1. French Revolution

2. Europe on the eve of Frech Revolution

3. Periods of French Revolution
Five sub-periods distinguished by form of government
Estates
Legislative Assembly
National Convention
Directory
Consulate
First Empire

4. Causes of French Revolution

5. Estates
King Louis XVI called the Estates General in order to ask for new taxes
Privilegees did not accept to pay
The third estate complained because of
Vote system
Their lack of participation

6. Estates
Representatives of the Three Estates agreed in continuing together to write a Constitution
This agreement is know as the Oath of the Tennins Court

7. Estates
The rumor that the king was planning a military coup against the National Assembly
The mobs in Paris attacked the Bastille
It was considered as a token of Absolutism

8. Estates The Government tried to stop the revolution
Groups in the Assembly began to discuss among themselves
People were afraid of Aristocrats taking measures against them: The Great Fear spread

9. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
The feudal regime in France was abolished
All Frenchmen were, at least in principle, subject to the same laws and the same taxes and eligible for the same offices

10. Legislative Assembly 1789-91

11. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
The Declaration of the Right of the Citizen was written
But:
Feudal dues were not renounced
Peasants would compensate their landlords
The Assembly safeguarded the property rights

12. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
On March 1789 Parisian women organised a demonstration asking for bread
The King was forced to move to Paris, to the Tuilleries
The Government started thinking about how to finance the state

13. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
Financiation of the state:
Confiscate church lands
Print Assignats, that were depreciated quickly, increasing inflation

14. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
Other works of the Assembly were:
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Govenment would maintain church
The state controlled the church
New Constitution, that was accepted by the King

15. Constitution of 1791

16. Legislative Assembly 1789-91
The Royal Family tried to fleed but they were caught at Varennes
Foreign countries organised to attack France
Austria, Prussia, Britain, Spain and Piedmont were members of the coalition

17. French Expansion

18. National Convention
The Convention tried to answer to the problems

19. National Convention
There were three periods in the Convention:
Girondin Rule:
Jacobin Rule: (Reign of Terror)
Thermidorian Reaction:

20. National Convention
Their first act was the abolition of the Monarchy
The Decree of Fraternity offered help to any country who wanted to overtrown their government

21. The Politics of the National Convention 1792-95

22. National Convention 1793-95 The trial of the King started
The King was executed on January 1793
Great Britain, Spain and Holland declared war

23. National Convention
Reign of terror: Robespierre came to dominate politics:
Levy of males
Execution of the Queen
Army push France enemies out of its borders
First apparition of Napoleon

24. National Convention
In order to control the crisis the Government created:
Commettee of Public Safety: to oversee and speed up the work of the Government
Commettee of General Security: to pursuit counter revolutionaries

25. National Convention 1793-95 Laws passed by the Convention:
Law of General Maximum: limited prices
Law of Suspects: against not enthusiastic revolutionaries
Terror was instaured

26. National Convention 1793-95 There was a revolt in the Vendee:
The need for 300,000 French troops for the war effort.
Rural peasantry still highly taxed.
Resentment of the Civil Constitution the Clergy.
Peasants had failed to benefit from the sale of church lands.

27. National Convention 1793-95 Religious terror:
The Catholic Church was linked with real or potential counter-revolution.
Religion was associated with the Ancien Régime and superstitious practices.
Very popular among the sans-culottes.
Therefore, religion had no place in a rational, secular republic!
New Calendar

28. National Convention 1793-95 New Name Meaning Time Period Vendemaire
Vintage
September 22 – October 21
Brumaire
Fog
October 22 – November 20
Frimaire
Frost
November 21 – December 20
Nivose
Snow
December 21 – January 19
Pluviose
Rain
January 20 – February 18
Ventose
Wind
February 19 – March 20
Germinal
Budding
March 21 – April 19
Floreal
Flowers
April 20 – May 19
Prairial
Meadow
May 20 – June 18
Messidor
Harvest
June 19 – July 18
Thermidor
Heat
July 19 – August 17
Fructidor
Fruit
August 18 – September 21

29. National Convention 1793-95 Religious terror:
Public exercise of religion was banned
Encourage the clergy to leave their vocations
Notre Dame became the Temple of Reason
Priest were deported
Decree of Freedom of Cults

30. National Convention
Robespierre made an speech opposing the Committees
Many groups felt threatened
Robespierre was arrested and guillotined
This is known as the Thermidorean Reaction 1794

31. National Convention 1793-95 In October 1795:
Paris royalists instigated outbreak of sections in opposition of 2/3 self protection measure of convention for 1st term council
Napoleon’s “whiff of grapeshot” led to complete victory for convention
At the end of the month the Convention was dissolved

32. The Directory 1795-99 In 1795 a new constitution was approved
It created a bicameral government
The executive power was in the hands of a group of five directors

33. The Directory 1795-1799 Measures taken during the Directory:
They used the force to keep in power
They continued with the war
Babeuf’s conspiration was stopped
In Novembre Napoleon gave a coup d’etat begining the Consulate

34. The Consulate 1799-1804 The constitution was left appart
The Government was in the hands of three consuls, being Napoleon the first of them
Work:
End of Wars
Civil Code
Concordat
Administrative reform

35. The 1st Empire 1804-1815 Napoleon was given all the powers
France was involved in several wars: Prussia, Russia, Spain, Poland

36. The 1st Empire

37. The 1st Empire
The Empire was linked to the army, whose early victories exported many ideological features of the French Revolution throughout Europe.
Seigneurial dues were abolished
Introduction of the Civil Code
Napoleon reordered the map of Europe and granted many noble titles. His rule was highly nepotistic( he placed relatives on the thrones of several European countries).

38. The 1st Empire
Napoleon was defeated by an European coalition
He came back from his exile in Elba but was defeated again One Hundred Days Empire
He was exiled to Santa Helena until his death

39. End of French Revolution
After Napoleon’s abdication the Monarchy was restored in France
The revolution was over.