The French Revolution

1
The French Revolution
2
Steps Toward a Revolution

• Social unrest due to inequality among the Three
  Estates
• First Estate Clergy owned 10 of the land,
  didnt pay taxes.
• Second Estate Nobility owned about 25 of
  land, didnt pay taxes. Held majority of the
  positions of power.
• Third Estate Commoners owned about 65 of
  land, paid taxes!!! Divided into two groups
• Peasants poor masses. They owned about 40 of
  the land, but made up 80 of the population.
• Bourgeoisie middle class. They owned 25 of the
  land, but made up 8 of the population.

So whats the problem here??
3

• Economic Problems
• Poor harvests lead to food shortages
• Slowdown in manufacturing leads to unemployment
• Government keeps happily spendingespecially the
  nobles

• Political Inequality
• King Louis XVI decides on an economic solution
  raise taxes!
• Meeting of the Estates-General to discuss.
• Each Estate gets one voteso guess who gets
  outvoted?

4
Storming the Bastille

• Frustration rises with monarchy
• Mobs in Paris decide to free the kings prisoners
  at the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
• Guards are killed
• Chief guard beheaded head paraded through Paris
• Bastille literally torn apart

5
Declaration of the Rights of Man

• Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
• Everyone on an equal footing so everyone pays
  taxes, can hold office, etc.
• National Assembly created from the Third Estate.

6
King Louis XVI

• Married to Marie Antoinette four children (two
  died as infants)
• Vilified by peasants for wealth and lifestyle
• Forced to move from palace at Versailles to Paris
  in October 1789.
• Attempted to flee in 1791, but discovered and
  recaptured.

7
Europe Reacts to the Revolution

• 1791 new French constitution calls for a
  limited monarchy
• Europe afraid these will ideas spread throughout
  the continent. Austria and Prussia threaten to
  forcefully return Louis XVI to power.
• France declares war on Austriabad idea.

8
Radical Revolution

• Newly elected National Convention decides to
  abolish the monarchy and set up the Republic of
  France.
• Radicals begin arresting and killing those
  disloyal to the French Republic.
• Guillotine used for executions more humane.
• King Louis XVI executed in January 1793.

9
The Terror 1793-1794

• Committee of Public Safety established to protect
  France from foreign and domestic threats
• Revolutionary courts established to prosecute
  enemies of the republic
• Nearly 40,000 killed for their crimes,
  including Marie Antoinette and Louis XVIs
  younger sister.
• Mob rule common little need to prove crimes.

10
Radical Revolutionaries

• Jean-Paul Marat
• Early revolutionary leader intense workaholic
• Called for mob violence, right of the poor to use
  force against rich
• Stabbed to death in his bathtub by rival faction

• Georges Danton
• First leader of the Committee of Public Safety
• Wary supporter of the Terror wanted to contain
  it
• Accused of being lenient with the enemies of
  France and guillotined

• Maximilien Robespierre
• Second leader of Committee of Public Safety
• Believed anyone who opposed being governed by the
  general will should be executed.
• Passionate supporter of the Terror
• Arrested and guillotined for being too zealous

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End of the Revolution

• By 1793 France declared a national draft to
  mobilize an army large enough to defeat the other
  European nations.
• Eventually army numbered over 1 million largest
  army in European history. Handily defeated other
  nations.
• End of external threat end of the Terror
• Still constant economic concerns, people unhappy
  with the new moderate government, people who
  wanted the monarchy back

Enter Napoleon Bonaparte!