Download The French Revolution

The French Revolution
Theme for French Week 2012
What were the causes?
The Three Estates
1st Estate-Clergy (1% of pop)
o
o
Paid few taxes
Owned 10% of land
2nd Estate-Nobles (2% of pop)
o
o
Paid no taxes
Owned 20% of land
3rd Estate- Bourgeoisie & Peasants
(97%)
Bourgeoisie—city-dwelling merchants, factory
owners, and professionals
Sans culottes—artisans and workers
Peasants—poor with little hope, paid rents and
fees
o
o
o
Paid heavy taxes
Faced hunger & starvation
Miserable wages.
The sans culottes
The bourgeoisie
Discontent among the Third Estate
• Best jobs were always reserved for nobles
• Urban workers earned miserable wages
• Peasants taxed on land, necessary goods and
spices
• Nobles imposed “manor dues” – tax paid directly
to noble instead of the state
• Only nobles had the right to hunt wild game
Enlightenment thinkers led people to question the
logic of the Old Regime…
The Three Estates
What does this
contemporary
political cartoon say
about conditions in
France under the Old
Regime?
Economic Troubles
• For years, the French government had engaged in
deficit spending
• Louis XIV had left France deeply in debt.
• Recent wars, a general rise in costs in the 1700s,
and the lavish court were incredibly costly.
o To bridge the gap between income and expenses, the
government borrowed more and more money.
• Bad harvests in the late 1780s sent food prices
soaring and brought hunger to poorer peasants
and city dwellers.
Economic Conditions
under the Old Regime
• France’s economy was based primarily on
agriculture
• Peasant farmers of France bore the
burden of taxation
• Poor harvests meant that peasants had
trouble paying their regular taxes
o Certainly could not afford to have their taxes raised
• Bourgeoisie often managed to gather wealth
o But were upset that they paid taxes while nobles did not
Economic Troubles…Summarized
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Deficit spending
Debt
Wars
Inflation
Lavish court
Borrowed money
Bad harvests
Absolute Monarchy Weakens
•
•
•
The heirs of Louis XIV were not the right men to
solve the economic crisis that afflicted France.
Louis XV pursued pleasure before business and ran
up France’s debts
Louis XVI was well-meaning but weak and
indecisive
o
o
Louis XVI’s economic advisor suggested he tax the First
and Second Estates (those Estates forced the King to fire
his advisor)
First/Second Estates force Louis XVI to call the Estates
General to try to regain some of the power they lost under
absolute monarchs
King Louis XVI & Queen
Marie Antoinette
Meeting of the Estates General
•
The Estates General was a
meeting of all three Estates
o
o
•
The Estates General met in May
of 1789
o
•
Each Estate had one vote
Under this system the First and
Second Estates always outvoted the
Third Estate
The Third Estate consisted mostly of
bourgeoisie who were familiar with
the Enlightenment
The Third Estate wanted all three
Estates to meet together and
vote as a single body….they
were denied
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate declared itself to be the National Assembly.
Louis XVI responded by locking the Third Estate out of the meeting.
The Third Estate relocated to a nearby tennis court where its members vowed to
stay together and create a written constitution for France.
On June 23, 1789, Louis XVI relented. He ordered the three estates to meet
together as the National Assembly and vote, by population, on a constitution for
France.
Tennis Court Oath by
Jacques Louis David
Additional Causes
Enlightenment Ideas
• Inspiring new ideas from
Enlightenment philosophers
• Great Britain’s government
limiting the king’s power
• American colonists rebelled
successfully against British
king
• New ideas changed
government and society in
other countries
A Financial Crisis
• Severe economic problems
affected much of the
country
• France in debt, spending
lavishly, borrowing money,
and facing bankruptcy
• Hailstorm and drought
ruined harvest; harsh
winter limited flour
production
• People hungry and angry;
clergy and nobility no help
Storming of the Bastille
The King brought in troops.
On July 14, 1789, more than 800 Parisians gathered
outside the Bastille, a medieval fortress used as a prison.
They demanded weapons believed to be stored there in
order to protect themselves from the royal troops
surrounding Paris.
The commander of the Bastille opened fire on the crowd,
and a battle ensued, in which many people were killed.
The storming of the Bastille quickly became a symbol of
the French Revolution, a blow to tyranny. Today, the
French still celebrate July 14 as Bastille Day.
Storming of the Bastille
Uprising in Paris
People of Paris seized
weapons from the Bastille
Uprising spread
throughout France
• July 14, 1789
• Parisians organized their
own government which
they called the
Commune
• Small groups – factions –
competed to control the
city of Paris
• Nobles were attacked
• Records of feudal dues
and owed taxes were
destroyed
• Many nobles fled the
country – became known
as émigrés
• Louis XVI was forced to
fly the new tricolor flag
of France
Women & Bread
• A group of women
attacked Versailles
on October 5, 1789
o Forced royal family to
relocate to Paris
along with National
Assembly
o Royal family spent
next several years in
the Tuileries Palace
as virtual prisoners
Goodbye, Versailles!
Adieu, Versailles!
• Parisian Commune feared that Louis XVI
would have foreign troops invade France
to put down the rebellion
– Louis XVI’s wife, Marie Antoinette, was the
sister of the Austrian emperor
Tuileries Palace
Attack on the
Tuileries
• The royal family was living under house arrest in
the Tuileries Palace.
• An angry mob got into the building on June 20,
1792, and found their way to the King.
o The crowd shouted insults and was in an ugly mood.
o The King remained calm and obediently put on the red
cap of liberty (a symbol of revolution) at the mob's
insistence.
Mob placing the red cap of liberty on the King's head at the Tuileries
Pressure from the
Paris Mob
• When the mob thrust a bottle of wine at the
King, he drank a toast to the health of the
nation but refused to change his position on
the clergy.
o Under the new constitutional monarchy, he had
exercised his veto of a proposal to punish priests
who refused to support the changes to the church.
o A religious man, the King felt it would violate his
conscience to agree to the mob's demands.
• The incident ended without bloodshed but by
August the mob was back.
August 10, 1792, attack on the Tuileries
What happened next?
The National
Assembly
• The new National Assembly created the
historic and influential document The
Declaration of the Rights of Man, which
stated the principle that all men had
equal rights under the law.
• This document has remained the basis
for all subsequent declarations of
human rights. (Compare The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights).
Declaration of
the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen
• "Men are born free and
equal in their
rights....These rights are
liberty, property, security
and resistance to
oppression.
• The fundamental source of
all sovereignty resides in
the nation.
• The law is the expression
of the general will. All
citizens have the right to
take part personally, or
through representatives, in
the making of the law."
New Government
Legislating New Rights
• Feudal dues eliminated
• Declaration laid out “liberty,
equality, fraternity”
• Inspired by the English Bill
of Rights, American
Declaration of
Independence, and the
writings of Enlightenment
philosophers
• Men are born equal and
remain equal under the law
• The rights did not extend to
women
Restrictions on Power
• Louis tried to protect his
throne
• Angered the common
people
• Prices still high; mob broke
into the palace demanding
bread
• Royal family seized;
National Assembly took
bolder steps
• Passed laws against the
church, clergy, and public
employees
• Some outraged by actions
Course of the Revolution
• The Legislative Assembly (Sept.1791)
o Legislative Assembly replaced the National Assembly
o King still held some executive power
• The National Convention (1792)
– Legislative Assembly came under the control of the
Jacobins
o Radical faction that abolished the monarchy
o Replaced the Legislative Assembly with the National
Convention
Opposition to the New
Government
• European monarchs feared that revolution would
spread to their own countries
o France was invaded by Austrian and Prussian troops
• In the uproar, the Commune took control of Paris
o Commune was led by Danton, a member of the Jacobin
political party
• Voters began electing representatives for a new
convention which would write a republican
constitution for France
o A republic is a government in which the people elect
representatives who will create laws and rule on their behalf
o Meanwhile, thousands of nobles were executed under the
suspicion that they were conspirators in the foreign invasion
Convention (17921795)
• On September 22, 1792, the Convention
met for the first time
• Established the First French Republic
• Faced domestic opposition and strife
o Girondists were moderates who represented the rich
middle class of the provinces
o Jacobins (led by Marat, Danton, and Robespierre)
represented workers
• Faced opposition from abroad
o Austria, England, Holland, Prussia, Sardinia, and
Spain formed a Coalition invading France
Abolition of the
Monarchy
• The Convention abolished the monarchy
o As long as the royal family lived, the monarchy could be
restored
o Put the royal couple on trial for treason
• Convictions were a foregone conclusion
– Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793
– Marie Antoinette was guillotined on October 16, 1793
o Daughter Marie-Thérèse was allowed to go to Vienna in
1795
• She could not become queen because of a law, which did not
allow females to succeed to the throne
o Son Louis-Charles, a.k.a. Louis XVII (lived 1785-1795) was
beaten and mistreated until he died in prison
Execution of King Louis XVI
The three most
memorable Jacobins
Georges Danton, Maximilien
Robespierre, and Jean-Paul Marat.
Because of a debilitating illness,
Marat was eventually forced to
work from home. He was
assassinated (in the tub while
taking a medicinal bath) by
Charlotte Corday, a Girondist
sympathizer, in July, 1793.
The Death of Marat by
Jacques-Louis David
Georges-Jacques
Danton
"Boldness and
again boldness, and always
boldness"
Growing Coalition
against the French
• Convention drafted Frenchmen into the army to
defeat the foreign Coalition
o These troops were led by General Carnot
o The people supported military operations because
they did not want the country back under the Old
Regime
• Rouget de Lisle wrote the “Marseillaise”
o Became the French national anthem
o Inspired troops as they were led into battle
• After two years
o Coalition was defeated
o France had gained, rather than lost, territory
The Marseillaise
Arise you children of our motherland,
Oh now is here our glorious day !
Over us the bloodstained banner
Of tyranny holds sway !
Of tyranny holds sway ! Oh, do you hear there in our fields
The roar of those fierce fighting men ?
Who came right here into our midst
To slaughter sons, wives and kin.
CHORUS
To arms, oh citizens !
Form up in serried ranks !
March on, march on !
And drench our fields
With their tainted blood!
The French Flag
• The Marquis de
Lafayette, commander
of the new National
Guard, combined the
colors of the King
(white) and the colors
of Paris (blue and red)
for his guardsmen's
uniforms and from this
came the Tricolor, the
new French flag.
Reign of Terror:
September 5, 1793July 27, 1794
• Despite military successes, the Convention
continued to face problems domestically
• Danton and his Jacobin political party came
to dominate French politics
• Committee of Public Safety
o Headed by Danton (and later Robespierre)
o Those accused of treason were tried by the
Committee’s Revolutionary Tribunal
o Approximately 15,000 people died on the
guillotine
Guillotine became known as the “National Razor”
Including innovative thinkers like Olympe de Gouges and
Madame Jeanne Roland
The Guillotine
Committee of Public
Safety
Maximilien
Robespierre
The French lawyer and political
leader, who became one of the
most influential figures of the
French Revolution and the
principal exponent of the Reign of
Terror.
THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC
SAFETY
Started by Robespierre in the summer
of 1793, which decided who should be
considered enemies of the public.
They would often try people in the
morning, while having them
guillotined the same afternoon.
A conspiracy overthrew Robespierre.
On July 27, 1794, he was barred
from speaking in public
and was placed
Under arrest.
An uprising
by his supporters
was stopped, and
on July 28 Robespierre
died on the guillotine with
his other supporters. Eighty more
followers of Robespierre were
executed the next day.
End of the Reign
of Terror
• Members of the Girondist political party tried to end the Reign of
Terror initiated by the Jacobin political party
o This opposition to the Committee of Public Safety caused many
Girondists to be tried and executed for treason
• Eventually, even Georges Danton wanted to end the executions
o This resulted in Danton being tried and executed for treason
• Maximilien Robespierre became leader of the Committee of
Public Safety
o He continued the executions
o Convention came to blame Robespierre for the Reign of Terror
• Thermidorean Reaction
o July 27, 1794 – ended the Reign of Terror
o Convention sent Robespierre and other members of the Committee of
Public Safety to the guillotine
Robespierre was guillotined on July 28, 1794
The Rise of Napoleon
• The Directory (1795-1799)
o Extremely weak government
o Controlled by five elected leaders
• 1799-The “coup d'etat”
o Napoleon was named first consul of the Directory
o A three-man Consulate replaced the Directory
• 1802-Named consul for life
o France was under Napoleon’s control
o Still pretended to be a constitutionally controlled
government
The Governments of
France during the
Revolution
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Old Regime (?-1789)
National Assembly (1789-1791)
Legislative Assembly (1791-1792)
Convention (1792-1795)
Directory (1795-1799)
Consulate (1799-1800)
Emperor Napoleon (1800-1815)
Monarchy (1815-)
Napoleon Bonaparte & Empire
Napoleon
The Reign of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Emperor Napoleon’s Successes
• Defeated of Austrians at Marengo (1800)
o Established French power on the continent
• Napoleon's defeat of various European countries
(1805-10)
o He installed relatives and loyalists as leaders
–
–
–
–
–
–
Holland
Several German Provinces
Italy
Naples
Spain
Sweden
The Reign of Napoleon
Bonaparte
Emperor Napoleon’s Mistakes
– The invasion of England
• Battle at Trafalgar (1805)
– Major defeat of Napoleon
– Ended Napoleon’s plan to invade England
– Instead, he tried the Continental System (blockade)
» Also not successful
– The Peninsular War (1808)
• Fought against the Spanish (for five years)
• Drained French military resources.
– The invasion of Russia (1812)
• Thousands of French troops died due to winter conditions
• The tide started to turn in favor of the allies
The Reign of
Napoleon Bonaparte
The End of Napoleon
• By 1813 – All of the major European powers were
allied against France
• 1814 – In March Paris fell to Russia and Prussia
o Napoleon went into exile on the Mediterranean island of
Elba.
• 1815 – He escaped and marched on the French
capital and took control of France for 100 days
o The Battle of Waterloo
– Ended his brief second reign
– The British imprisoned him on the island of St Helena,
where he died on May 5 1821.