French Revolution

Louis XVI• 1754 – 1793• Became king at 11• Inherited a France with

BIG economic problems• Married - Marie

Antoinette (Austrian princess)

• Weak and indecisive – NOT an effective absolute monarch

Marie Antoinette• 1755 – 1793• At first she was a very

popular queen, failed for years to produce an heir so lost popularity

• Her enemies – exaggerated most parts of her life (political influence, stories of her spending & sexual depravities )

The Three EstatesFirst Estate = clergy (priests, monks, nuns)• Powerful, rich church leaders;

from noble families, supported king

• Village priests were poor supported change

Second Estate = nobility• Gov’t or military positions; rich,

powerful & supported the king

• “land rich” but “money poor” supported movement to make reforms

The Three Estates• Third Estate = everyone

else (98% of French people)

• Most resented the privileges of the clergy and nobility and supported the movement to make reforms

Economic Issues• Debt from: many years of

kings spending & fighting wars• Several years of poor harvests

caused food prices to go up sharply (poor - no longer afford bread food riots became common

• King Louis XVI forced to convene the Estates General (France’s version of Parliament) in 1789 tried to raise taxes

The Estates General of 1789• Third Estate

representatives - ignored the king & declared themselves the National Assembly (new body of gov’t)

• They pressured the other two Estates into joining them in writing a constitution

The Tennis Court Oath• June 20, 1789• After the king

attempted to block the new National Assembly from meeting, the group reconvened at a tennis court (the sport was played indoors in those days) and took an oath to complete their work

The New Constitution• The Declaration of the

Rights of Man• Transformed France into a

republic and constitutional monarchy (still have a king, but he must share power with the legislature)

• Abolished the 3 Estates, made all men equal

• Called for “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” (Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood)

The Revolution Begins• King moved troops into

Paris people of Paris revolted Parisians stormed the Bastille (a prison) on July 14, 1789 (released the political prisoners inside)

• Peasants rebelled in the countryside over food prices

Royal Family Captured • Rioting Parisian women

marched to Versailles and attacked the palace

• King Louis XVI & his family forced to move from Versailles back to Paris - kept there under house arrest for 3 years

• Louis pretended to cooperate with the National Assembly in order to ensure his safety

The National Assembly• 1789-1791• Made many moderate reforms that

mostly helped the middle class• Nobles agreed to give up all of their

special privileges• To pay off the government’s debts,

the Assembly seized all of the Catholic Church’s land and sold it– this upset the Pope– it also upset many peasants,

who were religiously conservative, creating a rift between the urban and rural revolutionaries

War on Top of Revolution• In June 1791, Louis XVI and his

family tried to flee to Austria, but were caught and brought back to Paris as traitors

• Prussia and Austria, alarmed by the revolution in France, threatened to invade

• In April 1792, the Assembly declared war on Austria, Prussia, and England

• The war did not go well at first for France; many accused the nobles and clergy of secretly aiding France’s enemies, leading to class violence

Radical Takeover• Radicals took over the

National Convention (the new name for the Assembly) and passed a series of more drastic reforms

• Seized the estates of all of the nobles and abolished titles of nobility

• Late in 1793 the tide of war turned in France’s favor as they overran the Netherlands and Italy

The Guillotine• Named for it’s inventor, Dr.

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin• Designed to sever the head

cleanly, resulting in a more “humane” form of execution and immediate death

• Remained the only legal means of execution in France until 1981! (Last used in 1977)

Louis XVI’s Fate• Louis: stripped of title

of king, charged with treason against France

• January 21, 1793: Louis was publicly executed

• October 16, 1793: Marie Antoinette was also publicly executed for “crimes against Nature”

Louis XVII• 1785 – 1795• Louis & Marie’s only son• Kept in solitary confinement

after his father’s execution• Beaten, tortured, forced to

stay drunk, sing and curse, sleep with prostitutes, all to entertain his guards

• Told that his parents were alive and just didn’t want him anymore

• Died at age 10 of combined tuberculosis & malnutrition

• His sister was exiled to Austria

The Reign of Terror• July 1793 – July 1794• Gov’t lead by Maximilien

Robespierre• Hasty trials sentenced

thousands to death for treason• Guillotine - standard means of

execution during Reign of Terror• So many were executed (about

40,000 in 1 year) that the streets of Paris actually ran red with blood

• Eventually the people turned on Maximilien he was executed ended the Reign of Terror

The Revolution Fails• Maximilien killed New

constitution passed in France & gov’t was reorganized again

• Napoleon Bonaparte became leader in France in 1799 & stabilized the gov’t