The Causes of the FRENCH REVOLUTION European History Part 2 Lesson #1

French Revolution 1789 – 1799 1799 – 1815 French people rose up against King and Nobles Chaos and death Bloody Reign of Terror Napoleon restored order Napoleon then went on to take over Europe All of Europe ganged up and defeated Napoleon Europe restored to “old” ways Click John Green

FRENCH SOCIETY on the “eve” of the French Revolution (1789)

The Social Classes What is a social class? How do you tell the difference between social classes? Describe our classes in America How was Europe different, with the Aristocracy? click

French Society prior to Rev Divided into “Estates” First Estate: “clergy” (Church People) Second Estate: “nobles” (born with a “title”) Third Estate: Everyone else

Royalty – THE KING ~10% of land Paid no taxes Educated Lived a “clean” life Trusted Lived in amazing luxury at Versailles King Louis XVI Queen Marie Antoinette

First Estate – THE CLERGY 1% of population 10% of land Paid no taxes Educated Lived a “clean” life respected

Second Estate – THE NOBILITY 1% of population 30% of land Rented land to Peasants Paid almost no taxes Educated Lived a “clean” life Hated by Third Estate

Typical home for Nobles Château de Chenonceau

Typical home for Nobles Château of Dampierre-en-Yvelines

Third Estate – EVERYONE ELSE 98% of population 50% of land Paid MOST taxes NOT educated Lived a hard and dirty life

Recap: What are the three estates? What people are IN the three named estates? What conflict can you see causing a rebellion?

CAUSES of the FRENCH REVOLUTION

What do you do? You have no job You have no money People depend on you You need food WHAT DO YOU DO TO SURVIVE? - What do you do when you WANT to work, but there are no jobs?

$$$ #1 PROBLEM: FRANCE WAS BROKE FLAT BROKE FROM WARS AND FROM BAD GOVERNMENT DECISIONS BUT… SOME FRENCH PEOPLE WERE NOT SOME WERE FILTHY RICH!

AND THAT MADE PEOPLE MAD! That led to rebellion Which led to revolution (massive change) click

Revolution in France Will be led by Max Robespierre Will lead to creation of the Metric System Will lead to thousands of beheadings (just for speaking out against the government) Will lead to the elimination of a king And the start of a democracy in France And the elimination of the nobility and the class system

Issue #1: wars Rivalries in Europe Each European nation was like an individual battling for existence. They made friends only to become more powerful. One example is France vs. Austria. Wars are expensive! So, how do you stop them from happening?

Solution to Rivalry Answer: use marriage to create friendships Austrian government forced Austrian princess to marry the French prince (who would be king – “DAUPHIN”). Marie Antoinette of Austria… and… Louis August of France. (will be Louis XVI)

Issue #1 - Rivalries Who was the Austrian Princess who married into French royal family? Who was the French Prince she married? MARIE ANTOINETTE What are the “Dauphin” and “Dauphine”? LOUIS, DAUPHIN NEXT IN LINE TO BE KING AND QUEEN

Issue #2 - Inequities in French Society First Estate – 1% CLERGY Owned 10% of the land (wealth) Second Estate – 1% NOBLES Owned 30% of the land Third Estate – 98% EVERYONE ELSE Bourgeoisie (MIDDLE CLASS) Peasants – 85% of society (very poor farmers) Owned what was left…

Issue #2 - Inequities in French Society What two groups have almost everything? What group has almost nothing? What group is the largest? FIRST and SECOND ESTATES THIRD ESTATE THIRD ESTATE

Issue #3: Impact of Enlightenment Educated bourgeois demanded change Wanted a “rational” government Locke said a government should protect your natural rights (Life, liberty and property) Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau agreed The bourgeois respected BRITISH government Parliament (a voice of the people) Free speech click

Issue #3: Impact of Enlightenment What did the Third Estate hope could happen? THEY COULD DECREASE THEIR BURDEN OF TAXES AND DEBT

Issue #4: Financial Crisis France had been going into Huge DEBT from wars, from cost to maintain Versailles, support of American Revolution BUT… King and NOBLES kept living well and extravagantly Parties Fancy clothes and food

Issue #4: Financial Crisis What three things caused the mammoth French debt? WARS VERSAILLES SUPPORTING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Marie Antoinette Some blamed her She was from AUSTRIA (traditional enemy of France) She spent a LOT But not enough to matter She was just out of touch Rumor: when she was told on one had bread & were starving: “LET THEM EAT CAKE”

Weak Leadership King Louis XVI wanted to tax the all ESTATES First Estate said it was not legal Claimed only a meeting of the ESTATES GENERAL could change national policy

Louis Called Estates General King Louis XVI planned the meeting All three Estates would meet together The hope: solve the debt problem Their debt was TEN TIMES worse than ours now (ours now is $17 trillion; about $55,000 for every American

Guess the expectations What do you think the FIRST and SECOND ESTATES might want to happen at this meeting? What do you think the THIRD ESTATE might want from this meeting?

Louis Called Estates General How bad WAS the debt of the French Government? Where did the king hope to get the money he needed? VERY BAD THEY PAID HALF THEIR TAXES ON INTEREST From the Nobles (aristocracy) and the Church (they owned almost half the land, had lots of $$, paid no taxes)

Expectations for the Meeting (Estates General) First Estate PROTECT PRIVILEGES AND POWER Second Estate PROTECT PRIVILEGES Third Estate – Bourgeois LOWER TAX BURDEN BECOME A PART OF GOVERNMENT Third Estate – Peasants

What caused revolution? This was just supposed to be a meeting… Why did it become a whole revolution? What could have prevented revolution? click