French Revolution - World History

Long-term causes of the French Revolution

Enlightenment thought spurred by Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu

Louis XIV (fourteenth)

• absolute Sun King

• Palace of Versailles

• economic minister Colbert helped French ecnomy

• revoked Edict of Nantes - Huguenots flee and economy suffers

• gainless wars

• dies unpopular

Old Regime

the monarchy, feudalism, estates system making up France

3 groups of Third Est.

1. Bourgeosie

2. Sans-culottes

3. Peasants

Louis XIV (sixteenth)

• young, timid king

• let country fall into ruin

Marie Antoinette

• Austrian - married Louis as a peace between Austria and France

• treated as a foreigner

• bore criticism for lack of child with Louis

• spending habits criticized

• hated all-around

Pre-Revolution conditions in France

• peasants paid too many taxes and after suffering harsh winters couldn’t find food

• royal family splurged

• nobles and clergy paid no taxes and were rich

• everyone was born into their Estate and could not change anything

Who paid most of the French taxes?

Third Estate

Immediate causes of F.R.

• Debts

  • American Revolution

  • budget: 50% for interest payment, 25% for military, 6% for king’s personal spending

• Tax Inequality

  • Only Third Estate pays tax

• Poor harvests → high bread prices

What percentage of French population was 3rd Est.?

97%

Petition of Grievances

The list the Third Estate came up with to present to the king during the Estates General Meeting of 1795

Why did Louis XVI call the Estates General Meeting in 1789?

To address the financial problem - hoped to get nobles to agree to taxes

What did the Third Estate demand before they agreed to come to the Estates General Meeting?

Vote by headcount and meeting of all the estates in the same room

National Assembly

• 3rd Estate’s demands were not met

• the 3E representatives titled themselves “National Assembly” and declared themselves true representative body of France

Tennis Court Oath

• King locks Nat Assembly out of meeting hall

• meet in tennis court

• pledge to never disband until a new constituition is written

king’s reaction to Tennis Court Oath

• conceded to National Assembly, but also sent 18,000 Swiss mercenary troops to break them up - mercenary, because he didn’t trust the regular French army made up of commoners

Jacques Necker - effect

• very popular finance minister for Louis XVI

• fired right after the Tennis Court Oath for being too sympathetic to common people and the Third Estate

• his firing helped inspire the Storming of the Bastille

Storming of the Bastille

Causes:

• 1 in 4 Parisians were unemployed

• High bread prices were causing starvation

• King’s Swiss mercenary troops were coming to break up the National Assembly

Bastille was…

• a symbol of oppression and a prison

• more importantly, 20,000 lbs of gunpowder to defend the National Assembly

Storming:

• intially, mob falters and is slaughtered

• manages to convince several soldiers to lend 4 cannons

• tide turns - put Bastille governor Marquis de Launay’s head on a pike

Results of Storming of the Bastille (what happened to NA? nobles? reforms?)

• King calls back mercenaries

• National Assembly is saved - they begin negotiations with the king

• Great Fear

  • rumor that nobles want revenge for Bastille & will attack →

  • peasants attack/kill nobility

  • some nobles flee

• Feudal system abolished and equality before the law

Emigres

Mostly clergy and nobility who fled France due to instability and violence - they lost their land when they fled

French Revolution slogan

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Declaration of the Rights of Man

• stated government belong to people

• set rights of citizens

• protected “natural rights” of liberty and equality

Women’s March on Versailles

7,000 women marched from Paris to Versailles to demand bread and forced the royal family to flee to Paris

Legislative Assembly (what kind of government was this?)

• National Assembly created the Legislative Assembly - no repeat members

• took over for 1 year as part of a constituional monarchy where Louis had the final veto

• declared war on Austria and Prussia

Flight of Royal Family

• wanted to go to Austria & potentially negotiate with other European monarchs for help

• caught; returned to Paris under guard

Brunswick Manifesto

• Austria (ruled by MA’s brother) threatens to attack France under the National Assembly

• Brunswick Manifesto by Prussian commander tells Paris to keep royal family safe

• last straw for Parisians - they swarm the palace and imprison the royal couple in a tower

Which two countries were threating France with war early in the revolution? Which govt first declared war on them?

Austria and Prussia; Legislative Assembly

How was the French army different from other European armies?

mass citizen conscription fighting for ideology instead of paid soldiers who deserted easily

National Convention (elected how? war? king? rot?)

• elected by all men - universal male suffrage

• takes over war Legislative Assembly declared and defeat Austria/Prussia

• put king on trial and execute him

• led Reign of Terror orchestrated by Committtee of Public Safety

Jacobins (position in estate?)

• radical

• bourgeosie

• Robespierre, Danton, Marat

Girondists (position in estate?)

• moderate

• peasants

Committee of Public Safety

• led by Robespierre

• weeded out “enemies of the revolution”

• Reign of Terror

• 40,000 French killed

Robespierre

• “Incorruptible”

• very violent, radical

• fanatical

Danton

• ally of Robespierre

• suggested that maybe Reign of Terror was getting too out of hand

• executed by Robespierre!

Marat

• fiery journalist who advocated for violence

• killed by Charlotte Corday in famous painting

• became a saint for a time being

Examples of treasonous acts during Reign of Terror

• using “monsieur” or “madam”

• using playing cards with K, Q, and J

• cutting down a liberty tree

• complaining

Thermidorian Reaction

• coup against Robespierre

• sparked by how he mentioned a list of traitors to be executed, but never specified who

• in their fear, they overthrew and guillotined him

Directory

• moderate

• a time of relative order

• choose Napoleon to lead French army

Napoleon’s rise to power

• Directory loses confidence of people

• N uses army to become First Consul

• defeats Austria, Russia, and Britain

• Plebiscite of 1800 essentially gave him all power

• crowned himself emperor in 1804

Changes Napoleon made to France

• slowed inflation so sans-culottes could buy bread (allowed emigres to return)

• meritocracy (excusing his nepotism)

• favored Catholicism but tolerated Protestantanism

Napoleonic Code

codified France’s rules so they became intelligible (also prevented women from owning property which was a step backwards)

Continental System

• naval blockade around Britain - asked European countries to not trade with British to destroy their economy

• Britain retaliates and France/empire hurts more

• Russia refuses to cut trade with Britain, leading to disastrous Russian invasion

Return of Napoleon

• banished to Elba after Grand Alliance defeats him at Battle of Nations

• escapes and regains control of France

• loses Battle of Waterloo

• this short reign called Hundred Days

• exiled to St. Helena