THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BEGINS!

Unit 5: The French Revolution & Napoleonic

Era (1789-1815)

France’s Old Regime

In the 1770s France ‘s people were divided up into three large social classes called estates.

The first two estates had privileges like access to high offices and tax exemptions.

1st Estate – The Clergy or Roman Catholic Church owned 10% of the land & paid 2% of its income in taxes to the government.

2nd Estate – The rich nobles – 2% of the population, owned 20% of the land, & paid almost no taxes. Did not like Enlightenment!

The Largest Estate – The 3rd Estate

3rd Estate – 97% of the population. It was divided into three groups:

The Bourgeoisie – Middle class bankers, business owners, merchants, artists & pros. They were educated, but even though many were as rich as nobles, but they paid high taxes & had no privileges.

Urban Workers – laborers, trades people, apprentices, and servants – low wages

Peasants – 80% of France’s 26 million people. Paid ½ income in tithes to the Church and taxes to the king. They resented the church & nobles.

The Forces of Change

Enlightenment Ideas – Rousseau, Voltaire, & American Revolution – 3rd Estate wanted equality, liberty, and democracy

Comte D’Antraigues said, “the People is the foundation of the State.”

The 3rd Estate was fed up with the Old Order!

Economic Troubles

Tax burden of 1780s = hard to do business in France although production & trade were up.

Cost of Living up due to crop failures. 1789 – Price of bread doubled!

King Louis XVI inherited debt, but also French-Indian War and American Revolution doubled the debt

1786 – Bankers refused to loan the king more money.

Louis XVI was very weak.

Marie Antoinette

The Queen added to his problems.

“Madame Deficit” was unpopular as an Austrian Queen

Spent lots of $$$ on gowns, jewels, gifts, & playing cards ($1.5 million in a year!)

She angered the silk industry because she wore lose cotton dresses.

The Estates-General

May 5, 1789 – the first meeting of all 3 estates in 175 years at Versailles

Instead of cutting spending he wanted to tax the nobility & the Estates-General had to approve it.

This meeting will be the dawn of the Revolution!

Exit Slip – Background Causes of the French Revolution

1. Which estate was made up of the nobility and paid no taxes to the French government?

a. 1st Estate b. 2nd Estate c. 3rd Estate2. Which estate was made up of the clergy of the

Roman Catholic Church? a. 1st Estate b. 2nd Estate c. 3rd Estate3. Bourgeoisie means _____ in French. a. Servant b. Peasant c. Middle Class4. What issue led King Louis XVI to call a meeting of

the Estates General in May 1789? a. he wanted a divorce b. he wanted a war c. he wanted to tax the nobility

The Dawn of the Revolution

The Estates General had always been ran by the 1st 2 Estates b/c each estate had 1 vote since medieval times

Bourgeoisie proposed they all meet together with each delegate = 1 vote – per the Enlightenment’s influence.

3rd Estate was equal to 1st + 2nd Estate numbers-wise

Louis XVI sided with the nobles in favor of old rules

The National Assembly

3rd Estate was helped by Emanuel-Joseph Sieyes (clergyman) who suggested 3rd Estate become a National Assembly and pass reforms for all the people of France and end the absolute monarchy.

June 17, 1789 it was declared – 1st act of revolution; but Louis XVI had other ideas & locked them out of their meeting room!

The Tennis Court Oath

June 20, 1789 – The 3rd Estate crashed through a door to an indoor tennis court.

Tennis Court Oath – a pledge to stay until an new constitution had been written. Soon after, some nobles and clergy joined them.

Louis XVI panicked & put a mercenary army of Swiss guards to surround the palace.

Storming the Bastille!

Paris – Rumors flew – would the king used the military to crush the Assembly; would citizens be massacred?

People took up arms to defend Paris and stormed the Bastille on July 14, 1789 looking for weapons & 100 were killed.

Today, July 14 is a national holiday similar to the 4th of July in the U.S.

The Great Fear! June – August 1789

The panic spread from Paris to the country side as rumors that nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants.

Ironically, the peasants became outlaws and terrorized the nobles with farm tools & torches in what was called the Great Fear or la Grande Peur.

They broke into manners & destroyed paperwork that bound them to the land & often burned their houses.

The Parisian Bread Riots – October 1789

1000s of women in Paris marched on Versailles in protest of high bread prices.

They demanded the National Assembly do something about it. Next they turned anger on the King and Queen.

They broke into the palace, killed some guards, & forced the king , family, & servants to return to Paris.

They would never return and the monarchy was finished.

Exit Slip – The Dawn of the Revolution

1. T or F: King Louis XVI supported the formation of the National Assembly.

2. T or F: After the Tennis Court Oath, some nobles and clergy joined the 3rd Estate.

3. T or F: Today, the French celebrate Bastille Day similarly to how we celebrate July 4th.

4. T or F: After the Parisian Bread Riots, King Louis XVI and his family never left the Versailles Palace again.