The French Revolution overthrew the Estates system of the ancient regime, establishing a constitutional monarchy but eventually becoming a republic led by Maximilien Robespierre. Financial distress from war debts and poor harvests led to unrest among the Third Estate, who stormed the Bastille and established the National Assembly. The Assembly abolished feudalism and established civil liberties and rights of man, though the monarchy was eventually overthrown and Louis XVI was executed during the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre. The Revolution transformed France from an absolute monarchy to a republic and influenced other revolutions around the world.

1. French Revolution

2. The Estates System
• The First Estate: Clergy members were
0,5% of the population. They were exempt
from all taxes
• The Second Estate: Nobles were 1.5% of
the population. They paid very little taxes.
• The Third Estate: 98% of the population.
They were the rich bourgoisie, working
class, and peasants. They paid heavy
taxes

3. Financial Distress
• France still had to pay war debts from their
loss in the Seven Years War and their aid
in the American Revolution
• The Nobles spent a lot of money
• Only the poorest people had to pay taxes
• It was a time of poor harvests

4. May 1789
King Louis XVI Calls the Estates General

5. June 20, 1789
Tennis Court Oath
When the Third Estate gets locked out of the Estates General
They meet in a tennis court and form the National Assembly
They wrote a constitution for France

6. July 14, 1789
Storming of the Bastille
A rumor spread that the king was raising an army in the Bastille in Paris
A mob of peasants stormed the Bastille and killed all the guards
Marks the official start of the revolution

7. July 20, 1789
The Great Fear
Peasants revolted when rumors began that aristocrats were attacking them

8. August 4, 1789: Nobles abolish feudalism

9. Declaration of the Rights
of Man and Citizen
• The National Assembly
wrote up a basic set of
rights that they
believed they should
have
• Civil liberties (freedom
of speech, press)
• New social order
• Constitutional
Monarchy

10. October 5, 1789
Women’s March on Versailles
• Groups of peasant women marched from Paris to Versailles to demand
lower bread prices
• The king and queen agreed to return to Paris with them

11. 1790
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
• Election of clergy members in France
• Ended Papal authority
• Church lands were sold to the government

12. Constitution of 1791
• Created a constitutional monarchy (similar
to England’s monarchy)
• A Legislative Assembly was formed to help
in the law making process
• Equal rights were guaranteed to everyone
(including Jews and Protestants)
• No more promigeniture

13. June 1792
The Flight to Varennes
• The royal family attempts to flee to Austria because they are afraid of
being executed
• They are caught in the town of Varennes and brought back to Paris

14. 1792
France goes to war against Austria and Prussia
• September 1792 – The French halt the Prussians
• November 1792 – France takes Austrian Netherlands
• Set up independent territories in Italy and Holland

15. August 1792
Tulleries
• The mob attacks the king’s palace, and all the guards are killed
• Louis XVI flees to Legislative Assembly for protection

16. January 1793: Louis XVI is executed

17. Maximilian Robespierre
• Robespierre
became leader of
France after
monarchy was
abolished
• Led France under
the Committee of
Public Safety
• George Jacques
Danton was his
assistant

18. The Revolutionary Calendar
• Used from 1793 to 1805
• Renamed all of the months and seasons
• The years started at the start of the revolution
• All titles were banned (everyone is citizen)

19. March 1793
Revolt in the Vendee
• The peasants liked their nobles in Vendee, France
• Didn’t like how the French government abolished the rights of the
nobles
• Their revolt was crushed, and quality of life decreased

20. September 5, 1793:
Law of General Maximum
• Limited prices of grain
• Food supplies are secured by the French army
• There was a strict policy on prices

21. The Cult of the Supreme Being
• A form of deism created by Robespierre
• Believed in reason and virtue
• Officially abolished the Catholic Church

22. Jean-Paul Marat (1744-1793)
• Was a journalist
under Robespierre
• Published a series of
names who were
“enemies of the
state”
• These people would
be executed

23. July 13, 1793
Marat was murdered
• Noblewoman Charlotte Corday hoped that killing him would stop the
murders
• Jacques-Louis David painted this scene

24. Danton is executed
• Danton believed that executions were happening too frequently in France
and without reason
• Robespierre found this as a threat to the revolution and executed Danton

25. Robespierre is executed
• Made a list of people who are to be executed
• He was attacked by those on the list and executed the following day
• Marked the end of the Reign of Terror

26. Legacies of the French
Revolution
• Changed the French government
– No more feudalism
– Peasants had more power
• Led to other revolutions around the world
– The Haitian Revolution was a slave revolt
inspired by the French
– The Latin American Revolts were inspired by the
French Revolution
• Napoleon Bonaparte gained power and takes
over France