Chapter 19 The French Revolution and Napoleon

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Chapter 19 - The French Revolution and Napoleon

• Section 1 On the Eve of Revolution

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• Setting the Scene
• On April 28,1789, unrest exploded at a Paris
  wallpaper factory. A rumor had spread that the
  factory owner was planning to cut wages even
  though bread prices were soaring. Enraged workers
  vandalized the owner's home. Later, they stopped
  some nobles returning from an afternoon at the
  racetrack. They forced the nobles to shout "Long
  the Third Estate the common people!"
• Riots like these did not worry most nobles. They
  knew that France faced a severe economic crisis
  but thought that financial reforms would ease the
  problem. Then, rioters would be hanged, as they
  deserved.
• The nobles were wrong. The crisis went deeper
  than government finances. Reform would not be
  enough. By July, the hungry, unemployed, and
  poorly paid people of Paris had taken up arms.
  Their actions would push events further and
  faster than anyone could have foreseen.

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I. The Old Regime

• Under the ancien regime (old order) everyone in
  France belonged to one of three classes

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I. The Old Regime

• The First Estate
• the clergy
• The Second Estate the nobility
• The Third Estate everyone else

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A. The Clergy

• The French clergy enjoyed wealth and privilege
  and paid no taxes

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A. The Clergy

• The Church provided some social service but many
  condemned the Enlightenment

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B. The Nobles

• Many nobles held top jobs in government, the
  army, the courts and the Church

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B. The Nobles

• Despite paying no taxes, many nobles hated
  absolutism and resented the royal bureaucracy

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C. The Third Estate

• The Third Estate numbered about 27 Million, or
  98 of the population

Population by Estate
Land Owned by Estate
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C. The Third Estate

• At the top were the Bourgeoisie the bankers,
  merchants, manufacturers, and professionals

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C. The Third Estate

• 9 out of 10 French were rural peasants

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C. The Third Estate

• The poorest were urban workers, many who were
  unemployed

Hogarths painting Gin Lane stereotyped the 18th
century urban poor as drunk and degenerate
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D. Discontent

• Members of the Third Estate resented their social
  betters and Enlightenment ideas caused them to
  question the inequalities

A contemporary French cartoon the Third Estate
(workers) is shown bearing the full burden of
taxation.The nobility (left) leans unhelpfully
on his labor the clergy (right) gives token help.
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II. Economic Troubles

• One cause of the financial crisis was due to the
  governments deficit spending

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A. The Burden of Debt

• Louis XIV left France deeply in debt due to wars
  and his lavish lifestyles

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A. The Burden of Debt

• Since the nobility and clergy did not pay taxes,
  the burden would fall on the Third Estate

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B. Failure of Reform

• Louis XIVs heirs were unable to solve the
  economic problems

Louis XV
Louis XVI
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B. Failure of Reform

• As pressure grew, demands were made to summon the
  Estates General for the first time in 175 years

The Estates-General was called by King Louis XVI
in 1789 in an attempt to avoid civil unrest. They
voted to make a permanent National Assembly.
Louis XVI efforts to repress the new assembly
caused widespread rioting and ushered in the
French Revolution.
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III. Louis XVI calls the Estates General

• By the end of 1788 France faced bankruptcy, bread
  riots, and unrest by the nobility

Bread Riots
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A. The Cahiers

• Before calling the Estates General, Louis XVI had
  all three estates prepare cahiers listing their
  grievances

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B. The Tennis Court Oath

• Delegates to the Estates General were elected,
  but conflict arose because only propertied men
  could vote

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B. The Tennis Court Oath

• The Third Estate declared themselves the National
  Assembly and invited the clergy and nobility to
  join them to write a constitution

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B. The Tennis Court Oath

• Finding their meeting hall locked and guarded,
  they took an oath to meet until a constitution
  was written

June 20, 1789  During a meeting of the Estates
General, a problem arouse about the voting
procedure.  Angered by the disagreement, Louis
XVI locked the 3rd Estate out of the meeting
during which time they reconvened in the tennis
courts at Versailles.  This is where they took
the Tennis Court Oath not to leave until a
constitution was created.  This started the
beginning of the political French Revolution.
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III. Storming the Bastille

• On July 14, 1789 a crowd gathered outside the
  Bastille prison in Paris demanding weapons and
  gunpowder

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III. Storming the Bastille

• When the Bastilles commander opened fire on the
  crowd, they broke through the gates - The French
  Revolution had begun