The French Revolution Begins October 4, 2012

OLD REGIME In the 1700s, the French people were divided into a very strict social class system The different classes were known as estates

1st Estate Roman Catholic Church 1% of pop. owned 10% of land paid 2% of income in taxes

2nd Estate Rich nobles 2% of pop. owned 20% of land paid NO taxes

3rd Estate 97% of pop. paid 50% of income in taxes Included bourgeoisie (middle class) urban workers & peasant farmers 97% of pop. paid 50% of income in taxes

Forces of Change Ideas of Enlightenment & American Revolution French people began to question old notions about the society Economic troubles (heavy taxes, increasing cost of living, crop failures): price of bread doubled in 1789, people faced starvation Government debt

Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette’s debt Antoinette was a big spender Louis inherited debt from other kings Helped Americans in Revolutionary War, creating even more debt

Louis’ Leadership Louis was an apathetic king Refused to deal with problems of debt Antoinette, who was Austrian, was very unpopular (“Madame Deficit”) Louis finally decided to raise taxes

Estates General In order to raise taxes, the Estates General had to meet EG: representatives from all 3 estates For the 1st time in 175 years, EG met (May 1789) Rules: each estate had one vote

Deciding How to Meet 3rd estate insisted each delegate get a vote, rather than each estate King wanted to follow old rules 3rd estate decided to meet alone in the name of the French people and call themselves the National Assembly (June 1789)

Tennis Court Oath 3 days later, the 3rd estate found themselves locked out of their meeting room Broke down door of nearby indoor tennis court, vowing to write up new constitution (some 1st and 2nd estate members joined them) King Louis scared, places army around his palace

Storming the Bastille The army made Parisians nervous, many took up arms July 14, 1789- mob storms the Bastille, a Paris prison, looking for weapons They killed several guards, paraded their heads on sticks around the city Storming of Bastille became a symbolic act of Revolution, still celebrated in France today

Great Fear People panicked as rumors spread Many peasants began acted recklessly Oct 1789- Many marched to Versailles, broke into the palace, demanding King and Queen come to Paris