1. French Revolution & Napoleon

2. The Three Estates First Estate Second Estate
The Church
Second Estate
Rich Nobles
Third Estate- “everyone else”
Bourgeoisie- merchants, well-educated, paid high taxes
Cooks, Servants- were paid low wages, frequently out of work
Peasants- half of income went to nobles, tithes, & taxes

3. The Rulers Louis XVI Marie Antoinette
Liked to spend time hunting instead of governing
Marie Antoinette
From Austria (France’s enemy)
Madame Deficit- spent a lot of money on gowns, jewels, gifts, and loved gambling

4. The Revolution is coming!
People began to use the words like equality, liberty, democracy
The success of the American Revolution inspired them
Causes:
heavy burden of taxes
High cost of living
Bad weather caused crop failures
Price of bread doubles

5. The Estates-General Louis XVI tried to tax the Second Estate
called a meeting of the representatives of the three estates

6. The Estates-General continued..
Under medieval law- each estate would meet in a separate room & vote
3rd. Estate always outvoted
They establish the
National Assembly
Proclaimed the end of absolute monarchy & the beginning of a representative govt.

7. Tennis Court Oath
National Assembly was locked out of their meeting room one day
Broke onto a tennis court (hand-ball court)
Pledged to stay until a constitution was written

8. Storming of the Bastille
Louis XVI stationed an army in Paris
Rumors flew that the troops were going to massacre the citizens
July 14- a mob tried to get weapons/gunpowder from the Bastille (a Paris prison)
Freed a few prisoners, killed the guards
Symbolic act of revolution!
July 14- French equivalent to our July 4
Storming of the Bastille

9. The Revolution Brings Reform & Terror
The National Assembly reforms France
Aug the peasants took away all the power of the 1st & 2nd. Estates (& took over church lands)
A “sans-culotte”

10. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
Statement of revolutionary ideals adopted by the National Assembly
Men are born & remain free & equal
Preservation of the natural rights of men- life, property, security, & resistance to oppression
Liberté, égalité, fraternité- became the slogan of the Revolution
(Liberty, Equality, Fraternity)

11. The Great Fear Rebellion spread
Mobs broke into noble‘s houses; burned their service papers & the houses

12. March on Versailles
Oct Parisian women rioted over the high cost of bread
Approx. 6,000 women (and some men joined)
Took approx. 6 hours to walk from Paris to Versailles
Marched on Versailles & forced Louis XVI and his family to go to Paris
During their stay in Paris, the King and his family tried to escape (disguised as peasants), but they were caught & brought back to Paris

13. Legislative Assembly
Created a limited constitutional monarchy- stripped the king of his authority & L.A. had the power to create laws
Despite this new govt., old problems still remained:
1. Food Shortages
2. Debt

14. The Mountain & Girondins- Formed the Jacobin Club
Legislative Assembly
Radicals (“the left”, “The Mountain”)
Opposed the king & monarchy
Moderates (“the middle”)- wanted some changes
in govt, but not as much as the radicals
Conservatives (“the right”, “Girondins”)
Wanted a limited monarchy & few changes in govt.
The Mountain & Girondins- Formed the Jacobin Club

15. The Death of the King National Convention met in Paris (Sept. 1792)-
abolished the monarchy & declared France a republic (all males had the right to vote)
Louis XVI put on trial for treason, found guilty, & beheaded by the guillotine (Jan. 21, 1793)

16. The Guillotine http://www.guillotine.dk/ Execution device
Used to execute EVERYONE
in an equal manner (in a humane way)
More people executed by the guillotine from the 3rd estate than the others (the same people the Revolution was supposedly carried out for)

17. The Reign of Terror July 1793-July 1794
Committee of Public Safety
decided who was an enemy of the republic
Tried people in the morning & executed them in the afternoon
Danton & Robespierre- leaders of the Committee

18. Reign of Terror continued…
Most famous victim- Queen Marie Antoinette
3,000 were executed in Paris (40,000 overall)
85% were peasants/middle class
*Members of the National Convention turned on Danton & later Robespierre (they were executed)
-Robespierre’s execution officially ended the Reign of Terror

19. The Directory 1795- new plan of govt. created
Upper-middle class with a two house legislature & an executive body of five men
Napoleon Bonaparte part of that executive body