1. The French Revolution 1789

2. Four phases of the French Revolution
1. “Liberal” Phase ( )
2. “Radical” Phase ( )
3. Directory Rule ( )
4. Napoleonic Era ( )

3. Pre-Revolutionary France (up to 1789)
Why did revolution break out in 1789?
What were the causes of the French Revolution?

4. #1: The French Monarchy (1774-1793)
Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI

5. Marie Antoinette and the Royal Children

6. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant Cottage”

7. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant Cottage”

8. Cardinal Louis René de Rohan & Jean de La Motte
The Necklace Scandal
Cardinal Louis René de Rohan & Jean de La Motte
1,600,000 livres
($100 million today)

9. Let them eat cake!
“Madame Deficit”
“The Austrian Whore”

10. #2: An Outdated Social Structure
Legal division into 3 orders, or estates:
First Estate: Clergy
Second Estate: Nobility
Third Estate: Commoners (bourgeoisie & peasants)

11. Inequitable Distribution of Land

12. “The People under the Old Regime”

13. #3: Enlightenment Ideas
Classical Liberalism:
Liberty Equality

14. Liberty
A call for:
individual human rights
a new kind of government

15. John Locke ( )
“no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions”

16. Montesquieu ( )
“When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.”

17. Equality All citizens should have equal rights and liberties, except:
women excluded
economic equality excluded

18. right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
Thomas Jefferson ( )
right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

19. #4: Model of the American Revolution
The Boston Tea Party, 1773

20. The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

21. #5: Financial Problems
French Budget, 1774

22. Where is the tax money?

23. Phase 1: The “Liberal” Phase (1789-1791)

24. Convening of the Estates General May 1789
Last time it was called into session was 1614!!

25. The Suggested Voting Pattern: Voting by Estates1
1st Estate – Clergy
2nd Estate – Aristocracy 1 1
3rd Estate – Commoners

26. The Number of Representatives in the Estates General: Vote by Head!
300
1st Estate – Clergy
2nd Estate – Aristocracy
300
648
3rd Estate – Commoners

27. “The Third Estate Awakens”
June 17, 1789 – Formation of the National Assembly

28. “The Tennis Courth Oath” by Jacques Louis David
June 20, 1789

29. Storming the Bastille July 14, 1789

30. Revolutionary Paris, 1789

31. The French Urban Poor

32. The Great Fear: Peasant Revolt
July 20, 1789

33. March of the Women October 5-6, 1789
We want the baker, the baker’s wife and the baker’s boy!

34. Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité! National Assembly 1789-1791
August Decrees
(August 4-11, 1789)
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!

35. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
August 26, 1789
“Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights.”
(…but NOT of Woman)

36. The WHITE of the Bourbons + the RED and BLUE of Paris
The Tricolor, 1789
The WHITE of the Bourbons + the RED and BLUE of Paris

37. 83 Revolutionary Departments February 26, 1790

38. Civil Constitution of the Clergy July 12, 1790
national church
clergy elected
oath of allegiance

39. They were backed by the sale of Church lands.
Assignats
They were backed by the sale of Church lands.

40. constitutional monarchy
Louis XVI “accepts” the constitution and National Assembly, September 1791
absolute monarchy ↓
constitutional monarchy
(CONSTITUTION #1)

41. French Constitution of 1791: A Constitutional Monarchy
the king got the “suspensive” veto (prevented passage of laws for 4 years)
he could not pass laws
his ministers were responsible for their own actions
a permanent, elected, single chamber Legislative Assembly
had the power to grant taxation
an independent judiciary

42. While the revolutionaries seemingly got off to a good start…
A foreshadowing of events to come….

43. Phase 2: The “Radical” Phase (1792-1794)

44. The Causes of Instability in France 1792 - 1795
Attitudes & actions of monarchy & court
Fear of Counter-Revolution
Religious divisions
The Causes of Instability in France
Economic Crises
Political divisions
War

45. Royal family attempted to flee France June 1791
Marie Antoinette risks her body to save her son, the crown prince.

46. War ( )
European monarchs feared spread of revolution (émigrés spread rumors) ↓
offered help to French monarchy
French revolutionaries declared war
1792 – Austria & Prussia (“First Coalition”)
1793 – Britain, Holland, Spain

47. The Storming of the Tuilieres August 10, 1792
Royal family imprisoned.

48. National Convention (1792-1795)
replaced Legislative Assembly
elected by universal male suffrage
legislative branch of the new republic

49. The September Massacres, 1792
Over 1,000 Parisians killed!

50. The First French Republic (1792-1795)
“second revolution”:
constitutional
monarchy ↓
republic
(CONSTITUTION #2)

51. New pop culture: The Tricolor is the Fashion!

52. New pop culture: Revolutionary Playing Cards

53. New pop culture: A New Republican Calendar
1792 – 1793 II
1793 – 1794
III
1794 – 1795 IV
1795 – 1796 V
1796 – 1797 VI
1797 – 1798
VII
1798 – 1799
VIII
1799 – 1800 IX
1800 – 1801 X
1801 – 1802 XI
1802 – 1803
XII
1803 – 1804
XIII
1804 – 1805
XIV
1805
The Gregorian System returned in 1806.

54. New pop culture: A New Republican Calendar
Vendemaire
(Vintage)
22 September-21 October
Brumaire
(Fog)
22 October-20 November
Frimaire
(Frost)
21 November-20 December
Nivose
(Snow)
21 December-19 January
Pluviose
(Rain)
20 January-18 February
Ventose
(Wind)
19 February-20 March
Germinal
(Budding)
21 March-19 April
Floreal
(Flowers)
20 April-19 May
Prairial
(Meadows)
20 May-18 June
Messidor
(Harvest)
19 June-18 July
Thermidor
(Heat)
19 July-17 August
Fructidor
(Fruit)
18 August-21 September
New pop culture: A 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

55. The Jacobins Jacobin Meeting House Parisian political club
younger, more radical than Nat’l. Assembly members
dominated Legislative Assembly & National Convention
Jacobin Meeting House

56. A Jacobin Club Meeting

57. The Politics of the National Convention
Montagnards
“The Mountain”
Girondists
More radical.
Power base in Paris.
Main support from the sans-culottes.
Leaders: Robespierre & Danton
More moderate.
Power base in the provinces.
Feared the influence of the sans-culottes.

58. The Political Spectrum Today
The Plain (uncommitted)
Jacobins
Montagnards (“The Mountain”)
Girondists
Monarchíen (Royalists)

59. The Sans-culottes: The Parisian Poor

60. Depicted as savages by a British cartoonist.
Sans-culottes
Depicted as savages by a British cartoonist.

61. Attempts to Control the Growing Crisis
Revolutionary Tribunal in Paris  try suspected counter-revolutionaries
A. Representatives-on-mission
B. Watch Committees
C. Trial & execution of rebels & émigrés
Printing of more assignats to pay for war
Committee of Public Safety
* oversee and speed up gov’t. work
Committee of General Security
* responsible for pursuit of counter-revolutionaries, treatment of subjects, & other internal security matters

62. Committee of Public Safety Est. April 1793
12-member executive gov’t. during Reign of Terror
revolutionary tribunals
300,000 arrested
16,000-50,000 executed

63. Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794)

64. Georges Jacques Danton (1759-1794)

65. The Economy – Committee of Public Safety’s “Total War” Legislation
planned economy – “embryonic emergency socialism”
fixed prices
rationing
gov’t.-mandated production levels
nationalization of businesses
Aug – conscription
EFFECT: France achieved victory in wars.

66. Reign of Terror ( )
Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible Robespierre

67. Those convicted await their fate.
Reign of Terror ( )
Those convicted await their fate.

68. The Guillotine

69. The Paris Mob

70. The “Monster” Guillotine
The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939.

71. Execution of Louis XVI January 21, 1793

72. Execution of Marie Antoinette October 1973

73. Thermidorian Reaction (1794-1795)
July 26 Robespierre gave a speech illustrating new plots & conspiracies
alienated members of the CPS – many felt threatened by his implications
July 27 (9 Thermidor)  Convention arrested Robespierre
July 28 Robespierre was tried & guillotined!

74. Arrest of Robespierre

75. The revolution consumes its own children…
Robespierre lies wounded before the revolutionary tribunal that will order him to be guillotined, 1794.
Danton awaits execution, 1793.

76. Phase 3: Directory Rule (1795-1799)

77. Directory Rule (1795-1799) Constitution of 1795: republic ↓ Directory
5-man Directory
2-house legislature
But problems continued…

78. Phase 4: Napoleonic Era (1799-1815)

79. Napoleonic Era ( )
coup d’etat – overthrew Directory and established dictatorship

80. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)