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The Old Order
In the French Revolution, at about the 1770s the people of France were divided into three large social classes. There were two privileged estates, the first one is within The Roman Catholic Church, formed by the clergy. The clergy owned 10% of the land in France, and it was very privileged. The second estate was formed by rich nobles, they owned 20% of the land in France and almost paid no taxes. The third estate was made up the middle class or peasants. They were over 97% of France´s population -
The Forces of Change
In 1780s the people of the third estate started having new ideas about their government. They started following Rousseau and Voltaire, for freedom. The government started having economical troubles, mostly because of Marie Antoinette. She spent lots of money for her jewellery, leaving the government without money. The government had no money and was in debt, later on the third class did not want to give any more money to Louis. Louis set up an Estates General Meeting to solve tax problems. -
Dawn of the Revolution
At this time in 1789, many meetings were held between all three estates to handle government decisions. Many had different opinions, once the third estate was locked out of a meeting, so they bursted into a tenis court and pledged to make up a new constitution (Tennis Court Oath). Then July 14,many french people gathered weapons and directed themselves to Bastille, a Paris prison. They took control of the prison, and let the prisoner out. This made a great impact to the start of the revolution. -
The Assembly Reforms France
In August 4, 1789, noblemen were giving speeches about liberty and equality. Finally people began to agree on peoples rights. National Assembly, required the Rights of a Man. Now every man had liberty, property, and security, although women rights were still denied. The church was being broken down, until priests started to be elected and paid as state officials. Louis was in danger. He tried to escape to the Austrian Netherlands with his family, he was caught, and brought back to Paris. -
A Great Fear Sweeps France
Fear was spread all over France, Peasants, nobles, and even the clergy were scared. French peasants marched all over France, destroying nobles manners and killing people. The People of Paris, especially women wanted Louis to come back to Paris. After some time, Louis agreed and left the magnificent palace of Versailles. People were very scared and France was in pieces. -
Divisions Develop
For two years the National Assembly argued over a new constitution, and finally on September, 1791, the new constitution was made. A new branch called the Legislative Assembly came, and created a limited monarchy in the government. Then France began to split more and more, some even wanted the Old Regime to come back. In the legislative assembly there were 3 groups, the radicals, wanted lots of change in government, the moderates wanted some change, and conservatives wanted very little change. -
War and Execution
War was declared by the legislative Assembly in April 1792. The war began bad for the French. People gathered to go after Louis. They entered his house and imprisoned all his family. The National Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Jacobins took control, and found Louis guilty, he was sentenced for death. Louis died and French won war against Prussia, but later lost many wars since many allied against France. Still many soldiers were gathered to grow France´s army. -
Louis XVI
Louis was the king of France in the 1700s. He was an absolute monarch and he was very disorganised. He maintained a bad government, and did not care for his people. He was in debt with others, and he spent most of the government money on her wife. Marie Antoinette. Later Louis brought the government and his people down. He was hated and war begun. Later he tried to escape France and was caught, he was imprisoned by radical citizens and later he was killed by the guillotine including his family. -
The Terror Grips France
By 1793 and 1794 France had many enemies, noonday enemies of the French republic, but of the Jacobins. Peasants were horrified, and priests did want government control. Robespierre came in control of France, he changed France´s calendar and religion. Robespierre reign was called "Reign of Terror". He used terror over citizens to rule. He had many enemies especially the radicals who challenged his leadership. Even Danton was in danger, later many people were put to death for unusual reasons. -
End of the Terror
Finally France´s battles came to an end. People turned on Robespierre, he was arrested and later taken to the guillotine. French public opinion shifted dramatically, everyone was tired of fear. In 1795 the National Convention made a new plan of government. It placed power on the hands of upper middle class and had house legislature. It had an executive body of five men, these were moderate men. This still gave order to the troubled country. Later, Bonaparte became general to France´s armies.
