The French Revolution began in 1789 due to widespread financial problems, poor harvests raising food prices, and resentment of the privileged estates. The Third Estate demanded political representation, leading them to form the National Assembly and take the Tennis Court Oath. In July 1789, the storming of the Bastille marked the start of the Revolution. The National Assembly abolished feudalism and established a constitutional monarchy, though unrest continued. The monarchy was overthrown and Louis XVI was executed in 1793, ushering in the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre. Napoleon later crowned himself emperor and established reforms but was eventually defeated at Waterloo in 1815. The Congress of Vienna redrew the map of Europe

1. The French Revolution
AP European History
Beth Hals

2. The Eve of Revolution
• Pick up your next set of notes at the front
of the room
• In pairs, with a neighbor, read your
Cahiers de doleances or account from
Arthur Young
• (cahiers de doleances were lists of grievances that were drafted
throughout France while an election for the Estates General was
occurring)
– Write a sentence that summarizes the issues in France at the
eve of Revolution
– Choose one quote from your document that summarizes one of
the most paramount issues
– Be prepared to share with your classmates

3. The Estates
• First Estate – clergy
• Second Estate –
noble families
• Third Estate –
everyone else
– bourgeoisie
– peasant farmers
– **Overwhelming
majority

4. 1 Estate
st
•
•
•
•
•
•
1% of population (conservatives)
Roman Catholic clergy
10% of French land
Wealthy- arch/bishops
Poor- parish priests
No direct taxes (2% gift)

5. 2 Estate
nd
•
•
•
•
2% of population
Nobility (conservatives)
20% of French land
Highest offices (sons of nobles)
– Govt., church, army
• Refuses to pay taxes
– Cause of revolution

6. 3 Estate
rd
• 98% of population
• Comprised of 3 economically different
groups:
– City-dwelling middle class (bourgeoisie)
– Urban lower class
– Peasant farmers

7. Bourgeousie
• Power growing since MA
• Many well-educated
– Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality
• Some as wealthy as nobles
– Desired social status, political power equal to
wealth
• Paid much in taxes

8. Workers
•
•
•
•
Poorer than bourgeoisie
Wore sans-culottes (w/out knee britches)
Most literate
Often hungry (bread)
– Spring 1789 bad harvest, prices doubled
• Most supported revolution

9. Peasants
• 80% of population
• 50% of income paid in taxes
– Feudal dues, tithe, taxes
• Owed the corvee- tax paid w/ work on
govt. roads
• No Enlightenment ideals
– Revolt against oppression

10. So Why Revolution?
• All estates had
reasons for hating
Old Regime
• Weak leadership at
top
– Louis XVI –
Bourbon
dynasty
• Weak,
indecisive
• incompetent

11. • Marie Antoinette
– Vain, unintelligent
– Austrian
• Elitist attitude
toward the French
– “Let them eat
cake!”

12. Previous Advisors…
• Rene Maupeou
– Chancellor of Louix XV
– Had tried to break
apart parlement
– Exiled parl. To
different parts of the
country
– Tried to increase taxes
on nobility
– Reforms halted when
Louis XV dies
• Jacques Turgot
– Louis XVI’s first
minister
– Removed restrictions
on grain trade
– Eliminated guilds
– Changed corvee into
money payments
– Wants to tax nobility,
but Louis XVI
dismisses him b/c he
wants noble’s support

13. • Jacques Necker
– Director-General of Finances
– Swiss banker; produced an overly optimistic
report
– Without American revolution govt. would have
surplus
• Charles Alexander de Calonne
– Minister of Finance – 1786 (he’s more
realistic)
– Makes several bold proposals… (wait for it…)

14. Calonne’s Suggestions
• Lower the “gabelle” (tax) on salt
• Convert peasant service to monetary
payments
• Create new land tax applied equally to all
people regardless of social status**
– **would allow gov’t to abandon most
other indirect taxes thus…
– The need to consult parlement would be
rare!

15. Calonne’s Plan…
• Calonne meets with the Assembly of
Notables to present his plan - 1787
– (members of clergy and aristocracy)
• Surprise!
– Clergy and Aristocracy reject it
– Seek reappointment of Necker
– Claim only the Estates General can approve
new taxes
• Why would they be okay with calling up the EG?
– 2 to 1 vote…clergy and aristocracy continually dominate!

16. • Louis XVI replaces Calonne with Charles
Lomenie de Brienne (Archbishop of
Toulouse)
– Brienne had opposed Calonne at the
Assembly of Notables
– But…when he looks at the books he realizes
France is in really deep trouble
– Recommends Calonne’s plan
– Nobles and Clergy so mad they reduce the
“don gratuit”
• Contribution they usually made to gov’t

17. So…1788
• Local Parlements calling for pre-Richelieu restoration of
privileges
• Urban food shortages from transportation problems
• Most taxes fall on poorer population (peasants)
• Gov’t bankrupt
– Can we say Versailles? American Rev? Royal gifts to
nobles?
• Conflict between King, Nobility, and Bourgeoisie for
political control
• Peasants want to own land

18. Problems…
• Desire to tax nobles - refused unless
Estates General called
– Had not met since 1614
– Called to Versailles May 1, 1789
• Invitation to revolution
• Representatives show up with their cahiers de
doleances (list of grievances)

19. New Demands…
• 1789 3rd Estate demands all 3 estates
meet together
– Each vote count equally
– 610 members in 3rd Estate
– 591 members combined in 1st and 2nd Estates
• King sides with nobles- follow old rules

20. • Can you list the 5 stages of Revolution?

21. New Demands…
• 3rd Estate determined-gain power
–Spokesman Abbe Sieyes
–June 16, 1789 suggests 3rd
Estate change name to National
Assembly
–National Assembly- pass laws,
reform in people’s name

22. Closed for
painting

23. We vow to remain
until we ratify a
Tennis Court Oath Constitution
•Angered, 3rd Estate declares
themselves a National Assembly
on June 17, 1789
•They meet on a nearby tennis
court and vow to remain until a
Constitution was established
(by Jacques Louis David)

24. National Assembly
• Formed June 20,1789
– Tennis Court Oath
– Cahiers- list of grievances and desired reform
• End to absolute monarchy
• Representative govt.
• 1st deliberate act of revolution

25. Louis’ Reaction…
• Make peace with 3rd Estate
– All estates meet together
• Swiss mercenaries ordered to Paris
– Did not trust loyalty of French soldiers
• Bourgeoisie fear end to Assembly
• Mobs riot over price of bread

26. Storming of the
Bastille
• July 14, 1789
• Want gun powder to defend
Paris and National Assembly

27. No Dice
•
•
•
Storming of the
Bastille
July 14, 1789
peasants sweep
through and attack
nobility and feudal
institutions

28. Long-term Causes
• People of Paris were hungry
• High unemployment
• High prices

30. Storming of the Bastille –
The Big Picture
• Significance:
– Militarily- Louis gives up use of
troops
– Politically- kings power reduced,
National Assembly saved
– Symbolic- act of revolution people
ready to fight

31. The Great
Fear

32. The People
• Still in MA
– No education
– No news- rumors only of Bastille and killing
• Fear of violence spreading
• Worried King will get even with
them
– Violent, superstitious, ignorant
• Grouping together for 1st time

33. The Beginning…
• Rebellion from Paris spread to countryside
• Rumors Include that the…
– Nobles have hired brigands to terrorize
– Royal troops were being sent into rural
districts
• Great Fear breaks out

34. Great Fear
• Reaction: peasants hide but no brigands
– Peasants become brigands
– Upset soldiers do not come- fight each other
• Break into nobles houses– Tore up legal documents binding them to the
land/feudal dues
– Houses burned
– Try to retake food supplies and land they think
is rightfully theirs

35. Reforms
of the
Assembly

36. Why Reforms?
• Great Fear & Paris mobs
• National Assembly – August 4th
– liberal nobles and clergy rose to renounce
their feudal rights, dues, and tithes, an act
that was more symbolic than real since they
would probably have lost them anyway
– most of these aristocrats would receive some
compensation for their losses
– this dramatic session led to all citizens being
subject to the same and equal laws

37. Accomplishments
•
•
•
•
End of Old Regime
End feudalism & serfdom
End church tithes
End social privileges
– Nobles & clergy
• End sale of offices
• Opening of public offices

38. “Liberty, Fraternity, Equality”
•
Aug. 27, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of
Man and the citizen
– Men born and remain free
– Limited monarchy (constit.)
– Begin drafting a Constitution
• Law making assembly created –
Legislative Assembly (1791)
– Replace Provinces with 83 local
“departments”
– State controlled church
• Cath Ch loses its land and
independence
• Church officials and priests to be
elected by the public and paid as
state officials

39. Declaration of the Rights
of Women
• 1791 by Olympe de Gouges
– Revolutionary radical
• Applied Dec. Rights of Man to women
• Women also citizens w/ property rights

40. Mary Wollstonecraft
• Early feminist
• 1792 A Vindication of the
Rights of Women
• Women and men do NOT
have definite spheres

41. New Problems
• Church issue divides peasants and
bourgeoisie
– Peasants will oppose other revolutionary
changes
• Don’t mess with salvation!

42. King’s Response
• King reluctantly approves Constitution and
Declaration
• June 1791 Louis and family try to flee to
Austrian Netherlands
– Caught and returned to Paris
– Louis discredited and plan for constitutional
monarchy
– Radicals’ influence increased

43. Change…
• Sept. 1791 new constitution completed
– Legislative Assembly replaced National
Assembly

44. • King and his family taken
to Paris so the 3rd Estate
Revolutionaries can keep
him out of the way
• National Assembly
establishes the nationstate as the source of all
sovereignty or political
authority

45. • Marie Antionette – sister
of the Emperor of Austria
• Austria and Prussia
invade France
• French revolutionaries
hold them back
• French leaders meet,
new constitution
• Convention – new ruling
body – abolished
monarchy, proclaimed
France a republic

46. Dun, dun, dun….
•
•
•
Jacobins lead the Convention
Imprison royal family
Behead king for treason in 1793

47. Marie is killed in October

48. Reign of Terror
•
•
•
•
•
Prussia and Austria regroup
Britain and Spain join in
Convention worried about
foreign threats
Throw out constitution, AGAIN,
Committee of Public Safety –
led by Maximilien Robespierre
– an all-powerful enforcer of
the revolution
– Murders any with
antirevolutionary tendancies
Guillotine: between 18,000 and 40,000 people
were executed during the Reign of Terror

49. Robespierre
• Controls anarchy
• Beheads tens of
thousands of French
citizens
• Creates strong
national military

50. Symbols of France
•
•
•
•
Tricolor – red, white,
blue
Le Marsellaise –
national anthem
Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternite
Viva la nation!
– Long live the
nation!

51. • Guillotine for
Robespierre
• New constitution,
1795
• Directory in charge
(five man gvt)
– builds up the military

52. Napoleon
• Napoleon Bonaparte
overthrows the
Directory in 1799
– Legitimizes actions
with popular vote
– Declares himself the
First Consul under the
new constitution
– (…the FOURTH new
constitution…)

53. Improving life
• Domestic Reforms
– Agriculture, infrastructure,
and public education
– Works things out with the
Cath. Ch.
• Napoleonic Codes – 1804
– recognized equality of
French citizens
– Big step for human rights
law
– But not very good for
women or children

54. Emperor
• Crowns himself emperor in 1804
• Literally crowns himself, shows he owes his throne to
no one but himself

55. •
•
•
•
Building an Empire
Valued rapid movements
and effective use of large
armies
New plan for every battle
Presence “worth 40,000
troops”
The Grand Empire –
–
•
Dissolves the HRE
–
•
•
annexes areas of France, the
Netherlands, Belgium, parts of
Italy and Germany
Creates 38-member
Confederation of the Rhine
Cuts Prussia in half; turns
old Poland into the Duchy
of Warsaw
Controls Europe by placing
relatives and friends on
thrones of conquered
nations

56. •
•
Sold Louisiana land to the
USA
– 1. Money to fund his army
– 2. So Britain couldn’t
access the Mississippi
Failed to acquire Britain
– Battle of Trafalgar
• Led by Br. Admiral
Horatio Nelson
• Napoleon turns his
sights to Russia

57. Effects of Nationalism
•
•
•
•
France has new found sense
of nationalism
Nationalism – tremendous
pride and devotion in and to
your country
But, nationalism in conquered
countries inspires revolts
against France, too
Spain loses holdings in the
Americas b/c colonies revolt
against Spain’s weakened
control

58. Russia
• In 1812 Napoleon
invades Russia with
600,000 French
soldiers
• Scorched Earth Policy
• General Winter
– Gives up in
October
– Only 100,000
survive

59. Coalition Against Napoleon
• Russia, Britain,
Austria, Sweden
and Prussia
become allies to
take out Napoleon
• 1813 – Battle of
the Nations at
Leipzig
– Napoleon is
defeated

60. Exiled
• Napoleon abdicated
• Victors exile him to Elba
• Recognize Louis XVIII as
king of France (brother of
Louis XVI)
– Restoration not a smooth one
– King accepts Napoleonic
Code and honors land
settlements
– But, people nervous and fear

61. He returns!
• Napoleon escapes island exile and
returns!
• Soldiers flock to him
• Citizens cheer, king flees,
• March 1815, Napoleon reenters Paris

62. •
•
The Final Showdown
June 18, 1815 opposing armies meet head to head in Waterloo,
Belgium
Br Duke of Wellington; Pr. General Blucher
– Lead the attack and crush France
(Wellington at Waterloo)

63. This time it really is the end…
– Napoleon forced to abdicate again
– Exiled on St. Helena…no more Napoleon

64. Fixing Europe
• The Congress of Vienna –
1814 to 1815
• The principal negotiators
were:
• Austria -- Prince Klemons von
Metternich
• Prussia -- King Frederick
William III
• Russia -- Czar Alexander I
• Great Britain -- Castlereagh
• France -- Prince Talleyrand

65. Congress of Vienna
Work to restore order to Europe
– Recognize balance of power
• 5 nation-states
• Austria, Prussia, Russia,
Great Britain, and France
– Gain power at expense of
smaller states
• Austria took some Italian
territories
• Russia took most of Poland
• Britain added territories in
Asia and the W.
Hemisphere
• Prussia too Rhine River
land in W. Germany
• Create Kingdom of
Netherlands by joining
Belgium and Luxembourg
together with Holland

66. Congress of Vienna cont.
• Return to Status Quo
– Restored old monarchies of Europe
• Bourbons on throne in France and Spain
• Holy Roman Empire
– Reduced from 300+ independent states to 39
separate German states
• Established a stable Europe which tried to prevent war
• Very successful; peace in Europe for the next 100 years
• Conservative; Tried to prevent domestic change in
Europe

67. Fini