AP European History: The French Revolution

How did the American Revolution cause the French Revolution?

Enlightenment in predictive, peasants could win, French soldiers as witness, French literature and American documents

Who was one of the biggest causes of the French Revolution?

Louis XVI and Marie Antionette and the Enlightenment

What happened in 1787 and 1788 to cause the French Revolution?

Bad harvests, climate got cold, food went down, Louis tried to help but had no money

Who was in the First Estate?

Clergy

What percentage of the population is the First Estate?

0.5% of the population

How much land did the first Estate own (percent)?

10% of all land

How much in taxes did the First Estate pay?

0% of income but gave a 2% gift to the King every 5 years

What are the privileges the First Estate got?

Exempt from the taille, and collected the tithe from the Third Estate

What is the tithe?

10% of the 3rd Estate's annual income that is paid to the Church

What are the obligations of the First Estate?

Manage Church affairs, kept all public records, ran the public school system

What are the subgroups of the First Estate?

High Clergy and Low Clergy

Who is the High Clergy?

From noble families and lived like the nobility

Who is the Low Clergy?

From common families lived like peasants

Who was in the second Estate?

Nobility

What percentage of the Second Estate is the population?

1.5% of the population

How much land did the Second Estate own (percent)?

25% of all land

How much in taxes did the Second Estate pay?

0% of income

What are the privileges the Second Estate got?

Exempt from the taille, held all high positions in the government, military and industry, received "gifts" and pensions from the King, continued to receive feudal dues from peasants on their lands

What are the obligations of the Second Estate?

No real obligations

What are the subgroups of the Second Estate?

Grand Nobles, Poor Nobility, Nobility of the Robe, Nobility of the Sword

What are Grand Nobles?

Had vast estates royal patronage and sound investments

What is Poor Nobility?

Lived in or near poverty; attempted to marry into the 3rd Estate

What is Nobility of the Robe?

'New' nobles who got their titles due to position held in law courts and administrative offices

What is the Nobility of the Sword?

'Old' nobles descended from medieval nobility

Who was in the Third Estate?

Commoners

What percentage of the population is in the Third Estate?

98% of the population

How much land did the Third Estate own (percent)?

65% of all land

How much in taxes did the Third Estates pay?

60% of annual income because of both the taille and tithe

What are the privileges the Third Estate got?

No real privileges

What are the obligations of the Third Estate?

Could be beaten for any perceived insult prohibited from hunting- only nobles could- even if wild animals were eating their crops, had to show proper respect to 1st and 2nd Estate, and Relics of Feudalism

What are Relics of Feudalism?

Still owed due fees for use of village surfaces, maintain roads, broke bread, pay their feudal lord

What are the subgroups of the Third Estate?

Peasants, Urban Poor, Bourgeoisie

Who are the Peasants?

About 75% of the 3rd Estate and owned 35% of 3rd Estate's land

Who are the Urban Poor?

Shopkeepers, wage earners, crafts people, spent 50% of income buying food

Who are the Bourgeoisie?

Middle class, 8% of 3rd Estate and owned 20% of 3rd Eastate's land, had money bout could not hold high offices in government

Who were the Society of 30?

Within the Bourgeoisie, well trained in Enlightenment principles, pushing the revolution, pushing the pamphlets

Who did King Louis XVI marry?

Austrian Princess, Marie-Antoinette when he was 15

Why was Marie-Antoinette unpopular?

She was Austrian, spent a lot of government money on clothes, food, parties, and entertainment

Why was King Louis XVI a weak ruler?

Indecisive, allowed matters to drift, incapable of handling to nobility, introverted

Why did the Estates General meet?

To raise new taxes

Why was the Third Estate angry?

They wanted to vote by delegate not Estate, Louis XVI could not change the way they voted

What is the National Assembly?

National Assembly is a group who wanted the3 revolution, went to a tennis court and said no one was leaving until a constitution was written

Who created the National Assembly?

Third Estate created it

What was King Louis XVI's response to the riots?

Called in Swiss troops because he no longer trusted the French army

What were the Parisians (People in Paris) rioting over?

The price of bread

What happened at the Bastille (Ancient prison)?

Parisians headed to it after rumors of troop movements, intended to save the political prisoners that were believed to be in there, chaos broke out and all prisoners and guards were killed, wanted gunpowder in there as well, took the governor and hung him, threw him off the building a couple two tree times and then took his head and parade it around the city

What is "the Great Fear"?

Violence soon spread from Paris to the villages, peasants brome into manner houses and burned the feudal dues papers

What happened in October 1789?

Group of Parisian women marched into Versailles and broke into the palace, chaos broke out and 3 guards were killed, Queen's apartments were ransacked and her stuff burned, forced the King and Queen to move back to Paris

What is the "Tennis Court Oath"?

National Assembly, 3rd Estate Delegates sat in a tennis court and siad "We will not leave until we write a Constitution"

What was in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?

All statements are abstract but directed at the abuses of the Old Regime, specific to men and believed that women were best suited to motherhood and not citizenship, reflected the Enlightenment, American Declaration of Independence And American Constitution

What were the reforms pertaining to creating a constitutional monarchy?

Gave the King limited executive power, suspension veto meaning the king could halt bills temporarily, King of the French not of France, new unicameral Legislative Assembly with 745 members and 2 year terms

What are active citizens?

Those that paid taxes equal to 3 days of labor and at least 25 years old

What are passive citizens?

Did not pay taxes equal to 3 days of labor or minor

While passive citizens could not participate in government or vote, what were they given?

Civil rights

What did the National Assembly replace the provinces with?

83 departments with equal population named after geological features

What were the Church reforms of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?

Seized Church lands because needed money to finance reforms, abolished the First Estate with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, priests and bishops were elected by property owners and became employees of the government

What were the Social reforms of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?

On August 4, 1791, the nobles renounced their feudal privileges as the Second Estate, the hope was to calm the peasants and end the Great Fear

What were the economic reforms of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen?

Established the metric system to unify weights and measures, banned the establishment of unions, created property taxes to equalize the tax structure because the bigger property you have, the more taxes you will have to pay

In 1791, why were the people of France asking "what's the change"?

King Louis XVI knows and recognises the constitution is bad and there is little change between Louis XVI and the National Assembly

Why does King Louis XVI try to flee the country?

Recognised the constitution is bad and realizes it is his fault

Who did the French declare war on in the Spring of 1792?

Prussia and Austria

Who threatened to use force to return the King to his full power?

Prussia and Austria

What did the French do in fighting Prussia and Austria in the Spring of 1792?

Poorly, which caused people to look for 'traitors' and 'scapegoats'

What happened with the Rise of the Paris Communes?

August 10, 1792, radicals attacked the Palace and Legislative Assembly, took the King captive and forced the Legislative Assembly to temporarily suspend the monarchy, September 1792, radicals broke into the prisons and killed thousands of prisoners, called a National Convention based on universal male suffrage

Who did France declare war on during the Second Revolution?

Britain, the Netherlands and Spain widening the war with Austria and Prussia

What was established in place of the monarchy?

Republic known as the National Convention or the Republic of Virtue

What were the non-Enlightened Ideals within the National Convention?

Created a new calendar and De-Christianize France

What is the New Calendar of France?

12 months with 30 days each based upon September 22, 1792. Each month was given a reasonable name based upon a season or climate, eliminated Sunday with every 10th day being a holiday

How did they De-Christianize France?

Christianity was abolished and replaced by the Cult of the Supreme Being, churches were closed and replaced with "Temples of Reason"

What were the Enlightenment Ideals in the National Convention?

Inheritance was equal among all heirs whether man or women, abolished slavery, and mandated primary education

What committee was created under the National Convention?

Committee of Public Safety

Who was in charge of the Committee of Public Safety?

Georges Danton and Maximillian Robespierre

When did they execute King Louis XVI and how was he executed?

January 21, 1793 by the guillotine

When was the Queen executed and how?

October of 1793 by the guillotine

Who refused to recognize the National Convention?

Provinces in western France refused

How many men were in the Committee of Public Safety?

12

What was the Committee of Public Safety supposed to do?

Hunt down and kill enemies of the revolution, in the end killed about 40,000 people

What percent of the people who were executed by the Committee of Public Safety members of the First or Second Estate?

About 15%

What was the "Enlightened" way to kill?

Using the guillotine

By September of 1794, how many people were in the French army?

Over 1 million men

What was destroyed by the implementation of the draft?

Noble control over the army

What was the French able to do in 1794 (regarding the war)?

Push invading armies out of France and conquer the Austrian Netherlands

What did Robespierre use to control the people?

Fear, fear of an invasion by Austria and Prussia

After France drove the invading armies out, what happened to Robespierre?

Now there is no longer a fear of an invasion but Robespierre is trying to still go on with that. They tried to capture him but he ran from his office to his quarters across the street where he attempted suicide. He missed and shot his jaw instead. He was captured by the army and guillotined July 28, 1794

Who did the National Convention execute on July 28, 1794?

Robespierre

What happened in the "Thermidorian (August) Reaction"?

Reopened Catholic Churches, gave general public amnesty, you are forgiven if you go along with us, started "White Terror" trying to purify country, those who were not with the Directory

What is in the Directory?

Bicameral legislature, instead of 1 king, there is a 5 member executive council, not a successful form of government

Why was the Directory not a successful form of government?

Failure to deal with the problems, tried to take the people for revolution, pockets of rebellions against taxes

Who was in charge of the Army?

Napoleon Bonaparte

How and when did Napoleon take over?

In 1799 by walking into the room and saying that now he was in charge, came in with parts of the army and other people as a coo

What was Napoleon's Domestic Policies Goal?

Strengthen the central government while still meeting some of the goals of the revolution

What were Napoleon's policies pertaining to the Catholic Church?

Acted the Concordat of 1801

What is the Concordat of 1801?

Napoleon agreed to make Catholicism the official religion of France, Clergy of the Catholic Church recognized the Revolution and didn't seek compensation for lands seized during the Revolution

How many codified laws were created for the nation?

7 law codes

What was the most important code in the codified law?

Civil Code or the Napoleonic Code

What were the good things that were established under the Napoleonic code?

Equality under the law, right to choose professions, religious toleration, abolition of serfdom, protection of property rights, and rights of employers

What were the Non-Enlightened reforms under the Napoleonic Code?

Restored the rights of fathers over their children, made divorce more difficult, took away women's rights, reinstitute slavery in the colonial empire

What force was established under Napoleon and what was the purpose?

Secret police force to go after political enemies

What was eliminated under Bureaucracy Reforms?

Local assemblies in the departments and replaced them with officials appointed by the central government

What entity is now employed by the state?

Tax collectors