Transcript The French Revolution Unfolds

1
ON THE EVE OF
REVOLUTION
Ch. 6 Sec. 1
French Society
2

1st Estate
 Clergy

2nd Estate
 Nobility

3rd Estate
 Majority
of the population
 Bourgeoisie (middle class) to rural peasants to urban
workers

*** 1st and 2nd Estates did not pay taxes
Financial Troubles
3

National Debt soars
Louis
XIV left France in major debt
7 years war and American Revolution
strained the treasury even more

Economic reforms failed
Louis
XV and Louis XVI continued
spending
Louis XVI calls the Estates General
4
Estates prepare Grievances NotebooksCahiers
 Tennis Court Oath

 The
Estates General meeting was deadlocked with
a new voting technique
 The Third Estate got locked out of their meeting hall
 Met on indoor tennis court to take oath- not to
separate until a sound and just constitution is written
Parisians Storm the Bastille
5
July 14th, 1789
 Rumors of royal troops occupying the capital
 800+ Parisians assembled outside the Bastille
 Commander refused to open the gates- led to
a full fled attack
 Was a symbol to the people of France
representing the years of abuse by the
monarchy

Funny Links
6

History Teachers Remake- Lady Gage
7
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
UNFOLDS
Ch. 6 Sec. 2
“Great Fear”
8
Political crisis of 1789 and worst famine
in history coincide
 Unemployment and grain prices increase
 Rumors set off panic

 Peasants

unleashed their fury on nobles
Marquis de Lafayette heads the National
Guard
National Assembly Acts
9
Meet Aug. 4th – voted to end their own
privileges
 Nobles did not give up anything they had
not already lost
 Met a key Enlightenment goal- the
equality of all male citizens before the
law

Declaration of the Rights of Man
10







1st step to writing a new constitution
Modeled after the American Dec. of Independence
All men were born and remain free and equal in
rights
Every Frenchman had an equal right to hold office
Asserted Freedom of religion and called for taxes
to be levied to ability to pay
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
Louis XVI did not want to accept the reforms
Women March on Versailles
11


6,000 women marched to Versailles and demanded
to see the King
The women refused to leave until the king agreed
to return to Paris
 The

King agreed
“Now we won’t have to go so far when we want to
see our king”
National Assembly presses on
12






Moves to Paris with the king
To pay off debt- take over and sell Church lands
Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)
bishops/priests became elected, salaried officials
Many bishops and priests refused to accept it
Pope condemned it
Widening gap between revolutionaries in Paris and
the peasantry in the provinces
Constitution of 1791
13






Set up limited monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy
A new legislative Assembly had the power to make laws,
collect taxes, and decide on issues of war and peace
Lawmakers would be elected by tax-paying male citizens over
age 25
Replaced the old provinces with 83 departments of roughly
equal size
Abolished the old provincial courts, and reformed laws
Ensured equality for all male citizens, ended Church
interference in government, and put power in the hands of men
to serve in government
Radicals take over
14


Rumors spread and leaders increased border patrol
to limit the spread of the “French Plague”
King of Prussia & Emperor of Austria issued
Declaration of Pilnitz
 Revolutionaries


prepared for war
Legislative Assembly took office, but lost all power
Many different revolutionary groups
War on Tyranny
15



April 1792, war of words between French
Revolutionaries and European monarchs moved to
the battlefield
Declared war first on Austria and then Prussia,
Britain and other states
Began in 1792 and lasted on/off until 1815
16
RADICAL DAYS OF THE
REVOLUTION
Ch. 6 Sec. 3
Monarchy is Abolished
17



Parisians felt King was leaking information
“Bloodthirsty mobs” began to attack different
locations- palaces and prisons
Radicals took control of the Assembly- called for
new legislative body
 National

Convention
National Convention put Louis XVI on trial as traitorwas convicted and executed
Terror and Danger Grip France
18

National Convention creates Committee of Public
Safety
 Prepared

France for all out war
Leader of Committee of Public Safety- Maximilien
Robespierre: “the incorruptible”
 Revolutionary
courts conducted hasty trials- lead to
Reign of Terror
 Guillotine was engine of Reign of Terror
 With death of Robespierre- Reign of Terror slowed
19
Revolution enters Third Stage
20

Movement away from excesses of the Convention
 Moderates

produced another Constitution (3rd)
Constitution of 1795:
 Set
up 5 man Directory/ two-house legislature
 Middle-class was dominant force at this time


Directory caused discontent
Politicians turned to Napoleon Bonaparte
21
THE AGE OF NAPOLEON
Ch. 6 Sec. 4
22
Napoleon’s Rise to power
23
Military background
 Quickly moved through the ranks
 Early successes fueled his ambitions
 Overthrew the Directory and created
three-man board known as the Consul

 Took

title First Consul
Crowned himself Emperor of France
Reforms of France
24
Set out to restore economic
prosperity
 Made peace with the Catholic Church
 Won support across class lines
 New code of laws- Napoleonic Code

Encompassed
Enlightenment ideas
Women lost newly gained rights
Napoleon Builds an Empire
25
Great military leader
 Annexed (incorporated) Netherlands, Belgium,
parts of Italy and Germany
 Abolished Holy Roman Empire and created
Confederation of the Rhine under French
protection
 Controlled much of Europe through forceful
diplomacy
 Attempt to take Britain fails and causes
problems

26
Empire Faces Challenges
27



Conquered lands begin to support nationalism of
their own lands- began to oppose French rule
Spain bled French forces dry with guerrilla warfare
Tsar Alexander I of Russia withdrew his support of
Napoleon’s Continental System
 Napoleon attacked
 Russians retreated using Scorched-earth policy
 Napoleon could not feed and supply his army
through the Russian winter- forced to retreat
Napoleon’s Fall from Power
28

Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia teamed up
against the now weak French army
 Defeated
France at Battle of the Nations at Leipzig
 Napoleon forced to abdicate the throne- Louis XVIII
took the throne
 Exiled


to Elba
Napoleon escaped and returned to France
Defeated at Waterloo- abdicated again and
exiled to St. Helena
Congress of Vienna
29






Diplomats of Europe met to restore order/stability
Chief goal: create lasting peace by balance of
power and protecting the system of monarchy
Created a ring of strong nations around France to
contain power
Returned the principle of legitimacy
Quadruple Alliance- Aus/Prus/Rus/Brit
Concert of Europe- meet periodically to discuss
problems affecting peace of Europe