The French Revolution The Revolution that changed the World

French Society was divided into three estates: First Estate  Clergy (priests) of the Roman Catholic Church  less than 1% of Population  Owned 10% of land  taxed on only 2% of income

Second Estate:  Nobles  Made up 2% of population  Owned 20% of the land  Paid no taxes

Third Estate  Commoners  Made up 98% of the population  Paid 50% of their income in taxes  Divided into three sub classes:  1. Merchants and artisans –Rich and well educated (liberal ideologies)  2.Working Class (cooks, servants, and others) Poor wage earners Price of bread was very important to them  3. Farmers (80% of people) Heavily taxed, had to work for nobles/clergy for free

% of Pop. % of Land Taxation Level

France’s National Problems 1. Crop failures led to grain shortages 2. Large debt due to Wars (Americas) –Bankers refused to lend more money 3. Weak leader

King and Queen of France  Louis XVI- –Great Grandson of Louis XIV –easily distracted –would rather hunt or play with locks  Marie Antoinette- –Daughter of Austrian Maria Theresa –big spender

Louis is forced to call the Estates-General (May 1789)  meeting of all 3 estates  first time in 175 yrs.  Each estate gets 1 vote (clergy had one, nobles had one)  3 rd Estate was always outvoted by the other two estates

Tennis Court Oath (June 1789)  Estates-General refused to have equal voting so the 3 rd Estate left  Met in a tennis court renamed themselves the National Assembly  Made an oath not leave until a new constitution was written  Declared that they not the king were the voice of the people

Storming of the Bastille, July 14 th 1789  People of Paris heard rumors that the King’s army was going to attack  Stormed the Bastille (old prison) for gun powder –Had only 7 prisoners( 4 forgers, 1 aristocrat pervert, and 2 lunatics)  Today this is France’s “Independence Day” –Louis wrote in journal that day “Rein” or nothing referring to his afternoon hunt

Great Fear  In countryside— Rumors of nobles hiring troops to kill peasants  Led to peasants attacking nobles’ homes

Women’s Bread Riot (October 1789)  Price of bread rose  6,000 women took up arms  60,000 marched 12 miles to Versailles (King’s palace)  killed two guards  forced the king and his family to move to Paris

Declaration of the Rights of Man –Issued August 27, 1789 –“men are born and remain free and equal in rights” –Right to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression –Sets up a Constitutional Monarchy  Slogan of Revolution –“Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (brotherhood)”

Louis tries to escape France (June 1791)  Fails  Many argue that the King is not to be trusted

France’s Radical Groups:  Émigrés:  nobles and clergy who fled France  Far right supporters  Sans-culottes:  “those without knee breeches”  mobs wage earners of the cities  far left supporters Political Spectrum: Left Liberal, wants extreme change Right Conservative, wants to go back to old times Moderate

Europe turns against the Revolution  Austria (Marie’s Homeland) feared that the revolution against nobility would spread to other nations.  Austria declared war on France in 1792, later joined by Prussia, Holland, Spain, and England..  French Émigrés joined with the foreigners.  Austrian and Prussian forces near Paris and threatened to destroy Paris if the Royal family was harmed  Outraged the mobs kill the king’s Swiss guards and imprisoned the royal family in a tower.

The Last Straw: the September Massacre  With foreign armies near Paris volunteers were organized but rumors spread that when the volunteers left the Émigrés would seize the city  Angered the Sans-culottes killed over a 1,000 noble, clergy & other prisoners  Power is transferred to the Left Radicals called the Jacobins

King No More  The French army defeats the invading armies  The Jacobins order the post of king abolished and establish a Republic.  Louis is beheaded by the Guillotine (Jan. 1793) “I am innocent and shall die without fear. I would that my death might bring happiness to the French, and ward off the dangers which I foresee.”

Guillotine

New Leader: Maximilien Robespierre Revolution goes past politics  Slavery is outlawed  Religious Freedom for Jews and Protestants  Playing cards—no jacks, queens and kings  Calendar was changed to 12 months 30 days each –10 day week, no Sundays (religion seen as old fashion)  All churches were closed  Bread prices were controlled

Committee of Public Safety (July 1793 to July 1794)  Ordered to root out traitors of the Revolution  No one was safe  Neighbor turned on neighbor

Reign of Terror  Marie Antoinette  Many leaders of the earlier revolutions were killed  Fellow Jacobins killed  Finally Robespierre (July 1794) –Because the leaders left all felt threatened  As many as 40,000 people had been killed, most of them were Commoners “I beg your pardon. I did not do it on purpose.”

The Directory  Five Moderates –Corrupt and relatively weak –But compared to the Terror it was breath of fresh air to the weary French people

Napoleon Bonaparte  Ends the Revolution but that’s another story…