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French Revolution: Rise Against Inequality

Explore the Old Regime, Three Estates, Economic Crisis, National Assembly, Tennis Court Oath, Declaration of Rights, Early Reforms, and Reign of Terror in Chapter 2: Political Revolutions.

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French Revolution: Rise Against Inequality

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  1. Chapter 2 Political Revolutions

  2. 1. Old Regime -The traditional French government was known as the Old Regime. -Under the Old Regime, the King Louis XVI was ruled as an absolute monarch.

  3. 2. The Three Estates -Under the Old Regime, the citizens of French were divided into three estates. 1. The First Estate -Consisted of the higher Roman Catholic Clergy (or church officials) and the parish priest. -The higher Roman Catholic clergy live in luxury while the parish priest lived a simple hard working life. -The clergy managed church affairs, ran schools, and kept birth and death records. -To support these activities, the clergy collected a Tithe (or tax on income) from French citizens. -Represented about .5% of the population. -Owned 10% of the land in France. -Paid no taxes on property or income

  4. 2. The Three Estates (Pg. 2) 2. The Second Estate -Consisted of wealthy noble classes. -Held the highest offices in government. -Many nobles enjoyed great wealth and privileges. -Accounted for 2% of the population. -Owned about 20% of the land in France. -Paid all most no taxes.

  5. 2. The Three Estates (Pg.3) 3. The Third Estate -Consisted of three groups which differed in their economic conditions. a) The Bourgeoisie (Middle Class) b) Poor City Workers c) Peasants -Represented about 98% of the population -Owned 70% of the land.

  6. A. Bourgeoisie (Middle class) -Smallest group of the third estate. -The wealthiest, most outspoken group in the third estate. -Well educated, successful, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. -Believed strongly in the Enlightenment ideals. -Felt that their growing wealth entitled them to a greater degree of social status and political power

  7. B. Poor City Workers -Earned low wages and were frequently out of work. -Poorest group of the third estate.

  8. C. Peasants -Largest group of all the states. -Consisted of 80% of Frances 26 million people. -Burdened by heavy taxes. -Paid tithes to the church, as well as rent to their landlords.

  9. 3. GrowingEconomicCrisis -By the late 1700’s, the economic activity in France slowed down. -Poor harvests hurt the economy, and the traditional feudal taxes took a toll on businesses. -The most serious economic problem facing the French government was the huge debt it owed to bankers. -The government borrowed large amounts of money to pay for the wars of France. (territorial expansion, helped American colonies during the American Revolution) - The French kings continued to borrow money to support the lavish lifestyles, and continue fighting wars to maintain French colonies overseas.

  10. Marie Antoinette – Wife of King Louis VI

  11. 4. Attempts at Reform -With France on the verge of bankruptcy, King Louis XVI had to make a change. -Proposed to impose taxes on the nobility. -Nobility were angered at the King’s proposal and stated that the proposal needed to get ratified by the Estate-General.

  12. 5. The Estate-Generals - Each of the three estates elected it’s own delegates to the estate-general. - Each estate voted as a group, and had one vote. This way the first and second estates could always outvote the third estate. -The third estate wanted to change this traditional way of voting. -The King ruled in favor of voting in the traditional manner

  13. 6. NationalAssembly - Delegates of the third estate rejected the ruling of the King and decided to protest his decision. - They declared themselves The National Assembly and claimed the right to write a new constitution for France. - This vote became the first deliberate act of the Revolution.

  14. -The King responded by locking out the third estate delegates from the meeting. -The delegates broke down the door to an indoor tennis court, pledging to stay there until they drew up a new constitution. -This pledge is known as the Tennis Court Oath. 7. The Tennis Court Oath

  15. 8. Popular Uprisings -Fearing the King would dissolve the National Assembly by force, they stormed the Bastille on July 14th, 1789 to gather weapons and ammunition to protect themselves. - The storming of the Bastille represented an attack on the injustice, and inequality of the Old Regime -A sense of panic ran throughout France anticipating military action against the revolutionaries (Great Fear) - Disturbances in France forced the National Assembly into action, and they adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

  16. -used the American Declaration of Independence as a model (that all men are born and remain free and equal. the responsibility of the government to protect natural rights of people which include liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression 9. Declaration of the Rights of Man

  17. 10. Early Reforms - The new constitution created a limited monarchy in France -Created the Legislative Assembly which had the power to make laws -Three groups emerged from the Assembly 1) Radicals- Proposed many changes 2) Moderates- Proposed some changes 3) Conservatives- Upheld the limited monarchy with very few changes

  18. 11. Reign Of Terror -The Radicals (known as the Jabobians) gained control of the Legislative Assembly and passed sweeping reforms -On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and was beheaded (guillotine) -The Radicals led by Maximilien Robespierre set out to eliminate all traces of France’s past. -The former Queen, Marie Antoinette and thousands of other deemed enemies of the state were executed. -The Radicals formed the Committee of Public Safety to protect the ideals of the Revolution -Robespierre governed France as a dictatorship and became known as the Reign of Terror

  19. 12.The Reign of Terror • During the Reign of Terror, nearly 40,000 people were killed, many by the guillotine. • Most executions were held in places that had openly rebelled against the authority of the National Convention. • People from all classes were killed. • About 15% were clergy and nobility, and the rest from the Bourgeoisie and peasant classes.

  20. 14. End of Terror -Because many members of the National Convention feared Robespierre, a vote was eventually taken to execute him. -After his death, more moderate leaders took control, and the Reign of Terror ended. -The Constitution of 1795 established a new government, called the Directory. -It consisted of an elected legislature and an executive branch with five directors. -Only men that could read and owned property could vote.

  21. 15. The Directory -The reign of the Directory resulting in political corruption, inflation which made the citizens unconfident of the government -In 1799, a coup d’ etat that wanted the restoration of the monarchy ended the Directory. The revolt was led by the successful and popular general Napoleon Bonaparte who was given control of the French armies by the royalists.

  22. 16. The Rise of Napoleon • -With the Directory successfully defeated, a new government rose to power. • -In its place, they established a group of three consul that would led the national legislature • -With the support of the military, Napoleon’s power grew even greater and he assumed the powers of a dictator. • -The period from 1799 to 1814 is known as the Napoleonic Era, or the Age of Napoleon. • -Napoleon brought stability to France after years of chaos. • -He respected the personal freedoms of citizens outlined by the Declarations of the Rights of Man.

  23. 17. Napoleonic Code -He proposed all new laws and organized the French law into a new unified legal system called the Napoleonic Code. -These laws limited individual liberty and promoted order and authority over personal freedoms -Many freedoms that were established during the Revolution were restricted under the Code

  24. 18. Napoleon’s Empire -In 1804, the French people voted to declare France an empire and Napoleon became it’s emperor. Through Napoleon’s efforts, France sought to increase its size and influence over Europe. -By 1812, through wars and treaties, France gained control of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and the Confederation of Rhine ( Germany). -These same treaties and wars also made the countries of Denmark, Norway, Prussia, and Austria become allies of France. -As a result, France took control of most of Western Europe

  25. 19. Napoleon’s Downfall -Napoleon’s growing domination of Europe would eventually catch the attention of the czar of Russia, Alexander I, who feared a strong France -Napoleon believed that Great Britain was his chief rival in gaining control of all of Western Europe -In 1806, Napoleon instituted a blockade of Great Britain in order to cut their supplies that fueled their factories. (Continental System) -This blockade forbade the nations of Europe from trading with Great Britain. • Going against the French blockade, Russia continued to trade with Great Britain. - This caused Napoleon to invade Russia

  26. 19. Napoleon’s Downfall (Pg.2) -Napoleon recruited an army of 600,000 men from all over his empire to fight the Russian army. -In 1812, the French army began to march to Russia. The Russian defenders slowly began to retreat, allowing Napoleon’s troops to move deeper and deeper into Russia, and further away from France. As the Russians retreated, they practiced a Scorched Earth Policy of burning and destroying crops and everything else the French army would need to survive the cold winter. - As the French army moved deeper into Russia, their supplies began to dwindle as the Russian winter began to get colder and colder.

  27. 19. Napoleon’s Downfall (Pg.3) -Napoleon lost many of his soldiers to disease, cold, and hunger, and on October 19th, 1812, Napoleon ordered his troops to retreat out of Russia, losing over two thirds of his army in the process. -With Napoleon’s army losing more and more men, other European forces began to join Russia. -Prussia and Austria broke their alliance with France and joined Great Britain and Russia in a final alliance to crush the French Empire. - In 1814, the alliance invaded and captured the French capital of Paris. - With this defeat, Napoleon agreed to give up all claims to the French throne.

  28. 20. Return of the King -The former French monarchy was reinstalled with King Louis XVIII (brother of king Louis XVI) as the new king of France. -The French had to withdraw from all lands previously conquered by Napoleon. -The alliance Exiled Napoleon to the small Island of Elba off the coast of Italy. -Between 1814 and 1815, the restored monarchy made many enemies among the French people. - Learning of this, Napoleon escaped from Elba, and returned to France on March 1st 1815.

  29. 20. Return of the King (Pg.2) -He recruited an new army and led them into Paris on March 20th, beginning a period known as the Hundred Days. -Frightened, Louis the XVIII fled into exile, allowing Napoleon to once again take control of France. -When the European alliance heard of this news, they sent their troops to invade France. - On June 18th 1815, both sides met at Waterloo. - Napoleon lost the battle of Waterloo which resulted in him giving up the thrown again. - He was exiled to St. Helena where he lived under constant guard until his death in 1821.

  30. 21. The Congress of Vienna -With Napoleon finally defeated, the major European powers wanted to restore order, keep the peace, and suppress the ideas of the French Revolution. -First, they re-established the borders of the European countries. -France became surrounded by a ring of strong states so that they could never threaten the peace of Europe again. Secondly, France had to pay off the war debt incurred by the other countries. - Thirdly, the French monarch was restored, the four allies that defeated Napoleon; Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Russia agreed to form the Quadruple Alliance to yearly monitor order in France.

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