The French Revolution

Chapter 18

Europe in 1787

1786: France—the Dominant County In Europe• But France is bankrupt• Lavish lifestyle of Kings• Expensive Wars of choice by Louis XIV and Louis XV

1700-1780• War of the Spanish Succession• War of the Austrian Succession• 7 Years War (in North America: French and Indian War)• American Revolution

Wealthiest 1% of the Population paid Zero taxes

Social Divisions

• France’s social classes determined legal rights and taxes• 1st Estate: Clergy (no taxes, few obligations)• 2nd Estate: Nobility (minimal taxes, few individual rights)• 3rd Estate: Everybody else (majority of taxes, no rights)

• Wide gap between very wealthy merchants who were not nobility but who copied their mannerisms and poor, landless urban laborers and rural peasants

• 1st and 2nd Estates constituted about .01% of the population• 3rd estate = 25-27 million people

4 stages of the French Revolution

• 1788-1792 a constitutional struggle • Increasingly bold elites articulated grievances against

the king

• 1792-1794 acute crisis, consolidation, repression • Centralized government mobilized country’s resources

to fight invading armies

• 1794-1799 a republic without leadership• Undermined by corruption and internal division,

France maintained its Republic until the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

• 1799-1815 Napoleon’s Rule & Defeat• Republic to Empire to defeat and restoration of the

Monarchy

Stage 1: Constitutional Struggle1788-1792

Fiscal Crisis and Stalemate

• February 1787: First Assembly of Notables (chosen from the 1% who paid no taxes) refused to approve a plan to raise taxes and limit privileges. The deadlock continues for over a year.• August 1788: Louis XVI must call the Estates-

General (French version of parliament) into session• The Estates-General had not been in session since

1614

Louis XVI

Hunger & the Ancien Regime• July-September 1788: poor harvest --> food shortages,

hunger, continued fiscal crisis.• November –December: Assembly of Notables insists that

Estates-General operate according to rules of the Ancien Regime –the social, political and economic system which centralized power in the King and granted privilege to the Church and Nobility.• Voting in the Estates-General under rules of the Ancien

Regime guaranteed that 1st Estate, 2nd Estate and 3rd Estate have one vote each (even though 1st and 2nd Estates together represented less than 1% of population.)

January 1789:“What is the Third Estate?”• By Abbe Seyes • Published January 1789• The Third Estate is the Nation!• Consider his audience• The tone of the piece• Reasons why Seyes claims that the 3rd estate is the

nation?• What Kind of Political and Social order does he argue

for?

May 5, 1789

• Estates-General begins deliberations at the Palace of Versailles

Estates-General

• June 17: 3rd Estate proclaims itself the “National Assembly” and invites the 1st and 2nd Estates to join them—only a few liberal nobles and churchmen join• June 20: King Louis XVI orders the 3rd Estate locked

out of their meeting hall• June 20: 3rd Estate finds a Tennis Court and takes

the “Tennis Court Oath”

Tennis Court Oath

Delegates swear an oath that they will not disband until a constitution is approved.The French Revolution has begun!

Royal Capitulation?

• On June 27, Louis XVI concedes to the formation of a National Assembly based on majority rule and orders the 1st and 2nd Estates to join the National Assembly• On July 1, Louis XVI orders garrisons of mercenary

troops to form outside Paris• On July 2, Parisians demonstrate outside Palais

Royale against the increasing troop menace outside Paris

National Constitutional Assembly• July 7: National Assembly appoints a committee of

30 to draft a national constitution• July 9: National Assembly proclaims itself the

National Constitutional Assembly• Asserts power to decree law (previously only the King

could decree law) • Asserts power to draft and adopt a national constitution

The Fall of the Bastille

• July 12-14: Artisans and journeyman workers in Paris, are alarmed by the gathering of mercenary troops, angry at the price of grain and the dismissal of the finance minister who supported reducing their tax burden• March to the Bastille seeking to find arms and

gunpowder to defend themselves• Bastille held only 7 prisoners at the time

• Demonstrators demand the prison be opened• Swiss guards open fire killing about 100

Camille DesmoulinsSpoke to the Crowd of angry Parisians and allegedly incited them to march to the Bastille

Fall of the Bastille

Impact of Enlightenment Ideas on The French Revolution

• Enlightenment changed public debate• Enlightenment ideas played a critical role in articulating

grievances between social classes• Enlightenment ideals appealed to nobles, middle class and

poor alike even though ideas about how those ideals would be applied varied greatly among the social classes• Reform of government to provide checks and balances to power of

the king• Reform of economy to eliminate mercantilism and fairer tax system• Suffrage for whom???

• Clergy was frightened of Enlightenment Ideals because they feared losing power and privileged position, perhaps even property

The Great Fear: July – August 1789

• Rumors in the countryside: Austrians, Prussians or “brigands” were invading France• Peasants organized militias• Attacked manor houses for food,• Looted records of manorial rents/dues• Burned estates

In late July 1789, as reports poured into Paris from the countryside of several thousand separate yet related peasant mobilizations, a majority of them against seigneurial property, the deputies of the National Assembly debated reforming not just the fiscal system or the constitution but the very basis of French society. In a dramatic all–night session on 4–5 August deputies stepped forward, one after another, to renounce for the good of the "nation" the particular privileges enjoyed by their town or region

Popular Revolts

• The public (mostly people from the 3rd Estate) • Rumors:

• aristocracy and King conspiring to punish the 3rd Estate by creating conditions of scarcity and high prices for basic necessities (commoners= sans culottes) .

• King had called on outside forces to help put down the rebellion

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, August 1789

• Passive citizens: those who could not vote but retained certain natural rights• Active Citizens: paid taxes and could hold office and vote• About 50% of men in France qualified as “Active Citizens”• Indirect representation: Voted for Electors whose property

ownership entitled them to hold office• Religious Toleration—meant an end to persecution but not

accommodation of religious differences• Abolished serfdom and slavery in continental France

"Active Citizen/Passive Citizen"This cartoon mocks the distinction between active and passive citizens. Many revolutionaries hated this difference, essentially dividing those with property from those without. The propertied (active) were the only ones who could participate in the political process.

“Liberty, Equality,Fraternity: ExploringThe French Revolution”http://chnm.gmu.edu

Rights of Women

• Women were active in French Revolution• Joined clubs and held debates• Participated in demonstrations• circulation of news

• Marie Gouze aka Olympe de Gouges• Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Citizen (1791)

• Social distinctions based only on common utility• Women had same rights as men to resist authority and

participate in government• Women had the right to name the fathers of illegitimate children

• Divorce legalized in 1792

Olympe de Gouges

The October Days of 1789

• Parisian women from the market district, angered by the soaring price of bread marched to Versailles on October 5 and demanded to be heard• Not satisfied by the response of the National Assembly,

crowd broke through the gates at Versailles demanding that the King return to Paris• On October 6, the King agreed

• Agreement weakened King’s ability to resist further changes demanded by the National Assembly

National Assembly & the Church

• November 1789: Confiscated all church lands• 1790: enacted Civil Constitution of the Clergy, bringing

church under state authority• Bishops and priests had to swear allegiance to the state• Intended to make Catholic Church of France free from

interference by Rome

• Pope threatened to excommunicate all Bishops or Priests who signed the Civil Constitution• In Roman Catholic faith, excommunication meant damnation• Caused rift in the countryside between loyal Roman Catholics

and Republican supporters of the Revolution. People were forced to choose.

Dismantling the power of the Church• February 1790: Monastic vows are prohibited &

Religious orders are abolished• Teaching and charitable orders exempted

• October 1790: Louis XVI secretly explores coalition with foreign powers to end the Revolution• Letter to Charles IV of Spain (Cousin) complaining of Civil

Constitution of Clergy

• November 1790: all public officials and priests required to sign an oath of loyalty to new French Nation• March 1791: Pope condemns both Declaration of the

Rights of Man and Civil Constitution of the Clergy

The Tuileries Palace

Louis XVI Becomes an “Enemy of the Revolution” • June 20-25 1791 Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and

children are caught attempting to flee France• National Assembly suspends king’s authority • Suspicions grow that foreign invasions are

imminent• August 27: Declaration of Pilnitz: Emperor Leopold

II of Austria (Marie Antoinette’s Brother) agrees with king of Prussia to end the French Revolution and insists on English participation

Constitution of 1791

• September: Proclamation of new constitution• Louis XVI swears to uphold constitution and is restored

to power

• October: First session of Constituent National Assembly Opens• Debates divide Assembly over question of war with

Austria and Prussia• Many believe Royalists want to plunge France into war in

hopes that France will be defeated and Monarchy restored to full power

Revolutionary Changes

• Storming the Bastille: caused the King and the Nobility to agree to create the National Assembly• Great Fear caused National Assembly abolish feudal privileges

• Church tithe• Labor requirement (corvee)

• peasants must give landlord or the crown days of labor in return for privilege of renting a plot to farm

• Noble hunting privileges and tax exemptions• Sale of offices

• October Days demonstrated that even the King was subject to the will of the people

Stage 2 Acute Crisis, Consolidation, Repression1792-1794 Centralized government mobilized country’s resources to fight invading armies

Sans-Culottes

Runaway in Inflation and Military Threats = Increased Popular Radicalization• January-March 1792: Food Riots in Paris• March, 1792 Louis XIV forms new government consisting

mostly of Jacobins• April, 1792: France declares war on Austria • April 25, 1792: Rouget de Lisle composes La Marseillaise • July 1792: Brunswick Manifesto (composed by

commanding general of Austro-Prussian army warns Parisians to obey Louis XVI or they will be punished severely• July 29, 1792: Meeting of Jacobin Club in which Maximillian

Robespierre calls for removal of the king

Imprisonment of Louis XVI

• AUGUST 10, 1792: Sans-Culottes march toward Tuileries to demand arrest of the King. National Assembly strips Louis XVI of his powers and declares him a prisoner of the nation• August 13: Royal Family imprisoned• August 19: Lafayette deserts the army and the

Revolution and flees to Austria. Prussian army with French emigres invades France

September Massacres

• Rumors in Paris• Imminent invasion• Collapse of the Revolution• Conspiracies by aristocrats

• Prussian army seizes Verdun on September 3• Mob inflamed by rumors and pamphlets and

speeches massacres about 1,500 prisoners

Rule by Committee & Reign of Terror• September 21: National Constituent Assembly

abolishes the monarchy and declares a Republic• Convention appoints 2 committees to oversee daily

administration of government• Committee of General Surveillance• Committee of Public Safety

• Robespierre declares that the purpose of the terror is to terrorize the enemies of the revolution

Execution of Louis XVI

• January 21, 1793: Louis XVI found guilty of conspiring against the nation and executed by guillotine in the Place de la Republique

A Year of the Terror: 1793• January:

• Attacks on shops and food riots in Paris during a time of great scarcity

• February: • Convention declares war on Great Britain and Holland• Universal military conscription (draft) of 300,00 men• Regional revolts against conscription

• March: • Royalist and Catholic Revolts• Convention declares war on Spain • “Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal” established to judge all enemies of

the Republic• Brittany revolt begins• Convention decrees capital punishment for anyone who urges

agrarian revolts or attacks the principle of private property• Revolutionary Committees of Surveillance created in each district

(commune).

A Year of the Terror: 1793

• April:• Jacobins increase influence in the Convention• Another French General deserts to Austrians• Committee of Public Safety: “terrorizing enemies of

France within and without”

• May: • Price controls voted for grain• Commission of 12 created to “root out” extremists.• Jacobins demand arrest of Girondins• Convention approves Constitution of 1793

A Year of the Terror: 1793

• July:• Marat is assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday on July 13• French surrender at Mainz• Hoarding is voted a capital crime (you can be executed)

• August:• Convention decrees a universal draft of all men 18-25• Toulon falls to the British

• September:• Sans-culottes demonstration demands arrest of suspected enemies

and traitors & establishment of revolutionary army to put down revolts.

• Women ordered to wear the tricolored ribbon (a symbol of the revolution)

A Year of the Terror: 1793

• October:• Marie Antoinette executed on October 16 by guillotine

• November: • Festival of Reason celebrated in Notre Dame and replaces Catholic

symbols with secular principles of knowledge, reason, political liberty• All Catholic Churches in Paris closed by end of the year

• December:• Committee of Public Safety charged with prosecuting the war• Committee of General Surveillance responsible for police and

administration of Justice• All Revolutionary Tribunals are abolished except in Paris• Napoleon Bonaparte’s artillery helps re-take Toulon from the British

1794: The Revolution Eats its Own• February:

• Slavery abolished in some French Colonies• Robespierre declares distinction between Revolutionary

government and Constitutional government• Revolutionary government based on both “Virtue and terror—Virtue

without which terror is evil, terror without which virtue is powerless”• Property of all suspected of working against the Republic is

subject to seizure

• March:• Danton who urged peace and an end to the official terror and his

followers are executed by guillotine

• June: • Robespierre is elected President of the Convention

• July: • Robespierre and his followers arrested and executed by guillotine

What were the Causes of the French Revolution?What is the meaning of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity?

Failure of Reform• Vastly Unequal Taxation

• Tied to social class• Varied from region to region• 99% of population paid 100% of taxes while top 1% (church

and nobility) paid No Taxes

• Spending• Louis XIV: borrowed money to maintain his lifestyle and

engage in the wars in Europe• Louis XV borrowed money to pay costs of French participation

in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists

• Neither the King nor the Church and Nobility could reform the system alone and neither were willing to compromise

Economic Conditions

• Peasant taxation by church (tithe), landlords (rent, taxes) and state (taxes and work)• Price Controls: fell most heavily on the peasants and urban

poor• 1780’s poor harvests = soaring bread prices (poor urban

laborers and peasants survived mostly on bread)• 1788: 50% of income spent on bread• 1789: 80% of income spent on bread

• Peasants who left the countryside to find work in the cities remained unemployed• 1787-1789 unemployment in some urban centers was at 50%• Bread Riots occurred throughout the country in the Spring of 1789

Enlightenment Ideas

• Enlightenment ideas: critical in articulating grievances between social classes• Enlightenment ideals: appealed to nobles, middle class

and poor alike even though ideas about how those ideals would be applied varied greatly among the social classes• Reform of government to provide checks and balances to

power of the king• Reform of economy to eliminate mercantilism and fairer tax

system• Suffrage for whom???

• Clergy was frightened of Enlightenment Ideals because they feared losing power, privileged position, property

Social Antagonisms and Ineffective Rulers• Antagonisms between Bourgeoisie (merchants, professionals) and

lower aristocracy • These were the two groups who were in the best position to create

stability within a constitutional monarchy• Failure to cooperate, compromise = failure of leadership

• Antagonisms between Bourgeoisie and sans-culottes and peasants • Bourgeoisie feared the mob and feared universal suffrage

• Antagonisms between King, Church and upper aristocracy and 3rd Estate• Could the leaders of the Ancien Regime imagine losing their power? • Could the members of the Ancien Regime imagine the suffering of

peasants and sans-culottes • Failure of Imagination or empathy= failure of leadership and ineffective

rule