the french revolution the old regime louis xvi storming the bastille the great fear reign of terror
TRANSCRIPT
The French Revolution
•The Old Regime•Louis XVI
•Storming the Bastille•The Great Fear•Reign of Terror
Old Regime
• Old Regime – social/political system of France in the 1770s, people divided into three estates:– First Estate – clergy– Second Estate – rich nobles – Third Estate (97% of
France’s people) made up of three groups:
• Bourgeoisie aka middle class (richest of the three)
• Urban workers• Peasants (largest group)
The Third Estate
Blame the Enlightenment…..
• The Third Estate had a growing resentment towards the First and Second
• However, on top of that, new ideas about government, rulers, and revolution inspired members of the Third Estate
1st Estate: Clergy
2nd Estate: Nobles
3rd Estate: Middle-class workers
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
• Problems got worse in France from the extravagant spending of Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, a greedy Austrian (France’s enemy)
• The Second Estate demanded a meeting of the Estates General to approve a tax that Louis XVI planned to impose to pay of some of France’s debt
• Estates General – One delegate from each Estate– Met in separate halls– First and Second could always outvote the
Third
Storming of the Bastille• The Third Estate
changed their name to the National Assembly (N.A.)
• A rumor that the king was planning a coup against the N.A. led to the storming of the Bastille, a Paris prison, on July 14, 1789
The Great Fear
• Fear and chaos swept through France after peasants heard that nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize them
• The Great Fear had begun
• Riots ensued in Paris - rioting women marched on Versailles
The Night of August 4, 1789
• More and more noblemen jumped on the National Assembly bandwagon
• By the morning of August 5, the Old Regime was dead
• The N.A. adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Liberté!
Egalité!
Fraternité!
The slogan of the revolution
Other reforms
• The N.A. tried to restructure the relationship between church and state
• The assembly took over church lands and sold them for profit to pay off the French debt
• During this time, Louis XVI and his family tried to escape France. They were caught and later….
Legislative Assembly
• Before his death, Louis XVI approved a limited constitutional monarchy
• The legislative body under this form of government was called the Legislative Assembly
• This body was split by three factions
Radicals Moderates Conservatives
• Factions outside the Legislative Assembly wanted changes too:– Emigres were nobles who
wanted to restore the Old Regime
– Sans-culottes (“those without knee britches”) were middle-class workers who also wanted reforms
National Convention
• France went to war with Prussia in 1792 because Prussia wanted France to restore the monarchy
• After the war, Louis and Marie were imprisoned and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved
• The National Convention took office.• France was now a republic in which all
male citizens were granted the right to vote.
Jacobins
• A radical political group, the Jacobin Club, were responsible for many changes in France
• Their leader was Jean-Paul Marat and he called for the death of anyone who still supported the king
Reign of Terror
• One Jacobin leader, Maximillien Robespierre gained power and became leader of the Committee of Public Safety– Goal was to wipe out
every trace of France’s past
– Ruled as a dictator and guillotined anyone who he suspected of not supporting the Revolution
• Robespierre himself was executed
• After the Reign of Terror, a new form of government was drafted:– Two-house legislature– Executive body of 5 men
known as the Directory– New general for French
army – Napoleon Bonaparte