the greatest revolution of france is covered

2.  Nilabhra Banerjee [14BEE1121]
 NadimArif [14BCE1112]
 Mansi [14BCE1026]
 Shinalkar Milindkuma Navnath [14BCE1217]
 Dumbre Onkar Popatrao [14BCE1022]

3.  When the Sun King
Louis XIV died in
1715, France was
the richest, most
powerful nation in
Europe. It remained
so throughout the
1700s.

4.  The French army was the most powerful in
Europe, and its navy was rivalled only by that
of Britain. French philosophers led the
Enlightenment, and people across Europe
followed French fashions in clothes, art, and
even cooking.

5.  At the same time, France suffered from a
growing economic crisis, caused primarily by
France’s aristocracy.
 Attempts to solve the economic problems of
the country were hampered by the traditional
political and social system of France, which
historians call the Old Regime.

6.  The king of France was an absolute monarch.
 Society was organized in a rigid social
structure called the Old Regime.
 The people of France were divided by law into
three estates: clergy, nobility, and
commoners.

7.  The clergy administered the church, ran
schools, kept birth & death records, and
cared for the poor.
 To support these activities, the clergy
collected the tithe – a tax on income.
 The church owned vast amounts of land and
other property on which it paid no taxes.

8.  In contrast, parish
priests usually lived
a simple, hard-
working life.
 Many clergy
criticized social
injustices in France
and resented the
privileges enjoyed
by the higher clergy. Abbé Sieyes, Revolutionary Leader

9.  The Second Estate, or nobility, made up less
than 2% of the French population.
 Many nobles enjoyed great wealth &
privileges. Only nobles could become officers
in the army or fill high offices of the church.
 In addition, nobles were exempt from most
taxes.
 Most nobles spent their time living in luxury in
their own palaces/chateaux or at the Palace of
Versailles (the most luxurious of them all).

10.  The vast majority of French people were
commoners belonging to theThird Estate.
 TheThird Estate included: the peasants, the
city workers and the bourgeoisie, or middle
class.

11.  The bourgeoisie was small
in numbers, but it was the
wealthiest, most
outspoken group within
theThird Estate.
 The bourgeoisie included
successful merchants and
manufacturers, educated
lawyers and doctors, as
well as small storekeepers
and artisans.

12.  Peasants made up the largest group
within theThird Estate. In general,
French peasants were better off than
peasants in other parts of Europe.

13.  Another group within theThird Estate was
city workers (urban poor) – servants,
apprentices and day labourers. Like the
bourgeoisie and peasants, city workers also
resented the privileges enjoyed by the First
and Second Estates.

14.  France was close to bankrupt because of bad
economic policies
 Famines and natural disasters led to
starvation for the peasants
 Families were falling apart because parents
were abandoning children they couldn’t feed
 Improvements in industry in Britain put
workers in France out of business

15.  King Louis XVI
seemed incapable of
dealing with any of
these problems
 The philosophers’
ideas of change
were popular
amongst the 3rd
Estate and even
some nobles Rousseau,
Philosophe

16.  Involvement by soldiers in theAmerican
Revolution spread ideas of change
 People pushed for a republican government
(no monarch) or a constitutional monarchy

17.  The most serious economic problem facing
the French government during the 1770s and
1780s was the huge debt it owed to bankers.
 The government had borrowed large
amounts of money to pay for the wars of
Louis XIV. Louis XV and Louis XVI continued
to borrow money to support the court at
Versailles and to fight wars to maintain
French power in Europe and over-seas.

18.  Was a form of parliament that had to be
called by the king. Hadn’t met since 1614
(175 years)
 HadThree Estates: Clergy, Nobles,
Everyone Else.

19.  After Louis XVI called the Estates General in
1789, the 3rd Estate argued for change for 6
weeks, but was ignored
 The delegates of the 3rd Estate walked out
and started a new government called the
NationalAssembly (this new government was
formed in aTennis Court).
 They promised not to disband until they had
written a constitution. (TheTennis Court
Oath).

21.  Louis XVI was forced to give in. He ordered
the other two estates to join theThird Estate
in the NationalAssembly.
 Now members of all three estates were
forced to work together to reform France.
Significant differences prevented significant
progress.

22.  Meanwhile, bread and other food was scarce
all over Paris in the early summer of 1789.
Talk of revolution filled the air.
 The poor people of Paris did not want to wait
for the National Assembly to talk out a
solution.
 They chose action against the symbol of the
tyranny of theAbsolute Monarchy in France –
the Bastille.

23.  July 14, 1789
marks the
date of the
storming of
the Bastille
and the
beginning of
the French
Revolution.

24.  The Bastille was a huge prison fortress in
Paris. Armed with axes, the crowd ran to the
prison cells and freed the astonished inmates.
 Soldiers joined the attack, rather than
defending the Bastille
 The mob found only seven prisoners in the
entire fortress. New weapons were obtained
and the people created their own army, called
the NationalGuard.

25.  July, 1789: in the countryside, the people
were also impatient.
 Fearful that the upper class were going to
squash the revolution, peasants started
attacking, looting, and burning chateaux.
 They destroyed all of the records of their
serfdom to try to guarantee their freedom.

26.  The events in Paris and the countryside
forced the NationalAssembly into action.
During a long session on the night of August
4, many delegates rose to make impassioned
speeches in support of reform.
 By the end of the evening, the Assembly had
abolished most feudal customs. It ended
serfdom and the tax exempt privileges of the
nobles.

27.  This Declaration was
passed on August 26,
1789.
 It gave basic rights and
freedoms to all of the
men (not women yet)
 Rights such as liberty,
property, security, and
resistance to
oppression

28.  Neither the King nor the NationalAssembly had been
able to deal with the problems of poverty and hunger.
 In October 1789, a Paris crowd led by thousands of
women marched in the rain toVersailles. The women
were angry about high food prices.

29.  They also suspected that the
king and the queen, Marie
Antoinette, were plotting
against the National Assembly.
 They stormed the palace,
trapping the royal family.
 They demanded that Louis XVI
and his family return with them
to Paris, where they could be
watched. To prevent violence,
the king agreed.

30.  The king rode on horseback, escorted by a cheering
crowd. He wore the tri-colour, the red, white, and
blue ribbon that the revolutionaries had adopted as
their symbol. By forcing the king to wear the tri-
colore, the people proved that they were directing
events in France.

31.  Since they were caught, Louis was forced to
accept the new constitution which created a
LegislativeAssembly with which he was to
share power.

32.  In October 1791, the LegislativeAssembly,
elected under the new constitution, met for
the first time. The seating arrangements in
the Assembly reflected divisions among the
revolutionaries. Moderate revolutionaries sat
on the right side of the meeting hall, and
radical revolutionaries sat on the left side.

33.  Radicals claimed that the king could not be
trusted. They demanded the establishment of a
republic.
 The Jacobins were the most influential radicals.
They demanded a true democracy in which all
male citizens had the right to vote.
 As the French Revolution unfolded, the Jacobins
and their leaders, Jean-Paul Marat, Georges
Danton, and Maximilien Robespierre, would
gain the upper hand.

34.  Many other European nations disliked the
spread of Revolution (especiallyAustria and
Prussia who ally together).
 France declared pre-emptive war on Austria
in April 1792. At first, the war went badly for
France. French armies were disorganized and
poorly led. Many army officers, who were
nobles, had left France.
 By August 1792, Austrian and Prussian armies
were advancing on Paris.

35.  The people of Paris angrily declared that no
foreign troops would crush the revolution. All
over France, people rallied to defend the
revolution and chanted the slogan: “Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity.” Soldiers from
Marseille hurried to Paris singing a patriotic
marching song, the “Marseillaise,” which was
adopted as the National Anthem of France.

36.  In September, 1792 and the months that
followed, revolutionary armies forced the
invaders to retreat from France.
 The war againstAustria and Prussia caused
high prices and desperate food shortages in
France.
 This created an opportunity for radical
revolutionaries to push harder for changes.

37.  August 10, 1792. Radical revolutionaries took
over Paris and marched on theTuileries,
where the king and his family lived. The
troops attacked the palace, killing many of
the king’s Swiss guards.
 The king and queen fled to the Legislative
Assembly, hoping for protection. But the
radicals also seized control of the Assembly.
They removed the king from office and voted
to imprison the royal family. They then called
for a National Convention to write a new

38.  The NationalConvention voted to abolish the
monarchy and make France a republic. The
Convention then had to decide what to do
with the king. The radical Jacobins demanded
that Louis be tried for treason.
 Letters that showed that Louis was plotting
with foreign troops (émigrés) to crush the
revolution were used in the trial. Louis XVI was
convicted of treason.

39.  On January 21, 1793,
Louis mounted the steps
of the guillotine.
“People, I die innocent!”
were the king’s last
words to the watching
crowd.
 MarieAntoinette was
guillotined later that year
- in October, 1793.

40.  After the death of Louis XVI, the government
became more and more radical. Harsh laws
made it possible to arrest and kill almost
anyone just by accusing them of speaking
against the revolution.
 Nobles, clergy, food speculators,Girondists,
and even Jacobins and commoners were
killed in large number (over 37 000).

41.  Danton was killed by guillotine after trying to
caution against radicalism (April, 1794).

42.  Robespierre was the last of the three main
leaders. He had become a dictator running
the Reign ofTerror.
 He was turned on after he threatened to
execute more members of government, but
didn’t specify who.
 Robespierre was killed by guillotine three
months after Danton (after failing to commit
suicide properly) (July, 1794).

43.  The Constitution of 1795 established a new
government known as the Directory. The
Directory included an elected legislature and
an executive branch with five directors.
There were five leaders to try to avoid
dictatorships.
 The Constitution restricted the right to vote
to men who could read and who owned a
certain amount of property. As a result, the
middle class and wealthy landowners gained
influence in the new government.

44.  When the Directory
proved to be ineffective, it
was replaced by a
Consulate (1799-1804),
which was three men who
ran the government.
 The Consulate was not
much more effective,
because it was soon
dominated by one man .

45.  Because of the French revolution the French
earned their basic human rights and changed
their political structure and social structure from
the old regime. Napoleon used his military skills
to gain power and support, in order to create a
strong empire. Even though some of his doings
undermined some of the basic ideals of the
French revolutions, he created a stable empire
.Even though Napoleon didn’t satisfy all the
ideals of the French revolution he was true
enough to help France grow as a strong nation.