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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. OBJECTIVES. What caused this era of revolution? What were the ideas and objectives of men and women who rose up violently to undo the established system? What were the gains and losses for the privileged groups and ordinary people in a generation of war and upheaval?.

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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

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  1. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

  2. OBJECTIVES • What caused this era of revolution? • What were the ideas and objectives of men and women who rose up violently to undo the established system? • What were the gains and losses for the privileged groups and ordinary people in a generation of war and upheaval?

  3. THEMES • LIBERALISM AND NATIONALISM • “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” • NAPOLEON • Paradox – “The God of War and the Promoter of Peace”

  4. FOUR STAGES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION • THE MODERATE STAGE (1789-1792) • THE RADICAL STAGE (1792-1795) • THE REACTIONARY STAGE (1795-1799) • THE NAPOLEONIC STAGE (1799-1814)

  5. Underlying Causes SOCIAL ?? POLITICAL ?? RELIGIOUS ?? INTELLECTUAL ?? TECHNOLOGICAL ?? ECONOMIC ??

  6. SOCIAL • French Estate System

  7. SOCIAL - First Estate • Clergy  RCC leaders • 130,000 total (0.5% of population) • Own 10% of land • No mandatory tax • “Voluntary gift” every 5 years • Taxed residents on their land • Collected TITHES

  8. SOCIAL – Second Estate • Nobility • 400,000 total (1.5% of population) • Own 25% of land • Taxed VERY minimally • Had “optional” taxes • Had manorial rights • Would tax residents on their land

  9. SOCIAL – Third Estate • EVERYONE ELSE • 25 million total(97% of population) • HEAVILY TAXED • 3 Subgroups • BOURGEOISIE • Doctors, lawyers, professionals, etc. • WORKERS • Artisans, skilled laborers • PEASANTS • 21 million people

  10. SOCIAL – Third Estate • Problems in 3rd Estate • Bourgeoisie want: • End of mercantilist restrictions • Fairer distribution of taxes • A GREATER VOICE IN GOVERNMENT • Peasants want: • Freedom from serfdom • Freedom from HIGH TAXES • Gabelle – salt tax • Taille – land tax • BOTH SEEK REVOLT

  11. SOCIAL – Third Estate • Abbe Sieyes – 1789: “Therefore, what is the Third Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed. What would it be without the privileged order? Everything; but an everything free and flourishing.”

  12. SOCIAL • Unpopular Court Nobility • Tension between bourgeoisie and nobility • Resentment of noble privileges • Nobles resistant to taxes • Population increase - 20-26 million 18th century

  13. POLITICAL • Bourbon monarchs • Louis XIV, XV, & XVI • BIG SPENDERS • Increasingly ineffective • DEBT • Rule by divine right • Lettres de Cachet – individuals could be sentence without trial

  14. POLITICAL • Louis XVI (r. 1774-1791) • Indecisive – “the locksmith” • Estates General dismissed for 175 years • Nobles want to limit power • Marie Antoinette – 1770 political marriage • Young, frivolous

  15. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant” House

  16. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant’s Hut”

  17. Marie Antoinette’s “Peasant’s Hut”

  18. RELIGIOUS James Gillray (1793)“The Zenith of French Glory –The Pinnacle of Liberty, Religion, Justice, Loyalty, and all the bugbears of Unenlightened Minds , Farewell!”

  19. INTELLECTUAL • ENLIGHTENMENT • Montesquieu • Voltaire • Rousseau • Locke • Diderot • Printing Press

  20. INTELLECTUAL • NEW INFLUENTIAL IDEAS • Liberty • Individual human rights • Freedom of speech, religion, press, etc. • Equality • Right to vote, run for office, participate in government • EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY • Only applied to MEN • “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”

  21. TECHNOLGICAL • PRINTING PRESS • GUILLOTINE Commoners – Hanged Aristocracy – beheaded “SYMBOL OF EQUALITY” Joseph Guillotin (1738-1814) Antoine Lewis (1723 – 1792) Used from 1791-1981

  22. ECONOMIC • Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) • Wars of Louis XIV • Versailles • American Revolution • UNLIMITED PERSONAL EXPENSES • ALL = GREAT

  23. ECONOMIC • INEFFECTIVE TAX SYSTEM • Dismissal of several finance ministers • Problems with Parlement of Paris • Continually refused to register new taxes • $$$ of bread ↑ • Caused by poor harvests, ↑ in populations, and harsh winters

  24. ECONOMIC CAUSE • Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) – controller general of finances – cut gov’t spending – 20 months after he was appointed 1774 he was dismissed • Jacques Necker (1732-1804) – dismissed in 1781 and then recalled in 1788 • July 1788 – Louis XVI - to win support for new taxes called into session the Estates General

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