Revolution Brings Reform and Terror

1
Revolution Brings Reformand Terror

• KEY IDEA The revolutionary government of France
  made reforms but also used terror and violence to
  retain power.

2
The Assembly Reforms France

• In August 1789, as a response to the peasant
  uprisings and unrest, the National Assembly took
  steps to change France.
• A new document was created, The Declaration of
  the Rights of Man, that ended all the special
  rights that members of the First and Second
  Estates had enjoyed and all French men equal
  rights.

3
Women and Reform

• Though women did not get these rights, it was a
  bold step.
• Olympe de Gouges was a playwright and journalist
  whose feminist writings reached a large audience.
  

Olympe de Gouges
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• Olympe de Gouges was a strong supporter of
  democracy and demanded the same rights for women
  that the French men were demanding.
• She wrote her own document called the Declaration
  of the Rights of Woman.

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Declaration of the Rights of Women

• In this document she challenged the oppression of
  male authority and the notion of male-female
  inequality.Her ideas were rejected and she
  eventually met her fate to the guillotine as an
  enemy of the Revolution.

6
The State-Controlled Church

• Other laws cut the power of the Catholic Church.
  The government took over church lands, hoping to
  sell them and raise money.

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• Plans for additional restrictions on the Church
  were abandoned as the delegates feared that they
  would lose support from the bourgeoisie.
• The new laws about the church divided people who
  had backed the Revolution.
• Catholic peasants remained loyal to the church.
  They were angry that the church would be part of
  the state. Thereafter, many of them opposed the
  Revolutions reforms.

8
Louis Fears the People

• In June 1791, he and his family tried to escape
  the country. They were caught near the French
  border and brought back to Paris. From that
  point on, they lived under guard. After this, the
  king and queen were even less popular.

9
A Limited Monarchy

• In the fall of 1791, the assembly drew up a new
  constitution that gave the king very little
  power.
• The assembly then handed over its power to a new
  assembly, the Legislative Assembly.
• The king was stripped of much of his authority
  and the Legislative assembly became the lawmakers
  of the country.

10
A Divided Assembly

• After the new assembly began to meet, it fell
  into divided groups.
• The Legislative Assembly split into three
  separate factions
• Radicals
• Moderates
• Conservatives

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The Radicals

• The Radical (left-wing) faction wanted sweeping
  changes in the government and proposed that
  common people have full power in a republic.
• They also opposed the king and the idea of
  monarchy.

• The sans-culottes were an extreme left-wing
  faction who wanted a greater voice in government,
  lower food prices and an end to food shortages.

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The Moderates

• The Moderate faction wanted some changes in the
  government, but not as many as the radicals.
• They were willing to accept the monarchy as long
  as the kings power was limited.

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The Conservatives

• The Conservative (right-wing) faction wanted very
  few changes in the government.
• They believed that the best government for France
  was a limited monarchy.
• The Émigrés, a group of nobles and and others who
  had fled during the peasant uprising, were an
  ultra-right wing who were hoping to undo the
  Revolution and restore the Old Regime.

14
Europes Absolute Rulers React

• At the same time, France faced serious trouble on
  its borders. Kings in other countries feared
  that the French Revolution would spread to their
  lands.
• They wanted to use force to restore control of
  France to Louis XVI, as well as protect their own
  positions as monarchs.
• Soon France found itself at war with Austria and
  Prussia- a war it quickly began to lose.

15
Prussian Soldiers Advance on Paris

• Foreign soldiers were coming near to Paris. The
  commander of the Prussian army threatened to
  destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed in
  any way.
• The Prussian concern for Louis and his family
  raised suspicions that the king and queen were
  ready to help the enemy.
• Angry French citizens imprisoned the royal family
  in a stone tower. Many nobles were killed in
  other mob action.

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The National Convention

• The government took strong steps to meet the
• danger from foreign troops. It took away the
  kings powers.
• In order to pacify the internal threat of
  radicals, the members of the Legislative Assembly
  gave up the idea of a a limited monarchy.
• In 1792,the Constitution of 1791 was set aside,
  they declared the king deposed and dissolved the
  Legislative Assembly. After a new election, the
  National Convention (the new government) was
  formed.

17
Louis Loses His Head

• A radical group, the Jacobins, began to demand
  the creation of a republic.
• Under the leadership of many Jacobins, the
  National Convention declares Louis a common
  citizen and prisoner.

18
Louis Loses His Head

• King Louis was tired for treason, convicted and
  sentenced to death. On January 21m 1793, Louis
  XVI was beheaded by the guillotine.

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Louiss Death Troubles European Monarchs

• Louis XVI was one of the first people to be
  executed with the newly invented guillotine.
• The execution of the king was a victory foir the
  radicals in Paris, but it horrified other
  European monarchs and made their opposition to
  the French even stronger than ever.

20
The Guillotine- A Humane Execution

• The guillotine was invented by Dr. Joseph Ignace
  Guillotine as an efficient, humane way to execute
  people that would cause its victims very little
  pain.
• More than 40,000 French people were executed
  during the Reign of Terror.

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The Guillotine- A Humane Execution

• This pie graph shows the breakdowns of beheadings
  by class

22
The Terror Grips France

• Following the death of Louis XVI, Maximilien
  Robespierre, began to lead France.
• He made many changes
• He set out to build a republic of virtue.
• He and his party wanted to wipe out all memories
  of the royal family and nobility of France.

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The Republic of Virtue

• Robespierre ordered the following reforms
• The calendar was changed to be more
  scientific. The calendar was divided into 12
  months of 30 days and renamed each month.
• There were no Sundays in the new calendar because
  radicals considered religion to be too old
  fashioned and dangerous.
• All churches in France were closed.

24
Maximillien Robespierre

• Maximillien Robespierre believed passionately
  that only persons of absolute virtue should be
  political leaders. He believed in freedom for
  Jews and slaves, the abolition of the death
  penalty, and absolute loyalty to the state.

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The Republic of Virtue

• He was convinced that true patriots should devote
  themselves wholeheartedly to an existence of
  unselfish work and moral regularity.
• He had no private life and very few friends
• It is ironic that this believer in virtue
  presided over one of the most brutal periods in
  French history.

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The Reign of Terror

• Robespierre became the leader of the Committee of
  Public Safety. This committee was formed to
  investigate people who were believed to be a
  threat to the republic.
• He ordered the death of as many as 40,000 people
  who did not agree with him.
• His rule, which began in 1793, was called the
  Reign of Terror. It ended in July 1794, when
  Robespierre himself was put to death.

27
The Queen Meets the Guillotine

• The Queen, Marie Antoinette, was sentenced to
  death by the Committee of Public Safety.
• She met her death in a very dignified manner. It
  is rumored that she apologized to the executioner
  after accidentally stepping on his foot. Her
  last words were Monsieur, I beg your pardon, I
  did not do it on purpose.

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Robespierre Turns on His Supporters

• The enemies of the republic who troubled
  Robespierre the most were fellow revolutionaries
  who challenged his leadership.
• He ordered the death of many of the leaders who
  helped him set up the republic.
• By July of 1794, the National Convention realized
  that none of them were safe from Robespierre so
  in order to save their own lives, they turned on
  him.

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Robespierre Meets The Guillotine

• A group of conspirators demanded his arrest. By
  the next day, Robespierre was arrested, tried,
  convicted, sentenced to death and immediately
  executed by the guillotine.

30
The Directory

• Tired of the killing and unrest, the French
  people wanted a return to order.
• In 1795, the moderate leaders in the National
  Convention drafted a new plan for government.

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The Directory

• France got a new, but less revolutionary, plan of
  government - The Directory
• The new constitution placed power in the hands of
  the upper middle class, a two house legislature,
  and an executive body of five men.
• The five directors were moderates, not
  revolutionary idealists. Although there was some
  corruption among the directors, France was
  finally enjoying a time of peace.

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The Directory Gives Rise to Napoleon

• The Directory found a young general from Corsica
  to lead the French Army. This very talented man
  was Napoleon Bonaparte.

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The End