Causes of The French Revolution - PowerPoint Presentation

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Causes of The French RevolutionSlide2
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Historical interpretations of class conflict leading to

the French Revolution

Bourgeoisie was united by economic position and class interest and frustrated by feudal lawsEventually, rose up to lead the

Third Estate

in the Revolution which resulted in abolition of feudal privileges and established a capitalist order based on individualism and a market economy.

Revisionist historians have

questioned the existence of a growing social conflict between the bourgeoisie and feudal nobility.

Both groups formed two parallel social ladders, increasingly linked at the top by wealth, marriage, and Enlightenment culture.

Traditional view:

Modern:Slide4

Long-Term Causes – 1. Breakdown of the old order—ancien

regime

The French Revolution was partly influenced by the American RevolutionIncreased criticism of the French

gov’t

was spurred by rising expectations of the Enlightenment.

The Three Estates did not reflect the realities of wealth and ability in French society.

Middle class resented gov’t interference in their economic activities.Criticism mounted of

gov’t inefficiency, corruption, and privileges of the aristocracy.The legal system was chaotic, with no uniform or codified laws.Slide5

The Old Regime (

Ancien

Regime)

Old Regime

– socio-political system which existed in most of Europe during the 18

th

centuryCountries were ruled by

absolutism – the monarch had absolute control over the governmentClasses of people – privileged and unprivileged

Unprivileged people

– paid taxes and treated badly

Privileged people

– did not pay taxes and treated wellSlide6

Welcome Back!

Bell Ringer… What Revolution help bring about the French Revolution?

Agenda and Objectives: Through notes and discussion study will identify the short term causes of the French Revolution.Slide7

The Three Estates

Estate

Population

Privileges

Exemptions

Burdens

First

Circa 130,000

High-ranking clergy

Collected the tithe

Censorship of the press

Control of education

Kept records of births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Catholic faith held honored position of being the state religion (practiced by monarch and nobility)

Owned 20% of the land

Paid no taxes

Subject to Church law rather than civil law

Moral obligation (rather than legal obligation) to assist the poor and needy

Support the monarchy and Old Regime

Second

Circa 110,000

Nobles

Collected taxes in the form of feudal dues

Monopolized military and state appointments

Owned 20% of the land

Paid no taxes

Support the monarchy and Old Regime

Third

Circa 25,000,000

Everyone else: artisans, bourgeoisie, city workers, merchants, peasants, etc., along with many parish priests

None

None

Paid all taxes

Tithe (Church tax)

Octrot

(tax on goods brought into cities)

Corv

ée

(forced road work)

Capitation

(poll tax)

Vingtiéme

(income tax)

Gabelle

(salt tax)

Taille

(land tax)

Feudal dues for use of local manor’s winepress, oven, etc.Slide8

What does this contemporary political cartoon say about conditions in France under the Old Regime?Slide9

Government under the Old Regime:

2. The Divine Right of Kings

Monarch ruled by

divine right

God put the world in motion

God put some people in positions of power

Power is given by God

No one can question God

No one can question someone put in power by GodQuestioning the monarchy was blasphemy because it meant questioning GodSlide10

Examples of Absolutism…Slide11

3. Economic Conditions under the

Old Regime

France’s economy was based primarily on agriculture

Peasant farmers of France bore the burden of taxation

Poor harvests meant that peasants had trouble paying their regular taxes

Certainly could not afford to have their taxes raised

Bourgeoisie often managed to gather wealth

But were upset that they paid taxes while nobles did notSlide12

France Is Bankrupt

The king (Louis XVI) lavished money on himself and residences like Versailles

Queen Marie Antoinette was seen as a wasteful spender

Government found its funds depleted as a result of wars

Including the funding of the American Revolution

Deficit spending

– a government spending more money than it takes in from tax revenues

Privileged classes would not submit to being taxed Slide13
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Long-term Causes of the French RevolutionSlide15

Short-term Causes of the French RevolutionSlide16

Welcome Back!

Bell Ringer…Read Primary documents and answer the question “What were the causes of the French Revolution?

Agenda and Objectives: Through notes and article discussion students will identify the first stage and outcomes of the French RevolutionSlide17

Estates General-- May, 1789

Feudal assembly that represented the Three Estates Had only met twice: 1302 (its inception) & 1614.

1788-89 excitement swept over France on the eve of its very first election. “Cahiers de doléances

”:

Each estate was instructed to compile a list of suggestions and grievances and present them to the king.

Common agreement among the Three Estates:

France should have a constitutional monarchy

Individual liberties must be guaranteed by law. Position of parish clergy had to be improved

Abolition of internal trade barriers The main issue dividing the three estates was how the Estates General should vote Slide18

Abbé

Sieyès was the most influential writer in the 3rd Estate: wrote,

“What is the Third Estate?”

Claimed the Third Estate should have the power in France.

nobility should be abolished.

Believed the Third Estate represented the vast majority of French society

Brought the ideas of Rousseau’s Social Contract to the forefront. Slide19

The French Revolution and the “Age of Montesquieu”

May 5, 1789: the Estates General met and the Third Estate was furious that the voting method was by Estate and not per capita.

Each estate was ordered to meet and vote separately. The Third Estate refused and insisted that the entire Estates General vote together.

June 20th

, the Third Estate declared itself the true

National

Assembly of France. When locked out of their meeting place by Louis XVI they met instead in an indoor tennis court.

Tennis Court Oath: The Third Estate swore to remain together until it had given France a constitution. Third Estate thus assumed sovereign power on behalf of the nation. Slide20

Storming of the Bastille – July 14, 1789

“Parisian” revolution began in response to food shortages, soaring bread prices, 25% unemployment, and fear of military repression.

On July 14, an angry mob stormed the Bastille in search of gunpowder and weapons.

Citizens appointed Marquis de Lafayette commander of the city’s armed forces.

Paris was lost to the king.

The storming of the Bastille inadvertently saved the National Assembly. Slide21

The “Great Fear” of 1789

Spirit of rebellion spread to the French countryside, sparking a wave of violence. Peasants attacked manor houses in an effort to destroy the legal records of their feudal obligations. Slide22

Results…

August 4, 1789

National Assembly voted to abolish feudalism in France and declared equality of taxation to all classes. Constituted one of the two great social changes of the Revolution (the other was the abolition of guilds)

Amounted to a peaceful social revolution

Ended serfdom (where it existed), exclusive hunting rights for nobles, fees for justice, village monopolies, the

corvée

, and other dues. Slide23

The Tennis Court Oath by Jacques Louis DavidSlide24

The Fall of the BastilleSlide25
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Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen August 26, 1789

Became the constitutional blueprint for France.Enlightenment philosophy: classical liberalism

“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” Natural rights are

“liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” (Locke)

Law is expression of the “

General Will”

(Rousseau)

“Citizen” applied to all French people, regardless of class. Slide27

Rights of Women

Women gained increased rights to divorce, to inherit property, and to get child support from the fathers of their illegitimate children.Drawback of Declaration of Rights:

Women did not share in equal rights.

Olympe

de Gouges:

The Rights of Woman, 1791

Mary Wollstonecraft in England published Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. Slide28

Welcome Back!

Bell Ringer: 1. List three outcomes of the constitution of 1789.

2. List two characteristics from the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.”3. What were three “rights” women gained during the Revolution?

Agenda and Objective:

Through notes and discussion, students will be able to identify the three stages of the French Revolution.

Friday: French Revolution Thesis Paper DUE!Slide29

Women’s march to Versailles (Oct. 1789)

Women pushed the revolution forward in October when shortages of bread persisted.

Incited by Jean-Paul Marat, 7,000 women marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles

Demanded to see

"the Baker," "the Baker's wife," and "the Baker's boy".

The King met with some of the women and agreed to distribute all the bread in Versailles to the crowd.

King and Queen forced to move to Paris to live at the

Tuleries, the royal residence in Paris

It was the last time the King saw Versailles. King’s power reduced to temporary veto in lawmaking process. Slide30

Women's march to Versailles

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The Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)

In essence,

secularized religionCreated a national church with 83 bishops and dioceses. Convents and monasteries abolished.

All clergymen would be paid by the state and elected by all citizens.

Protestants, Jews, and agnostics could legally take part in the elections based on citizenship and property qualifications.

Clergy forced to take a loyalty oath to the new

gov’t

(since the pope had condemned the Revolution). Half of French priests refused to accept it—“refactory

clergy”Result: deeply divided France over the issue of religion. Slide32
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Welcome Back!

Bell Ringer: What was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy?Document packet due WEDNESDAY!

Objective: Through notes and discussion, students will be able to identify the three stages of the French Revolution.Slide34

1791: France became a constitutional monarchy

witha unicameral Legislative Assembly

Half of males over 25 years eligible to voteNobility was abolished

The National Assembly divided France into

83 departments governed by elected officials.

Economic reform—favored the middle rather than the lowest classes.

Le Chapelier

Law (1791) outlawed strikes, workers coalitions and assembliesMonopolies also were prohibitedAssignats

became new paper currency.

Church land sold to pay off national debt-Much of it purchased by peasants.Slide35

Medallion commemorating the Night of August 4, the end of feudalism in FranceSlide36

French Government Restructure

Divided into 83 districts – local elections – identical laws

Trade unions abolished to spur competition (

Chapelier

Law)

Assignats

issued – government bonds backed by confiscated church lands Slide37

Reaction to France

Many aristocrats leave - plan counter-revolution

Leopold II and Frederick the Great issue “Declaration of Pillnitz

” – “If royal family harmed, Austria, Prussia, Britain & Russia will intervene”

Leaders reject as dangerous & exportableSlide38

The Flight to Varennes

Although the King reluctantly accepted the new constitution, he could not accept all the reforms (e.g., the Civil Constitution of the Clergy) and decided to leave the country.

On

June 20, 1791

, the King and his family set out for the border in a carriage. Slide39

The apprehension of Louis XVI at VarennesSlide40

The Paris Mob

The news of the King's flight destroyed the last of the King's popularity with the people of Paris.

The popular press portrayed the royal family as pigs and public opinion plummeted. Increasingly there were demands for an end to the monarchy and the creation of a new kind of government, a republic. 

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International Reaction

Edmund Burke (1729-1797):

Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)One of the great intellectual defenses of European conservatism.Defended inherited privileges, especially those of English monarchy and aristocracy.

Predicted anarchy and dictatorship in France.

Advised England to go slow in adapting its own liberties.

Thomas Paine

:

Rights of Man (1791)

Defending Enlightenment principles and France’s revolution.Saw triumph of liberty over despotism.Kings and nobles of Europe, some of which initially welcomed the Revolution, began to feel threatened.Slide42

Legislative Assembly, 1791-1792

A completely new group of legislators replaced the National Assembly in the new government.New gov’t

reflected emergence of political factions

Jacobins,

named after their political club, came t

o dominate the Legislative Assembly

The

Girondins, a group of Jacobins, became he left or advanced party of the Revolution in the Legislative Assembly and led the country into war.Passionately committed to liberal revolution.Slide43

Bell Ringer Review!!!!

Compare document packet with your neighbor

Agenda and Objective: Through notes and discussion, students will identify important events and outcomes of the 2nd

and 3

rd

stages of the French Revolution.Slide44

War

Declaration of Pillnitz

issued by Prussia and Austria in August, 1791.

Émigrés, French

nobles who fled France

beginning in 1789, influenced Prussia and Austria to declare the restoration of the French monarchy as their goal.

Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria in

April 1792Girondins became the party of international revolution.

Claimed the Revolution could never be secure in France until it spread throughout the worldSlide45

War of the First Coalition

French revolutionary forces were soundly defeated by the Austrian military.Jacobins blamed their defeat on Louis XVI, believing him to be part of a conspiracy with Prussia and Austria.

July 25, 1792:

Brunswick Manifesto

issued by Prussia and Austria and threatened to destroy Paris if the royal family was harmed.

Revolutionary

sentiment was stoked by Robespierre, Danton, and the journalist, Marat

August 10, 1792: Tuleries (the King’s palace

in Paris) was stormed and the King was taken prisoner, after fleeing to the Legislative AssemblySlide46

August 10, 1792, attack on the Tuileries

Slide47

Mob placing the red cap of liberty on the King's head at the

Tuileries

Marked the beginning of the “Second Revolution”Slide48

2nd Phase (radical) The end of Monarchy and the rise

of The Commune 1792

Revolutionary municipal gov’t set up in Paris, which effectively usurped the power of the Legislative Assembly.

Led by

Georges-Jacques Danton

At the urging of radicals, the Legislative Assembly

suspended the Constitution of 1791.

Ordered new elections based

on universal male suffrage to summon a new national convention to give France a republican form of gov’t.Slide49

September Massacres

led by Paris Commune-Rumors spread that imprisoned counterrevolutionary aristocrats and priests were plotting with foreign invaders

Prussia invades eastern France

In response

, mobs slaughtered over a thousand priests, bourgeoisie, and aristocrats who opposed their program; many were in prison.Slide50

The “Age of Rousseau”: 1792-1799

The National Convention, 1792-1795France was proclaimed a republic on Sept. 21, 1792

Based on the ideas of Equality, Liberty, Fraternity

Two factions emerged among the Jacobins:

The Mountain

: radical republicans; urban class (Danton and Robespierre)

Girondins

: more moderate than the Mountain and predominantly ruralSlide51

Welcome Back

Bell Ringer….Any questions regarding your test tomorrow?

Agenda and Objective: Review and article read on Napoleon.Slide52

Georges-Jacques Danton:  "Boldness and

again boldness, and always boldness"

"When the tocsin sounds, it will not be a signal of alarm, but the signal to charge against the enemies of our country. . . To defeat them, gentlemen, we need boldness, and again boldness, and always boldness; and France will then be saved." Slide53

The San-Culottes

Predominantly from the working-class;

extremely radical. Were a separate faction

from those of the National Convention and had an economic agenda.

Their

violence

and influence kept the revolution moving forward

Responsible for storming Bastille, marching to Versailles, driving the king from Tuleries, and the September Massacres.They feared the National Convention might be too moderate.Favored direct democracy in their neighborhood clubs and assemblies, together with a mass rising if necessary against the Convention itself.Slide54

The sans culottes

The bourgeoisieSlide55

Revolutionary army victories

After Holding back the Prussians in a series of victories. France was able occupy of the entire Austrian Netherlands by November 1792.

In February 1793, National Convention declared war on Britain, Holland and Spain, in addition to its war with Austria and Prussia—

First CoalitionSlide56

The French Flag

The Marquis de Lafayette, commander of the new National Guard,

combined  the colors of the King (white) and the colors of Paris (blue and red) for his guardsmen's uniforms and from this came the Tricolor, the new French flag. Slide57

The Execution of Louis XVI

The constitutional monarchy put in place by moderate revolutionaries gave way to a radical republic.

On January 23, 1793 Louis Capet

went to the guillotine in the Place de la Concorde, where a statue of his predecessor, Louis XV, once stood. 

At the scaffold he said

"I forgive those who are guilty of my death." Slide58

The execution of Louis XVI

Slide59

The Rise of the Jacobins

When the constitutional monarchy fell and he King was put on trial for treason in December, the

Girondins

argued against

his execution.

The

Jacobins thought he needed to die

to ensure the safety of the revolution. The Jacobins in the National Convention had 22

Girondin leaders arrested and executed. The Jacobins had won.Slide60

May 1793 rise of the Enragés

The “Mountain” (“Jacobins”) supported

by the sans-culottes ousted the

Girondins

believed the

Girondins

would ally with conservatives and royalists to retain power.

Enragés—radical working class leaders of Paris— seized & arrested 31 Girondist members of National Convention and left the Mountain in control.

Even more radical than the

sans-culottes

Many

Girondins

fled Paris and worked against the Revolution.

Marat was stabbed by

Charlotte Corday, a

supporter of the

Girondist

faction, in 1793.Slide61

The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis DavidSlide62

Committee of Public Safety (1793-94)

By the summer of 1793, the Committee of Public Safety became an emergency

gov’t to deal with i

nternal and external challenges to the revolution.

Led by

Maximilien

Robespierre

Committee closely collaborated with sans-culottes.

Law of Maximum: a planned economy to respond to food shortages and related economic problems.In effect, it was an early version of socialism.

Slavery abolished in the French colonies

New calendarSlide63

With the Military…

Lévee en masse:

the entire nation conscripted into service as war was defined as a national mission.

Size of army grew to 1 million men; unprecedented in history of European warfare.

The planned economy made mobilization effective.

Nationalism became a strong force uniting French people.Slide64

The Reign of Terror (1793-1794)

Law of Suspects: Alleged enemies of the revolution were brought before Revolutionary Tribunals that were created to hear cases of treason

About 40,000 people throughout France executed or died in prison; many by the guillotine.

The terror became a political weapon; not directed at any class in particular.

Most deaths occurred in places in open revolt against the Convention.Slide65

"

If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror:

virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible.”

Maximilien RobespierreSlide66

“Republic of Virtue”

Eventually, no one could feel safe from Robespierre’s reign of terror as leading Jacobins who opposed Robespierre were eventually executed

Cult of the Supreme Being introduced in June

,

1794

Deistic

natural religion, in which the Republic was declared to recognize the existence of God and the immortality of the soul.

Notre Dame Cathedral was converted into the “Temple of Reason”Slide67

End of the Terror

Opposition to Robespierre mounted in July, 1794.was denounced in the Convention, arrested, and executed the next day, along with his close associates.

Led to the

Thermidorian

Reaction (1794)- 3

rd

Stage

Constituted a significant swing to the right (conservatism).Those who had led liberal Revolution of 1789 reasserted their authority.Reduced powers of the Committee of Public Safety and closed the Jacobin club.

Girondins readmitted.Slide68

The Directory (1795-1799)

New constitution written in 1795 which set up a republican form of gov’t.

A new assembly chose a five-member executive to govern France: the Directory

Bicameral

legislature

Almost

all adult males were able to vote but they only voted for “electors.”

Office holding reserved to property owners.Slide69

Challenges of The Directory (1795-1799)

The Directory suffered from corruption and poor administration.Despite, or perhaps because of, these struggles, the French developed a strong feeling of

nationalism – they were proud of their country and devoted to it

. (fueled by military victories)

Conspiracy of Equals led by “Gracchus” Babeuf

formed to overthrow the Directory and replace it with a dictatorial “democratic” gov’t which would abolish private property and enforce equality

guillotined

It would be a military leader –

Napoleon Bonaparte, coming to power through a coup d’état

–

who would end the ten-year period (1789-1799) known as the French Revolution.Slide70

Change Resulting from the French Revolution

By 1799, the French Revolution had dramatically changed France. It had dislodged the old social order

, overthrown the monarchy, and brought the Church under state control. Many changes occurred in everyday life:

New symbols, such as the tricolor, emerged.

Titles

were eliminated.

Elaborate

fashions were replaced by practical clothes. People developed a strong sense of national identity.Nationalism, a strong feeling of pride and devotion to one’s

country, spread throughout France.Slide71

The Age of Voltaire: Napoleon and Enlightened DespotismSlide72

Rise of Napoleon and end of the Directory

A conspiracy emerged to save the Revolution and prevent a royalist return to power.Abbé

Sieyès

,

the leader of the conspiracy, invited Napoleon to join conspirators and overthrow the Directory; he did so upon returning from Egypt with his forces.

Coup d’

Ètat

Brumaire, November, 1799

Upon returning from Egypt with his forces, Napoleon drove legislators from the Legislative Assembly.A new constitution established beginning the Consulate Era.

A

plebiscite

(general referendum)

overwhelmingly approved: 3,011,007 to 1,562.Slide73

Napoleon…

born in Corsica, attends military school, then joins army,appointed

commander of armies by Directory,wins stunning victories in Italy, gaining popularity

; news of his defeats in Egypt

is suppressed

in

1795, Napoleon defeats royalist

rebels attacking National Convention,In 1799, carries out coup d’état (seizure of power), overthrows Directory.Slide74
Slide75

France Under Napoleon

Napoleon consolidated his power by strengthening thecentral government.

 Order, security, and efficiency replaced liberty, equality,and fraternity as the slogans of the new regime.

 To fix economy, he sets up national banking system,

efficient tax collection; establishes

lycées

– government run

public schools to train officials; signs concordat—agreement—with pope restoring Catholicism in France Napoleon developed a new law code, the NapoleonicCode: Equality for all citizens Religious toleration Advancement based on meritSlide76