Course of events of the French Revolution

1
Course of events of the French Revolution
2
In the beginning

• Historians debate about the actual start of the
  French Revolution. Some use the Assembly of the
  Notables, some use the calling of the Estates
  General, some use the Tennis Court Oath, some use
  the Bastille. Others refer simply to the year
  1789 without any specific date or event as a
  starting point.

3
Moderate Phase

• Estates General meet in May 1789
• after a bitter six week stalemate over the issues
  of whether the Estates should meet separately or
  together and how they should vote, by head or by
  Estate, the Third Estate plus some members of the
  First and Second Estates vote to call themselves
  the National Assembly take the Tennis Court
  Oath the National Assembly declares it will not
  disband until a new constitution is written

4
Moderate Phase

• Louis makes a conciliatory speech, orders the
  Estates to meet together and calls in 18,000
  troops
• Rumors fly the soldiers are there to attack the
  National Assembly, etc.
• July 14, 1789 as unemployment grows in Paris
  and fears of military action spread, a mob storms
  the Bastille to seize weapons and gunpowder to
  use to defend the National Assembly

5
Moderate Phase

• soon thereafter, the king disperses his troops
  king goes to Paris, gives public speech
  identifying with the urban poor, puts
  revolutionary cockade on his hat as a symbol of
  his acceptance of the new order and wins over the
  crowds the people had reconquered their king
• the Great Fear, a massive peasant revolt, begins
  in the countryside
• the National Assembly abolishes feudalism
• August 27, 1789 the National Assembly issues
  the Declaration of the Rights of Man
• October 5-6, 1789 crowd of Parisian women
  marches on Versailles the king is forced to go
  to Paris

6
Moderate Phase

• Church lands are nationalized
• King accepts, in principle, a constitutional
  government
• the National Assembly issues the Civil
  Constitution of the Clergy clergy must now take
  an oath of loyalty to the government, are paid by
  the government, and are elected by the citizens
• guilds abolished
• unions and strikes prohibited

7
Moderate Phase

• attempted flight of the royal family captured at
  Varennes Declaration of Pillnitz issued by
  monarchs of Austria and Prussia
• King accepts constitution and a constitutional
  government is established king will now share
  power with a Legislative Assembly
• the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by
  French males over the age of 25 who could pay a
  small tax (over 50 of all males), convenes
  (October 1791)
• all members of this assembly are new since no
  member of the National Assembly was allowed to
  serve in it
• War breaks out with Austria and Prussia

8
Radical Phase

• the royal palace at the Tuileries is stormed and
  the king is relieved of his duties and imprisoned
  
• September 1792 September Massacre of imprisoned
  aristocrats and priests due to fears of
  counterrevolution the National Convention, a new
  form of government which assumed both legislative
  and executive powers, is elected by universal
  male suffrage republic declared Girondist and
  Mountain factions develop in the National
  Convention

9
Radical Phase

• January 1793 Louis XVI is condemned and
  executed
• National Convention, already at war with Austria
  and Prussia, declares war on Britain, Spain and
  Holland
• Vendee, a counterrevolution in the Western
  provinces, begins
• the Committee of Public Safety is formed from
  representatives of the National Convention due to
  dire domestic and international crises
• 31 Girondist leaders are arrested for treason
  Mountain gains control of the Committee of Public
  Safety
• new constitution is approved, but suspended
  indefinitely
• Robespierre elected to the Committee of Public
  Safety

10
Radical Phase

• April 1793-July 1794 the Committee of Public
  Safety saves France through a reign of terror and
  economic controls at home and military successes
  against its enemies Levee en masse instituted in
  August 1793
• July 28, 1794 Robespierre executed
• Committee of Public Safety abolished national
  Convention rules terror ended economic controls
  lifted

11
Return to Moderation

• April-May 1795 anti-government revolt suppressed
  by the forces of the National Convention
• August 22, 1795 New Constitution approved
  government now consists of a legislative assembly
  chose by electors not by direct ballot and a five
  man executive chosen by the legislative assembly
  known as the Directory
• September 4, 1797 coup detat by the Directory
• November 9, 1799 Napoleon seizes power

12
Counter revolutionary witch hunts during
terror end of crisis
War with Britain desire for stability after
chaos
Moderate government
Security
Freedom
absolutist government/dictator
Near anarchy
Rights of Individuals
Rights of Society
Moderate government
Factions in the Assembly crisis of civil war and
foreign war
Causes of the revolution