1. Mr. Somogye AP World History
The French Revolution
Mr. Somogye
AP World History

2. Preliminary Stage

3. Causes of the French Revolution

4. The Enlightenment Political & Legal Equality (Rousseau)
Personal Freedoms (Voltaire)
Social Contract (Hobbes)
Popular Sovereignty & Natural Rights (Locke)
Global Influence of Enlightenment Values
American Revolution
Overthrow the ancien régime (old order)

5. Inept Ruler? King Louis XVI

6. Financial Crisis During 1780s, 50% of revenue went to pay off debts
American Revolution?
Lavish lifestyle of the monarchy
Series of bad harvests 1787 & 1788
Bread prices went up 50% in 1789
Need for tax reform
Louis XVI hoped to raise taxes on ancien régime
Aristocracy resisted reforms
Forced Louis to call the Estates-General for the first time since 1614

7. Estates General First Estate: 100,000 Catholic clergy
Did not pay taxes
Second Estate: 400,000 nobles
Exempt from many taxes
Third Estate: Rest of Population
Sans-culottes
Provided bulk of French tax revenue

8. Peasants Three Estates Bourgeoisie 1st Estate Louis XVI 2nd Estate
Workers
Bourgeoisie
3rd Estate
Three Estates

9. Discussion Questions
What were the similarities between the long-term causes of the American and French Revolutions? Differences?

10. French Rev.
American Rev.
Absolute Monarchy
Louis XVI
Type of Gov.
Limited Monarchy
King George and Parliament
People wanted equality
Bad economy, Little food, Louis XVI’s spending
Enlightenment Ideas
Influence of American Rev.
Reasons for Conflict
Britain views Americans as colonists, Americans view themselves as loyal British subjects, Enlightenment Ideas,
Unfair Estate System, High taxes on the poor,National Assembly, Storming of the Bastille
Actions that led to war.
High Taxes on Colonists, Intolerable Acts, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Common Sense

11. Initial Stage ( )

12. Calling of the Estates-General
May 5, 1789

13. Tennis Court Oath
Robespierre represents 3rd Estate – wants the other 2 estates to pay taxes
King sees this as a threat and bars them from meeting
They meet next door on the “tennis court”
National Assembly born – “Tennis Court Oath”
Pledge to keep meeting until there is a new Constitution for France.

14. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The National Assembly
June 20, 1789
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The commoners finally presented their credentials not as delegates of the Third Estate, but as “representatives of the nation.”

15. Storming of the Bastille “Sparks the Revolution”
French citizens fearing King Louis XVI would use violence to put down the revolution stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789

16. Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen
Passed by the National Assembly on August 26, 1789
All men equal
Power resides with people
Demand Constitutional Monarchy
Freedom of Press
Not a Constitution but a statement of general principals
Defines individual and collective rights
Does not address women or slavery

17. Women’s March Storming of Versailles
October 1, 1789
Spontaneous march by Parisian women demanding bread.

18. Crisis Stage ( )

19. War with Austria & Prussia
Early 1792
Foreign countries don’t like revolution in France
They think it may start revolutions in their country
Armies invade France and help save King Louis and family

20. Radicals Take Control Arrest of Louis XVI August 10, 1792
Louis tried to get out of town
Took his wife and kids to Austria
They were caught by a mail man who recognized him from his face on the money!
Sent back to Paris
His fate was sealed- Why would he try to escape unless he was guilty?

21. Death of the King
20,000 stormed the kings home and killed the 900 Swiss guards
Jacobins captured the king
Louis XVI is charged with “conspiring against the liberty of the nation.” Basically he was tried with being an absolute monarch.
He is convicted and beheaded.
1st time this has happened in Europe.
Kings had been assassinated, but never put on trial and/or assassinated

22. Execution of Louis XVI
January 21, 1793

23. Radical Reforms of the Jacobins
Universal adult male suffrage
Abolished slavery
Fuels Haitian Revolution
Universal military conscription
Increased rights of women
Could not participate in politics
Attacked Catholicism
Spirit of nationalism
Set price controls & seized crops from farmers

24. Reign of Terror Led by Maximilien Robespierre
According to records 16,000+ died under the guillotine
Historians estimate could be as high as 40,000
“The first maxim of our politics ought to be to lead the people by means of reason and the enemies of the people by terror.”

25. Reign of Terror
Maximilien Robespierre- became leader of the Committee of Public Safety
Became a Dictator (controlled the committee)
Used Secret Police
Begins killing people he didn’t like
Tried to build a “Republic of Virtue”
Wiped out all traces of the monarchy and nobility
Decks of cards were changed.
The calendar was changed (10 days a week)

26. The New Republican Calendar
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
The New Republican Calendar

27. Festival of the Supreme Being

28. British View of Reign of Terror

29. End of the Reign of Terror
People get tired of Robespierre and his scare tactics
He, along with Marat are killed by the people.
Marat killed in his tub, Robespierre beheaded by the guillotine.
1795- New constitution gave power to the Directory and Legislature
Directory was a council of 5 men called directors
Ineffective so people look to army for leadership
They find Napoleon

30. End of the Terror
July 28, 1794

31. Discussion Question
How were the actions of American radicals and French radicals similar? How were they different?

32. Recovery Stage ( )

33. PERIODS OF THE REVOLUTION
Five sub-periods distinguished by form of government
Estates
Legislative Assembly
National Convention
Directory
Consulate
First Empire

34. Napoleon Bonaparte
Moderate government, the Directory, rules for four years following Reign of Terror
Failed to solve economic problems of France
Napoleon staged a coup d’etat in 1799
Becomes emperor in 1804

35. Plebiscite Plebiscite- a vote of the people
Napoleon calls for a vote of the people to approve his takeover and other reforms
They approve him and also approve new constitution, set up a national bank, create public schools.
Now merit gets you ahead, not birth

36. Domestic Policies of Napoleon
Maintained some rights gained during the revolution
Freedom of religion
Napoleonic Code (Civil Code)
Schools and universities
Reversed other gains
Rights of women
Freedom of expression
Reformed economy
Revised tax code
Central bank

37. Napoleon’s Empire
Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden all ally against France.
Left: Napoleon’s Empire by 1912
Above: Napoleon’s Retreat from Russia

38. Napoleon Abdicates! Allied forces occupied Paris on March 31, 1814.
Napoléon abdicated on April 6 in favor of his son, but the Allies insisted on unconditional surrender.
Napoléon abdicated again on April 11.
Treaty of Fontainbleau  exiles Napoléon to Elba with an annual income of 2,000,000 francs.
The royalists took control and restored Louis XVIII to the throne.

39. Napoleon on Elba
This should NOT be a prison

40. Don’t call it a comeback
Louis XVIII takes over and is very unpopular.
Napoleon escapes from Elba, gets an army together and marches towards Paris.
Louis XVIII sends an army after Napoleon, but they end up joining Napoleon.
Napoleon marches into Paris, Louis XVIII flees
Napoleon makes peace offers towards the rest of Europe, but they do not believe him.
Battle of Waterloo, crazy famous, Napoleon Loses
His return = 100 Days
Shipped off to far away prison, dies, poisoned ?

41. Battle of Waterloo
Monarchy in France is Restored… HAHAHAHAHAHA

42. Legacy of the French Revolution
Global Independence movements
Haitian Revolution
Latin American independence
Triggered by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain
Egypt broke away from Ottoman Empire
Slave Trade and Slavery
England abolished slave trade in 1807; slavery in 1833
Brazil—Last to abolish slavery (1888)
Abolition of serfdom
Except in Russia

43. Legacy of the French Revolution
Women’s Rights
Played major role in the revolutions
Sewing uniforms, nurses, running businesses, some even fought
Lost many rights after revolution
Napoleon
Feminist Movements
Mary Wollstonecraft
Spread of nationalism in Europe
German and Italian unification
Greek independence