The French Revolution

1
The French Revolution

• Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so
  rich they lose all respect for humanity. That's
  how rich I want to be.
• Rita Rudner

2
The Three Estates

• 1st Estate clergy
• 2nd Estate nobility
• 3rd Estate bourgeoisie, urban workers, and
  peasants
• 1st 2nd Estates tax exempt (Brainard)

3
Marie Antoinette

• Flighty and irresponsible
• Spent a lot of money
• Austrian therefore terribly unpopular in France
• Had few friends (Brainard)

4
King Louis XVI

• Awkward, clumsy
• Good heart
• Socially inept
• Insecure
• Seemed to dislike being King (Brainard)

5
Problems brewing

• King and Queen lived in luxury
• Government was bankrupt
• Inefficient and unfair tax structure
• Outdated medieval bureaucracy
• Drained treasury from aiding Americans during the
  American Revolution
• Long wars with England
• General overspending (Brainard)

6
Quick Quiz

• 1) Who were the king and queen of France in
  1789?
• Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
• 2) Why was France in financial trouble?
• Unfair taxation, unwise spending
• 3) What were the three estates?
• Clergy, nobility, bourgeoisie

7
The meeting of the Estates General May 5, 1789

• Third estate wanted vote by head
• King refused
• Third estate refused to budge (Brainard)

• Held at Versailles

8
The National Assembly

• Commoners declare themselves the National
  Assembly
• Locked out of meeting hall
• Move to nearby tennis court (Brainard) 

9
The Tennis Court Oath

• King refused to recognize the National Assembly
• Third Estate met at the Versailles tennis court
• Vowed to not separate without a constitution
• Known as the Tennis Court Oath (Brainard) 

10
The King gives in

• King orders Third Estate to disperse
• They refused
• King ordered 1st 2nd estates to join the new
  National Assembly
• The Third Estate had won (Brainard)

11
Quick Quiz

• 1) Where did the Estates General meet?
• Versailles
• 2) Which Estate found themselves locked out of
  the meeting hall?
• The Third Estate
• 3) What was the Tennis Court Oath?
• The Third Estates oath to stay together until a
  new constitution was written

12
The Declaration of the Rights of Man

• Created by the National Assembly
• All men had equal rights under the law (Brainard)

13
The Revolution has begun

• Conditions poor in Paris for common people
• Rumors blamed the King and Queen
• Dismissal of Finance Minister Necker
• Mobs roamed for weapons
• Ammunition stored in the Bastille (Brainard) 

14
The Storming of the Bastille

• July 14, 1789
• Commander and guards killed
• Prisoners released
• Great symbolic event
• Still celebrated in France yearly (Brainard)

15
The Great Fear

• Countryside riots
• Peasants burned chateaux, monasteries, public
  records buildings
• Records of feudal obligations targeted (Brainard)
   

16
August Days

• National Assembly moves quickly
• Manorial system gone
• Tithing obligations to the church ended
• Nobility and clergy no longer tax exempt
• Feudalism was dead in France (Brainard)

17
Quick Quiz

• 1) What did the Declaration of the Rights of Man
  establish?
• Equal rights for all men under the law
• 2) The storming of what prison became symbolic of
  the liberation of France?
• Bastille
• 3) What was the great fear its result
• Countryside riots against nobility/end to
  feudalism

18
Womens March to Versailles

• Bread distribution promised

• Crowd attacks Queens quarters.
• King addresses crowd, My friends, I will go to
  Paris with my wife and my children
• Last time he saw Versailles (Brainard)

• October 4, 1789
• Women demanding bread for their families
• Marched toward Versailles

19
The King flees France

• June 20, 1791 king family flee
• Disguised
• Recognized and apprehended at the border.

• Royal flight ruined any remaining popularity
• Press condemns family as pigs
• Demand for a republic form of government
  (Brainard)

20
The King under house arrest

• Tuileries Palace
• Angry mob finds the king June 20, 1792
• King puts on red cap at the crowds insistence
  (Brainard)

21
The Guillotine

• National Convention puts Louis on trial
• January 23, 1793 Louis beheaded
• I forgive those who are guilty of my death
  (Brainard)

22
Quick Quiz

• 1) Why did the women march to Versailles?
• Bread they were starving
• 2) What article of clothing was a symbol of the
  revolution?
• A red cap (hat)
• 3) How did Louis XVI die?
• Put to death by guillotine

23
The Reign of Terror

• Marie Antoinette guillotined 1st
• Executions seen as educational
• Women sat and knitted during trials and
  executions
• Across France, 30,000 people lost their lives
  (Brainard)

24
End of the Revolution

• People ready for moderation
• 1795 - The conservative Directory put in place
• Directory not effective
• Coup detat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799
  (Brainard)

25
Quick Quiz

• 1) The Reign of Terror saw the widespread use of
  what death device?
• The guillotine
• 2) Public executions were considered____ and
  women were encouraged to sit and _____.
• Educational/knit
• 3) The end of the revolution led to the
  introduction of what leader to France?
• Napoleon Bonaparte

26
Works Cited

• Brainard, Jennifer. Liberté, Egalité,
  FraternitéThe French Revolution.
  lthttp//www.historywiz.com/frenchrev-mm.htmgt. 26
  Jan 2007.