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French Socirty Divided
Richelieu and Louis XIV had crushed the nobles' military power but had given them other rights- under strict royal control. Those rights included top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church. -
The Three Estates
-The First Estate did provide some social services.
-The Second Estate, noble knights had defended the land.
-The Third Estate was the most diverse social class. 1st Estate-Clergy (Church People)
2nd Estate-Nobility (Royalish)
3rd Estate-Everybody Else (Peasants - Bourgeoisie -
Government Bankrupt
They spent a lot of the costly war and the queen spend to much money on luxaries plus the tax representative corrupt the tax system, -
Government Bankrupt
-France tottered on the verge of bankruptcy.
-Bread riots were spreading, and nobles, fearful of taxes, were denouncing royal tyranny.
-Louis had all three Estates prepair cahiers, or notebooks, listing their grievances. -
Government Bankrupt
-Servant girls in the city of Toulouse demanded the right to leave service when they wanted, and that "after a girl had served her master for many years, she recieve some reward for her service."
-The Cahiers testified to boiling class resentments.
-One of the Cahiers condemned the courts of nobles as "Vampires pumping the last drop of blood" from the people. -
Government Bankrupt
-Delegates to the Estates-General from the Third Estate were elected, only propertied men could vote,
-They were middle class people,
-They went to Versailles to solve the financial crisis and to insist on reform. -
French Society Divided
Unrest exploded at a Paris wallpaper factory. A rumor was spead that the factory owner was planning to cut wages. France Clung to an outdated social system that had emerged in the middle ages. France Clergy enjoyed enonmous wealth and privilege. -
Governmen Bankrupt
-The Estates-General convened.
-The delegates were deadlocked over the issue of voting. -
Rumors create the "Great Fear"
-The moderate phase of the National Assembly turned France into a constittional monarchy.
-As grain prices soared, people with jobs had to spend as much as 80% of their income tax on bread.
-Inflamed by famine and fear, peasants unleashed their furry on nobles who were trying to reimpose medieval dues. -
Political Crisis Leads to Revolt
-Peasants set fire to old manor records and stole grain. -
French Society Divided
The hungry, unemployed, and poorly paid poeple of Paris had taken up arms. Their actions would push events further and faster than anyone could have foreseen. -
Paris Commune Comes to Power
-A variety of fractions, or dissentin groups of poeople, competed to gain power,
-Marquis de Lafayette headed to the National Guard, a largely middle-class militia organized in response to the arrival of royal troops in Paris.
-The Guard was the first group to don the tricolor.
-The Paris Commune replaced the government in the city. -
The National Assembly Acts
-Nobles in the Natioanl Assembly voted to end their own privileges, -
Special Priviledge Ends
-Feudalism is abolished. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
-Late August, the Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the citizen.
-The declaration further proclaimed/announced that all male citizens were equal before the law.
-Many women were disappointed that the Declaration of the Rights of Man did not grant equal citizenship to them. -
Declaration of The Rights of Man
-Olympe de Gouges, a journalist, demanded equal rights in her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen.
-Later in the Revolution, women met resistance for expressing their views in public, and many including Gouges, were imprisoned & executed.
-Louis XVI did not want to accept the reforms of the National Assembly.
-Anger turned into action. -
Terror & Danger Grip France
-By early 1973, danger threatened France on all sides.
-The country was at war with much of Eurpoe, including Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Prussia.
-Royals and priests led peasants in rebellion against the government.
-The Convention was bitterly divided between Jacobins and a rival group, the Girondins. -
Robespierre "the incorruptible"
-The government battled counterrevolutionaries.
-Mazimilien Robespierre was a shrewd lawyer and politician, who quickly rose to the leadership of the committee of Public Safety.
-He promoted religious toleration and wanted to abloish slavery.
-"Liberty cannot be secured," Robespierre cried, "Unlcess criminals lose their heads." -
The Convention creates a New Committee
-To deal with the threats to France, the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety.
-The 12-member if the Committee had almost absolute power as it battled to save the revolution.
-The 12-members of the Committee were in charge of trials and executions.
-French recruits marched off to defend the republic.
-French armies over-ran the Netherlabds, and later invaded Italy.
-They crushed peasant revolts. -
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The Guillotine Defines the Reign of Terror
-Robespierre was one of the cief architects of the Reign of Terror.
-In a speech given on February 5th, 1794, Robespierre explained why the terror was necessary to achieve the goals of the revolution.
-About 300,000 were arrested during the Reign of Terror. 17,000 were executed. -
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The Guillotine Defines the Reign of Terror. (part 2)
-The engine of the Terror was the guillotine.
-The guillotine was a fast falling blade that was used for execution, cutting peoples heads off.
-A member of the legislature, Dr. Joseph Guillotin had introduced it as a more humane method of beheading than the uncertain ax.
-Weary of bloodshed and fearing for their own lives, members of the Convention turned on the Committee of Public Safety.
-On the night of July 27th, 1794, Robespierre was arrested and executed by the Guilloine the next day. -
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The Revolution Enters Its Third Stage
-The Directory Held Power.
-The Constitution of 1795 set up a five man Directory and a two-house legislature elected by male citizens of property.
-Peace was made with Prussia & Spain, but the war with Austria and Great Britain continued.
-Supporters of a constitutional monarchy won the majority of seats in the legislature.
-Politicians turned to Napoleon Bonaparte.
-The politicians planned to use him to advance their own goals. -
Revolution Brings Change
-The 10-year-old French Revolution had dramatically changes France.
-New symbols such as the red "liberty caps" and the tricolor confirmed the liberty an equality of all male citizens.
-Before he was executed, Louis XVI was called Citizen Capet from the name of the dynasty that had ruled France in the Middle Ag.es -
Natoinalism Spreads
-Revolution and war gave the French people a strong sense of national identity.
-Nationalism, a strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's country, spread throughout France.
-By 1793, France was a nation in arms.
-From the port city of Marseilles, troops marched to a rousing new song.