The French Revolution

Louis XVI in 1790 holding a copy of the Declaration of the

Rights of Man

The French Revolution caused major changes in France’s politics and society. It lasted from 1789 to 1799. During the revolution, France was changed from an absolute monarchy (where the king has all the power) to a republic of free and equal citizens. These changes were huge, both inside and outside of France. The French Revolution is thought to be one of the most important events in the history of Europe.

Marie Antoinette,Queen of France

1755 - 1793

Timeline1661 - Louis XIV spent over $100 million to build the Versailles Palace. 1715 - Louis XIV died leaving his country in debt from the money he spent supporting the arts. 1774 - Louis XV died leaving an even bigger debt from all of the wars France was in during his reign. 1789 - French peasants were mad because of an unfair tax system and a poor harvest in 1788. May 5, 1789 - Louis XVI called Estates General to a meeting in Versailles to approve a tax plan. June 17, 1789 - The Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and made the Tennis Court Oath. July 14, 1789 - The people of Paris stormed Bastille. August 4,1789 - The National Assembly announced the end of feudalism and serfdom in France. August 27, 1789 - The National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man. October 5,1789 - French women invaded Versailles. 1791 - The Constitution of 1791 was adopted. June 20,1791 - Louis XVI and his family tried to run away from France but were arrested. April 20, 1792 - France declared war on Austria. September 1792 - The National Convention held their first meeting. January 21, 1793 - Louis XVI sentenced to the guillotine. August 1793 - A national draft called for all able-bodied men to join the army. September 1793 to July 1794 - The Reign of Terror court sentenced 20,000 to 40,000 people to death. July 27, 1794 - The National Convention arrested Robespierre. July 28, 1794 - Robespierre was beheaded. 1795 - A new Constitution was adopted. 1799 - The Directory fell and ended the French Revolution.

Many Possible Causes of the Revolution

There are differing opinions on what may have caused the Revolution. During the early to mid 1900s, it was often thought that the French Revolution was caused by the bourgeoisie (middle class). It was thought that the bourgeoisie overthrew the Old Regime because they had given power and privilege to other classes (the nobility and the clergy). This stopped the middle class from improving their lives socially and politically. In the late 1900s, this idea was changed a little. The newer idea was that the economic recession in the 1770s may have frustrated the middle class. Rising bread prices were causing many to become upset and poor weather conditions had ruined the harvests. Today, it is believed that the Revolution may have been caused because the French people were becoming more upset with the monarchy. The monarchy had been successful in defending France in the past, but the middle class was upset with rising and unequal taxes (the nobility and clergy were wealthy, but paid less taxes than the peasants; taxes also were different from region to region), prosecution of people practicing other religions, and the government interfering in their lives. They also felt as if their government was not helping them and that their courts were not fair. People felt like their government was corrupt.

The Influence of Enlightenment Ideas

The great thinkers of the Enlightenment inspired an age of reason and thought, the Church was being challenged by two conflicting ways of life, the common people were starving, and the middle classes were impatient to gain more political representation. These were the symptoms of close-at-hand unrest. The nobility were living a carefree, luxurious life of wealth. The lower classes resented it and wanted to do something about it.

The Influence of the English Revolution

The English Revolution was encouraging to the French people. The French people saw a nation overthrow its monarchy. King Charles I was tried and convicted of treason and, later, beheaded. He believed that the king should have all of the power over a country and didn’t listen to what the people wanted. After his death, Oliver Cromwell tried to form a new government. Eventually, though, England did go back to monarchy rule.

King Charles I

The American Revolution: the French Alliance

The Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States was written in Paris, on February 6, 1778. The treaty set up an alliance to help France in case England should attack, and that neither France nor the United States would make peace with England until the independence of the United States was recognized. France supplied troops to the United States, which helped them to defeat the British in the American Revolution. The American Revolution allowed the French people to see that they could overthrow a government that didn’t listen to its people.

To read about the speech that Washington gave his troops about this alliance, visit this website:

http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/history/alliance_washington.html

Revolutionary Arts and the New Classicism

Neo-classicsim means “new classicism”, or a revival of classical values. From about 1750-1850 there was a revival of classical models of art and architecture. The excavations of ancient sites influenced some of the ideas. People were trying to reproduce the Greek and Roman art forms.

This was the time of the “rococo” during the later part of the reign of Louis XV, a time that was very artistic. The rococo period presented the world with the most light-hearted and beautiful entertainments it could dream up. The general atmosphere filled people with smiles, sighs, philosophy, conversation and the delicate tinkling of the harpsichord..

While the upper classes were holding on to the ideas of the rococo period, a cooler and more serious spirit spread through the nation. The endless wealth of the rococo finally revealed horrible consequences, as some people made their move to encourage all of Europe to return to the past to glorify the wisdom and beauty of Greek and Roman architecture. A new style called classicism was born, a style that was aimed towards harmony and restraint. The writers started using a Romantic style. Visual artists chose straight lines over curves. The music of the times was polished and refined. The new classicism was created in a belief that it represented the forms of middle-class elegance in direct opposition to the extravagant excess wealth of the upper class.

Click on the speaker to hear some of the music created during this time.

The Old Regime in France (L’Ancien Regime)

During the ten years of the French Revolution, France first changed and then took apart the Old Regime (the political and social system that was in France before 1789). The Old Regime was replaced by many different governments over time. None of these governments lasted for more than four years, but their ideas changed France’s political system. Some of the ideas include writing a bill of rights and constitution, giving all citizens equal rights, experimenting with having representatives in government, and incorporating church ideas into the government.

Louis XIV, the “Sun King”Louis XIV was king of France from 1643-1715. He was in favor of absolute rule in France (he was the only one in charge) and tried to take over parts of other European countries to glorify France. He was the longest active king in French history.

He was a hard-working king and he’s known for starting two new practices: having professional diplomats (law-makers) and having a uniformed army.

Louis was known for denying rights to Protestants and had tight control over his Roman Catholic clergy members. He tried to take away the Protestants’ rights in other countries, but it proved how weak his army was when the people fought back.

Louis was also known for his love of art. Plays were performed at Versailles for him, he owned many paintings, and had famous musicians play for his guests. (His “Sun King” nickname came from a part that he played in a play.) He took down Paris’ medieval walls, built a home for disabled veterans, and rebuilt the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Versailles

A view of Versailles

Louis XIV loved hunting. In 1661 (at age 23) he decided to change the small royal hunting lodge at Versailles outside of Paris into a beautiful palace. It had huge fancy gardens and many fountains. It was a huge tax burden to the French people, but Louis loved to spend time there. The palace was never finished, but in 1682 it became his official home and the seat of the government and courts.

Louis XV: “Apres moi, le deluge”

• Louis XV reigned as King from 1715-1774. Since he became King at age 5, Philippe II governed until he became 18 in 1723. Louis had good intentions, but he was bored by governing. He never followed any policy consistently. He allowed wealthy commoners to buy political and social positions, which made the nobles very mad.

• France was involved in three wars while Louis was King. The last one (the Seven Years War) caused France to lose most of its overseas land to England. A few years later his government began to improve. They recognized that their tax system was not fair. In 1771 the courts (who opposed any changes) had all powers taken away from them by Louis XV. He decided to tax the nobility and clergy; in the past they had not paid any taxes. This was reversed after Louis’ death though.

• He is known to have said “Apres moi, le deluge” (After me, the deluge). This was an interesting look into the future because the French monarchy would be overthrown less than twenty years later.

This is a portrait of Louis XV when he was 13 years old and king of France. He succeeded Louis XIV in the year 1715, when he was 5 years old. It hangs in the Palace of Versailles near Paris, France.

Marie Antoinette: the Famous Legend of “Let them eat cake”

Marie Antoinette was the queen of France (married to Louis XVI). Her expensive life-style made her unpopular. She liked to spend extra money on things that weren’t needed. Paying no attention to her country’s money problems, she refused to help hungry mobs who marched on the palace in Versailles. Instead, she called out troops.

The main food item of the French people was bread. At the time of the revolution, a bad economy and poor weather led to a severe bread shortage and the people had to spend all their money just to buy food. Many went hungry. Legend has it that when the queen was told about the people having to eat moldy bread she said, “Let them eat cake!” She obviously didn’t get it!

Louis XVI

For more interesting facts on Louis, visit this website:

http://www.knology.net/~leahmarie/louis.htm

Louis XVI of France was the grandson of King Louis XV and was married to Marie Antoinette. Both of his older brothers and his father had died, so he became king at age 20. According to historians, he was considered to be a very weak king and not very smart. He preferred to spend his time on his hobbies, such as hunting and making locks, rather than being a king.

When he got into office, France had lots of extra debt, and high taxes on the lower class had caused misery among the people. Some believe that 50% of the French people were unemployed. Louis tried to lower the taxes and make changes, but the upper class and the courts tried to stop him.

After Louis gave the American colonies money for revolting against England (1778-1781), Louis’ aides proposed high taxes for the nobility. Some of his aides were forced to resign. The government began borrowing money since they didn’t have the extra tax money coming in.

The End of the Old Regime

The Estates-General Meet, May 1789

The anger of the French people against taxes and the extra spending by the courts caused more of Louis XVI’s aides into being forced to resign. In 1788, Louis was forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General, the first gathering of that group in 175 years. Once they met, they became the governing party of France.

The Three Estates

The First Estate was composed of the clergy which had lots of money through the popular Roman Catholic Church in France. They had control over censorship of the press and of schools. They were also the judges.

The Second Estate was made up of the nobility who owned 20% of all land in France and were not taxed by the government. These were wealthy, carefree, land-owning aristocrats. By this time, most political positions were held by members of the Second Estate.

The Third Estate was made of the commoners of France. Bourgeois (middle class), artisans, and peasants all fell into this category.

The Social Classes: the Three Estates

These three groups, together called the Estates General, met at random times for the purpose of contributing to the government of France. The last meeting of this group was in 1614, and so when Louis XVI called a meeting of it for May 1789, there was a lot of excitement and apprehension. What would this meeting do for France?

The Beginning of the RevolutionIn the past, voting had been organized by estate. Each of the three estates met separately, and each group had one vote. This was extremely unfair to the third estate, which made up 90% of the population. Many people began passing around pamphlets demanding that each estate should get a number of votes that better represented the population and would make it harder for the first two estates to always outvote the third. Now, two battles were brewing at the same time: some people were trying to overthrow the government and others were arguing over how votes should be counted in the Estates-General.

At the beginning of 1789, the three estates began to prepare for the big meeting by writing up a list of grievances (problems that they wanted solved). These lists mentioned that the king had too much power and that they thought there should be a permanent government. To make the third estate happy the king decided to double the number of representatives. The king did not say, though, if they would be voting as one group or if their votes would count individually.

When the big meeting of the three estates came in May 1789, the king still hadn’t decided on the voting issue, so the estates spent most of their time arguing about how to count the votes.

1789: from the Three Estates to the National Assembly

• Five wasted weeks later, the third estate tried to take charge by inviting the clergy and nobility to join them in voting. The third estate wanted to count by head (count each person’s vote) since they represented 90% of the nation. Some in the other estates agreed, so on June 17, 1789, they began to call themselves the National Assembly.

• When the king’s officials locked the Estate’s regular meeting place to prepare it for an announcement from the king, the members of the National Assembly thought that their ideas were about to be crushed. They decided to meet at a nearby tennis court on June 20. They swore that they would not stop until France had a constitution. This pledge became known as the Tennis Court Oath.

• On June 23, Louis XVI announced that he would make some major changes to the financial system. He agreed to ask for approval for all new loans and taxes, but he ruined his announcement for the people by saying that he would not recognize the new National Assembly. And, he wanted them to still vote by the three estates (instead of by counting each person’s vote). When the people began to protest, on June 27, he agreed to let each vote count. Even though there was a lot of celebrating going on, the public still wasn’t sure if they trusted the king.

July 14: Bastille DayCrowds began to form in Paris looking for weapons in case of a royal attack. On July 14, 1789, the mob attacked the Bastille, a French prison on the edge of the city. They thought that lots of weapons were stored there and that people fighting the government were inside as prisoners, but actually there were only seven prisoners in there.

Today July 14 in France is celebrated like

July 4 in the United States.

A little bit of history about the Bastille: It was built in 1370 as part of a wall around Paris. During the 1600’s and 1700’s it was used for housing political prisoners. People of every class and profession were arrested and put in prison (without going to trial) for being obnoxious in any way. Unlike what most people thought, though, at the time of the takeover most prisoners had free reign of the compound and were allowed out on occasions.

Declaration of the Rights of ManBecoming afraid of violence, the leaders of the revolution began to change France forever. On the night of August 4, 1789, many noblemen began to give up their privileges. Before the night was over the National Assembly announced an end to the feudal system (the system of rights and obligations that had caused inequality under the Old Regime). This allowed peasants to pay less dues to their landlords and for getting rid of serfdom (the system that by law forced peasants to live and work on landlords’ estates).

At the end of August, the National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It was written to be the first part of a new constitution that wasn’t written yet. It was a short document written to guarantee basic rights such as the right to property, free speech, and personal security. It didn’t mention the rights of women. It let the king know that the people were not going to follow him.

“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”

The Declaration of the Rights of Man introduced the principles of “Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite” (Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity).

To read the document and the rights that it would give the French people, visit this website:

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm

October 5: Women’s March on Versailles

When all of this began to unfold, Louis XVI once again was slow to make decisions. The queen, Marie Antoinette, feared a catastrophe if things continued the way that they were heading. Power was quickly slipping away from the king.

When rumors began to spread that guests at a royal banquet were complaining about the revolution, a crowd of thousands (most of these were women who were also protesting the high cost of bread) marched to Versailles on October 5. Guards couldn’t stop the crowds. The crowd forced the royal family to leave Versailles for Paris and would never let them return. The king and his family were now prisoners living in a palace in Paris. The National Assembly was living at the same palace. Paris was now where all of the power was at.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the Guillotine

In 1791, the royal family tried to escape from France to Austria (Marie Antoinette’s family lived there), but they were caught and brought back to Paris. Louis XVI swore that he would obey the new French constitution but continued to secretly work against the revolution. In 1792 when the National Assembly declared France a republic, the king was tried as a traitor and punished by death. Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793, in the Place de la Revolution (now Place de la Concorde) in Paris. Marie Antoinette was sentenced to death for treason later in the year. She was sent to the guillotine in Paris on October 16, 1793.

Reign of Terror: Jacobins and the “Committee of Public Safety”

The National Convention (formerly known as the National Assembly) created the Committee of Public Safety in April 1793 to help stop people from fighting against the Revolution. The committee was run by a radical group called the Jacobins. One member seemed to take charge of that group: Maximillien Robespierre. Their goal was to eliminate all people opposed to the revolution, to raise new armies, and to make sure that there was food for the armies and cities. They used the guillotine to scare people into doing what the committee wanted. They were the group that insisted that Louis XVI be brought to the guillotine; they sent thousands of other people to the guillotine as well. Originally, they were in favor of keeping the king in charge of the country, but after Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette tried to escape to Austria they were against any form of royalty. Eventually, though, the fear that they had spread invaded their own committee. Their leading member (Robespierre) was arrested and executed in July 1794 when the French people began to feel that his ideas were too extreme. The Committee of Public Safety existed until 1795. For more information on the Reign of Terror, visit this website: http://www.bartleby.com/65/re/ReignTer.html

Maximillien Robespierre

ClosingMost people look at the French Revolution as much more than a bloody tragedy. They are impressed that the Revolution abolished serfdom, slavery, inherited privilege, and torture as a form of punishment. It was an experiment with democracy. It also opened some opportunities for people who had been left out before (because of their religion or social class).

The Revolution was very important socially. France (and other parts of Europe) were never the same again. Once the idea of privilege was destroyed, it couldn’t be pieced back together again. It didn’t change which groups of people were rich or poor, but that wasn’t the intention of the revolution.

Further InformationWebsites:

http://www.costumes.org/pages/fashiondress/FrenchRevolution.htm

http://members.aol.com/agentmess/frenchrev/

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/fr/map.html

http://www.louis-xiv.de/

http://www.afwc.ic24.net/

http://www.wilmatheater.org/20012002/liaisons/openStages3.htm

Resources:

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