The French Revolution

1. The French Revolution

2. Standard: WHII.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of scientific, political, economic, and religious changes during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries by describing the French Revolution. • Objective: SWBAT demonstrate knowledge of the scientific, political, economic, and religious changes during the French Revolution by viewing History Channel/PBS videos, completing Section Summaries from the textbook, and exploring the timeline of events through the Age of Napoleon. • Essential Question: How did the ideas of the Enlightenment contribute to causing the French Revolution?

3. Special Thanks to Ms. Stewart The French Revolution The French Revolution and the beginning of a new United States of America both happened in 1789

4. Liberty Leading the People

5. The French Monarchy:1775 - 1793 King Louis XVI Queen Marie Antoinette

6. Europe on the Eve of Revolution

7. Key Terms • Revolution – a great change over a short period of time • Estates – the class system in pre-revolutionary France • Clergy – the Church • Nobility – the upper class • Bourgeoisie – the middle class • Peasants – the lower class; 90% of the population • Nationalism - proud loyalty and devotion to a nation or excessive/ fanatical devotion to a nation and its interests, often associated with a belief that one country is superior to all others • Liberal - favoring reform, especially political reforms that extend democracy, distribute wealth more evenly, and protect the personal freedom of the individual

8. Class Division: Three Estates • France was divided into three classes, or estates • The First Estate: The clergy, were exempt from the taille, France’s chief tax • The Second Estate: The nobility, held many of the leading positions in the state and did not pay ANY taxes • The Third Estate included everyone else from rich and educated bourgeois to poor illiterate peasants and totaled about 98 percent of the population

9. Causes of the French Revolution Cartoon Analysis

11. People Under the Old Regime • This image shows "the people" as a chained and blindfolded man being crushed under the weight of the rich, including both clergy and nobility. Such a perspective on the period before 1789 purposely exaggerates social divisions and would have found few proponents before the Revolution, but the image does reveal the social clash felt so intensely by the revolutionaries.

12. Causes of the Revolution • Ideas of the Enlightenment and the American Revolution • The Salon

13. Causes of the RevolutionThe French Monarchy CLUNG TO ABSOLUTISM and SPENT TOO MUCH MONEY! • King Louis XVI clung to Absolutism • The French monarchy continued to spend lavishly on court luxuries: the queen, Marie Antoinette, was especially known for her extravagance • Financial support of the American Revolution and other costly wars led to near collapse of the French government’s finances

14. Causes of the Revolution • BREAD! • The French ate an average of two pounds of bread a day • Poor harvests lead to high grain prices • The people were hurting economically from a rise in prices higher than any increase in wages

15. Causes of the RevolutionCLASS RESENTMENT! • The Third Estate carried the tax burden • Who owned the land? Who paid the taxes?

16. Summary:Causes of the French Revolution • Enlightenment Ideas • The American Revolution • French system’s lack of change • Louis XVI clung to Absolutism • Economic problems • Money: Wars, Court luxuries • Bread: Bad harvest • Class resentment

18. Estates General - June 1789 • Louis XVI needed money and was finally forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General, the French parliament, which had not met since 1614, 175 years!

19. Estates General • Each order of French society had representatives in the Estates General • In order to fix France’s economic situation, most members of the Third Estate wanted to set up a constitutional government that would abolish the tax exemptions of the clergy and nobility

20. Voting in the Estates General Clergy 1st Estate 1 Vote • VOTE BY ESTATE • Under the old system, the single vote of the First Estate and the single vote of the Second Estate together could outvote the Third Estate, even though the Third Estate made up 90% of the population • (NOT FAIR!) 1 Vote Nobility 2nd Estate 1 Vote Everyone Else 3rd Estate

21. Voting in the Estates General Clergy 1st Estate 291 members • VOTE BY HEAD • The Third Estate had many more members than the other two estates • The change to each member having a vote would give the Third Estate much more say in matters 270 members Nobility 2nd Estate Everyone Else 3rd Estate 578 members

22. Voting in the Estates General • The Third Estate favored a system of each member voting, but the king upheld the traditional voting method of one vote per estate • The Third Estate reacted by calling itself a National Assembly and deciding to draft a constitution • King Louis XVI locked them out of their meeting hall • The Third Estate was joined by ‘liberal’ members of the other two Estates and moved to a nearby tennis court to hold their meeting

23. Tennis Court Oath • The Third Estate took an oath (promised) they would continue to meet until they had finished drafting a constitution • This oath is known as the Tennis Court Oath

24. Storming of the Bastille-July 14, 1789 • The Bastille, an armory and prison in Paris, was a symbol to the people of France representing years of abuse by the monarchy • The commoners stormed and dismantled the Bastille looking for gunpowder and to free political prisoners – they killed the commander and freed the prisoners • This demonstration of empowerment was a wake-up call to Louis XVI and posed a challenge to the existence of the monarchy • This action became the flashpoint of the Revolution

25. Demolition of the Bastille • This watercolor painting illustrates the "demolition" of what the text refers to as the "horrible prison" of the Bastille. As workmen tear down the spires on the roof, ordinary people rip stones off the base. These stones soon became collectors’ items, souvenirs of the people’s role in the outbreak of the Revolution—and symbols of the way in which many more people wanted to commemorate the event than had participated in it.

26. Awakening of the Third Estate • With the Bastille being destroyed in the background, a member of the Third Estate breaks his shackles. Here, the clergy and nobility recoil in fear, thereby emphasizing the conflict between the estates.

27. Symbols of The Revolution • The Tricolor Flag • The WHITE of the Bourbons • The RED & BLUE of Paris. Liberté, égalité, fraternité Or Death Phrygian cap with cockade

28. National Assembly • One of the National Assembly’s first acts was to destroy aristocratic privileges • August 26, 1789: the assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen • The declaration proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men, access to public office based on talent (meritocracy), and an end to exemptions from taxation

29. Declaration of the Rights of Man and the CitizenAugust 26, 1789 • Modeled in part by the American Declaration of Independence • Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights • Rights to liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression • Expression of the general will • At first Louis XVI refused to accept the laws of the National Assembly but was later forced to sign under duress

30. Women’s March on VersaillesOctober 5, 1789 • Thousands of Parisian women armed with pitchforks, swords, muskets, marched to Versailles • Why did they march? BREAD • The target of their anger was the Queen • “We want the baker and the baker's wife!"

31. Results of the Women’s March • The royal family was taken to the Tuileries Palace in Paris and virtually held prisoner • The Women's March on Versailles was one of the turning points of the French Revolution; it showed that the peasants of the Third Estate were a force to be reckoned with • This march also showed that women could be a driving force in history Tuileries Palace

32. The Constitution of 1791 • Adopted by the Legislative Assembly, the Constitution established a new government • Set up a limited monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries • The Legislative Assembly had the power to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace • Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male citizens over age 25

33. Louis XVI “Accepts” the Constitution and the National Assembly

34. At first the king seemed inclined to work with the Revolution and to try to solve the problems • But the influence of the queen and of the courtiers were too strong;  he was encouraged by them to disregard all promises he had made and sought to flee from France in order to obtain aid against the revolution from Austria

35. Storming of the Tuileries PalaceAugust 10, 1792 • As Austrian and Prussian troops moved closer to the city of Paris, the people of Paris began to panic • Believing that the king or his wife was giving information to these foreign powers, the Paris Commune, a group of local representatives, decided to lead an attack on the Tuileries Palace • Nearly 30,000 French citizens were involved

36. Arrest of the King and his Family • After killing numerous Swiss guards the Paris mob moved to the Legislative Assembly building • King Louis XVI and his family, who had been hiding, were found and arrested

37. Imprisonment of the RoyalsTour du Temple • Built by the Knights Templar from the 12th century, as their European headquarters • In 1808, the Temple having become a place of pilgrimage for royalists, Napoleon ordered its demolition, which took two years Marie Antoinette in the Temple Tower Louis XVI at the Tour du Temple

38. End of the Monarchy • This event signified the end of the monarchy in France and started the official trial of the king • The next day the Commune abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic • The French Revolution was about to enter a more radical phase

39. The Guillotine • Decapitation machines had been used throughout history • Beheading had been reserved for the nobility as a humane way to die • Traditional methods like the sword or axe could prove messy and difficult, especially if the executioner missed or the prisoner struggled; a machine would not only be fast and reliable, it would never tire

40. Guillotine Video • http://www.history.com/videos/coroners-report-guillotine#coroners-report-guillotine

41. Fate of the King • King Louis XVI was put on trial as a traitor of France and found guilty • On January 21, 1793 he died by guillotine

42. His execution had important consequences for France, because it brought about ideas in other countries against the French Revolution

43. Marie Antoinette ExecutedOctober 16, 1793 • Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason and executed by guillotine nine months after her husband; she was only 37 Marie Antoinette on the way to the guillotine. Pen and ink by Jacques-Louis David

44. The National Convention 1792 • The National Convention met in 1792, acting not only as a constitutional convention but also as a sovereign ruling body • It’s first act was to end the monarchy and establish the French Republic • The members disagreed over the king’s fate • Two factions, or dissenting groups–the urban Mountain and the rural Girondins–of the Jacobin political club divided over the issue

45. The Politics of the National Convention1792-1795 Clash Girondins Mountain Power base in Paris. Main support from the sans-culottes. Would adopt extreme measures to achieve their goals. Saw Paris as the center of the Revolution. More centralized (in Paris) approach to government. Wanted to execute the king Power base in the provinces. Feared the influence of the sans-culottes. Feared the dominance of Paris in national politics. Supported more national government centralization (federalism). Moderate toward the fate of the king

46. The Move to Radicalism • Power went to the Paris Commune, the sans-culottes (French for ‘without knee-breeches’) • Led by the minister of justice, Georges Danton, the sans-culottes sought revenge on those who had aided the king and resisted the popular will • Thousands of people were arrested and massacred • The sans-culottes were made up of working people and the poor, as well as merchants and artisans who were the elite of their neighborhoods

47. A Foreign Crisis • The execution of the king outraged European monarchies • Spain, Portugal, Britain, and other monarchies formed a loose coalition to invade France • To respond, the National Convention formed the 12-member Committee of Public Safety, led first by Danton and then by Maximilien Robespierre

48. Foreign Threats to France • To save the republic from foreign nations, the Committee of Public Safety called a universal mobilization in 1793 • By September 1794, France had an army of over one million • It pushed the countries invading France back across the Rhine and conquered the Austrian Netherlands • France had defeated its foreign foes by the summer of 1794

49. Nationalism • Definition: Proud loyalty and devotion to your country • The French revolutionary army changed the nature of modern warfare and was an important step in creating modern nationalism • The new French army was a people’s army fighting a people’s war on behalf of a people’s government • Warfare also became more destructive

50. Committee of Public Safety • From 1793 to 1794, the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention tried to defend France from foreign and domestic threats • The Committee took steps to control France and bring order • Enemies of the Revolution would be quickly tried and guillotined • A man and his family might go to the guillotine for saying something critical of the revolutionary government; even neighbors would turn each other in