1. The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of the:1

2. Who? Meet the men and women that are important to the French Revolution.2

3. King Louis XVI- King of France3

4. Marie Antoinette- Wife of Louis XVI4

5. Maximilien Robespierre- leader of France after Louis XVI is killed.5

6. Napoleon Bonaparte- Famous French General, who eventually becomes emperor of France.6

7. Where? Paris, France 7

8. Palace of Versailles- Home of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette8

9. 9

10. Exterior of Versailles10

11. Paris 11

12. 12

13. When? 1789 13

14. Unfair treatment of majority of citizens (3rd estate)
Why?
CAUSES:
Unfair treatment of majority of citizens (3rd estate)
Weak king (Louis XVI)
Financial crisis
Enlightenment ideas sparked ideas about democracy
American Revolution (1775) showed successful example of democratic revolution. 14

15. What? Are the events that unfold? 15

16. Estates General Meeting with King meet for the first time in 175 years16

17. The Three Estates- Not all created Equal
1st Estate: The Clergy
1% of population
Own 10% of land.
100,000 Members (but note that there were many poor clergymen in this Estate, and they were going to support the Revolution.)
Second Estate: The Nobility
2-5% of population
Owns 20% of the land.
They also had great wealth and taxed the peasantry:
Third Estate: Everyone Else
95-97% of the pop.
Own 70% of the land
Pay taxes
class divisions
Bourgeoisie- 8% of the population- rich & well educated.
Peasants – 40% of land, VAST majority of population, TAX burdens
Urban Poor- artisans and factory workers. Most literate- help fuel revolution 17

18. Meeting of the Estates General
Why??
King needs help to solve economic problems
Third Estate thinks they will have a voice and expect negotiation about changing tax system
After a month of meeting, it is obvious they do not see eye- to-eye on issues…. Decided voting should be done in the same way as in This disgusted the Third estate, who would only have 1/3 of votes. Even though they have a majority of the population!
3rd Estates creates the National Assembly and then kicked out of the Estates General meetings
Go to a tennis court and swear not to leave Versailles until the King grants France a constitution (Tennis Court Oath) 18

19. Like the King would listen to commoners!!
Louis pretends to support the new government, but secretly plans to have them arrested.
Sends troops to dismantle… news spreads to Paris where the commoners are fired up about their opportunity and the King’s betrayal… they begin to riot… called the “Great Fear”
Commoners thought nobles were stockpiling grain
Ransacked homes looking for food.
This leads to the….. 19

20. 2. Storming of the Bastille *the beginning of the Revolution*
Bastille is a prison and also has ammunition.
In the center of Paris
Bastille guards shoot into the crowd of rioting commoners and then they break down the wall of the prison, killing the head guy.
They take the ammunition and break down the building stone by stone. 20

21. Declaration of the Rights of Men and the Citizen: Approved by the National Assembly of France August 26, 1789
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.
2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. 21

22. 3. French REPUBLIC is established
The Republic changes France by…
Republic is a democracy, so it ends authority of the monarchs
Puts power in the hands of the people
Death to Louis by the guillotine 22

23. 4. The Reign of Terror led by Maximillian Robespierre http://www
Kills up to 40,000 people.
The device of choice?
The guillotine.
revolution/videos#guillotine
revolution/videos#coroners-report-guillotine
But why?
Sans-Culottes become the radical group who take killing into their own hands. Violent group who kills mostly nobles & upper-class. But also any counter- revolutionary. 23

24. 5. The Directory
Reign of Terror officially ends with the death of Robespierre! Victim of the guillotine.
The creation of the Directory
Made up of 2 chambers- the lower house and the Council of Elders.
Idea that this new government would create stability and keep one group from gaining too much power.
In order to vote and be an elector you had to...
Be a owner or renter of property worth a certain amount
Limited voters to 30,000 people
The Directory was corrupt and ultimately failed to find solutions to fix the economy and please the people. Too many problems following the revolution and everyone had a different opinion of how to solve them.
Out of this chaos, rises the popular French General, Napoleon Bonaparte. 24

25. A Quick Review of the Revolution 25