Download The French Revolution

Louis XVI (16)
 Bashful, hesitant, no social graces, fat,
easily persuaded.
 Not a leader.
 Felt unprepared to be King at such a
young age (20).
 Hobby = locksmith, hunting
 Diagnosed with phimosis*; had surgery.
Marie Antoinette
 From Austria. (France’s long-time enemy)
 Marriage allies France & Austria for once, instead
of them being political enemies.
 Marie comes with the intention of winning over
her new French family.
 Why do the people hate her?
 She spends whatever she wants with no regard for
the economic climate of France. She is obsessed
with fashion, buying shoes, dresses, jewelry, hairstyles
that are lavish. “Madame Deficit”
 She gambles and throws lavish parties with an
abundance of food.
 She gave Louis poor advice.
 She doesn’t produce an heir for 7 years.
National Assembly Reforms:
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National Assembly is a parliamentary body that includes voices from all over the nation.
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Civil Constitution of Clergy = gave French government control of the Church and allowed
Citizens to elect bishops and priests. Government sold church lands for money.
Abolished most feudal customs.
Ended serfdom and tax-exempt privileges of nobles.
Males could be in government and church positions.
Freedom of Worship
Abolished special privileges of Catholic Church.
Wanted a representative government.
Adopted Declaration of Rights of Man
 Calls for equality for all citizens (not women) under law by abolishing class distinctions
 Protection of personal property.
 Sovereignty belongs to the nation, not the King.
 Justice under reasonable laws.
 Increased freedom of the press.
 Freedom of religion.
Fall of the Bastille
7/14/1789
 Louis is nervous about the 3rd Estates demands in the National Assembly, so
he tries to have the King’s troops overthrow it. He also has his army surround
Versailles in response to the Tennis Court Oath.
 Louis also fires Necker for being too sympathetic to the people. The 3rd Estate
see this as loosing someone who was in their favor, so they raise a national
guard, but they need gunpowder.
 The Bastille is a stone dungeon/prison that is a symbol of horror and torture
and it houses gunpowder. People want to gather gunpowder and weapons
to prepare for an attack, so…
 Crowds stormed the Bastille. Bastille is torn apart. Bricks are sold as emblems
of despotism.
 It’s a symbolic act because it’s an attack on injustice and inequality.
Essentially, it is the National Assembly’s way of saying they choose revolution.
Bread March
10/5/1789
 People eat ~2lbs of bread daily.
 Bread = people’s measure of existence.
 Flour prices rise because of Louis’s financial mismanagement. (Bread = 1
months earnings)
 People can’t afford to buy bread, so they riot.
 Women want the King to hear their complaints about the shortage of bread
and the March to Versailles. They want the government to supply bread.
 Myth – “Let them eat cake.”
 Mob demands King & Queen move to Paris, but when they don’t get an
answer fast enough, the mob breaks into the palace and takes them by force
to Paris, where they remain for the next two years as prisoners.
 This signals a change of power and radical reforms are coming.
First Try at new government
 The first attempt to change France was led by centrists
and moderate reformers
 They created a constitutional monarchy
 Still had loyalty and love for the king
 Rich members of the 3rd estate vs Nobility
Constitution of 1791
 Created by National Assembly
 Made France a limited monarchy. Took away a lot of King’s
authority, but King still has executive power to enforce laws.
 Created legislative assembly – had power to create laws and
approve or reject declarations of war.
 System of Separation of powers
 Feudal system abolished (holding land in exchange for
labor/service.)
 Guaranteed equal rights under law to all citizens.
 Erased old distinctions of clergy, nobles, commoners.
 King reluctantly approves.
Political Parties
 “Royalists”- back the king, counter-revolutionary, right
wing
 “Centrists”- go either way but most lean left
 “Girondins”- radical left wing revolutionaries who wanted
to spread revolutionary ideals throughout Europe through
warfare
 “Jacobins”- thought the Girondins were too moderate
Reactions to Constitution of 1791?
 People hated it. Same problems as before.
 Emigres = People who fled France & wanted to
restore Old Regime.
 San-Culottes = wanted the Revolution to bring
greater changes to France.
 Under Constitutional Monarchy, Louis shares
power with revolutionaries in parliament. He
doesn’t like it so….
 King and Queen tried to flee to Austria (Marie’s
brother there) disguised as servants, but were
spotted and sent back to Paris to accept
Constitution.
 The idea that the monarch would try to abandon
the people made the people see him as a traitor.
Second Try
 Mounting tensions between Bourgeoisie (rich 3rd estate)
and Sans-Culottes (poor 3rd estate)
 Sans-Culottes want more radical changes
 Decide to abolish monarchy
 “Citizen Louis”
Jacobins
 The Legislative Assembly set aside 1791 Constitution and
created new governing body – National Convention.
 It abolished the monarchy and declared France a Republic.
(power held by the people, or elected body/leader)
Jacobins take over.
 Jacobins
 Demanded a democracy.
 Males who had the right to vote.
 Led by Maximilien Robespierre.
 Want the king killed so the revolution can live.
Monarch Execution
 King Louis tried and condemned by National Convention
of treason. He is executed by guillotine.
 8 months later, Marie Antoinette is separated from her
children, and put in prison. She is accused of treason,
depleting the national treasury and incest with her son
(this is not true). Marie is executed by guillotine.
 Their son was abused and neglected by guards and died
at the age of 10.
 Their daughter was released into exile at age 17. She
died at age 72, but had a miserable life.
Robespierre
 Honest, dedicated, violent, inflexible,
narrow-minded, contradictory
 Once gave a speech to Louis XVI as a
teenager.
 Hometown lawyer for the downtrodden.
 Represents the 3rd Estate.
 Initially wants death penalty, and then
later speaks out against it because it goes
against Enlightenment ideas.
 Executed by guillotine by National
Convention, when he started preaching
that terror creates virtue. (He did attempt
suicide unsuccessfully first.)
France at War
 France goes to war with Austria & Prussia.
 Robespierre is against this war; he doesn’t think France is
prepared to win.
 Causes high prices and food shortages.
 Commune = government under Jacobins. Killed king’s guards,
imprisoned royal family still, removed king.
 Brunswick Manifesto = if Paris did not surrender peacefully,
Austrian and Prussian troops would burn the city and put it’s
leaders under torture. Louis stripped of his title.
George Jacques Danton
 Friend of Robespierre initially.
 First leader of Committee of Public Safety.
 Larger than life personality.
 Can identify with the working people – he inspires
them.
 At the end of the Reign of terror believed Terror
had to stop and normalcy has to resume.
 Robespierre sent him and his followers to the
guillotine.
Jean-Paul Marat
 Prominent Jacobin
 Bitter, mal-content homeless individual
 Has rash (chronic skin disease)
 Started a successful revolutionary newspaper
 Constant paranoid belief that people are plotting against the
revolution, and writes about it
 Calls for many to be killed, who support the King, in his publication
 Becomes a martyr when Charlotte Corday stabs him. She does this
to silence his newspaper and she is executed.
Reign of Terror
 Constitution suspended.
 Religion considered dangerous, so churches are closed & Sundays
are removed for the calendar. (ends when Robespierre is killed).
 20,000-40,000 guillotined, including King & Queen.
 Committee of Public Safety = Revolutionary tribunal of 12 men
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Headed by Robespierre.
Almost dictatorial powers; they ruled France.
French armies raised. National draft.
Law of Suspects = people suspected of working against the revolution
would be arrested. Many sent to the guillotines. (Police spies found
them.)
National Razor
 Decapitation was the death penalty
for the nobility.
 Hanging, Drowning, Burning at the
Stake, etc. were all forms of death
penalty.
 People want everyone to have the
same death penalty.
 Guillotine is created.
 Quick, Efficient, Painless
 More humanitarian than
decapitation
Sentencing Louis XVI
Directory
 France in a period of uncertainty for about 5 years prior to Napoleon.
 New government established by Constitution of 1795.
 Elected 2 house Legislature – corrupt.
 Executive branch with 5 directors – not efficient.
 Only men who could read and owned a certain amount of property
could vote – middle class and wealthy landowners most influence.
 Aggressive foreign policy
 Largest army in Europe.
 Poor workers rioted, prices rose.
Effects of French Revolution
 Ended Feudalism and special privileges for clergy and nobles.
 Monarchy restored
 Constitution limited king’s power.
 Boundaries of many European countries altered.
 Growing spirit of nationalism.
 Drained French resources
 France is no longer the strongest and richest nation in Europe.
 Rights of Man document