The French Revolution: Understanding the Best and Worst of Times

1. The best of times and the worst of times Understanding the French Revolution By Mr. Stankus

2. Causes of the Revolution Why was France heading toward a revolution in 1789?

3. Vocabulary • Bourgeoisie • Louis XVI • Marie-Antoinette

4. Reading: Background of French Revolution • Various social, political, and economic conditions led to the revolution. These conditions included dissatisfaction among the lower and middle classes, interest in new ideas about government, and financial problems caused by the costs of wars. • Legal divisions among social groups that had existed for hundreds of years created much discontent. According to law, French society consisted of three groups called estates. Members of the clergy made up the first estate, nobles the second, and the rest of the people the third. The peasants formed the largest group in the third estate. Many of them earned so little that they could barely feed their families. The third estate also included the working people of the cities and a large and prosperous middle class made up chiefly of merchants, lawyers, and government officials.

5. Reading: Background of French Revolution • The third estate resented certain advantages of the first two estates. The clergy and nobles did not have to pay most taxes. The third estate, especially the peasants, had to provide almost all the country's tax revenue. Many members of the middle class were also troubled by their social status. They were among the most important people in French society but were not recognized as such because they belonged to the third estate.

7. Reading: Background of French Revolution • The new ideas about government challenged France's absolute monarchy. Under this system, the king had almost unlimited authority. He governed by divine right--that is, the monarch's right to rule was thought to come from God. There were checks on the king, but these came mainly from a few groups of aristocrats in the parlements (high courts). During the 1700's, French writers called philosophes and philosophers from other countries raised new ideas about freedom. Some of these thinkers, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, suggested that the right to govern came from the people.

8. Political unrest • Government (absolute monarchy) was oppressing the people. • Most people felt the government was not representing them. • Wealthy and Powerful People of the Middle Class were not recognized by the Government. • 3rd Estate unfairly taxed • Inequality of classes

9. Estates General Each section gets one vote Commoners consisted of Workers, Peasants, and Bourgeoisie (Merchants, Businessmen, Bankers, Doctors, Lawyers and Craftsmen) The 1st and 2nd Estates represented the Nobility The King and the Nobility were exempt from most taxes King 1st Estate Clergy 150 members 2nd Estate Lords 150 members 3rd Estate Commoners (97% of population) 300 Members

10. Revolutionary Ideas • Enlightenment thinkers spread new ideas about the rights of people and role of government. • Life, Liberty, and Property • Social Contract Theory (Government serves the people) • People are Citizens; not subjects • People are by nature good and turn bad because of poor government • American Revolution • French Soldiers who aided the Americans in gaining freedom from the British Monarch brought these ideas back to France.

11. Financial mismanagement • King Louis XIV’s wars and large living put France into debt • Spanish wars of succession • Palace of Versailles • King Louis XVI’s large living put France into debt • American Revolution • Marie Antoinette

12. Review • What were the four main causes of the French Revolution? • What was the King’s government called? • What estate made up most of France? • Why was there resentment in the government?

13. Quiz Causes of the French Revolution

14. The Revolution Begins An Analysis of the Immediate Causes of the French Revolution

15. Vocabulary • Emigres • Conservatives • Moderates • Radicals • Liberals • Reactionaires

16. Reading: The Revolution Begins • The Estates-General opened on May 5, 1789, at Versailles, near Paris. Most members of the first two estates wanted each of the three estates to take up matters and vote on them separately by estate. The third estate had as many representatives as the other two estates combined. It insisted that all the estates be merged into one national assembly and that each representative have one vote. The third estate also wanted the Estates-General to write a constitution.

17. Reading: The Revolution Begins • The king and the first two estates refused the demands of the third estate. In June 1789, the representatives of the third estate declared themselves the National Assembly of France. They gathered at a tennis court and pledged not to disband until they had written a constitution. This vow became known as the Oath of the Tennis Court. Louis XVI then allowed the three estates to join together as the National Assembly. But he began to gather troops to break up the Assembly.

18. Review • What two things did the Estates General want? • What two things did the National assembly do?

19. The Tennis Court Oath The 3rd Estate, upset because of a lack of representation, walks out to tennis court. King 1st Estate Clergy 150 members 2nd Estate Lords 150 members Together they swear an oath not to go back in until their demands are met. Constitutional Monarchy! One person one vote! 3rd Estate Commoners 300 Members

20. Reading: The Revolution Begins • Meanwhile, the masses of France also took action. On July 14, 1789, a huge crowd of Parisians rushed to the Bastille. They believed they would find arms and ammunition there for use in defending themselves against the king's army. The people captured the Bastille and began to tear it down. At the same time, leaders in Paris formed a revolutionary city government. Massive peasant uprisings against nobles also broke out in the countryside. A few nobles decided to flee France, and many more followed in the next five years. These people were called emigres because they emigrated. The uprisings in town and countryside saved the National Assembly from being disbanded by the king.

21. King’s Response King calls out Parisian Army Riots in Paris Destroy National Assembly! Storming of Bastille National Assembly Stays!

22. Reading: The Revolution Begins • The National Assembly. In August 1789, the Assembly adopted the Decrees of August 4 and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The decrees abolished some feudal dues that the peasants owed their landlords, the tax advantages of the clergy and nobles, and regional privileges. The declaration guaranteed the same basic rights to all citizens, including "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression" as well as representative government.

23. The French Revolution How did the Revolution lose its direction?

24. French Revolution 1789-1799 Moderates National Assembly 1789-91 Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man Liberals Conservatives Radicals Reactionaries Absolute Monarchy Estates General

25. National Assembly • The Assembly later drafted a constitution that made France a limited monarchy with a one-house legislature. France was divided into 83 regions called departments, each with elected councils for local government. But the right to vote and hold public office was limited to citizens who paid a certain amount of taxes.

26. National Assembly • The Assembly seized the property of the Roman Catholic Church. The church lands amounted to about a tenth of the country's land. Much of the church land was sold to rich peasants and members of the middle class. Money from the land sales was used to pay some of the nation's huge debt. Complete religious tolerance was extended to Protestants and Jews. The Assembly also reformed the court system by requiring the election of judges. By September 1791, the National Assembly believed that the revolution was over. It disbanded at the end of the month to make way for the newly elected Legislative Assembly.

27. National Assembly Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen Equality under the law Freedom of : Speech Press Religion Assembly Unlawful arrest Civil Constitution of the Clergy No church tithe Seize church land Religious freedom Clergy under state control Constitution of 1791- limited Monarchy

28. Review • What three things did the National assembly do? • Drafted a Constitution • Declaration of the Rights of Man • Seized property of Catholic Church and sold to wealthy middle class

29. Quiz Immediate Causes of Revolution

30. French Revolution 1789-1799 Legislative Assembly Limited Constitutional Monarchy 1791-92 Moderates National Assembly Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man Liberals Conservatives Radicals Reactionaries Absolute Monarchy Estates General

31. vocabulary • Conscription • Universal Manhood Suffrage • Coup d etat • Georges-Jacques Danton • Maximilien Robespierre • Jean-Paul Marat • Reign of Terror • Napoleon Bonaparte • Josephine de Beauharnais

32. Legislative Assembly • Constitutional powers of Government • No noble or feudal titles • 3 branch govt. legislative, executive, Judicial • King is sacred but rules under law • All citizens able to run for office • All citizens have freedoms: assemble, worship, speak ,write, come and go, to property • Voting rights: Frenchman, 25yrs, pay taxes, own property, cannot be a servant

33. The Legislative Assembly • The new Assembly, made up mainly of representatives of the middle class, opened on Oct. 1, 1791. It soon faced several challenges. The government's stability depended on cooperation between the king and the legislature. But Louis XVI remained opposed to the revolution. He asked other rulers for help in stopping it, and plotted with aristocrats and emigres to overthrow the new government. In addition, public opinion became bitterly divided. The revolution's religious policy angered many Catholics. Other people demanded stronger measures against opponents of the revolution. • The new government also faced a foreign threat. In April 1792, it went to war against Austria and Prussia. These nations wished to restore the king and emigres to their positions. The foreign armies defeated French forces in the early fighting and invaded France. Louis XVI and his supporters clearly hoped for the victory of the invaders. As a result, angry revolutionaries in Paris and other areas demanded that the king be dethroned.

34. The Legislative Assembly • In August 1792, the people of Paris took custody of Louis XVI and his family and imprisoned them. Louis's removal ended the constitutional monarchy. The Assembly then called for a National Convention to be chosen in an election open to nearly all French males age 21 or older, and for a new constitution. • Meanwhile, French armies suffered more military defeats. Parisians feared that the invading armies would soon reach the city. Parisians also feared an uprising by the large number of people in the city's prisons. In the first week of September, small numbers of Parisians took the law into their own hands and executed more than 1,000 prisoners. These executions, called the September Massacres, turned many people in France and Europe against the revolution. On September 20, French forces defeated a Prussian army in the Battle of Valmy. This victory, which prevented the Prussians from advancing on Paris, helped end the crisis.

35. Review • Why did the legislative assembly fail? • King fought against loss of power • Catholics were angered by loss of church property and rights • Prussia and Austria invade France to restore emigres

36. French Revolution 1789-1799 Legislative Assembly Limited Constitutional Monarchy 1791-92 National Convention Republic 1792-93 Democratic Constitution (all males can vote) Moderates National Assembly Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man Liberals Conservatives Radicals Reactionaries Absolute Monarchy Estates General

37. National Convention • The king's removal led to a new stage in the revolution. The first stage had been a liberal middle-class reform movement based on a constitutional monarchy. The second stage was organized around principles of democracy. The National Convention opened on Sept. 21, 1792, and declared France a republic. The republic's official slogan was "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." • Louis XVI was placed on trial for betraying the country. The National Convention found him guilty of treason, and a slim majority voted for the death penalty. The king was beheaded on the guillotine on Jan. 21, 1793. The revolution gradually grew more radical--that is, more open to extreme and violent change. Radical leaders came into prominence.

38. Legislative Assembly Limited Constitutional Monarchy 1791-92 National Convention Republic 1792-93 Democratic Constitution (all males can vote) Moderates National Assembly Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man Liberals Conservatives Jacobins: Reign of Terror (King and Monarchist executed) 1794 Robspierre Radicals Reactionaries Absolute Monarchy Estates General French Revolution 1789-1799

39. Reign of Terror • The Jacobin government was dictatorial and democratic. It was dictatorial because it suspended civil rights and political freedom in the emergency. The Convention's Committee of Public Safety took over actual rule of France, controlling local governments, the armed forces, and other institutions. • The committee governed during the most terrible period of the revolution. Its leaders included Robespierre, Lazare Carnot, and Bertrand Barere. The Convention declared a policy of terror against rebels, supporters of the king or the Gironde, and anyone else who publicly disagreed with official policy. Hundreds of thousands of suspects were jailed. Courts handed down about 18,000 death sentences in what was called the Reign of Terror. Paris became used to the rattle of two-wheeled carts called tumbrels carrying people to the guillotine. Victims included Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI.

41. Reign of Terror

43. French Revolution 1789-1799 Thermadorian Reaction Directory 1795 Abolished Democratic reforms of Republic Legislative Assembly Limited Constitutional Monarchy 1791-92 National Convention Republic 1792-93 Democratic Constitution (all males can vote) Moderates National Assembly Constitution and Declaration of the Rights of Man Liberals Conservatives Jacobins: Reign of Terror (King and Monarchist executed) 1794 Robspierre Radicals Reactionaries Absolute Monarchy Estates General

44. Thermadorian Reaction • The revolution ends. In time, the radicals began to struggle for power among themselves. Robespierre succeeded in having Danton and other former leaders executed. Many people in France wished to end the Reign of Terror, the Jacobin dictatorship, and the democratic revolution. Robespierre's enemies in the Convention finally attacked him as a tyrant on July 27 (9 Thermidor by the French calendar), 1794. He was executed the next day. The Reign of Terror ended after Robespierre's death. Conservatives gained control of the Convention and drove the Jacobins from power. Most of the democratic reforms of the past two years were abolished in what became known as the Thermidorian Reaction. • The Convention replaced the democratic constitution it had adopted in 1793 with a new one in 1795. The government formed under this new constitution was called the Directory, referring to the five-man executive directory that ruled along with a two-house legislature. France was still a republic, but once again only citizens who paid a certain amount of taxes could vote.

45. Napoleon

46. Napoleon • Meanwhile, France was winning victories on the battlefield. French armies had pushed back the invaders and crossed into Belgium, Germany, and Italy. • The Directory began meeting in October 1795. But it was troubled by war, economic problems, and opposition from supporters of monarchy and former Jacobins. In October 1799, a number of political leaders plotted to overthrow the Directory. They needed military support and turned to Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general who had become a hero in a military campaign in Italy in 1796 and 1797. Bonaparte seized control of the government on Nov. 9 (18 Brumaire in the revolutionary calendar), 1799, ending the revolution.

47. Quiz Phases of Revolution

48. The Age of Napoleon 1799-1814 Objective: Was Napoleon a friend or an enemy to the revolution?

49. Vocabulary • Plebiscite • Nationalism • Scorched-earth policy • Napoleonic Code • Concordat • Horatio Nelson • Duke of Wellington

50. Napoleon • Napoleon – 1st modern dictator, under a republic • Brought stability and safety after chaos of revolution • First five years of government called consolate (approve or reject Napoleon’s ideas)