The French Revolution

Long long ago, there was a prince and a princess got married. Earth-shaking changes then happened
in this country---France.
Louis XVI Marie Antoinette

Yingdian Zhu Blk: E

Contents
Old French Society Financial problems in French The Estates-General The National Assembly Tennis Court Oath The Bastille Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Let them eat cake! Womens March on Versailles Constitution Downfall of the Monarchy The National Convention The Committee of Public Safety Reign of Terror The Directory Rise of Napoleon Downfall of Napoleon 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Old French Society

long-range problems Before the French Revolution, French society was based on inequality. It had been divided into three estates since the Middle Ages. The First Estate consisted of the clergy and they were exempt from the taille, Frances chief tax. The Second Estate was the nobility and they were exempt from the taille, too. The Third Estate was consisted of commoners; they had to pay for all the taxes.

Taxation
Population
Land ownership
First Estate: Clergy, 10%

First Estate: Clergy, 0.50% Second Estate: Nobility, 1.50% Third Estate: Commoners, 98%
Third Estate: Commoners, 65% Second Estate: Nobility, 25%

Third Estate: Commoners,100%

First estate:Clergy

Second Estate:Nobility

Third Estate:Commoners

Financial problems in French

immediate cause

All the country girls and women are without shoes or stockings; and the plowmen at their work have neither shoes nor stockings to their feet.

At that time, onethird of the population were poor. The bad harvest in 1787 and 1788 and a slowdown in manufacturing led to food shortages, rising prices for food, and unemployment. But the French government continued to spent money on wars, court luxuries and subventions. The queen, Marie Antoinettes extravagance also cost a lot.

The Estates-General
Because of the complete financial collapse, the government of Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates-General to raise new taxes. This was the French parliament. The meeting opened at Versailles on May 5, 1789. Most members of the Third Estate wanted to set up a new constitutional government. But each estate had one vote, the First and Second Estates together could outvote the Third Estate.

The National Assembly

On June 17, 1789, the Third Estate called itself a National Assembly as the reaction to the kings disagreement. They wanted each deputy have one vote and draft a constitution. Later, the fall of the Bastille had saved the National Assembly. It did many important things, including adopting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Because of the need of money, the National Assembly seized and sold the lands of the Church.

Tennis Court Oath

On June 20, the Third Estate arrived at their meeting place but the doors were locked. So they moved to a nearby indoor tennis court. The oath which the National Assembly swore during the meeting is known as the Tennis Court Oath.

The Bastille

The Bastille was an armory and prison in Paris.

On July 14, a mob of Parisians stormed the Bastille and removed it, brick by brick.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

It was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the English Bill of Rights. It went on to proclaim freedom and equal rights for all man.

Let them eat cake!

"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation to English of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. The great princess was Marie Antoinette.

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Womens March on Versailles

Because Louis XVI refused to accept the National Assemblys decrees on the abolition of feudalism and the Declaration of Rights, thousands of Parisian women marched to Versailles. These women met with Louis XVI and described how their children were starving from a lack of bread. They forced the king to accept the new decrees.

Detachments of women coming up from every direction, armed with broomsticks, lances, pitchforks, swords, pistols and muskets.

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Constitution
The National Assembly completed a new constitution, the Constitution of 1791, which set up a limited monarchy. There would still be a king, but a Legislative Assembly would make the laws. By 1791, the old order had been destroyed.

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Downfall of the Monarchy

The constitution of 1791 set up a limited monarchy. There would still be a king, but he could not make laws any more. Then all adult males had the right to vote during a National Convention. On September 21, the National Convention abolished the Monarchy and established a republic, the French Republic. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded on the guillotine, he died.

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The National Convention

In 1792, radical political groups in Paris, declaring themselves a commune, organized a mob attack on the royal palace and Legislative Assembly. Members of the new Paris commune forced the Legislative Assembly to suspend the monarchy and call for a National Convention. It is chosen on the basis in the nations future form of government.

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The Committee of Public Safety

A foreign crisis loomed large. An informal coalition of Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Dutch Republic took up arms against France. The National Convention gave broad powers to a special committee of 12 known as the Committee of Public Safety. It was dominated at first by Georges Danton, then by Maximilien Robespierre.

Georges Danton

Maximilien Robespierre

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Reign of Terror

The Committee acted to defend France from foreign and domestic threats. To meet the crisis at home, the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety set in motion an effect that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Close to 40,000 people were killed, including Marie Antoinette, died under the blade of the guillotine.

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The Directory
From a list presented by the Council of 500, the Council of Elders elected five directors to act as the executive committee, or Directory. The Directory, together with the legislature, ruled. This period of the revolution under the government of the Directory was an era of corruption and graft. (1795-1799)

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Rise of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte brought the French Revolution to an end in 1799. In 1792, he became a captain in French army. In 1796, he became the director of the French armies in Italy. In 1797, he returned to France as a conquering hero. In 1804, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I.

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Downfall of Napoleon
The beginning of Napoleons downfall came in 1812 with his invasion of Russia. At Waterloo in Belgium on June 18, 1815, Napoleon met a combined British and Prussian army under the Duke of Wellington and suffered a bloody defeat.

This time the victorious allies exiled him to St.Helena, a small island in the south Atlantic. Only Napoleons memory would continue to haunt French political life.

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