Transcript French Revolution Day One - Sharing information through

French Revolution
World History
Causes of French Revolution
Estate System
 Enlightenment Ideas
 Economic Problems (taxes & crop failures)
 Weak Leader – Louis XVI
 Unpopular queen – Marie Antoinette

Estates General
Louis XVI decided to raise taxes on
nobility (2nd estate) to deal with economy
 2nd Estate refused to pay until called a
meeting of Estates General to approve tax
 1st time called in hundreds of years
 Each estate gets 1 vote – 3rd Estate happy
b/c think they will have a voice in gov’t

National Assembly
 3rd
Estate realizes time to make changes
 Votes to re-organize themselves
 Call themselves National Assembly –
want an end to absolute monarchy &
representative gov’t
 National Assembly will include all estates
& will make laws to benefit all ppl
Tennis Court Oath
At meeting of Estates General, 3rd Estate
locked out of meeting room
 Broke down door to indoor tennis court
and said wouldn’t move until a new
constitution which gave them rights was
signed
 Pledge called Tennis Court Oath

Declaration of Rights of Man &
Citizen
Many 1st & 2nd Estate joined National
Assembly
 Wrote Declaration of Rights of Man
and Citizen stating all “men are born and
remain free and equal in rights”
 Leaders adopted slogan of “Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity” for revolution

Panic
King Louis XVI scared so put Swiss guards
around palace for protection
 Rumors flew that king was going to use
Swiss guards to get rid of National
Assembly or massacre French ppl

Storming the Bastille
Ppl began to gather weapons to defend
against Swiss guards
 July 14, mob looking for gunpowder broke
into the Bastille, a prison
 Mob hacked many guards to death then
paraded around the streets with dead
men’s heads on sticks
 First violent event of the French
Revolution

Great Fear
Rumors started that nobles were hiring
outlaws to terrorize peasants
 Wave of panic called Great Fear went
through countryside
 Peasants began to break into noble’s
homes, burn, pillage

Women March
In Paris, thousands of women rioted over
price of bread
 w/ knives, axes, etc. marched to Versailles
 Broke into palace, killed guards
 Demanded that Louis & Marie Antoinette
return with them to Paris
 When king & queen left, symbolized
change of power from monarchs to ppl

National Assembly
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen “liberty, property, security, and
resistance to oppression” equal justice,
freedom of speech, freedom of religion
 State controlled church: church leaders
now paid by government and elected.
Church lands sold off to pay off France’s
debt
 Alarmed many of the peasants who were
devout Catholics
 King tries to escape

New Constitution
Limited monarchy
 Legislative Assembly: approve laws/war
 Factions split the assembly

Radicals: big
changes- no
monarchy
Moderates:
some changes
Conservatives:
Limited monarchy:
Other factions:
Emigres: nobles who wanted the old
regime restored
 Sans-culottes “those without knee
breeches” shopkeepers, workers, etc..
Who supported the revolution and wanted
bigger changes

France at War
Austria and Prussia urge France to restore
the monarchy
 Legislative assembly declares war
 Prussia threatens to destroy Paris if
monarch is harmed
 Mob invades the Tuileries and imprisons
the Royal family

September Massacres

Afraid royal supporters will try to break
out of jail, mobs raid French prisons and
massacre over 1,000 prisoners
Under pressure from the mobs, the
Legislative assembly set aside the
constitution of 1791, declared the king
deposed, dissolved the assembly, elected
a new legislative body
 The National Convention created a
republic and abolished the monarchy

Jacobins
Radical revolutionaries
 Put King Louis XVI on trial and executed
him
 Jacobin leaders continued war and drafted
300,000

Robespierre
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Jacobins had many enemies including peasants,
priests, and other rebels
Robespierre creates a “republic of virtue”
Wiped away France’s past
New calendar
Closed churches
Committee of Public Safety: protect the
revolution from it’s enemies
“Reign of Terror”
Killed thousands of people, including Marie
Antoinette
National Convention executed Robespierre
Another government…
Executive directory of 5 men (moderates)
 Two house legislature
 Hired Napoleon Bonaparte to become
General of the French army.

1. June
1791
3. April
1792
2.
September
1791
A.
B.
C.
D.
5.
September
21 1792
4. Aug
10 1792
Legislative Assembly
declares war on Prussia
King Louis XVI executed
Royal family tries to
escape
Robespierre becomes
head of Committee of
Public Safety
6. Jan 21
1793
7. July
1793
8. July
28 1794
E. National Assembly finishes
new constitution
F. Royal family is imprisoned
G. Robespierre sent to the
guillotine
H. Monarchy is abolished,
France becomes a republic
June 1791
C
Royal Family tries to escape
September 1791
E
National Assembly finishes the
new constitution
April 1792
A
Legislative Assembly declares war
on Prussia
August 10 1792
F
Royal Family is imprisoned
September 21 1792
H
The monarchy is abolished,
France becomes a republic
January 21 1793
B
King Louis XVI is executed
July 1793
D
Robespierre becomes the leader
of the Committee of Public Safety
July 28 1794
G
Robespierre is sent to the
guillotine