The French RevolutionThe French Revolution (1789–1799) was a pivotal period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. During this time, republicanism

replaced the absolute monarchy in France, and the country's Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo a radical restructuring. While France would oscillate among republic, empire, and monarchy for 75 years after the First

Republic fell to a coup d'état, the Revolution is widely seen as a major turning point in the history of Western democracy—from the age of absolutism and

aristocracy, to the age of the citizenry as the dominant political force. 

The slogan of the French Revolution was "Liberté, égalité, fraternité, ou la mort!" ("Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death!"). This slogan outlived the

revolution, later becoming the rallying cry of activists, both militant and non-violent, who promote democracy or overthrow of oppressive governments.

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/french_revolution.htm

Storming of the Bastille prison, the opening event of the French Revolution, on July 14, 1789; coloured engraving.

© Hulton Archive/Getty Images

"Liberty Leading the People" By Eugene Delacroix finished in 1830

It embodies Delacroix's feelings about the revolution in a way which shows that Liberty emerged out of the revolt.

Battle outside the Hotel de Ville, by Jean Victor Schnetzhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Revolutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_de_Ville,_Paris

Run on the Tuileries on 10. Aug. 1792 during the French Revolution,

painting at the Musée du chateau de Versailles

Storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution. Artist: Jean-Pierre Houël (1735-1813)

King Louis XVI (1754-1793), who kept a diary for years, often got bored. Too early in the day on July 14, 1789, he made a one word entry in his daily memories: "Nothing." Later in the day the peasants stormed the Bastille, which led to the French Revolution, causing the King's head to be removed by guillotine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille

Louis XVI stands in an angry mob during the French Revolution.

Execution of Louis XVI in what is now the Place de la Concorde, facing the empty pedestal where the statue of his grandfather, Louis XV, had stood.

A depiction of the French Revolution, showing the active participation of women.

French Revolution - after a painting by Pierre Antoine De Machy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

Sans-culottes (French for without knee-breeches) was a term created 1790 - 1792 by the French to describe the poorer members of the Third Estate, according to the dominant theory because they usually wore pantaloons (full-length trousers) instead of the fashionable knee-length culotte.

Sans-culottes with tricolor flag

Questions…

1. What are things about each painting that seem to be repeatedthroughout each one?

2. What do you feel the artists are trying to tell the future aboutthe French Revolution?

3. How do the paintings and message you see reflect on what you know of the American Revolution (which was supposedlyan example for the French people)?

4. What symbols would you give to the revolution based on thesepaintings?

5. Based on what you have seen, read, and heard how would you describe the revolution?