UNIT 2

1. UNIT 2 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

2. 2.1 Life in the Ancien Regime Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

3. Life in the Ancien Regime • Population doubles in the 16th century. • The 18th century witnesses explosive population growth. • France had 18 million in 1715 and 26 million by 1789. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

4. Reasons for Population Growth • Less famine in the 18th century. • Harvests improved. • Hygiene and sanitation improved. • Wars killed fewer people. • New foods. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

5. The Revolution in Agriculture • Industrial Revolution. • New methods of farming. • Agriculture is commercialized. • Peasants who were left to fend for themselves against nature and the marketplace. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

6. The Family in Early Modern Europe • Household was the primary organization. • Marriage occurred later in life. • Illegitimacy increased. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

7. Status and Class • Three Estates; Nobles, Clergy and the rest of the population. • People received the rights afforded their estate. • Nobles and Clergy were exempt from many taxes. • The merchant class demands a political voice. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

8. How Do Divisions in Society Lead to Problems? • No political place for the new urban middle class. • Peasants resented the leftovers of feudal dues. • Taxed peasants/merchants and untaxed Nobility and Clergy. • Louis XVI lacks the charisma of the Sun King. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

9. 2.3 Background Causes of the French Revolution Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

10. Long-Term Causes of the French Revolution • The Estate System. • Taxation. • War and Court Spending. • Weak Monarchs. • Growth of Trade. • The Age of the Enlightenment. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

11. Short-Term Causes • French Aid to the American Revolution (1776-83). • American Revolutionary Ideas. • The Character of King Louis XVI. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

12. The Immediate Causes • Money. • Bad Harvests. • Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General. • The National Assembly is Created. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

13. Major Events: The Revolution Begins (1789-91) • The Bastille is stormed. • The peasants storm the 40 000 Bastilles. • The National Guard is formed. • The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. • The March to Versailles. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

14. 2.4: The Government of the French Revolution Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

15. Three Phases of the French Revolution • Liberal Revolution1789-92. • Radical Revolution1792-94. • Thermidorean Reaction1794-99. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

16. The Legislative Assembly • At the left of the political spectrum were the Jacobins. • 30 Jacobins in the Legislative Assembly. • The center of the spectrum were the Girondins. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

17. The Legislative Assembly • 250 members in the Legislative Assembly. • The right of the political spectrum were the Feuillants. • 20 members. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

18. The Constitution of 1791 • France will be a hereditary constitutional monarchy. • France will have a parliament. • There was to be a separate executive. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

19. The Constitution of 1791 • All judges in France were to be elected. • The franchise (right to vote) was to be given to all who paid taxes equivalent to 3 days wages or more. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

20. Good and Bad Points of the National Assembly • It produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man. • Established a limited monarchy in France. • The Church was curbed in France. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

21. Good and Bad Points of the National Assembly • There was no universal suffrage. • Finances were not properly handled. • Slavery was still allowed in French colonies. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

22. Why Does the Revolution become More Radical? • Disaffection with the Revolution was growing among the lower classes, especially the peasantry. • The war with Austria and Prussia went very badly. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

23. Why Does the Revolution become More Radical? • Convinced that the king was behind the invasion, a Paris mob attacked the royal palace. • Volunteer National Guardsmen arrived from all over France. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

24. Events of the Second Phase of the Revolution • Begins on August 10, 1792 • The Paris Commune executed about twelve hundred people in the September Massacres. • The sans-culottes drove the radical revolution. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

25. Second Phase of the Revolution • Inequality of any kind was to be abolished. • The aristocracy and the monarchy was to be abolished. • The Convention was created. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

26. The Convention (1792-95) • The Convention declared France a Republic. • The radical Jacobins condemn the King’s treachery during the war with Prussia. • King Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

27. The Convention (1792-95) • Protection of the gains made during the Revolution. • The elimination of those elements which might endanger the new society. • The Committee of Public Safety. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

28. The Reign of Terror or the Republic of Virtue? • France would become the Republic of Virtue. • The old system was founded on property, Christianity, and social distinction. • ‘The Cult of the Supreme Being’ became the official religion. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

29. The Reign of Terror or the Republic of Virtue? • Dictatorship of Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety. • Terror became fiercest in areas of rebellion and Paris. • Execution of 25 000 to 40 000 counter-revolutionaries and ‘enemies of the republic.’ Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

30. Why Resort to a Reign of Terror? • The outbreak of war in 1792. • Economic pressures. • A citizen army is drafted throughout France. • Enemies within France had to be silenced. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

31. The Thermidorean Reaction (1795-99) • In July 1794 the radical leaders of the Convention, including Robespierre, were either exterminated or powerless. • Committee of Public Safety is stripped of all its powers. • Monarchists and priests returned back to France. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

32. The Thermidorean Reaction • A Constitution is drafted in 1795. • France officially became a democratic republic and granted all adult males who could read and write the vote. • The monarch is replaced with a Directory of five men. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

33. Achievements and Problems of the French Revolution • Brought an end to the final pieces of feudalism. • Radical Revolution introduced the National army, the metric system and abolished slavery in the colonies. • Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid

34. Achievements and Problems of the French Revolution • Nationalism and citizenship. • The Reign of Terror. • Committee of Public Safety: 20th century totalitarian state. Unit 2 IB History of Europe - McQuaid