The French Revolution

1789-1799

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

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

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

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

1st Estate – Lower Clergy

• Made up of parish priests

• Poorly paid & overworked

• Provided religious guidance, money &

food to the poor and all education

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

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

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

Unifying Ideas• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 (1795-1799)

Death of Louis XVI

Death of Marie Antoinette

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