1. The French Revolution

2. Causes of the French Revolution
Resentment of royal absolutism
Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles & clergy
Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Large national debt
Unequal system of tax collection
Resentment of noble privileges

3. French Revolution
1789 France was the largest & most powerful European nation
King Louis XIV died in 1643
New French rulers were elected
They wrote a constitution & reformed laws
Period before 1789 = Old Regime

4. Causes of the French Revolution: The Old Regime
France was an absolute monarchy
Its society was organized into THREE ESTATES (classes) – unequal
1st Estate – Clergy = less than 1% of the population
2nd Estate – Nobles = less than 2% of the population
3rd Estate – Commoners = 97% of the population

5. 1st Estate - Clergy Did not pay taxes Tried only in church courts
Owned 1/10 of French land & collected large amounts of taxes, rent & fees
Most of the money was in the hands of the higher clergy – archbishops, bishops
Became lazy, worldly, & neglected spiritual duties

6. 1st Estate – Lower Clergy
Made up of parish priests
Poorly paid & overworked
Provided religious guidance, money & food to the poor and all education

7. 2nd Estate - Nobles Did not pay the heaviest taxes
Collected feudal dues from peasants
Held highest positions in army & government
As a class, the nobility were thoughtless, irresponsible & extravagant

8. 3rd Estate – Commoners Divided into three sub-groups
Bourgeoisie = city dwelling middle class (merchants, manufacturers, doctors, lawyers) – wealth & education
Laborers & Artisans = middle group
Peasants = bottom of the scale, poorest
Peasants owed feudal dues/services – paid rent of land they worked, heaviest taxes & church tithes

9. Discontentment = Revolution
Discontentment grows in France during 1700’s
Factors affecting 3rd Estate  Growing population, rising prices, higher rent/taxes
A & M – wages don’t change
B – More influence in the government
Factors affecting 1st and 2nd Estate  resented growing power of kings because nobles lost their influence over government

10. Unifying Ideas “Liberty & Equality”
The two main ideas that united all three estates against the power of the king were expressed with the words:
“Liberty & Equality”
These were considered natural rights & came from Enlightenment thinkers – Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu

11. France in Financial Crisis
Louis XIV’s war left France in huge debt
Debt increased when France aided U.S. in the American Revolution & expensive lifestyle at Versailles
High taxes could no longer cover the expenses  peasants had highest taxes (can only tax them so much) & the wealthy NOT taxed at ALL!!
Louis XV borrowed $$ from bankers  Didn’t care what France’s financial situation would be for the next king

12. France in Financial Crisis
Louis XVI takes power in 1774
Cared more about leisure than running France
Tried to fix the tax problem by proposing taxes on Estates 1 & 2  nobles rebelled
By 1787 France is financially finished!
Louis XVI called for a meeting of the Estates General to meet at Versailles in May 1789 – Hoped to get his tax plan passed

13. Causes of the French Revolution
Resentment of royal absolutism
Commoners resentment of land grants given to nobles & clergy
Rise of Enlightenment ideals
Large national debt
Unequal system of tax collection
Resentment of noble privileges

14. King Louis XVI
B. 1754, D. 1793
Married Marie Antoinette (Austria) in 1770
Became absolute monarch in 1774 until his death in 1793
Found guilty of treason, and executed marking the end of absolutism in France

15. Marie Antoinette (Austria)
Born 1755, D. 1793
Archduchess of Austria – Queen of France when she married Louis XVI at age 14
Known for being extravagant in her luxuries
Found guilty of treason & abusing her son, executed

16. Meeting of Estates–General
May 1789 – Meeting called by Louis XVI is first meeting in 200 years
In past, each Estate met separately & cast one vote each – so clergy & nobles usually outvoted commoners 2-1  this was the 1st meeting where all estates were together
What were the rules?? No one was sure!
3rd Estate wanted to reform voting  each representative member present from each Estate should vote – this way 3rd Estate could not be outvoted

17. Meeting of Estates-General
Louis XVI wanted old way of voting
3rd Estate claimed itself a National Assembly on June 17, 1789  1st act of the French Revolution!
Louis XVI locked 3rd Estate out of meeting place, so they met at a nearby tennis court
Tennis-Court Oath - June 20, 1789
Representatives pledged they would not adjourn until they wrote a constitution for France & it was adopted
Louis XVI gave in & all three Estates met together

18. Storming of the Bastille Prison
Louis XVI brought troops to Paris & Versailles – people feared he was trying to drive out Estates- General by force
July 14, 1789 the people of Paris stormed the Bastille Prison in search of weapons
Angry because of food shortages, unemployment, and high prices
Bastille Day is still celebrated in France as its Independence Day

19. The “Great Fear” The “Great Fear”
Attacks on towns and villages by the peasants
Attacked homes of nobles
Burned, pillaged
Paris becomes the revolutionary center
National Guard – moderate group led by Marquis de Lafayette
Paris Commune – radical group, wanted to end the monarchy

20. Moderate Reforms End of Privilege: August 4, 1789
Nobles in the National Assembly voted to end special privileges and abolish feudalism
Set up the Enlightenment notion of equality under the law
Declaration of the Rights of Man: Late August 1789
“All men are are born free and remain equal in rights”
Governments exist to protect the natural rights of citizens
Freedom of Religion
Equality in taxation

21. Moderate Reforms French Catholic Church put under state control
Ended papal control and disbanded monasteries
This split the revolutionaries in Paris and those in the countryside
Those in the country were devout Catholics
Constitution of 1791
Limited the monarchy
Set up a legislative Assembly, elected
Protected private property
Supported free trade

22. Radical Stage of the Revolution
Constitution of 1791 – End of the first stage
In the Second Stage:
Flight of the monarchs (June 21, 1791)
Death of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (1793)
War with Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, Spain
Jacobins vs. Girondists
Reign of Terror
1792  Abolition of monarchy, 1st Republic
New republic, The Directory ( )

23. Death of Louis XVI

24. Death of Marie Antoinette

25. After the Revolution A rise in NATIONALISM
French people are tired of war  leads to the rise of Napoleon
France moves from a dictatorship to an empire