MARIE ANTOINETTE AND KING LOUIS XVIThursday Oct. 3

We’ve learned about Louis… Now let’s get to Marie!

Louis 16th married Marie Antoinette in 1770 (latter half of the 18th century)

She was a member of the Austrian royal family Austria was an enemy of France… so

people didn’t like her from the start! She was very out of touch with the

realities of life in France She lived an extravagant lifestyle in

Versailles and never really knew what life was like for peasants

Marie Antoinette She helped to select government ministers

without knowing the responsibilities of their area of government

She would ‘fire’/dismiss people she simply didn’t like

Neither Marie or Louis wanted to curtail their spending! …. But they didn’t really agree on howTo run France

A REVOLUTION BEGINS!Thursday Oct.3

France in Crisis Remembering what you have learned so

far… What was happening in France that needed

to be changed?

France in Crisis Remembering what you have

learned so far… People were starving to death People couldn’t feed their kids (over

40,000 kids were abandoned each year!) The poorest people were paying the

most taxes, this money went to support the king and did not help the people

Louis had spend a lot of money

France in Crisis Monarchy was completely out of touch with

the plight of the people France was still a feudal country There were a series of famines in the 1780s The Industrial Revolution had begun in

Britain and was putting many French people out of work The assembly line, machines to replace

people

Murmurs of Change The philosophes and other French people

openly expressed their displeasure with the government (sometimes they rioted!)

Recall: What was a ‘salon’?

The royal court splits in 2! The royal court split into two groups

One that supported the King and changes to the economy Louis didn’t want to stop spending, but was ok

with taxing more people, like the nobles (eventually)

Another that supported Marie Antoinette and more power for the nobles Marie didn’t want to change a thing in the

economy, and thought nobles should get MORE

What did the middle class want? Democracy!

They wanted what they saw in England

Many French officers had gone to the US in the American Revolution and came back with democratic views too

Extreme responses While some people spoke openly, some

protested, others reacted in an extreme way

The “Paris Mob” a group of radical protesters was violent and unpredictable … later we will learn how they resulted in

the Reign of Terror Crowds rioted in Paris against the high

price of bread (a main food staple)

THE ESTATES GENERALThe King’s hope to find a solution to France’s problems

The Estates General First estate: Clergy Second estate: Aristocrats Third Estate: The middle class…. But they never

really met to come up with a solution Therefore the privileged people had the most voting

power Louis called the Estates General when his

government was in a serious crisis He allowed them to have a say in the tax system… But members would not “bow” to the king’s wishes

Read pages 75- 76 Questions: (In your own words)1. Explain what the fall of the Bastille was

and why you think that this may have frightened Louis.

2. What were the reasons for the “Great Fear”?

3. What extraordinary changes happened as a result of unrest in the country? (get points from all the sections)

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE CITIZENSetting out basic human rights that governments cannot overlook!

p. 76-77, 78: QUESTIONS Read about the Declaration of the rights

of man and the citizen What was it? How did it come about? What is the significance of this document?

Read page 78: Compare the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen with the English Bill of Rights. Are they similar? In what ways? (show your evidence!)