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Deficeit Spending
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Financial Troubles
In the 1700's, there was a big war debt from the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. Then the costs of things started to ride and theat brought a ton of money into the courts. The government ended up needing to borrow money continuously from the courts so they could relieve the gap between income and expenses. Taxes were the used towards paying debt. Then in the late 1780's, there was a bad harvest and food prices were extremely expensive.The poor peasants weren't able to afford food -
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Financial Troubles con. / Economic Reform
and the people got extremely upset. The soluation had to be to increase taxes, reduce expenses or do both. Although, the people from the first and second estates refused to pay taxes. King Louis XVI appoints Jacques Necker to help solve the financial crisis. Necker urges the King to cut his spending on his palace, and to start taxing the 1st and 2nd estates. Louis got extremely upset with his suggestion and fired Necker. -
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Louis XVI Calls Estates-General con. 3
"never to separate and to meet whenever the circumstances might require until we have established a sound and constituation." This became known as the infamous Tennis Court Oath. -
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Louis XVI Calls the Esates-General
Louis XVI feared the thought of bankruptcy and bread riots were spreading, and the 1st and 2nd Estates were scared that they had to pay taxes. So, to find a solution, Louis XVI had the Estates-General help settle it. To prepare for the Estates-General, Louis XVI gave each Estate a cahier, or a notebook to write down their grievances. When the Estates-General met up, delegates from the Third Estate were elected. -
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Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General con.
Voting became an issue because it was always two to one between the 1st and 2nd Estates against the 3rd Estate. The 3rd Estate wasn't happy with this and wanted a "head count" voting method. After weeks of the 1st and 2nd Estates not budging, the 3rd Estate declared themselves to the National Assembly. A couple days later, the National Assemblies meeting hall was closed and locked, so they all had to go to an indoor tennis court and took an oath which made them swear to... -
French Society Divided
In 1789, the French society was divided by 3 social estates. The first estate includes the clergy, and they don't need to pay and taxes. The second estate includes nobility, and they don't have to pay taxes either. The third estate includes everybody else of the French population, peasants, doctors, lawyers, etc., and all of them had to pay taxes. -
Storming the Bastille
On July 14, 1789, 800 Parisians went outside of the Bastille and demanded to get inside, as there was rumored to be gunpowder and weapons to be in there. The commander of the Bastille wouldn't open the gates, and started to fire into the crowd. It broke out to major violence. The commander was killed, and people went in and released prisoners held in the Bastille, but no weapon were to be found. The fall of the Bastille is a symbol of freedom from absolute monarchy. -
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Revolt/National Assembly Acts
There was a new constitution was written in 1791 which set up a limited monarchy. A new Legislative Assembly was able to make laws, collect taxes, and decide on issues or war and peace. It also abolished the old provincial courts and reformed laws. -
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Revolt/National Assembly Acts
In late August, the Assembly wrote the Declaration of of the Rights of Man and Citizen. This document granted rights for all men, and all men were equal. On October 5th, six thousand women marched to Versailles, they were all shouting "Bread!" They wanted to see the king, but much of the anger was towards Marie Antoinette. Eventually, the National Assembly put the church under state control. Many people rejected the Civil Consitiution of Clergy, and hated the change. -
Threats From Abroad
When August 1791 hit, the revoluatio was about to take a dramatic, radical turn. After Louis XVI tried to escape, it started a whole new tension throughout the nation. The King of Prussia and the emperor of Austria wrote the Declaration of Pilnitz, which was a threat to attack France if monarchy wasn't let go of. The document seemed to be a bluff, but revolutionaries of France took this as a serious threat, and started to prepare for war. -
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Civil War (Radicals Take Over) con...
fighting to the battlefield -
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Civil War (Radicals Take Over)
After the King's failled attempt to escape, in October of 1791, the new elected Legislative Assembly took office. Although, they didn't last for more than a year due to economic problems. Assignats dropped in value, so the food prices rose rapidly. In Paris two groups were fighting for power. The san-culottes fought for a republic. The Jacobins used pamphleteers and sympathetic newspaper editors to advance the republican cause. In April 1792, the French revolutionaries and European monarchs... -
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Monarchy is Abolished con.
Suffrage was now extended to every man, not just property owners. The Assembly met in Septemeber 1792 and voted on abolishing monarchy, and starting a French Republic. Just as the Republic was starting, they put Louis XVI on trial for being a traitor to France. It ws decided that he would be executed. In January 1793, King Louis XVI was executed, and in October his wife Marie Antoinette was also executed. -
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Monarchy is Abolished
On August 10th, 1792, Parisians stormed the royal palace and killed all of Louis XVI's guards, but Louis and his fmaily escaped beofore the mob could reach them. About a month later, citizens went and attacked the prisons that held nobles and priests that were accused of politial offenses. Many died in that attack as well. Radicals then decided to take over the Assembly. There was a new legislative body called the Natoinal Convention that was elected on. -
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Robespierre and the Reign of Terror con
Thousands of people were killed from the guillotine. Members of the Convention started to fear for their own lives from The Terror, so they turned on the Committee of public safety. On Juky 27, 1794, Robespierre was arrested and executed. -
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Robespierre and the Reign of Terror
In the early 1793, the Convention created the Committee of Pubilc Safety to deal with the threats towards France. Robespierre rose to the leader of the committee. He was a big supporting role into the Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror basically just killed off the "traitors." Anyone from people who were actually against the revolution to people who were just suspected to be, were killed by the infamous guillotine. The guillotine had a sharp blade that would drop down and behead people, -
Spread of Nationalism
The Revolution had given France a sense of national identity. Sons and daughters of the revolution were call upon to defend the nation. Nationalism started to spread throughout France. By 1973, troops marched from Marseilles to a new song which is now known as the French National Anthem. -
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Third Stage of the Revolution
The third stage of the Revolution was entered in reaction to the terror. The Constitution of 1795 was created which set up a five-man Directory and a two house legislature which were elected. The constitution lasted until 1799. Peace was able to be made with Prussia and Spain, but not with Great Britain or Austria. Many problems started popping up as well. Bread prices started rising which made many upset, and emigres were started to return to France. As commotion broke out Napolean Bonaparte -
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Third Stage of the Revolution con
Napolean Bonaparte was turned to for help.
