History HL - French Revolution

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What is the background of France during their pre-1789 governance? (3 points)

• An absolute monarchy with the King

• Royal position is hereditary with the eldest male heir

• Intendants are civil servants that carry out police, justice, public works

What is the definition of intendants?

• Local administrators in France appointed by the King to oversee provinces and enforce royal authority

• Title given to high ranking administrators/ officials

What is the background and characteristics of Louis XVI?

• Inherited the throne in 1774

• Never educated to become king

Characteristics

• Disconnected with the people of France/ their livelihood

• Inexperienced with leadership

• Resistant against reforms

• Though well-intentioned, he was indecisive in fear of making the wrong decision

What were the names of the 3 estates?

1st - The Clergies

2nd - Nobilities

3rd - Mixed/ commoners

What are the characteristics of the 1st estate? (7 points)

1st - Clergies

• 0.5% of the population

• Compromises of church people (e.g. bishops, nuns, priests, monks)

• Have all rights and privileges

• 10% landowner

• Tax

  • Paid little tax

  • Could collect the tax from church to their own benefit

• Exempted from direct royal taxes

• Have strong political influence (censorship, education)

What are the characteristics of the 2nd Estate?

2nd - Nobilities

• Less than 1% of the population

• 20-25% of landowners

• Tax

  • Largely tax-exempt

  • Blood tax: individuals (or their children) were forced to provide military service, often in high-risk or elite roles, to satisfy a debt or obligation to the state

Operations

• Demanded rents from peasants

• Has control over operations of mills and windpresses

• Work in government positions

• Wealth disparity (a lot of people weren’t actually rich) —> created tension

What are the characteristics of the 3rd Estate?

3rd - Mixed/ Commoners

• 98% of the population

• Compromises of bourgeoisie (merchants, lawyers, professionals) peasants…

• Could own land and run businesses but lacked the legal privileges

• Paid most taxes

  • Even the barbaric ones (e.g. salt tax)

• Could be conscripted

• No access to high office

  • —> Exclusion from positions of power/ authority in government, military, church

State the 4 long term causes of the French Revolution

1) Society structure

2) Royal government’s structure

3) Taxation system

4) Enlightenment

Why was France’s societal structure one of the long term causes?

• Structurally corrupted

  • The system legally protected the privilege while dumping most burdens on the 3rd estate

• Injustice

  • For decades, peasants and urban workers saw that hard work meant taxes; whilst privileged orders lived off rents and offices

• Political exclusion

  • 3rd estates had almost no real political power

  • 1st and 2nd Estates could outvote it 2-1 despite being a tiny minority

• Growing resentment

  • As the bourgeoisie grew richer and more educated, they resented being legally ranked with peasants

  • Demanded to abolish estates and feudalism

Why was the structure of the royal government a long term cause? (4 points)

The structure itself was a long term cause because it gave privileged groups many ways to block reforms —> so financial and political problems were never fixed and just kept growing worse

1) Assembly of the Clergy

• Met separately

• Negotiated a “free gift” instead of paying normal taxes

  • Free gift: instead of paying mandatory property taxes, the Clergy Assembly met every 5 years to decide a sum to give —> maintaining their financial independence from the state

• Protected church privileges

• Long term effect:

  • Church wealth stayed untaxed while the 3rd Estate paid, so unfair taxation was never reformed

2) Council of Notables (nobles and aristocrats)

• King asked for their advice on big reforms (e.g. Calonne’s land tax)

• They used this chance to reject any reforms that will remove their exemptions

• Long term effect:

  • Every time a minister tried serious reform —> nobles can say no —> system stayed unequal —> debt grew

3) Controller-General (finance minister)

• In charge of fixing money problems, but needed king + nobles + courts to agree

• When Calonne’s and later Brienne’s reforms were blocked —> it showed the king could not inflict changes even in a crisis

• Long term effect:

  • The public saw that the monarchy was too weak + divided to save France’s finances

4) Control of the provinces (intendants, provincial estates, regional courts)

• Different areas were run differently

• Regional courts (parlements) could refuse to register royal edits

  • These courts often blocked new taxes as they claim to defend “the nation”

    • But really just defending noble privilege

• Long term effect

  • The king could not create a fair, uniform tax system across France

    • —> Inequality and resentment built up everywhere

Why was taxation a long term cause of the French Revolution? (4 points)

• Unfair

  • Different between the 3 estates

    • Nobles and clergy were largely exempt from main direct taxes

• Many and heavy taxes

• Tax farming and corruption

  • Private tax-farmers collected many taxes + kept big profits + seen as abusive

  • —> Causing people to hate the system and the monarchy that allowed it

• Unreformed for decades

  • Attempts to make the system fairer were blocked by privileged groups —> built resentment over many years —> living costs rose and crises hit

Why was enlightenment a long term cause of the French Revolution? (3 points)

Enlightenment was a long-term cause it changed how people thought about power, rights, and inequality —> by 1789, many people no longer accepted the old system

1) Rights and equality

• Enlightenment concepts (e.g. natural rights & equality) taught the public that all MEN should have liberty and equal rights

  • —> directly challenges the state system + hereditary privilege

2) Critique of church

• Philosophes

  • Attacked the church’s authority

  • Argued for

1) Power split between branches

• (e.g. legislatures executive, judiciary…)

• So no single person controls everything + process can be checked

• 2) Ruler’s powers are written down + limited by a constitution or set of laws (e.g. parliament, regular elections…)

  • No more absolute monarchy

3) Culture of criticism

• Books, pamphlets, etc created a “philosophical society” where arguments mattered more than rank

  • In which they normalized criticizing of the church, nobility, and monarchy

State the 4 short term causes of the French Revolution

1) Financial Crisis 1: International Relations

2) Financial Crisis 2: Post War

3) Political Crisis

4) Economic Crisis

What were the 2 international relations that lead to the 1st financial crisis that caused the French Revolution?

• 7 years war

• American War of Independence

What were the happenings of France’s 7 years war and how did it contribute to the French Revolution? (2 sections)

What happened?

1) France had a long-term rivalry with Britain (over colonies) and Austria (European competitor)

• BUT allied with Austria in the mid-18th century

2) In 7 years war,

• France suffered major defeats to Britain in India and North America

• Lost most of its oversee territories

Severely weakened France’s colonial empire and humiliated the monarchy

—> Creating France’s strong desire for revenge

How does this relates to the Revolution?

• To get revenge on Britain —> France later supported the American colonies in the War of Independence

  • Gave them large financial and military aid

  • **France’s intervention was crucial to American victory

• BUT

  • Support massively worsened France’s financial crisis and debt

  • Soldiers were exposed to ideas of liberty and democracy —> fuelled revolutionary attitudes inside France

What were the 2 financial problems that arose post war?

1) Massive war debt

2) Tax incomes

How did the post-war debt and tax problems contribute to the short-term causes of French Revolution? (2 sections)

Both factors pushed the monarchy into crisis and increased public anger

Massive War Debt

• 1789: France owed about 122M livres

  • Interest payments on this debt took around 50% of the national budget

• Monarchy had borrowed heavily to fight wars (especially against Britain)

  • So though they DID weaken their rival Britain —>

    • It left the state almost bankrupt

    • Desperate for new income

Tax Problems

1) The tax system was inefficient and corrupt

2) Nobles and clergies

• Grew richer from land and property

• Largely exempt from many direct taxes

• Resisted reforms that would make them pay

3) Peasants carrying most of the tax burdens

• When their attempts of reforming were blocked by the privileged classes —> deepened public resentment

Who were the 2 Ministers of Finance that were responsible for the post- war financial crisis?

Necker and Calonne

Who was Necker, and how did his actions as finance minister affect France’s financial crisis before the revolution?

• Swiss banker

• Minister of finance during the crisis

• Attempted to fund the government by securing loans instead of raising taxes —> popular with the public BUT increased debt

  • Secured loans from other countries (through diplomacy and international relations)

• Made modest reforms (cut court spending, more transparency) and published the Compte rendu au roi in 1781

  • —> show royal finances and build trust

What was the downfall of Necker (Minister of Finance)?

• Failed to push for deeper structural tax reforms —> underlying post-war debt and unfair tax system remains

• Dismissed in 1781 BUT recalled in 1788 under public pressure as the crisis worsened

Who was Calonne and how did he contribute to the financial crisis? What resistance did he face and what happened to him as a result?

• Minister of Finance

• Reforms made

  • 1786

    • Universal land tax that will apply to all estates

      • Simplification of taxes

        • Reducing number of different taxes and fees

        • Making rules more uniform across France (same tax, same rates; instead of each region having its own system)

    • Abolition of internal trade barriers to boost/ stimulate the economy

      • Removing the internal taxes and checkpoints so goods (e.g. grain, cloth…) could move freely across France

    • Reduction of government spending

• Rejected by the Assembly of Nobles

  • (because Nobles resisted losing privilege)

• His inability to overcome noble’s opposition —> dismissal in 1787

What was the political crisis that acted as one of the short-term causes of the French Revolution? (4 points)

1) Opposition from parliaments

• After Calonne, Brienne kept the universal land tax

• The Paris Parlement refused to register his reforms

  • Claiming only the Estates-General could approve new taxes

    • Argued that such big new taxes needed the consent of a national representative body and NOT just the king + his ministers

  • Perceived as a threat to noble privilege

    • (them paying tax on their lands —> protect their privilege)

2) Louis XVI’s reaction

• Exiled the Parliament to Troyes on 15 Aug 1787 because it refused to register Brienne’s reforms + defied his authority

  • Attempting to suppress the opposition and assert royal power

3) Consequences

• Exile triggered an “aristocratic revolt”

  • Nobles had unauthorized assembles backing the parliaments + resisting the crown

• Assembly of the Clergy

  • Distanced itself from the monarchy —> weakening its traditional support

4) Significance

• Conflict exposed monarchy’s inability to crush opposition or solve the financial crisis

  • —> badly damaged royal authority

• As a result: Louis XVI was forced to summon the Estates-General in 1789

  • First time in 175 years

  • Gave all 3 estates a platform to voice grievances and propose reforms

How did the economic crisis contribute to the short-term causes of the French Revolution? (3,1 points)

1) Agricultural crisis

• France’s economy was mainly agricultural

• Good harvest from 1730-1770 —> food surpluses + growth

• Disastrous harvests between 1778-1789 —> caused food shortages and mass employment

  • Wheat prices rose ~60%

• Winter 1788-1789: Buying a loaf of bread took up most of a labourer’s wage —> many were desperate

2) Industrial decline and unemployment

• Many rural families relied on textile (weaving, spinning..) to earn income

• Textile production fell sharply (~50% in some areas)

• As production fell and living costs rose —> unemployment and increased hardships

3) Social tension and politicization

• Food shortages —> led to people blaming landowners and nobles for hoarding grain and raising prices for profit

  • —> food riots broke out at peak grain prices

• The notability was increasingly seen responsible for hardship

  • The 3rd estate became politicized by economic suffering

4) Link to revolution

• Louis XVI’s poor leadership + failed reforms deepened anger

• Ongoing economic crisis —> forced him to summon the Estates-General in 1789

  • Starting point for revolutionary change

What were the problems that forced Louis XVI to summon the Estates-General in 1789? What happened afterwards?

Treasury ran out of money AND the king could no longer rule/ reform alone —> Louis XVI was forced to summon

• By August 1788: the royal treasury was effectively empty —> the government could not meet its basic expenses

• Louis XVI reluctantly agreed to call the Estates-General for May 1789

  • Since only it (estates-general/ national assembly) was seen as legitimate enough to approve new taxes and reforms

• Necker was reappointed in September 1788

  • BUT he refused to act WITHOUT the Estates-General

• Pars Parliament was allowed to return after demanding that estates-General body be summoned

Showed that the royal authority was so weak that the King had to give in to financial reality ad political pressure

• Calling the Estates-General for the first time in 175 years —> marked a turning point towards revolution

What were the Notebooks of Grievances during the Estates-General meetings? What did they show about the 3 estates? (1, 3 points)

• Documents collected from all 3 estates before the Estates-General —> showing widespread dissatisfaction with inequality and injustice

• 1st Estate

  • Wanted to keep Catholic dominance but reform the Church internally

• 2nd Estate

  • Asked for merit-based advancement and freedom of speech to criticize the government

    • **both 1st and 2nd were willing to give up some financial privilege

• 3rd Estate

  • Demanded fairer taxation

  • Called for overthrowing of absolute monarchy

  • Replace the absolute monarchy with a constitutional monarchy (regular representation; shared law-making power between king and nation…) with an assembly

Who actually represented the 3rd Estate in the Estates-General, and which social groups were left out?

• Peasants and workers were not included in the Estates-General

• 3rd estate mainly consisted of lawyers and businessmen

What were the causes for the National Assembly’s formation? What was its significance and consequence?

• Causes

  • The 3rd Estate’s demand for voting “by head” was rejected —> keeping the unfair voting system where the 1st and 2nd Estates could outvote them

  • Necker only focused on tax reform and ignored calls for a new constitution

  • In response: the 3rd Estate began verifying credentials on its own + ignoring the king and other estates

  • June 1789: its deputies declared themselves the National Assembly

    • Claim to represent the French nation

• Significance

  • Direct challenge to royal authority + old estate system

  • The king now doesn’t have the highest authority, instead, it belongs to the people/ nation

    • King’s power can be limited by the nation (through representatives, a constitution.. etc)

• Consequence

  • 19 June: many clergy deputies voted to join the National Assembly —> further undermine the King’s absolutism + strengthening the revolutionary body

What is the Tennis Court Oath? What caused it and what was its significance?

What happened

• June 1789

  • Usual hall closed

  • National Assembly (mainly 3rd Estate deputies) met in an indoor tennis court

  • They swore not to disband until France had a constitution

Cause

• The King planned a royal session

• Meeting hall was closed for preparations without warning

• Deputies believed the king was trying to shut them down

Consequence/ Significance

• Took an oath not to separate until a constitution was made

• Denying the king’s right to dissolve them and clearly challenging his authority

• Only 1 deputy voted against the oath —> showing how quickly attitudes were radicalizing in France

What is the change and continuity that is demonstrated within the Tennis Court Oath?

1) Change (Increasing support for the National Assembly)

• The king first declared the National Assembly invalid BUT the deputies ignored him

  • 151 clergy and 47 nobles joined the National Assembly

  • Popular demonstrations in Paris backed the Assembly

• June 27

  • The King ordered the other 2 estates to join + accept voting by head

—> Change: from an official royal rejection TO royal approval and support from elites

2) Continuity (the king still relying on force)

• Brought around 25,000k troops (including elite foreign force around Paris)

  • Showed that he still intended to use force to control or dissolve the Assembly if they rebelled

• He dismissed Necker (despite Necker’s popularity) —>

  • Continuity: Louis XVI still behaved like an absolute monarch who relied on military power and court favourites

  • Significance: dismissing a popular finance minister —> loose popularity + damaged his image

What caused the protests in Paris (2)? What happened there? What was its significance (3)?

Causes of protests in Paris

• Necker’s dismissals angered the people in Paris (who saw him as a reformer)

  • —> removal increased dissatisfaction with the king and absolutism

• The increase built-up of royal (including foreign) troops around Paris made people fear a royal coup against the National Assembly

  • Armed themselves for self-defence
    

What happened?

• Crowds

  • Raided gunsmiths for weapons

  • Fought with royal guards

  • Destroyed 40-50 customs posts

  • Some Gardes-Francaises defected to help protestors

Significance

• Showed extreme widespread anger amongst citizens

• The people of Paris were willing to use force, not just petitions (like the old-days) to get what they want

• Showed that Louis XVI could no longer rely on troops to override/ overpower/ dissolve the Assembly by force

  • As the people and soldiers in Paris were turning against him

What is the Storming of Bastille? What caused it? Why was it significant?

• Cause

  • People crowds lacked gunpowder

  • Bastille was rumoured to have stockpiles

  • About 25k Parisians and Gardes-Francaises marched and sized it

• Event

  • Governor de Launay refused to hand over gunpowder

  • After fighting —> he was captured, killed

    • Head was on a pike

• Significance

  • The Bastille was a symbol of royal authority in Paris

  • Its fall symbolizes the collapse of the King’s power/

    • Fall = fall of the monarchy

  • Became the turning point of the revolution

Who were the Grades Francais? Why were they crucial?

• French guards

• Soldiers from an elite regiment (large military unit) defected to support the Paris crowd

  • Highly trained, trusted troops (often from outside France) that Louis XVI brought in to control/ intimidate the city and the National Assembly

    • During July protests + the Storming of the Bastille

• Crucial because trained royal troops were now fighting on the people’s side instead of the king’s

Why did they establish Capital Authority (Paris Commune + National guards) in 1789? What was their significance and how did the King react?

Paris Commune = new Paris city government

• Cause

  • The bourgeoise in Paris feared for the breakdown of law + order after the unrest (Bastille and Paris in general) —> would lead to chaos

    • —> created a new city government (the Commune)

    • Bailly as mayor

    • National Guard to keep order

• King’s reaction

  • Louis XVI travelled to Paris on 17th July

  • Recognized the Commune and National Assembly

  • Wore a tricolour cockade

    • —> symbolizing his acceptance of shared power with the people

    • represented liberty and unity

• Significance

  • The King now had to share real power with Paris authorities and the Assembly

  • Could no longer rely on royal troops alone to control the capital

What did 2 historians say regarding the significance of the Bastille?

• Fisher

  • The fall represents the end of secretive torture and imprisonment and marks a new stage for France

• Doyle

  • Argues that it gave Parisians the power to dictate the revolution’s directions

Creation of the constitution:

What caused the municipal revolution (1789)? What happened?

**Municipal: relating to a town/city and its local govt (mayor, council…)

Causations

• The Paris revolts and the fall of royal authority —> shows that the king’s agents (intendants) had lost control and power

  • All intendants (royal officers) had abandoned their posts

• Local elites and citizens stepped in

  • In Bordeaux: electors of the 3rd Estate seized control of the local government

  • In at least 3 other cities: old councils were violently overthrown + replaced with newly elected ones

  • A National Guard was formed in almost every town to keep order + defend the new regimes

Creation of the constitution:

What were the causes, consequences, and (peasant) perspectives of the Great Fear (1789)?

Cause

• Severe economic hardship and food shortages in 1788-1789

  • Bad harvests, high bread prices

• Rumour: people in the countryside heard stories that nobles and other elites were plotting to starve them on purpose (famine plot)

  • Heard that nobles/ king’s supporters —> paid bands of criminals to attack villages

    • Created mass panic amongst peasants during summer

Consequences

• Collapse of royal authority in many rural areas

• Peasants formed armed groups

• Demonstrations and violence against problems such as taxes, feudal dues, tithes

Perspective

• Peasants began to see the landlords as greedy hoarders of food who were plotting against them

• They felt justified to attack grain stores and feudal property

• They believe they were being “defensive” and doing a “just” action against exploitation

What is the definition of feudal dues and tithes?

Tithe

• Compulsory payment

• About 1/10th of a person’s harvest/ income

• Paid to the Church to support priests, churches, religious activities

Feudal dues

• Feudal dues as rent + extra compulsory charges that peasants had to pay their lord because of the feudal system

Under feudalism

• The lord owns the land

• The peasant is allowed to live on and farm part of that land

• In return → the peasant must pay the lord various dues

So feudal dues

• All things peasant owes the lord because of this relationship

  • Can be money/ goods/ labour

What caused the August Decree (2)? What did the decrees do (3)? What were the nobles perspectives on it? What was its significance?

Cause

• The Great Fear and widespread rural violence pushed the Assembly to act as using hard power (force) will damage the regime’s reputation and might fail

• Liberal nobles and bourgeois

  • Wanted to restore order

  • Apply Enlightenment ideas by ending feudal privileges

What did the decrees do?

• Abolished feudalism in principle

  • Declared feudalism dead in law

  • But some feudal payments and details still continued a while in practice

• Ended tax exemptions

  • All citizens had to pay for tax equally; all privileges abolished

• Opened offices to all citizens in principle, not just nobles

Noble perspectives

1) Perspective 1 (earlier)

• Liberal nobles and deputies

  • Full of patriotic emotion

  • Dramatically stood up to give up their feudal rights and privillege

  • Crying and celebrating as if they were heroically saving France

2) Perspective 2 (later)

• Many nobles + clergies + deputies realized they were loosing real money, power, traditional rights

• —> became angry and bitter

• —> Began critizing the Assembly for dismantling the feudal system so quickly

Significance

• Marked the legal end of feudalism

• Helped dismantle the birth-based privilege of the nobility

  • Ended tax privileges of nobles and clergy by declaring equal taxation for all citizens

  • Opening public offices to everyone

What is the meaning of feudalism?

A system in which land was exchanged for loyalty and military service between lords and peasants

What 5 rights were guaranteed by the Declaration of the Rights of man and the Citizen (1789)?

• All men are equal at birth

• Rights to liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression

• Equal taxation for all men

• Freedom of religion, expression and property

• Popular sovereignty

  • Authority comes from the nation/ people —> not from a king/ small elite

What were The October Days 1789 (4) and why was it significant for the FR?

• King initially refused to approve the August Decrees + the Declaration

• Oct days was where the King and Flanders regiment (his supporting army) had anti-revolutionary demonstrations

  • E.G. Tri-colour flag of the revolution was trampled

• Around 7k Parisian women (joined by National Guard units) marched to Versailles

  • Demanded bread

  • For the king to move to Paris

• King complied & did both

  • King was then forced to accept the August Decrees + the Declaration

  • Also moved to Paris with the royal family and Assembly

Significance

• From then on: the King and National Assembly were effectively under the control/ pressure of the Parisian crowd

  • Politically humiliated

  • Constricted to act independently

What did a historian say regarding The October Days?

Rude

• Argued that there was significant in dismantling the ancient regime + preparing France for revolutionary changes

What was the 1791 Constitution and on what principle was it based on?

• First written constitution in France

• Written by the National Assembly

• Created during the French Revolution to replace absolute monarchy with constitutional monarchy

  • Introduced the system of keeping the king but limiting his powers + made him share authority w/ elected Legislative Assembly

• Based on the principles of the previous Declaration of the Rights of man and the citizen

  • Equality

  • Individual rights

  • End of feudal and hereditary privileges

What were the 3 branches in the 1791 Constitution and what do they do?

Executive

• enforce laws

• runs government

Legislative

• makes laws

• controls budget

• oversees government

Judicial

• interprets laws (decide what it means in specific cases)

• runs courts

• protects rights

What is the definition of a constitution?

A set of rules that guides how a country, state, or other political organization works

Who makes up the executive branch in the 1791 Constitution? What were they responsible for?

• Made up of the King and his ministers

• Responsibility of Executive branch

  • Enforce laws

  • Runs administration; Appoints ministers

  • Command the army + navy

  • CANNOT make laws

  • Can only DELAY laws passed by the Legislative branch

What were the legislative branch responsible for during the 1791 Constitution?

• The legislative Assembly

  • Elected by citizens

  • Responsible for

    • Making laws

    • Finance management

    • Handle foreign policy (e.g. declaring war…)

  • Oversee executive branch (don’t let them abuse their power)

What is the relationship between the executive branch and the legislative branch in the 1791 Constitution?

Their relationship

• King can only accept them OR use a veto to delay AND cannot block them forever

• King cannot declare war or make peace without the approval of the Legislative Assembly

How was the judicial system changed and organized under the 1791 Constitution?

• Old absolutist courts were abolished + replaced with new court system

• Judicial power was separate from king and legislature

  • Only judiciary can exercise judicial functions

• Judge were elected by the people

  • Independent

  • Could not be removed randomly

• Introduced more uniform punishments (despite class)

  • E.G guillotine

What were the 3 main economic reforms made by the 1791 Constitution?

1) The Assembly (guided by laissez-faire ideas)

• Opened economic life to free competition

• laissez-faire = let it be (french)

• In other words

  • The government started to interfere as little as possible in the economy

    • (e.g. No strict regulations of prices, let buyers and sellers decide through the market…)

  • The Assembly wanted a free market instead of heavy state control

2) Allowed any citizen to enter any trade as long as they followed a general law

• No more guilds controlling who can be a crasftmen

• No more internal customs barriers inside France

  • (Taxes/ checkpoints inside the country —> made trade slow + expensive)

• No more exclusive trading rights

  • When one person/ company has the exclusive right to trade a certain good/ in a certain area

3) Le Chapelier Law & banning unions/ strikes

• Banned workers’ associations and strikes so that workers could only bargin as individuals