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Divided French Society/Financial Troubles
coinEveryone in France got divided into three social classes. The First estate was made up of the clergy. They were people of the church and they paid no taxes. The Second estate was made up of nobles. They were almost royal and had strict rights. They didn't pay taxes. The Third estate was made of bourgeoisie (middle-class), rural peasants, and urban workers. Louis XVI left France in debt; half of the government income went to paying interest on the debt. -
Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
The Estates-General is a meeting of all three estates. They occur in France and after the Third estate was unhappy about the voting situation, they formed the National Assembly. This group met at a tennis court where they made the Tennis Court Oath, stating that they will not leave until the estates are equal and fixed. -
Revolt
Due to peasants going starved and becoming unemployed, they unleashed their fury on nobles who were trying to reimpose medieval dues. The defiant peasants set fires and stole grain to show their anger. The people of Paris soon then competed to gain power. This created turmoil. -
Parisians storm the Bastille
Parisian royal troops tried to dissolve the Assembly in Bastille because Bastille had gunpowder that they needed for their guns. Eventually, the Parisians broke the defenses and killed the commander and five guards of the Assembly. After that many deaths followed. After this invasion of the Parisians, Bastille represented years of abuse by the monarchy and now it is an independence day. -
National Assembly Acts
Nobles of the National Assembly voted to end their own privileges. They agreed to give up old manorial dues, exclusive hunting rights, special legal status, and exemption from taxes. -
Male Rights
After nobles gave away their privileges, the National
Assembly turned reforms to law, meeting a key Enlightenment goal- equality of male citizens before the law. During late August, the Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. (all men were born free and to remain free and equal in rights. Like Locke, the constitution insisted on the government only existing to protect citizen rights. -
Women March
Many women were disappointed that the Declaration didn't grant them equal rights. Women started to get executed for defending women's rights. Then on October 5, 6,000 women marched 13 miles in pouring rain. They were furious with Marie Antoinette because of her way of living overshadowing her good beliefs.The women refused to leave until the King and his family went back to Paris. He reluctantly agreed and soon the National Assembly followed. -
Constitution
The National Assembly completed their main task by producing a constitution. They set up a limited monarchy in place of an absolute monarchy. To make the government more efficient, they replaced provinces with 83 departments of almost equal size, they abolished old courts and reformed laws. There was now a 3-branch government. The constitution created legislation. -
Threats from Abroad
King of Prussia and emperor of Austria issued the Declaration of Pilnitz. The two monarchs threatened to intervene to protect the French monarchy. The Declaration was a bluff, but the revolutionaries in France took it seriously and prepared for war. The revolution was about to enter a new, more radical phase of change and government. -
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Civil War (Radicals Take Over)
civil warIn October, 1791 the newly elected Legislative Assembly took office. It survived for less than a year. Afterwards, the Jacobins (middle-class) and the Sans-culottes (working class) fought for power. The Sans-culottes wanted a republic and the Jacobins didn't want a republic. The two groups were both part of the third estate and was being pinned against each other. Then, they went to war with surrounding countries. That war lasted from 1792-1815. -
Monarchy is Abolished
A crowd of Parisians stormed the Royal palace of the Tuileries, and slaughtered the King's guards. A month later, citizens attacked prisons with nobles and priests. 1,200 prisoners were killed. This was known as the September massacres. Backed by Paris crowds, radicals such as the Convention, then took control of the Assembly. They abolished the monarchy and established the French Republic in Sep. of 1792. Jacobins controlled the Convention and erased all traces of old order. -
Spread of Nationalism
Revolution and war gave the French people a strong sense of national identity. This is expresses as "Nationalism". That is defined as having pride of your nation or ethnicity. Nationalism spread throughout France, and in 1793, France was a nation in arms. The port-city Marseilles, had troops that marched to a rousing new song. This song, "La Marseillaise", became the French National Anthem. -
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Robespierre and the Reign of Terror
RobespierreEarly in 1793, danger threatened France on all sides. Royalists and priests led peasants in rebellion against the government.Young French officers developed effective new tactics to win battles. Soon, French armies over-ran the Netherlands and later invaded Italy. In France, they crushed peasant revolts. The government battles counterrevolutionaries under Robespierre, who believed that France could achieve republic and virtue. He was one of the chief architects of the Reign of Terror as well. -
Third Stage of the Revolution
In reaction to the Terror, the Convention produced the third constitiution. Peace was already made with Prussia and Spain, war was continuing with Austria and Great Britain. Weak, but dictorial, the Directory faced growing discontent. As chaos threatened, politicians turned to Napoleon- a popular military hero, and later to their dismay out-smarted them and became the ruler of France.
