The French Revolution

Theme for French Week 2012

What were the causes?

1st Estate-Clergy (1% of pop)

o Paid few taxes

o Owned 10% of land

2nd Estate-Nobles (2% of pop)

o Paid no taxes

o Owned 20% of land

3rd Estate- Bourgeoisie & Peasants (97%)

�Bourgeoisie—city-dwelling merchants, factory owners, and professionals

�Sans culottes—artisans and workers

�Peasants—poor with little hope, paid rents and

fees

o Paid heavy taxes

o Faced hunger & starvation

o Miserable wages.

The Three Estates

The sans culottes The bourgeoisie

Discontent among the Third Estate

• Best jobs were always reserved for nobles

• Urban workers earned miserable wages

• Peasants taxed on land, necessary goods and spices

• Nobles imposed “manor dues” – tax paid directly to noble instead of the state

• Only nobles had the right to hunt wild game

Enlightenment thinkers led people to question the logic of the Old Regime…

What does this contemporary political cartoon say about conditions in France under the Old Regime?

The Three Estates

Economic Troubles

• For years, the French government had engaged in deficit spending

• Louis XIV had left France deeply in debt.

• Recent wars, a general rise in costs in the 1700s, and the lavish court were incredibly costly.

o To bridge the gap between income and expenses, the government borrowed more and more money.

• Bad harvests in the late 1780s sent food prices soaring and brought hunger to poorer peasants and city dwellers.

Economic Conditions under the Old Regime

• France’s economy was based primarily on agriculture

• Peasant farmers of France bore the burden of taxation

• Poor harvests meant that peasants had trouble paying their regular taxeso Certainly could not afford to have their taxes raised

• Bourgeoisie often managed to gather wealtho But were upset that they paid taxes while nobles did not

Economic Troubles…Summarized

1. Deficit spending

2. Debt

3. Wars

4. Inflation

5. Lavish court

6. Borrowed money

7. Bad harvests

Absolute Monarchy Weakens

• The heirs of Louis XIV were not the right men to solve the economic crisis that afflicted France.

• Louis XV pursued pleasure before business and ran up France’s debts

• Louis XVI was well-meaning but weak and indecisive

o Louis XVI’s economic advisor suggested he tax the First and Second Estates (those Estates forced the King to fire his advisor)

o First/Second Estates force Louis XVI to call the Estates General to try to regain some of the power they lost under absolute monarchs

King Louis XVI & Queen Marie Antoinette

Meeting of the Estates General

• The Estates General was a meeting of all three Estateso Each Estate had one vote

o Under this system the First and Second Estates always outvoted the Third Estate

• The Estates General met in May of 1789o The Third Estate consisted mostly of

bourgeoisie who were familiar with the Enlightenment

• The Third Estate wanted all three Estates to meet together and vote as a single body….they were denied

Tennis Court Oath

On June 23, 1789, Louis XVI relented. He ordered the three estates to meet together as the National Assembly and vote, by population, on a constitution for

France.

The Third Estate relocated to a nearby tennis court where its members vowed to stay together and create a written constitution for France.

Louis XVI responded by locking the Third Estate out of the meeting.

The Third Estate declared itself to be the National Assembly.

Tennis Court Oath by Jacques Louis David

Additional Causes

• Severe economic problems affected much of the country

• France in debt, spending lavishly, borrowing money, and facing bankruptcy

• Hailstorm and drought ruined harvest; harsh winter limited flour production

• People hungry and angry; clergy and nobility no help

A Financial Crisis

• Inspiring new ideas from Enlightenment philosophers

• Great Britain’s government limiting the king’s power

• American colonists rebelled successfully against British king

• New ideas changed government and society in other countries

Enlightenment Ideas

Storming of the Bastille

The King brought in troops.

On July 14, 1789, more than 800 Parisians gathered outside the Bastille, a medieval fortress used as a prison. They demanded weapons believed to be stored there in order to protect themselves from the royal troops surrounding Paris.

The commander of the Bastille opened fire on the crowd, and a battle ensued, in which many people were killed.

The storming of the Bastille quickly became a symbol of the French Revolution, a blow to tyranny. Today, the French still celebrate July 14 as Bastille Day.

Storming of the Bastille

Uprising in Paris

People of Paris seized weapons from the Bastille

• July 14, 1789

• Parisians organized their own government which they called the Commune

• Small groups – factions –competed to control the city of Paris

Uprising spread throughout France

• Nobles were attacked

• Records of feudal dues and owed taxes were destroyed

• Many nobles fled the country – became known as émigrés

• Louis XVI was forced to fly the new tricolor flag of France

Women & Bread

• A group of women attacked Versailles on October 5, 1789o Forced royal family to relocate to Paris along with National Assembly

o Royal family spent next several years in the Tuileries Palace as virtual prisoners

Goodbye, Versailles! Adieu, Versailles!

• Parisian Commune feared that Louis XVI

would have foreign troops invade France

to put down the rebellion

– Louis XVI’s wife, Marie Antoinette, was the

sister of the Austrian emperor

Tuileries Palace

Attack on the

Tuileries • The royal family was living under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace.

• An angry mob got into the building on June 20, 1792, and found their way to the King.o The crowd shouted insults and was in an ugly mood.

o The King remained calm and obediently put on the red cap of liberty (a symbol of revolution) at the mob's insistence.

Mob placing the red cap of liberty on the King's head at the Tuileries

Pressure from the

Paris Mob• When the mob thrust a bottle of wine at the King, he drank a toast to the health of the nation but refused to change his position on the clergy. o Under the new constitutional monarchy, he had exercised his veto of a proposal to punish priests who refused to support the changes to the church.

o A religious man, the King felt it would violate his conscience to agree to the mob's demands.

• The incident ended without bloodshed but by August the mob was back.

August 10, 1792, attack on the Tuileries

What happened next?

The National

Assembly• The new National Assembly created the historic and influential document The Declaration of the Rights of Man, which stated the principle that all men had equal rights under the law.

• This document has remained the basis for all subsequent declarations of human rights. (Compare The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

Declaration of

the Rights of Man

• "Men are born free and equal in their rights....These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.

• The fundamental source of all sovereignty resides in the nation.

• The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part personally, or through representatives, in the making of the law."

New Government

• Louis tried to protect his throne

• Angered the common people

• Prices still high; mob broke into the palace demanding bread

• Royal family seized; National Assembly took bolder steps

• Passed laws against the church, clergy, and public employees

• Some outraged by actions

Restrictions on Power

• Feudal dues eliminated

• Declaration laid out “liberty, equality, fraternity”

• Inspired by the English Bill of Rights, American Declaration of Independence, and the writings of Enlightenment philosophers

• Men are born equal and remain equal under the law

• The rights did not extend to women

Legislating New Rights

Course of the Revolution

• The Legislative Assembly (Sept.1791)o Legislative Assembly replaced the National Assembly

o King still held some executive power

• The National Convention (1792)

– Legislative Assembly came under the control of the Jacobins

o Radical faction that abolished the monarchy

o Replaced the Legislative Assembly with the National Convention

Opposition to the New Government

• European monarchs feared that revolution would spread to their own countrieso France was invaded by Austrian and Prussian troops

• In the uproar, the Commune took control of Pariso Commune was led by Danton, a member of the Jacobin political party

• Voters began electing representatives for a new convention which would write a republican constitution for Franceo A republic is a government in which the people elect representatives who will create laws and rule on their behalf

o Meanwhile, thousands of nobles were executed under the suspicion that they were conspirators in the foreign invasion

Convention (1792-1795)

• On September 22, 1792, the Conventionmet for the first time

• Established the First French Republic

• Faced domestic opposition and strifeo Girondists were moderates who represented the rich middle class of the provinces

o Jacobins (led by Marat, Danton, and Robespierre) represented workers

• Faced opposition from abroado Austria, England, Holland, Prussia, Sardinia, and Spain formed a Coalition invading France

Abolition of the Monarchy

• The Convention abolished the monarchyo As long as the royal family lived, the monarchy could be restored

o Put the royal couple on trial for treason• Convictions were a foregone conclusion

– Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793

– Marie Antoinette was guillotined on October 16, 1793

o Daughter Marie-Thérèse was allowed to go to Vienna in 1795

• She could not become queen because of a law, which did not allow females to succeed to the throne

o Son Louis-Charles, a.k.a. Louis XVII (lived 1785-1795) was beaten and mistreated until he died in prison

Execution of King Louis XVI

The three most memorable Jacobins

Georges Danton, MaximilienRobespierre, and Jean-Paul Marat.

Because of a debilitating illness, Marat was eventually forced to work from home. He was assassinated (in the tub while taking a medicinal bath) by Charlotte Corday, a Girondistsympathizer, in July, 1793.

The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David

"Boldness and

again boldness, and always

boldness"

Georges-JacquesDanton

Growing Coalition against the French

• Convention drafted Frenchmen into the army to defeat the foreign Coalitiono These troops were led by General Carnoto The people supported military operations because they did not want the country back under the Old Regime

• Rouget de Lisle wrote the “Marseillaise”o Became the French national anthemo Inspired troops as they were led into battle

• After two yearso Coalition was defeatedo France had gained, rather than lost, territory

The Marseillaise

Arise you children of our motherland,Oh now is here our glorious day !Over us the bloodstained bannerOf tyranny holds sway !Of tyranny holds sway ! Oh, do you hear there in our fieldsThe roar of those fierce fighting men ?Who came right here into our midstTo slaughter sons, wives and kin.

CHORUS

To arms, oh citizens !Form up in serried ranks !March on, march on !And drench our fieldsWith their tainted blood!

The French Flag

• 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.

Reign of Terror:September 5, 1793-July 27, 1794

• Despite military successes, the Convention continued to face problems domestically

• Danton and his Jacobin political party came to dominate French politics

• Committee of Public Safetyo Headed by Danton (and later Robespierre)

o Those accused of treason were tried by the Committee’s Revolutionary Tribunal

o Approximately 15,000 people died on theguillotine� Guillotine became known as the “National Razor”

� Including innovative thinkers like Olympe de Gouges and Madame Jeanne Roland

The Guillotine

Committee of Public Safety

MaximilienRobespierre

The French lawyer and political leader, who became one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution and the principal exponent of the Reign of Terror.

THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETYStarted by Robespierre in the summer of 1793, which decided who should be considered enemies of the public. They would often try people in the morning, while having them guillotined the same afternoon.

A conspiracy overthrew Robespierre.On July 27, 1794, he was barred

from speaking in publicand was placed

Under arrest.

An uprising by his supporters was stopped, and on July 28 Robespierredied on the guillotine withhis other supporters. Eighty more followers of Robespierre were executed the next day.

End of the Reign of Terror

• Members of the Girondist political party tried to end the Reign of Terror initiated by the Jacobin political partyo This opposition to the Committee of Public Safety caused many

Girondists to be tried and executed for treason

• Eventually, even Georges Danton wanted to end the executionso This resulted in Danton being tried and executed for treason

• Maximilien Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safetyo He continued the executions

o Convention came to blame Robespierre for the Reign of Terror

• Thermidorean Reactiono July 27, 1794 – ended the Reign of Terror

o Convention sent Robespierre and other members of the Committee of Public Safety to the guillotine � Robespierre was guillotined on July 28, 1794

The Rise of Napoleon

• The Directory (1795-1799)

o Extremely weak government

o Controlled by five elected leaders

• 1799-The “coup d'etat”

o Napoleon was named first consul of the Directory

o A three-man Consulate replaced the Directory

• 1802-Named consul for life

o France was under Napoleon’s control

o Still pretended to be a constitutionally controlled government

The Governments of France during the Revolution

• Old Regime (?-1789)

• National Assembly (1789-1791)

• Legislative Assembly (1791-1792)

• Convention (1792-1795)

• Directory (1795-1799)

• Consulate (1799-1800)

• Emperor Napoleon (1800-1815)

• Monarchy (1815-)

Napoleon Bonaparte & Empire

Napoleon

The Reign of

Napoleon Bonaparte

Emperor Napoleon’s Successes• Defeated of Austrians at Marengo (1800)

o Established French power on the continent

• Napoleon's defeat of various European countries (1805-10)

o He installed relatives and loyalists as leaders

– Holland

– Several German Provinces

– Italy

– Naples

– Spain

– Sweden

The Reign of Napoleon

Bonaparte

Emperor Napoleon’s Mistakes– The invasion of England

• Battle at Trafalgar (1805)– Major defeat of Napoleon

– Ended Napoleon’s plan to invade England

– Instead, he tried the Continental System (blockade)

» Also not successful

– The Peninsular War (1808)• Fought against the Spanish (for five years)

• Drained French military resources.

– The invasion of Russia (1812) • Thousands of French troops died due to winter conditions

• The tide started to turn in favor of the allies

The Reign of

Napoleon BonaparteThe End of Napoleon• By 1813 – All of the major European powers were allied against France

• 1814 – In March Paris fell to Russia and Prussia o Napoleon went into exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba.

• 1815 – He escaped and marched on the French capital and took control of France for 100 dayso The Battle of Waterloo

– Ended his brief second reign

– The British imprisoned him on the island of St Helena, where he died on May 5 1821.