THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

OBJECTIVES What caused this era of revolution? What were the ideas and objectives of men and women who rose up violently to undo the established system? What were the gains and losses for the privileged groups and ordinary people in a generation of war and upheaval?

THEMES LIBERALISM AND NATIONALISM “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” NAPOLEON Paradox – “The God of War and the Promoter of Peace”

FOUR STAGES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION THE MODERATE STAGE (1789-1792) THE RADICAL STAGE (1792-1795) THE REACTIONARY STAGE (1795-1799) THE NAPOLEONIC STAGE (1799-1814)

Underlying Causes SOCIAL ?? POLITICAL ?? RELIGIOUS ?? INTELLECTUAL ?? TECNOLOGICAL ?? ECONOMIC ??

SOCIAL French Estate System

SOCIAL - First Estate Clergy  RCC leaders 130,000 total (0.5% of population) Own 10% of land No mandatory tax “Voluntary gift” Taxed residents on their land Collected TITHE

SOCIAL – Second Estate Nobility 400,000 total (1.5% of population) Own 25% of land Taxed VERY minimally Had “optional” taxes Had manorial rights Would tax residents on their land

SOCIAL – Third Estate EVERYONE ELSE 25 million total (97% of population) HEAVILY TAXED 3 Subgroups BOURGEOISIE Doctors, lawyers, etc. WORKERS Artisans, skilled laborers PEASANTS 21 million people

SOCIAL – Third Estate Problems in 3rd Estate Bourgeoisie want: Abolition to mercantilist restrictions Fairer distribution of taxes A GREATER VOICE IN GOVERNMENT Peasants want: Freedom from serfdom Freedom from HIGH TAXES Gabelle – salt tax Taille – land tax BOTH SEEK REVOLT

SOCIAL – Third Estate Abbe Sieyes – 1789: “Therefore, what is the Third Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? Everything; but an everything free and flourishing.”

SOCIAL Unpopular Court Nobility Tension between bourgeoisie and nobility Resentment of noble privileges Nobles resistant to taxes Population increase - 20-26 million 18th century

POLITICAL Bourbon monarchs Louis XIV, XV, & XVI BIG SPENDERS Increasingly ineffective DEBT Rule by divine right Lettres de Cachet – individuals could be sentence without trial

POLITICAL Louis XVI (r. 1774-1791) Indecisive – vacillation Estates General dismissed for 175 years Nobles want to limit power Marie Antoinette – 1770 political marriage Young, frivolous

RELIGIOUS James Gillray (1793) “The Zenith of French Glory –The Pinnacle of Liberty, Religion, Justice, Loyalty, and all the bugbears of Unenlightened Minds , Farewell!”

INTELLECTUAL ENLIGHTENMENT Montesquieu Voltaire Rousseau Locke Diderot Printing Press

INTELLECTUAL NEW INFLUENTIAL IDEAS Liberty Individual human rights Freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. Equality Right to vote, run for office, participate in government EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY Only applied to MEN “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”

TECHNOLGICAL PRINTING PRESS GUILLOTINE Commoners – Hanged Aristocracy – beheaded “SYMBOL OF EQUALITY” Joseph Guillotin (1738-1814) Antoine Lewis (1723 – 1792) Used from 1791-1981

ECONOMIC Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) Wars of Louis XIV Versailles American Revolution UNLIMITED PERSONAL EXPENSES ALL = GREAT

ECONOMIC INEFFECTIVE TAX SYSTEM Dismissal of several finance ministers Problems with Parlement of Paris Continually refused to register new taxes $$$ of bread ↑ Caused by poor harvests, ↑ in populations, and harsh winters

ECONOMIC CAUSE Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) – controller general of finances – cut gov’t spending – 20 months after he was appointed 1774 he was dismissed Jacques Necker (1732-1804) – dismissed in 1781 and then recalled in 1788 July 1788 – Louis XVI - to win support for new taxes called into session the Estates General