The Violent Phase of the FRENCH REVOLUTION

THE START of the FRENCH REVOLUTION 1789

Meeting of the Estates General Summer 1789 Purpose of meeting: RESTRUCTURE TAX SYSTEM All three estates sent representatives Each were told to send about 300 reps Third Estate complained that this was NOT fair…

Meeting of the Estates General First & Second Estates Planned to work together to block any changes that would increase their taxes DOUBLING OF THE THIRD ESTATE To help “level” this inequity… Louis XVI planned to DOUBLE THE THIRD ESTATE and give them as much voting power as the first two states combined

Meeting of the Estates General But… First and Second Estates said that in the past, each Estate had to vote as a block. They said that any change in something so important had to be voted on by the members of the Estates General. … you can see the problem with this…

National Assembly Nothing got accomplished Third estate pulled away and formed a new group. They called themselves… THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY They swore to change the government, to include a CONSTITUTION Called The TENNIS COURT OATH King Louis agreed (reluctantly)

Storming of the Bastille King Louis brought troops to defend VERSAILLES Why would he do this? How should the “common people” respond? Paris commoners attacked the BASTILLE to get guns for protection Bastille had been a prison; represented the KING’S TYRANNY click

Storming of the Bastille They got the guns And they released all prisoners All four of them And the king panicked. He saw that the common man DID have power And he went to meet them The king gave them true legitimacy by meeting with them… click

The Great Fear Most Nobles lived in the COUNTRYSIDE Peasants had for YEARS been forced to work their land… and pay huge dues… and were in debt to Nobles Peasants attacked houses of NOBLES Destroyed records of their debts Nobles ran in fear Most fled the country: became known as EMEGREES (because they emigrated) Farms now lay idle…

Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen Feudal rights of first two estates abolished by NATIONAL ASSEMBLY Debts of peasants totally forgiven New document – Declaration: All men are born free and equal in rights New slogan: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY for all Read p. 589; analyze document Guaranteed rights of free SPEECH and RELIGION

Women’s March on Versailles Louis changed again.. called in MORE TROOPS back to Versailles Food was scarce, and women were hungry & mad Thousands marched to Versailles (12 mi) (mostly women, around 7000) Broke into PALACE of VERSAILLES They wanted to KILL Marie Antoinette (rumor – that she had been hording bread) Louis agreed to move to Paris

FRENCH REVOLUTION THE REIGN of TERROR

The most Violent phase of French Revolution In this phase, the new National Assembly set up a new government. They set up a government to rule with the king But the king tried to escape… so… They found him, captured him, and The king was imprisoned Then, he was put on trial for treason FOUND GUILTY EXECUTED JANUARY, 1793

Big changes of French Revolution Political parties formed The most radical were the JACOBINS They had demanded the death of the king Then, the new government declared war on all monarchies of Europe They changed all religion They created metric system They even changed time measurement All to show all men are equal and “rational

Violence of the French Revolution The war was going badly at first So, the government set up a committee to “weed out” the dissenters. THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY They were put on trial And usually quickly sentenced to death But, that wasn’t fast enough… So, they invented (perfected) THE GUILLOTINE click

Violent phase of French Revolution The guillotine REIGN OF TERROR click 40,000 people executed Mostly poor peasants The remaining Nobles

Violence of Terror