Intro to The French Revolution1763 - 1795

Video on French Revolutionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

wXsZbkt0yqoWhile watching the video, take down notes

about what happens during the French Revolution.

Then in groups of three or four write down what you think caused the start of the revolution, who fought in the revolution, why did they fight, what was the result of the revolution and any other questions you may have about the revoultion?

French SocietyThe French people were deeply divided

amongst economic ties – if you thought the British were divided between the Upper, Middle and Lower class in Britain during the 1600’s, FRANCE WAS WORSE.

There were three main groups – The Aristocrats (Upper Class), The Bourgeoisie (Middle Class), The Peasants (Lower Class).

Inflation – when the price of goods rise.

The PeasantsMost peasants were mostly farmers, and while

they owned land to work on, laws and farming methods were not on their side.

France’s farming methods were no where near as advanced as nearby countries such as Britain and Holland – instead of having a cultivator to dig up the ground, they used garden hoe’s and shovels.

Cultivator

Garden Hoe

The PeasantsNot only that but the laws did not favour the

Peasants. When wild animals would come onto their land and destroy their crops, farmers were not allowed to kill the animals as the animals had to be kept alive for the Aristocrats to hunt.

Aristocrats would ride their horses across the farmers crops to hunt wild animals, damaging the crops and not having to pay a dime to the farmers for the damage they caused.

Peasants in the CityPeasants who didn’t work on the farm, worked

in the city. They were usually artisans (a craft person),

clerks, or manual labourers. These people had it hard as HALF of their

income went directly to food. That does not include housing, enjoyment, NOTHING but FOOD.

That food was usually bread, and nothing more.

Peasants in the City As a result of the poverty most of these peasants

became beggars, vagrants and thieves in cities like Paris.

Not only that but the wealthy Aristocrats would display their wealth without any embarrassment.

Because this wealth was not re-distributed properly amongst the people, inflation rapidly increased. Thus, the price of food, goods, and services kept getting higher and higher with the peasants not making any more money.

Ultimately, peasants in the city would be unable to pay for food as it would cost them more than half their pay cheque.

Peasants The life of a peasant was brutal –

if you were a farmer you were lucky to have enough crop to barely feed your family, work was hard and long (20 hour work days were not unusual); and Aristocrats would ruin your crops to make it even more difficult to grow food.

If you lived in the city, you barely had enough money for food. You worked long hours and physically demanding work. Inflation occurred, they became thief's and vagrants and the Aristocrats had no problem flaunting their money in front of you and mocking your situation in life.

Lastly, peasants were not educated, couldn’t read, and some often begged for life to end instead of living.

The Bourgeoisie These people were well educated, intelligent people.

They were business men, lawyers, doctors and teachers.

While they made enough money to buy food, sometimes it wasn’t enough as inflation constantly hammered their pocket book.

Not only that, but the Aristocrats would set up internal tariffs (taxes) and tolls on goods that were being moved from one part of the country to another.

If you were an educator and wanted to talk to a fellow educator in another part of France, you would be forced to pay an aristocrat a toll to enter “their area” of France

AristocratsThey were the King’s and Queen’s advisors,

good friends who received high political positions, vast amounts of land and were to control certain parts of the country.

They had ALL the money. They had no problem flaunting and showing off their money.

They constantly reminded the peasants that they were were nothing more than low-lifes and reminded the bourgeoisie that they were lucky to have some money and a bit of a lifestyle.

Etat c’est moiSo who was this great king of France during

this great time?King Louis XIVHe was king from 1643 – 1715He gave himself the name

“The Sun King” as he saw himself as the centre of French society.

He constantly said, “Etat C’est Moi” – I Am the Nation

King Louis XIVHe became the centre of every French persons

lives. Everything French citizens did needed Louis XIV final approval.

Aristocrats were constantly invited to visit Louis XIV They were invited to his ceremonies, royal

gatherings, royal breakfasts, royal lunches, royal suppers and all special occasions in between – you never said no to Louis XIV

King Louis XIVAristocrats and Nobles would take ballet

lessons to learn how to gracefully move in the presence of Louis XIV so as to not displease him.

If you slipped up and displeased him you were banned from the Palace of Versailles, lost your apartment if you lived in the palace, or asked to leave the royal court forever.

Brink of Disaster King Louis XIV became heavily involved in wars around

Europe. He did this to try and expand his French territory and

promote his own interests. A majority of his wars were unsuccessful.

Louis also spent a lot of time and money building monumental castles in his name – most notably the Palace of Versailles.

He also involved himself in the politics of the Roman Catholic Church. He persecuted and killed as many Calvinist Protestants that he could.

Upon the end of his reign in 1715, Louis had created a deficit twice as large as his governments revenues.