The French Revolution –A Dream Unfulfilled…

The Revolution had many causes

France’s economy was bankrupt France owed huge debts The Monarchy was unresponsive Famine and death were disastrous Recent population increases meant more

food and shelter were needed Help was not found in the Monarchy that

was so unaware of the problems

Enlightenment Ideas Take Hold The great Philosophers of the Age of

Enlightenment, like Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Locke developed and share their ideas about how governments should serve the people.

Victor Hugo said it this way. “There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”

Louis XVI – the King at the outbreak of the French Revolution Louis XVI loaned

money and ships to the Americans in their war for independence – not because he loved democracy but because he hated England

Louis XVI was incapable of managing his country in a crisis

The King’s family lived in luxury Louis XVI was a good

husband and father but not a very good king

He and his family lived at Versailles and knew nothing of the suffering of the people

The King’s family spent millions on their lifestyle while peasants starved

The Ancien Regime

This was the name given to the King and Queen of France during the days before the Revolution

The term meant that the King and Queen were living a life of grandeur (from a long time ago) when there was no longer money to support that lifestyle

The Ancien Regime became a name that was hated across France

The Palace of Versailles, home of the Ancien Regime and symbol of all that

was wrong with France

The Ancien Regime didn’t listen Famine and disease

were running rampant The price of bread

doubled and the women of Paris marched on Versailles

The Bread Riots and the Women’s March on Versailles got Louis’s attention

On October 4, 1789, a crowd of women and some men, marched toward Versailles, demanding to see "the Baker," "the Baker's wife," and "the Baker's boy". The King agreed to meet with some of the women and promised to distribute all the bread in Versailles to the crowd.

The National Guard arrived on the scene to take the King back to Paris. This complicated matters. Some of the crowd got into the Queen's quarters and Marie Antoinette barely escaped by way of a secret passage to the King's room. He agreed to address the people from his balcony. "My friends," he said, "I will go to Paris with my wife and my children."

This was a fatal mistake. It was the last time the King saw Versailles. 

Calling the Estates General - May 5, 1789

                                                                                  When the Estates General met, each estate solemnly marched into the hall at Versailles. The third estate, dressed all in black,   the nobility dressed in all their finery and finally the clergy dressed in full regalia.  The delegates of the third estate insisted that the three orders meet together and that the vote be taken by head, rather than by order. (Since there were far more delegates from the third estate, this plan would give them a majority). The King refused to grant their request. The third estate refused to budge.

The Tennis Court Oath

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

"The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom. . . decrees that all members of this assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate. . . until the constitution of the kingdom is established on firm foundations. . ."  June 20, 1789

Storming the Bastille The Bastille was a

prison that held many political prisoners.

The mob wanted to free the prisoners so they stormed the prison on July 14, 1789, killing many inside and releasing only a few men.

Blood was shed – there was no going back now.

                           

                            

A New Revolutionary Spirit…

                       The Marquis de Lafayette, commander of the new National Guard, combined  the colors of the King (white) and the colors of Paris (blue and red) for

his guardsmen's uniforms and from this came the Tricolor, the new French flag.

First a marching song – then a National Anthem – Le Marseillaise

“Come children of the Motherland, the day of glory has arrived! Against us, the tyrant has raised his bloody banner, has raised his bloody banner! Don't you hear across our countryside the roar of his merciless soldiers? They are coming right into your arms to butcher your friends and family! Citizens, to arms! Let's march! March! So that our very fields shall wash with their evil blood!”The Marseillaise

The Movement needed a Slogan

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: The French Revolution

Liberty - Freedom

Equality – No social classes

Fraternity - Brotherhood

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were imprisoned to await fate… The King was removed from his throne in

1792 and the couple were put in prison along with their children.

The King was beheaded January 21, 1793. The Queen was beheaded October 16, 1793. The young heir who would have been Louis

XVII died shortly thereafter.

The King Must Die – and so must his wife…

Presenting Louis XVI’s head to the crowd

After the death of Louis XVI in 1793, the Reign of Terror began. The first victim was Marie Antoinette. She had been imprisoned with her children after she was separated from Louis. First they took her son Louis Charles from her (often called the lost dauphin, or Louis XVII). He disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Then she led off a parade of prominent and not-so-prominent citizens to their deaths.  The guillotine, the new instrument of egalitarian justice, was put to work. Public executions were considered educational. Women were encouraged to sit and knit during trials and executions. The Revolutionary Tribunal  ordered the execution of 2,400 people in Paris by July 1794. Across France 30,000 people lost their lives.

The Reign of Terror Continues

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The Reign of Terror began with

the death of the Queen, but soon

peasants and bands of thugs

began raiding the countryside and driving nobles

from their great estates. Many

were put in prison for later

execution.

Maximilien Robespierre Robespierre was named

the head of the Committee on Public Safety. Their job was to round up and execute enemies of the Revolution – that meant anyone who disagreed with Robespierre and the Committee on Public Safety.

                                   

Reaction to Robespierre

By July 1794 it was obvious that the Committee on Public Safety was out of control. Executions were rampaging. At worst, a person could be accused, arrested, tried, and executed in the same day.

Cooler heads finally decided to put an end to Robespierre and he was perhaps the last to die on the guillotine.

The Reign of Terror was over, but the revolution continued.

The Directory

Following the execution of Robespierre a new government was set in place called the Directory, headed by Five men known as Directors. Even this did not work.

The Directory was overthrown and replaced by a Consulate, headed by Two Consuls – one of whom was Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon quickly brought about a coup d’etat and became the sole ruler.

NapoleonBonaparte

                                                                

Napoleon had made his name through the military. He was trained in the finest military

school in Paris and went on to win battle after battle against all enemies (except Admiral Nelson). No one was really surprised with the young Napoleon Bonaparte took control of France in 1799.

Neither was anyone surprised when he crowned himself

Emperor of France.

The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques Louis David – notice that he has already crowned himself and now is crowning his wife, Josephine. The Pope has to sit and

watch; symbolic of the kind of ruler Napoleon was to be.

The French Revolution ended in 1799 when Napoleon entered Paris and became First Consul at the age of 30. A brilliant politician and a military genius, he took the title of Emperor Napoleon I in 1804.

                            

After establishing a powerful central administration and a strong code of law, Napoleon

started numerous military campaigns which almost gave him the control of the entire

European continent. First defeated in Russia in 1812 and then in Waterloo in 1815, he was

replaced by Louis XVIII, but not before he had changed the face of Europe to suit his plans. The

Congress of Vienna met to redraw the map of Europe and restore order after the Napoleonic

Wars.