2. Causes of the French Revolution
Bad Harvests (1780s)
Rising Food Prices
Inadequate transportation network

3. Causes of the French Revolution
Fiscal Crisis
*ineffective taxation system
*debt from Wars (Seven Years’ War +
American Revolutionary War

4. Ancien Regime – 3 Estates
Causes: Ancien Regime
Ancien Regime – 3 Estates
1st Estate – Catholic Clergy (130,000)
2nd Estate – French Nobility (300,000)
3rd Estate – The rest of the French Population
(Bourgeoisie
Urban/rural middle class
Urban poor/peasants)

5. Ancien Regime

6. Causes: Ineffectiveness of Louis XVI
Extravagant lifestyle in Versailles
*removed and indecisive
Proposed tax reforms (land tax) – refused by the Assembly of Notables
Call for Estates- General (May 1789) – first time since 1614 / weakness of Bourbon monarchy!

7. Causes: Popularity of the Enlightenment Ideas
Natural Rights
Republicanism
Liberalism
Religious
Tolerance
Feminism

8. Causes: Social Tensions within French Society
Bourgeoisie vs. Nobility
Peasants vs. Nobles
General resentment toward:
- power and influence of the Catholic Church
- inequalities of
Ancien Regime
"This will not long endure." ["Ça ne durera pas toujours"]

9. 1789 – Major Events Leading up to the Storming of Bastille
*Assembly of Notables
- refused land tax
*Meeting of the Estates – General
- reps from each estate (old rule: 1 vote per estate)
*The Tennis Court Oath (reps from the 3rd estate + some from the first two)
- Goal: To write a new constitution
- Declared themselves The National Assembly
*Soldiers in Paris (mostly foreign mercenaries)  Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)

10. 1789 -“The Great Fear” and End of Feudalism
Storming of the Bastille
Sporadic violence and peasant uprisings throughout France
National Assembly abolishes privileges and tithes
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (statement of revolutionary principles)

11. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Fundamental document of the Revolution
Reflects ideas of the Enlightenment, such as:
*Natural rights
*Popular sovereignty
*Individual freedoms (speech and press)

12. The Women's March on Versailles
Poor harvests of 1789  shortages of grain
Traditional view: “Father of the People” will provide for his flock
Louis XVI and his family – forced to return to Paris and recognize the National Assembly

13. Decline of the Church's Power
Prior to the revolution
*1st Estate – 130,000 members
*Largest landowner in France
*Collected tithes (10% tax)
(resented by Protestants and Enlightenment thinkers, like Voltaire)

14. Decline of the Church (cont.)
Reforms under the National Assembly’s Constitution:
*All Church property – “disposal of the nation” (nationalized)
*Abolishment of tithes, monastic vows, and religious orders
*Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) – clergy=“employee of the state”
(conflict for the clergy over their “loyalty oath”)
“The Patriotic De-Fattening Machine”

15. Foreign Threat
Revolution perceived as a threat to European absolutist monarchies
Louis XVI with the moderates – unlikely alliance – different motivations (strengthen the king/army vs. exporting revolution)
France at war with Austria and Prussia (eventually the Dutch and the British join the anti-French alliance)

16. June 1791 – The Royal Flight
Royal family flees Paris – caught at Varennes (5 mi. from the border)
Brought back to Paris
Louis XVI signs a new constitution
*Weak constitutional monarchy!!!

17. Legislative Assembly
Conservatives vs. centrists (moderates) vs. radicals
Radicals’ support grows after Louis’ failed escape
Jan.1793 – Louis XVI executed
Continued war = increase in food prices (anger by sans- culottes)
The French Republic – year 1 (Cult of Reason, etc.)

18. The Radical Phase – The Reign of Terror (1793-1794)
Rise of Jacobin radicals (The Mountain – Maximilian Robespierre)
Execution of “Enemies of the Revolution” (Committee of Public Safety)
Counter-reaction (Robespierre loses support – guillotined)

19. The Directory (1795-1799) and the Thermidorian Reaction
New constitution of 1795 (conservative pushback)
*Limited (property) suffrage instead of universal suffrage
*Establishes the Directory
The Directory – ineffective and corrupt social unrest  use of army
Napoleon comes to power - END OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

20. Napoleon Bonaparte 1799 – Consulship (first consul of the Republic)
1804 – Decline of republicanism / declares himself an emperor
Reforms:
*The Napoleonic Code
*The Concordat
*Reforms in tax code, higher education, urban infrastructure
*Established Central Bank
*Emancipation of Jews
*Limits on personal freedoms (freedom of press no more!)
Popular authoritarianism!!!

21. The French Empire – Napoleonic Wars
Successes in Prussia and Austria (early 1800s)
The Continental System – commercial boycott of Britain
Peninsular War – against Spain and Portugal
1812 –Invasion of Russia
(big disaster!)
Exile to Elba
Escape = 100 days
Final defeat – The Battle of Waterloo (1814)
Exile to St.Helena

22. Legacy of the Revolution
“Dawn of the modern era”
Decrease in the power of aristocracy and the Church
Influence of the Enlightenment ideas (republicanism)
Challenge to absolutism
Inspired other revolutions
"Liberty leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix, 1830

23. Timeline of the French Revolution

24. Work Cited:
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