revolution and the failure of constitutional monarchy

what was the interchangeable name for the national assembly during this period?

constituent assembly

When was the Great Fear?

Summer 1789

What was the Great Fear?

Peasants took up arms in the provinces, targeting their oppressors due to a fear of an aristocratic conspiracy that the nobility were gathering militia forces to defend their power

How did the Constituent Assembly respond to the great fear?

deploying the National Guard to defend the nobility and creating the August Decrees

When were the August Decrees?

4th-11th August

What did the August Decrees do?

Abolished veniality, created equality of taxes and abolished tithes

When was the Declaration of the Rights of Man?

26th August 1789

When did Louis refuse to sanction the August Decrees?

5th August 1789

What triggered the October days?

Louis’ objections to the Declaration of the Rights of Man, Desmoulins’ radical newspaper and a rumour that Louis had trampled the revolutionary cockade

How many women marched on Versailles during the october days?

6,000-7,000

What did the October days achieve?

The royal family moved to Paris to be closer and therefore more easily influenced by the people

How did the Constituent Assmebly reform the Monarchy’s power?

The king could no longer initiate new laws or taxes, but he was given a suspensive veto

How did the Constituent Assembly reform political rights in December 1789?

Distinguished between active and passive citizens (those with the right to vote and those without)

How did the Constituent Assembly reform the economy?

Got rid of unpopular taxes like the gabelle and the taille, the sale of church land (which was bad for the peasantry), assignats (which were overprinted and caused inflation)

When did the new tax system come into effect?

January 1791- all taxes were direct and there was a universal land tax

When was the civil constitution of the Clergy? What did this state?

12th July 1790, the Church was under state control and bishops/priests had to be elected by the citizens

What did the Civil constitution of the clergy cause?

creation of refractory priests, those who refused to take an oath of alligence (76/83 bishops, half of parish priests)

When was the Jacobin club established?

late 1789

What caused the split in the Jacobin club into radicals and Feuillants? Who led the Radicals?

The flight to Varennes, Robespierre

When was the Cordeliers club established? What did it support?

1790, believed the reforms of the Assmebly fell short of the Declaration of the Rights of man so supported insurrection and direct democracy

Who was the most notable member of the Cordeliers club (who established it?)

Danton

Who established the Girondins? What did he argue?

Brissot, the complete abolition of the monarchy

what caused the sans-culottes riots in 1791?

a bad harvest and inflation

Which radical publishers fulled the radicalism of the sans-culottes?

Danton, Desmoulins and Marat

How did Mirabeau work with the Royal family?

he tried to reach a compromise where the Monarchy shared power with an elected assembly and denounced the violence in paris- often accused of being a royalist by his enemies

What did the 1790 establishment of a monarchy club do?

increase fears of counter-revolution in Paris

When was the Flight to Varennes?

21st June 1791

What was the main cause of the flight to Varennes?

The civil constitution of the clergy, which appalled Louis as a devout catholic, and the death of Mirabeau which threatened a loss of support in the assembly

How did the flight to Varennes increase fear of counter-revolution?

rumours spread of an Austrian Committee led by Marie Antoinette who sought to restore the Monarchy’s power through Austrian intervention

When was the Champs de Mars massacre?

17th July 1791

Why did the crowd gather at champs de mars? How was the crowd violence controlled?

In support of a cordeliers petition demanding the King’s abdication, the National Guard (led by Lafayette)

What did the Champs de Mars massacre cause?

the Paris Commune declared martial law which removed freedom of the press, printing presses were shut down, and Danton fled

When was the Legislative Assembly created?

September 1791

What did Robespierre’s self-denying-ordinance do?

prevented any deputies who had served in the National Assembly from serving in the legislative assembly as an attempt to undermine his opponents

How many of the Legislative Assembly were radical? How did they win over unaligned deputies?

136/745, Fantastic speakers like Brissot pushed messages of anticlericalism and the Feuillants lacked leadership due to Lafayette being excluded from the assembly

When was the Declaration of Pillnitz? What was it?

August 1791, leaders of Austria and Prussia state they are willing to restore Monarchial control in France by force IF other countries in Europe agreed to help

Who pushed for war with Austria? Why?

Brissot (he wanted to flush out the traitors), Lafayette (he wanted to regain his reputation as a war hero), the Royal Family (wanted restoration of their power)

Who was against war with Austria?

Robespierre (he acknowledged the economic problems)

When did France declare war on Austria?

20th April 1792