1. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

2. PIVOTAL EVENT OF 18 TH CENTURY  Transformed social values & political systems  Replaced old regime with modern society  Slogan = “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”  Bloody conflicts presented dilemma of means vs. ends

3. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINS  Louis XVI not particularly capable  Marie Antoinette perceived as frivolous & callous  Incompetence of French monarchy Louis XVI (r. 1774-1792) Marie Antoinette

4. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINS  Enlightenment & public opinion  Philosophes highly critical of existing system But not revolutionary  Underground literature more subversive Portrayed aristocracy as decadent & monarchy as ridiculous despotism

5. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINS  Fiscal crisis of French government  Huge war debt  Tax exemptions of elite = insufficient revenues  Incompetence of system

6. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINS  Desire for institutional change  Estates General called in 1789  THIRD ESTATE = driving force of Revolution King insisted on vote “by order” Delegates of 3 rd Estate wanted vote “by head”

7. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINS  The Estates General: 1789  3 rd Estate refused to meet separately  Proclaimed itself the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY  Took “TENNIS COURT OATH”  King recognized Assembly, ordered other Estates to join it

8. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION THE CONVERGENCE OF REVOLUTIONS  Masses mobilizing over issues of basic subsistence  Faced severe economic difficulties  Suspicious of aristocrats  STORMING OF THE BASTILLE: July 14, 1789  Finance Minister Jacques Necker dismissed

9. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION THE CONVERGENCE OF REVOLUTIONS  Spread of revolt  Cities set up revolutionary governments & militias  Revolt in countryside: THE GREAT FEAR  Peasants attack noble landlords & manors

10. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION THE CONVERGENCE OF REVOLUTIONS  Night of August 4: Assembly deputies renounce privileges, appease peasants  Issue “Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen”  Men equal in rights  Sovereignty of nation against king or any other  Authority of legitimate law supreme  Liberty defined as ability to do whatever does not harm another