1789-1799

Causes of the French Revolution

• Bad Harvests (1780s)

• Rising Food Prices

• Inadequate transportation network

Causes of the French Revolution• Fiscal Crisis

*ineffective taxation system

*debt from Wars (Seven Years’ War + American Revolutionary War

Causes: Ancien Regime Ancien Regime – 3 Estates

1st Estate – Catholic Clergy (130,000)2nd Estate – French Nobility (300,000)3rd Estate – The rest of the French Population (Bourgeoisie Urban/rural middle class Urban poor/peasants)

Ancien Regime

Causes: Ineffectiveness of Louis XVI

• Extravagant lifestyle in Versailles

*removed and indecisive

• Proposed tax reforms (land tax) – refused by the Assembly of Notables

• Call for Estates-General (May 1789) – first time since 1614 / weakness of Bourbon monarchy!

Causes: Popularity of the Enlightenment

Ideas• Natural Rights

• Republicanism

• Liberalism

• Religious Tolerance

• Feminism

Causes: Social Tensions within French Society

• Bourgeoisie vs. Nobility

• Peasants vs. Nobles

• General resentment toward:

- power and influence of the Catholic Church

- inequalities of

Ancien Regime"This will not long endure." ["Ça ne durera pas

toujours"]

1789 – Major Events Leading up to the Storming of Bastille

*Assembly of Notables

- refused land tax

*Meeting of the Estates – General

- reps from each estate (old rule: 1 vote per estate)

*The Tennis Court Oath (reps from the 3rd estate + some from the first two)

- Goal: To write a new constitution

- Declared themselves The National Assembly

*Soldiers in Paris (mostly foreign mercenaries) Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)

1789 -“The Great Fear” and End of Feudalism

• Storming of the Bastille

• Sporadic violence and peasant uprisings throughout France

• National Assembly abolishes privileges and tithes

• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (statement of revolutionary principles)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

• Fundamental document of the Revolution

• Reflects ideas of the Enlightenment, such as:

*Natural rights

*Popular sovereignty

*Individual freedoms (speech and press)

The Women's March on Versailles• Poor harvests of 1789 shortages of grain

• Traditional view: “Father of the People” will provide for his flock

• Louis XVI and his family – forced to return to Paris and recognize the National Assembly

Decline of the Church's Power• Prior to the revolution

*1st Estate – 130,000 members

*Largest landowner in France

*Collected tithes (10% tax)

(resented by Protestants and Enlightenment thinkers, like Voltaire)

Decline of the Church (cont.)• Reforms under the National

Assembly’s Constitution:

*All Church property – “disposal of the nation” (nationalized)

*Abolishment of tithes, monastic vows, and religious orders

*Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) – clergy=“employee of the state”

(conflict for the clergy over their “loyalty oath”)

“The Patriotic De-Fattening Machine”

Foreign Threat• Revolution perceived as a threat to

European absolutist monarchies

• Louis XVI with the moderates – unlikely alliance – different motivations (strengthen the king/army vs. exporting revolution)

• France at war with Austria and Prussia (eventually the Dutch and the British join the anti-French alliance)

June 1791 – The Royal Flight

• Royal family flees Paris – caught at Varennes (5 mi. from the border)

• Brought back to Paris

• Louis XVI signs a new constitution

*Weak constitutional monarchy!!!

Legislative Assembly• Conservatives vs.

centrists (moderates) vs. radicals

• Radicals’ support grows after Louis’ failed escape

• Jan.1793 – Louis XVI executed

• Continued war = increase in food prices (anger by sans-culottes)

• The French Republic – 1792- year 1 (Cult of Reason, etc.)

The Radical Phase – The Reign of Terror (1793-1794)

• Rise of Jacobin radicals (The Mountain – Maximilian Robespierre)

• Execution of “Enemies of the Revolution” (Committee of Public Safety)

• Counter-reaction (Robespierre loses support – guillotined)

The Directory (1795-1799) and the Thermidorian Reaction

• New constitution of 1795 (conservative pushback)

*Limited (property) suffrage instead of universal suffrage

*Establishes the Directory

• The Directory – ineffective and corrupt social unrest use of army

• Napoleon comes to power - END OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Napoleon Bonaparte• 1799 – Consulship (first consul

of the Republic)• 1804 – Decline of

republicanism / declares himself an emperor

• Reforms:

*The Napoleonic Code

*The Concordat

*Reforms in tax code, higher education, urban infrastructure

*Established Central Bank

*Emancipation of Jews

*Limits on personal freedoms (freedom of press no more!)

• Popular authoritarianism!!!

The French Empire – Napoleonic Wars• Successes in Prussia and

Austria (early 1800s)

• The Continental System – commercial boycott of Britain

• Peninsular War – against Spain and Portugal

• 1812 –Invasion of Russia

(big disaster!)

• Exile to Elba

• Escape = 100 days

• Final defeat – The Battle of Waterloo (1814)

• Exile to St.Helena

Legacy of the Revolution• “Dawn of the modern

era”• Decrease in the power

of aristocracy and the Church

• Influence of the Enlightenment ideas (republicanism)

• Challenge to absolutism• Inspired other

revolutions

"Liberty leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix, 1830

Timeline of the French Revolution

Work Cited:• Slide 1: http://edu.glogster.com/media/4/27/26/97/27269711.jpg

•

Slide 2: http://learnearnandreturn.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/imgsrv.jpeg

• Slide 3: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=125658

• Slide 4: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b50000/3b51000/3b51500/3b51557r.jpg

http://general-history.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ancien-regime.jpg

• Slide 5: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/searchimages/165.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Ish7688voT0/TLb20E8K2kI/AAAAAAAACu0/btdetXWoP5c/s1600/429px-Ludvig_XVI_av_Frankrike_portr%C3%A4tterad_av_AF_Callet.jpg

• Slide 6: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/2c/images/1775GeoffrinSalonIdent$Fr485pxw.jpg

• Slide 7: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/spielmag/docs/legrandsiecle/lgs4.htm

• Slide 8: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist151/French%20Revolution%20II/album/slides/old%20regime%20not%20long%20to%20endure.jpg

•Slide 9: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist151/French%20Revolution%20II/album/index.html

•Slide 10: http://media-3.web.britannica.com/eb-media/98/90498-004-CEB880DC.jpg

http://weissworldhistory.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/tiers-etat.jpg

• Slide 11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Declaration_of_Human_Rights.jpg

• Slide 12: http://www.historywiz.com/images/frenchrevolution/womensmarch1.jpg

•

Slide 13: http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/09/myth-of-ignorant-priests.html

• http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YIQJvLNdNK8/TtFYaRYXiRI/AAAAAAAABM8/YCR2t0PlJLA/s1600/three+estates+caricature.jpg

•

• Slide 15: http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/27567ddb73a00a9dc3846838d17812b9_1M.png and http://www.imperialtometric.com/Edition/batailles/Sections/Battle_of_Valmy.jpg

• Slide 16:

• Slide 17: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/robes.jpg and

• Slide 18: http://bastille-day.com/media/Robespierre.jpg

• Slide 21: http://www.oocities.org/eurohist1916/eurohistory/APFrenchRevolution.htm