditions
like in 1789?

Starving peasants

1000s of unemployed persons in search of work

Rising grain prices (80% of income spent on bread
alone)
“Great Fear”

Rumors caused a “Great Fear”, or panic, to sweep
across France

Rumors spread of government attacks on peasants
and villagers and seizures of peasant crops.

In retaliation, peasants attacked nobles and their
homes, burned records, and seized grain
Great Fear
Paris Commune

Paris, capital of France, was center of revolutionary
activity

Different groups, or factions, competed for political
power

Moderates looked to Marquis de Lafayette for
leadership (Lafayette assisted Washington in American
Revolution)

Lafayette organized the National Guard in response to
king’s royal troops

A radical political group known as Paris Commune
replaced the Paris government

More political clubs developed and demanded 1) end to
the monarchy and they 2) spread wild rumors about
royal family
France
Marquis de Lafayette
He was a French leader
who assisted George
Washington during the
American Revolution.
What changes occurred in the National
Assembly (formerly the Third Estate)?

A meeting was held on August 4, 1789

Nobles surrendered their right to collect dues
from peasants, exclusive hunting rights, special
legal status, and exemption from paying taxes

The National Assembly made the above reforms
into law and achieved a key Enlightenment
goal:

“THE EQUALITY OF ALL MALE CITIZENS
BEFORE THE LAW” (sorry – females still not
included at that time)
National Assembly
What was the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and the Citizen?
 The
National Assembly published this
document
 It
was modeled after the U.S. Declaration
of Independence
 All
French men “born and remain free and
equal in rights”
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the
Citizen
•Natural rights include “liberty,
property, security, and resistance
to oppression”
•Governments must exist to
protect the natural rights of
citizens (hey, remember John
Locke??)
•All male citizens equal before the
law, freedom of religion, and taxes
according to one’s ability to pay
Slogan of the French
Revolution
“LIBERTY, EQUALITY,
FRATERNITY”
(sorry, but not for women)
Olympe de Gouges

She was a female journalist
who demanded rights for
women

She authored a similar
document - Declaration of
the Rights of Women and
the Female Citizen
Women’s March on Versailles
(October 5, 1789)


6,000 angry women marched 13 miles in rain from Paris to
king’s palace at Versailles
The Women demanded 1) bread and 2) to personally see
King Louis XVI
They had no food to feed their families!!
 The monarchs and their family left for Paris followed by
the angry women
 Royal family was imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace in
Paris

Women’s March on Versailles
These angry
women are
marching with
pitchforks and a
cannon!!
Why did women HATE Queen
Marie Antoinette??
Common women
hated Queen Marie
Antoniette, who
spent huge sums of
money on herself
(clothing, jewelry,
perfumes) while
ignoring the poor,
starving citizens of
France

Versailles Palace
How did the National Assembly Pay Off
France’s Huge Debts?
 1) Assembly voted to take over and sell church
lands to raise money
 2) National Assembly put French Catholic Church
under state control (church was not happy about
this)
 3) Bishops and priests were elected and salaried –
not appointed anymore
 4) Constitution ended papal (pope’s) authority
over French Church (the pope was furious!!)
 5) Convents and monasteries were dissolved
Reaction to National Assembly’s
Authority Over Church

Bishops and priests refused to
accept new Civil Constitution

Pope condemned the new
constitution

Many religious French peasants
rejected the changes

Government punished clergy
who refused to support the Civil
Constitution
Constitution of 1791
The absolute monarchy was replaced by a limited
monarchy
 New Legislative Assembly had power to make laws,
collect taxes, and decide issues of war and peace
 Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male
citizens over age 25
 Old provinces replaced with 83 departments
(counties) of equal size

French Departments
(counties)
King Louis Attempts to Escape

King and family attempted escape in June, 1791

The escape attempt failed as the monarchs tried
to cross the border

At the border, a guard recognized the king’s face
from paper currency

The royal family was escorted back to Paris

This escape attempt made Louis XVI appear to be
a traitor to the Revolution
King Louis XVI of France
He did not care at all about
the problems of the French
people. He lacked
leadership. He lacked the
political and economic skills
to govern France
effectively.
How did European rulers react to the
French Revolution?

European rulers did not want French Revolution to
spill across the border and spark similar revolutions
in their countries

Emigres (nobles, clergy, and others who fled the
Revolution to other countries) reported attacks on
their privileges, property, their religion, and their
lives

European rulers did not want “revolutionary ideas”
to “infect” their populations
Map of Europe
Eve of French Revolution
 The
Declaration of Pilnitz
king of Prussia and Emperor of Austria
jointly issued the Declaration of Pilnitz
 Under this declaration, these monarchs
threatened to intervene to protect the
French monarchy
 (protecting and restoring the French
monarchy would prevent the French
Revolution from spreading to other European
countries)
 Other European monarchs did not want the
French Revolution to incite violence in their
countries!!
 The French revolutionaries viewed this
declaration as a threat against the revolution
itself
Why did the Legislative
Assembly fail?
Lasted one year amidst new economic problems:
 Assignats (currency) dropped in value
 Prices rose rapidly
 People selfishly hoarded food and supplies
 Significant food shortages

Sans-Culottes (“without
breeches”)

Another radical revolutionary
group

They wore long trousers

The Sans-Culottes demanded a
republic (government ruled by
elected representatives) instead
of a monarchy (government ruled
by king and queen)
Hostile Political Factions

Sans-culottes found support in Legislative Assembly
among the Jacobins, a revolutionary political club

Mostly middle-class lawyers or intellectuals

Jacobins used power of newspapers to spread
revolutionary ideas
War on Tyranny
A war of words between French revolutionaries and
European monarchs erupted into battlefield war
 The French Legislative Assembly declared war on
Austria, Prussia, and Britain - to spread the
revolution!!
 The great European powers expected an easy
victory against France
 But the fighting began in 1792 and lasted until 1815

Powerpoint Questions





1. What was the document the French
Revolutionaries issued that was similar to the
U.S. Declaration of Independence?
2. Why did angry peasant women march on
the Palace of Versailles? What were they
demanding?
3. Who were the emigres?
4. Dressed as servants, what did King Louis
XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette attempt to
do? What was the result? Were they
successful?
5. Who were the most radical elements of
the revolution? What was their name?
Powerpoint Questions

6. What was the slogan of the French
Revolution?

7. What did other European rulers fear about
the French Revolution?

8. What was the Declaration of Pilnitz? Who
issued this declaration?

9. Who were the sans-culottes? What did
the sans-culottes demand?

10. Why did common women HATE Queen
Marie Antoninette?
NEXT EPISODE

Stay tuned for the next episode of the French Revolution….”Radical
Days of the Revolution”
The End