The Early Days of the French Revolution

The Monarchy King Louis XVI (that’s the 16th) King of France 1774-1792 Grandson of King Louis XV (that’s 15th), and third son of the Dauphin

The Monarchy Queen Marie Antoinette Queen from 1774-1792 Also Archduchess of Austria, and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa

Marie and Louis Married when he was 15, and she was 14 As a couple, very devoted to one another As rulers, however, they left a lot to be desired

Louis and Marie He was generous and good-hearted, but had real problems handling money She was viewed as an outsider, a foreigner from Austria instead of a French princess, who was even worse with money than her husband was

Louis’ Greatest Enemy The British! To create trouble for them, Louis borrowed heavily in order to provide troops and financial help to the American Revolution Good for us; bad for him

America Wins, Louis Loses Americans gain their independence and set up a new nation By the late 1780’s, Louis can’t pay his debts and France is nearly bankrupt

Louis’ Solution?

Louis Tried Something New Louis was already taxing most of the people of France as much or more than they could afford He tried to avoid bankruptcy by taxing his nobles Historically, nobles in France had not been taxed for decades

Nobles Say NO! Nobles refuse, saying they will not pay any unless Louis first calls the Estates-General to discuss the issue The Estates-General is the name given to the meeting of representatives of all three estates Usually convened in times of national emergency

The Estates-General Louis didn’t like the idea, but he had no choice Called the Estates-General to meet at the Palace of Versailles on May 1, 1789 Last time they had met had been in 1614, 175 years earlier

Versailles

Old Way of Meeting Under old rules, representatives of the Three Estates would meet separately, and each estate would get one vote First estate (clergy) usually allied with Second estate (nobles), so they could always defeat the Third estate by a 2-1 margin

This Time In 1789, Third estate demanded that all three meet together, and that each individual person have one vote Estates represented in proportion to population; Third Estate had 610 representatives, while the other two combined had 591

The Third Estate Already heavily taxed There is often no food for them to buy, even in major cities like Paris Many are starving, or living in the streets eating rats and garbage Making this demand, they felt, was the only fair way for them to get their voices heard

Louis Stepped In Nobles overruled the demands of the Third Estate Third Estate turned to Louis for support He sided with his nobles, and refused their demand to change the vote

Third Estate Revolted They decided they had already been hurt too much by the monarchy Decided to do away with it entirely, and set themselves up as the government, or at least force Louis to accept a constitution They would call their ruling body the National Assembly

June 17-20, 1789 On the 17th, Third Estates voted overwhelmingly to form the National Assembly On the 20th, Louis panicked and locked all members of the Third Estate out of Versailles so they could not meet They broke into the palace, and convened a meeting in an indoor tennis court

The Tennis Court Oath

The Tennis Court Oath Held on the tennis court because it was the first place they could find that fit all 610 of them They swore an oath to stay from June 20th until such time as they had drafted a constitution

Louis Panicked (Again) Some time passed after the Tennis Court Oath Members of the Third Estate did stay on and try to draft a constitution Members of Louis’ army are also members of the Third Estate Louis didn’t trust the loyalty of his own soldiers

Bring on the Swiss Louis sent to Switzerland for mercenary soldiers, figuring they would be more loyal than his own troops

Meanwhile, In Paris Word of what is going at Versailles was leaking out Riots begin in support of the Third Estate, and in anger over the cost of bread

And in the Countryside. . . The Swiss reached French soil and began to march toward Paris to answer Louis’ call Word spread that the Swiss were coming to kill the rioters and to massacre French citizens It was also reported that the Swiss were actually invading France, and the country was in peril

Rally ‘Round The Flag French people, even rioters, saw it as their duty to their country to protect Paris from foreign invasion Soldiers, officers, even peasants began to take up guns and whatever other weapons they could find

Bastille Day – July 14, 1789

Bastille Day – July 14, 1789 The Bastille was a prison within the city of Paris Kept a fairly large guard, but a very large stash of gunpowder Rioters stormed the Bastille gates to get the gunpowder in order to fight off the Swiss July 14 is still a national holiday in France, and is celebrated as the official start of the French Revolution

The Great Fear Rumors spread from Paris to the country that nobles had hired outlaws to terrorize peasants The Swiss, apparently, never did any real harm to anyone Panic swept through France, called The Great Fear

Mobs on Parade People began to notice that in Paris and in the country, huge mobs of people with weapons were all over the place In the country, peasants broke into the houses of nobles to rob what they could, or tore up papers that bound them to the nobles’ houses

In Paris Mobs began to get vocal about their support for a National Assembly For once, they have both the numbers and the firepower at the same time In October 1789, mobs marched to Versailles and broke in, killing two guards They forced Louis to leave Versailles, and he and the Royal family were marched back to Paris under guard