French Revolution

Effects of the Enlightenment

  • Ideas on government inspire calls for Democracy

  • American Revolution

  • Rebellions in Latin America

  • Growing unrest in France

French Society

French society divided into 3 classes called “Estates”:

The 1st Estate

  • Only 1% of population

  • Own 10% of land

  • Pay No taxes

The 2nd Estate

  •  3% of population

  • Own 20% of the land

  • Pay No taxes

  • Control government & live off collected tax money

The 3rd Estate

  • 95% of population

  • Almost no say in government

  • Pay all the taxes

  • Pay tithes to Church

King Louis XVI

  • Huge debt from building the Palace of Versailles

  • Absolute Monarch but a weak ruler

  • Attempts reforms but many fail due to nobility

Marie Antoinette 

  • Queen of France

  • HUGE spender

  • “Let them eat cake”??

Abbe Sieyes

  • Member of the Estates General

  • Inspires 3rd Estate to seek power



The Estates General

  • Type of representation  

  • Rarely meet

  • 1 vote per estate

  • 3rd Estate ALWAYS outvoted



The National Assembly

  • Locked out of the Estates General, 3rd Estate signs the Tennis Court Oath

  • Creates a National Assembly

  • Issue the Declaration of The Rights of Man and of the Citizen

The Great Fear

  • Peasants riot throughout France

  • Nobles homes ransacked by the 3rd Estate

Storming of the Bastille

  • Prison in Paris & symbol of royal authority stormed

  • Starts the revolution – July 14, 1789

Robespierre

  • Begins the Reign of terror

  • Mass execution of enemies of the Revolution

  • Thousands sent to the guillotine.

The French Republic

  • Declared by the new National Convention

  • Monarchy abolished

  • All religious symbols banned for a Cult of Reason. 





Georges Danton

  • Leads the Committee of Public Safety

  • Designed to suppress opposition inside & outside France

  • Calls for the execution of King Louis

Napoleon

  • Military leader

  • Takes power after a coup d’etat overthrew the French Directory

  • Restores order after the chaos of Revolution

  • Issues the Napoleonic code. –eliminates the Estate System

  • Simplifies the laws in France

Napoleon’s Empire

  • Uses the continental system to isolate England and invade Europe

  • Invasion of Russia fails and devastates his army

The Fall of Napoleon

  • Defeated by the British at Waterloo

  • Placed in prison in exile.

Prince Metternich

  • Leads the Congress of Vienna 

  • Adopts a Balance of Power doctrine 

  • Restores monarchies

  • Boundaries of Europe redrawn