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The French Revolution. What happened? How did the American and French Revolution turn out so differently?. Causes. Long Range Causes: Inequality of French society (three estates) Immediate Causes:
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The French Revolution What happened? How did the American and French Revolution turn out so differently?
Causes • Long Range Causes: • Inequality of French society (three estates) • Immediate Causes: • Economic collapse due to bad harvests and declining manufacturing which caused food shortages, rising prices for food, and unemployment • Overspending on wars and court luxuries
Four Phases • National Assembly 1789-1791 • National Convention 1792-1794 • Directory 1795-1799 • Napoleon 1799-1815
Estates-General to National Assembly • Louis XVI needed to raise new taxes so called for meeting of Estates-General (French parliament) • First, Second, and Third Estate each had one vote but Third Estate wanted to change that to counting each member’s vote. This would give the Third Estate more power to make reforms. • Louis XVI refused to allow that to happen.
National Assembly • The Third Estate calls itself National Assembly and makes Tennis Court Oath swearing to write a new French Constitution. • Parisians attacked and destroyed the Bastille, a hated prison. • Attacked by Austria & Prussia, France declares war.
National Assembly Reforms • The feudal system was abolished. • Church lands sold and church brought under state control. • Constitution of 1791 set up a limited monarchy. • The Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted. • Inspired by the Enlightenment and American documents • Proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men
National Assembly to Paris Commune to National Convention • Radical political groups took Louis XVI captive and forced National Assembly to suspend monarchy and call for a National Convention. • Many members of this group called themselves the sans-culottes. They wore long trousers instead of knee-length breeches worn by the upper classes.
National Convention • Monarchy abolished & Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette were beheaded for treason. • Jacobins, radical members of the Convention seized power. • Committee of Public Safety (headed by Maximilien Robespierre) established to defend France from internal and external threats. • Initiated Reign of Terror, killing 40,000 who were thought to oppose the National Convention.
The Directory • The revolution reacted to the violence of the Reign of Terror by writing the Constitution of 1795. • Established a two house legislature • Corruption was common.
Napoleon • Napoleon Bonaparte topples the Directory in a coup e’tat (sudden overthrow of the government). • Accumulated more power, creating an empire and declaring himself emperor in 1804. • Fought many wars from 1805 to 1815 when he was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.
Why did the American & French Revolutions turn out so differently? • The French were trying to create a new social order as well as a new political system. • Quality of leadership • The level of tolerance for dissent and opposition • Concept of individual rights • Readiness of people for self-government
