Transcript Document 7390961

It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity…
-- Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities
Breakdown of Ancien Regime
(Old Oder)
Origins of the French Revolution
Economic Causes
• Public opinion resisted increase in taxes
• Govt financed its enormous expenditures through
borrowed $
• In 1780 debt was so bad that 50% of France’s budget
went to pay interest only; 25% went to military; 6% to
king and court at Versailles; less than 20% went to
function of state
• Couldn’t declare bankruptcy; no central bank couldn’t
print $; French currency was gold
• Had to increase taxes; tax system was unfair; to
increase revenues you would have to change the system
Socio-Economic Data, 1789
The French Urban Poor
80
70
60
50
1787
1788
40
30
20
10
0
% of Income Spent on Bread
Financial Problems
in France, 1789
a Urban Commoner’s
Budget:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Food
Rent
Tithe
Taxes
Clothing
TOTAL
80%
25%
10%
35%
20%
170%
a King’s Budget:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Interest
Army
Versailles
Coronation
Loans
Admin.
TOTAL
50%
25%
25%
10%
25%
25%
160%
Social Causes: Old Regime
(Ancien Regime)
Since Middle Ages 25 million
inhabitants of France were
legally divided into 3 orders or
estates.
The 3 Estates
• 1st Estate: Roman Catholic clergy. 100,000 members
owned 10% of land; paid “voluntary gift” every 5 years in
taxes; church levied a tax (tithe) on landowners of about
10%.
• 2nd estate: 400,000 (2%) noblemen and women who
owned 25% of land; taxed lightly or not at all; had many
manorial privileges – taxed the peasants, fishing and
hunting rights.
• 3rd estate: commoners:
» few: lawyers, merchants, officials (educated and
wealthy) bourgeoisie – middle class
» more: artisans and unskilled day laborers
» majority: peasants and agricultural workers
The Suggested Voting Pattern:
Voting by Estates
1
1
Clergy
1st Estate
Aristocracy
2nd Estate
1
Commoners
3rd Estate
Louis XIV insisted that the ancient distinction of the
three orders be conserved in its entirety.
The Number of Representatives
in the Estates General: Vote by Head!
300
Clergy
1st Estate
Aristocracy
2nd Estate
300
648
Commoners
3rd Estate
Out With the Old
Old Regime no longer corresponded
to social reality
–social system still based on
feudal times
–now society was based on
wealth and education; emerging
elite (aristocracy and
bourgeoisie) that was frustrated
with bureaucratic/absolute
monarchy
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes
1st What is the Third
Estate? Everything!
2nd What has it been
heretofore in the
political order?
Nothing!
3rd What does it demand?
To become something
therein!
Abbé Sieyès
1748-1836
Political Causes
• Weak King: Louis XVI
–careless, heartless, foolish; wrong man
at the wrong time
–most hated for his Austrian wife, Marie
Antoinette
–lived extravagantly
–depleted the French treasury
The French Monarchy:
1775 - 1793
Marie Antoinette & Louis XVI
Let Them Eat Cake!
Y Marie Antoinette NEVER said that!
Y “Madame Deficit”
Y “The Austrian Whore”
Stage 1 of Revolution
Moderate Stage: 1789 – 1792
Louis calls Estate General
(Congress)
• Estates General had not been summoned
in over 200 years!
• 1st and 2nd estate dominate the talks;
given uneven vote
• 3rd estate urges reform, relief for the poor,
& equal voice
• Weeks of arguing; 3rd estate leaves meets
on the King’s Tennis Court
Convening the Estates General
May, 1789
Last time it was called into session was 1614!
Tennis Court Oath: a vow to
save France from ruin
• Conservatives gather on the right, liberals
on the left
• Call themselves “National Assembly” and
start making laws
• (Does this have some precedent in the
American Revolution?)
“The Tennis Court Oath”
by Jacques Louis David
June 20, 1789
Bastille Day (July 14, 1789)
• Rioting throughout Paris; mob showed up
at the King’s prison (the Bastille) looking
for weapons
• Sparked the Great Fear; countryside
peasants attacked landlords for food
stores
Storming the Bastille, July 14, 1789
Y A rumor that the king was planning a military coup
against the National Assembly.
Y 18 died.
Y 73 wounded.
Y 7 guards
killed.
Y It held 7
prisoners
[5 ordinary
criminals & 2
madmen].
August 4, 1789: National
Assembly meets
• Ends serfdom, feudalism and all class
privilege
• Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen
• Called for the creation of a limited
monarchy
National Assembly
1789 - 1791
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!
August Decrees
August 4-11, 1789
(A renunciation of aristocratic privileges!)
The Tricolor (1789)
The WHITE of the
Bourbons + the RED &
BLUE of Paris.
Citizen!
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
Posed New Dilemmas
1. Did women have equal rights with men?
2. What about free blacks in the colonies?
3. How could slavery be justified if all men
were born free?
4. Did religious toleration of Protestants
and Jews include equal political rights?
National Assembly (1789 –
1792)
• Reform France: church lands are confiscated;
sold to pay debt
• Radicals called for the death of the King and
nobles (King tried to escape 1790 to Austria)
• émigrés: nobles fled France for more friendly
countries
• Upper class targeted by mobs and killed
• Eventually dissolves monarchy and declares
France a republic
Stage 2 of Revolution
Reign of Terror 1793 – 1794)
Reign of Terror
• Time of crisis: England and Spain join Austria
and Prussia in opposing the revolution; food
shortages and counterrevolution in western
France
• Power struggle between Radicals (Jacobins)
and moderates Girondins
• Jacobins take control of the legislature and
install an emergency government Committee for
Public Safety headed by Robespierre
The Political Spectrum
TODAY:
1790s:
Montagnards
(“The Mountain”)
The Plain
(swing
Girondists
Monarchíen
votes)
(Royalis
Jacobins
ts)
Reign of Terror
• Planned economy and Levee en masse
(national conscription) and reign of terror:
round up nobles for execution; thousands
sent to “national razor’ (guillotine).
• Jan. 21, 1793: Radicals execute Louis XVI
and his family
• Wanted a republic of virtue
• Changed the names of months; abolished
Sunday
Louis XVI’s Head (January 21, 1793)
c
The trial of the king
was hastened by the
discovery in a secret
cupboard in the
Tuilieres of a cache
of documents.
They proved
conclusively Louis’
knowledge and
encouragement of
foreign intervention.
c
c
The National
Convention voted
387 to 334 to
execute the
monarchs.
The Death of “Citizen” Louis Capet
Matter for reflection
for the crowned
jugglers.
So impure blood
doesn’t soil our land!
Marie Antoinette
on the Way to the Guillotine
Maximilien Robespierre
• Orders 1,000 of executions
• Uses spies; put people to death if they
disagreed with the Revolution
• Killed famous revolutionary leaders that he
saw as a threat (Danton, DesMoulins)
• 40 – 50,000 killed in all including peasants
for ridiculous reasons; bartender was killed
for serving sour wine
Committee for Public Safety
 Revolutionary Tribunals.
 300,000 arrested.
 16,000 – 50,000 executed.
Maximillian Robespierre
(1758 – 1794)
Different Social Classes Executed
8%
7%
28%
25%
31%
The National Razor
The last guillotine execution in France was in 1939!
The Radical’s
Arms:
No God!
No Religion!
No King!
No Constitution!
Reaction Stage (1794 – 1798)
• Moderates react; former members of
National Assembly turn on Robespierre;
he’s executed (1794)
• Girondins readmitted
• People are sick of the killing and the
chaos; terror did not help advance the
revolution
The Arrest of Robespierre
The Revolution Consumes
Its Own Children!
Danton Awaits
Execution, 1793
Robespierre Lies Wounded
Before the Revolutionary
Tribunal that will order him
to be guillotined, 1794.
(1795) National Assembly meets
and writes new constitution
• Power given to intellectuals
• Five man directory formed (executive
branch)
• Controlled by wealthy merchants that
wanted to expand their wealth; overturned
planned economy upset the sanscoullote
Resources
«http://www.pptpalooza.net/. Susan Pojer,
Howrace Greeley High School.
« Censer, J.R., & Hunt, L. (2001). Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French
Revolution. University Park, PA (The
Pennsylvania State University Press).