France 1.2 Why were the French governments unstable from 1790-1795?

What did the members of the third estate agree on?

-France should still have a monarch, but not an absolute one and power should be shared with the people

-artistocracy if and church privileges should be abolished and jobs should go to the most able candidates

-fairer system of taxation

-proper accountability in government and a fairer system of justice

True or false, the members of the assembly were inexperienced in making laws and deciding national policy?

True

What did the National Assembly focus on in 1790

-unfair system of taxation

-inefficient and corrupt system of local government controlled by the aristocracy

-out of date justice system

-role, status, and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church

What did the National Assembly not address?

The high price of food. Them failing to address this caused more instability.

Clubs

Groups of like-minded assembly members made because the Assembly could achieve little on its own. Members would meet separately from the Assembly to discuss political matters

Jacobins

Most radical romp who wanted the king to be executed and an end to the aristocracy and the Roman Catholic Church.

Who was the group that was responsible for the Terror?

The Jacobins

What were the three political clubs?

Jacobins, Feuillants, Girondins

Feuillants (Society of the Friends of the Constitution)

Conservative, supported a constitutional monarchy, opposed war with Austria in 1792. Opponents of the jacobins and were executed during the Terror

Girondins

Moderate republicans were weren’t as radical as the jacobins or very concerned with political, social, and economic equality

Emigres

French people who left France during the first years of the Revolution and the Terror, mostly members of the aristocracy

Royalists

Counter-revolutionaries

List the weaknesses of royalists during the French Revolution

-lacked effective leadership

-no charismatic leader with realistic aims around who those opposed to the revolution could rally

-lacked effective foreign support

What two policies did the Assembly create to try and solve the immediate financial crisis?

1. It would sell of the lands and valuables which had belonged to the Roman Catholic Church

2. Issued assignats

3. New system if income tax made it so that the burden of taxation fell on the rich

4. Tax on salt, the Gabelle, was abolished

5. New ‘tax on land’ fell on the owners of property

Brought some financial stability to France

How was the system of justice changed?

-it was open to everyone

-free if necessary

-properly accountable

-no longer run in the interests of lawyers and the aristocracy

-local administrator of justice, keeper of law and order, and the justice of the peace was elected by the people

How did revolutionary groups affect the church? (Civil constitution of the clergy)

-the church became a agent of the state

-monasteries were abolished

-number of bishops reduced

-clergy came under state control

Civil Constitution of the Clergy

Reorganized the French Catholic Church by making it state institution

What was the Flight to Varennes

When King Louis XVI and his family tried to escape France to the Austrian Netherlands it the north. They were captured by supporters of the revolution at the town of Varennes and returned under guard to Paris, where the king became prisoner of the people.

Why did the king want to go to Austria during the Flight to Varennes?

He was looking to gain support from the queen’s Austrian family so that his own country could be invaded by foreigners who would destroyed the revolutions, as people believed

What was the Champ de Mars

A massacre in the Chamos de Mars (a large green space near the center of paris) where the National Guard fired upon a group of citizens trying to petition the Assembly to ensure it dealt with the king after his attempted escape.

National Guard

A large middle class militia made in 1789 that acted as a national police force.

What were the four issues that arise during the winter of 1791-92 that made a revolution more likely?

1. A fear that Austria and Prussia would intervene to support Louis and destroy the revolution because the queen’s. Brother was the emperor of Austria and Austria and Prussia, in the Declaration of Pilnitz in 1791, made statement of support for Louis and opposed the revolution.

2. Nobles feared for their lives and fled abroad, seeking allies to overturn the revolution.

3. The harvest of 1791 had been poor, so there was a shortage of bread and prices of basic foods were rising

4. The refusal of some clergy to take the oath agreeing to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy caused anger

When did the Assembly declare war on Austria and what implications did this have?

In April 1792, and led to many military disasters

What was the Journée, or September Massacres?

An outbreak of violence by the hungry working class of Paris took control of the city and directed the National Guard to storm the Tuileries Palace where the king and his family lived. The National Guardsmen then killed hundreds of the royal defenders and the king’s Swiss Guard was massacred by the parisians.

What happened to the king and his family after the September Massacres?

They were imprisoned and arrested.

In September 1792 after the September Massacres, what replaced the National Assembly?

The National Convention

What was a unique quality of the National Convention?

All men were allowed to vote, unless they were servants or unemployed.

In what year did the National Convention decide to abolish the monarchy and make France a republic?

At the end of 1792

Sans-culottes

Working-class radicals in Paris and other French cities who were very influential, especially in the September Massacres

What were some causes of chaos and instability in France after King Louis’ death?

-France was at a costly war

-people doubted the right of the government to exist and govern France

-serious hunger that caused food riots

-radical and uncensored press that encouraged radical ideas

-wide split within the Convention b/w those that wanted more radical reform and those who did not

In what year was power passed to the Committee of Public Safety (COPS)?

In early 1793

What was the Committee of Public Safety?

A small group of ministers with substantial executive powers to deal with the many crises facing France. They had power over the military and judiciary.

What was the Law of Suspects?

It was used to deal with opponents and suspected opponents of the revolution, many were killed.

Who were the two leaders of the COPS?

Georges Danton and Maximilian Robespierre

Georges Danton

A Parisian lawyer who was a Jacobin that opposed the monarchy and opposed the extremes of the Terror, which would get him killed later.

What did Robespierre want to replace Roman Catholicism with?

A ‘Republic of Virtue’ that emphasized duty, the need for all citizens to help each other, and a loyalty to democracy.

What did Robespierre introduce to replace the worship of a Christian God?

The Cult of the Supreme Being.

What did Robespierre believe in?

That power belonged to the people and not to governments and he would NOT tolerate rivals.

What was the Reign of Terror?

When Robespierre had opponents and potential opponents of the Revolution arrested and executed through the COPS using the guillotine. This resulted in Robespierre’s arrest and execution.

What was the White Terror (1794-1795)?

A period where those who sought out revenge towards the Jacobins closed the Jacobin Club and hunted down, arrested, and killed those linked with the Reign of Terror.

What happened to the Sans-culottes?

The Convention called in troops and arrested and executed the leaders of the Sans-culottes after the mob had attacked the Convention again demanding that power be transferred to the local communities.

Explain the economic problems that caused the revolution.

-The bad harvest of 1788

-Harsh winters

-high food prices

-industrial recession

-Abolition of feudal dues in 1790-1791 led to a serious loss of income by aristocratic landowners, who retaliated by raising rents that hit farmers hard and drove many into poverty.

-growing reliance on assignation caused rapid inflation

-Major transfers of land as aristocratic owners lost their land and extensive land holdings of the Church was nationalized, causing upheaval.

-War with Britain led to the British blockading French ports, devastating France’s overseas trade

-Britain prevented French merchant ships from leaving and captured those trying to enter.

-mass unemployment in the ports of Bordeaux and Marseilles

-conscription caused a shortage of men to work the harvest