French Revolution packet #1 “France in 1789”
Basic outline
France is in Europe
Western Europe geographically
Introduction: The Summer of 1789
Storming the Bastille – a military fortress
King Louis XVI
France nearly bankrupt
-one major expense: funding the American Revolution against the British
-hunger and starvation common in France
-will lead to revolution
-early action: tennis court oath
-revolution will last around ten years +
-the Terror will be the time period when lots of people are executed
-The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen will be most important document
Part I: France under the Old Regime
-Old Regime -before 1789
-King Louis XVI of France
-father died when the king was 11
-part of the Bourdon dynasty– since 1589
-king rules by divine right of kings – God
-absolute monarchy
-France had 26 million
-nobility: 300,000
-3,000,000 bourgeoisie – middle class
-peasants 20,000,000
-1 in 5 babies die before age one (infant mortality)
-tithe: give at least 10% income to church
-cottage industry: make things at home – pre-industrial
-Paris largest city: 700,000
-bread costs workers 50% of income in good times: 75% in hard times
-servants: 5-7% of population
-riots and protests over high price of bread – riots and violence; often led by women
-bourgeoisie-
-middle class
-2-3 million people
-starting to get richer than nobles
-buy luxury goods such as sugar, coffee, silks, wallpaper, fancy clothing and servants
-offices can be bought
-example would be a judge
-50,000 offices for sale
-schools and college increase
-nobles -exempt from taxes: 300,000 of them – own 1/3 of land
-church getting 25 revenue- clergy considered nobility
-King lives in Versailles
-10,000 worked at Versailles
-“entourage” or courtiers; hang around the king to get favors
-example: eat lunch etc..
-King Louis rather strange: loved locks and carving
-thirty-nine provinces/governors
-wife: Marie Antoinette
-she 14 and Louis was 15
-from Austria
-took long time to have child
-probably never said the famous “cake” quote
-King likes to play with locks and carve wood
-governing France very difficult due to the decentralized nature (power in the provinces)
-French not spoken everywhere… Basque, Breton and German etc..
-“plutocracy”=government for and by the wealthy
-France largely a Catholic country
-550,00 Protestants – no civil rights
-30,000 Jews – not treated well
-the church took care of administrative roles: births, marriages, deaths..
-the church owned 10% of the land
-they paid no taxes-but would give the king money from time to time
Estates General
-1st=clergy
-2nd-nobility
-3rd-everbody else
-the king had not called the Estates General since 1614
-divine right of kings (God picked the ruler) still accepted
-education only for the very few
-1 in 52 boys literate
-newspapers and journals and libraries more important than ever – they spread ideas
-people talked politics in coffee houses
-wealthy women educated at home – rich women talked about things in salons (private
gatherings, not hair places)
Age of Enlightenment
-reason is supposed to be paramount, most important
-lowers the power of the Catholic Church
MVPs
-Voltaire – made fun of the church
-Montesquieu – separation of powers- important to the USA
-Diderot- wrote a massive Encyclopedia
-Rousseau-The Social Contract- general will of the people- child centered education
Choices Part II : Crises and Change-1774-1789
Flour War: 1775 – same time Louis XVI is coronated
-violent protests
Try to use “free market” principles to increase grain production
France broke mostly because of high costs of wars
-try to “write off “ debt – not pay back
French colony in Caribbean rebels – sugar plantations
-Haiti revolt is successful –first successful slave revolt in world history
Raising funds difficult
-nobility pay none
-Catholic Church not pay
-poor have the greatest tax burden
-economy close to breaking point
Minister of Finance Jacques Necker keeps taking the blame
King is forced to call the Estates General for the first time since 1614
-King is called a “despot”
-bad storms cause a very poor harvest in 1788
First Estate= clergy
Second Estate= nobility
Third Estates =everybody else
-all male, most rich and well-educated
-First and Second Estate= 300,000 people
-Third Estate= rest of the 26 million
-at this point, people do not want revolution- just fairness in taxation
-women buy the bread, they see the prices and the children hungry and starving : lead marches
-prince of bread doubles
-insurrection throughout country
-First Estate wear clerical robes
-Second Estate wear silk
-Third Estate wear black
-Tennis Court Oath – vow to stay until they get a new constitution
-Fall of Bastille
-a symbol of the Old Regime – crowds looking for weapons and ammunition
-again, still support the king at this point
-Estate General changes name to National Assembly
-Chaos of this time called the “Great Fear”
Choices French Revolution Part III: a Republic, and the Terror
-debates over what kind of government France will have
-Jacobin: radicals
-one idea is a unicameral (one branch) legislature
-another idea is to give the king a kind of veto power that would be difficult to overturn
-bread riots continue-often led by women
-king and family escorted to Paris – under arrest
-constant debates over who could vote: never women- but different ideas based on age, wealth
considered
-Protestants had been persecuted for a long time: now given rights; Jews given rights later
-at this moment: France is the most democratic nation in Europe
-a source of money is the Catholic Church; very rich- lands could be sold to raise lots of money;
angers Catholics
-Church is attacked; takes away power of priests and, power of Pope in France
-priests are forced to take an oath: about half refuse
-again, this angers Catholics
-most French people not bothered by slavery; not on their political agenda
-Haiti successfully revolts and becomes independent in 1804
-King of France continues to say one thing; but actually, believes differently
-crowds find his letter and notes and are outraged
-the fact that he tries to flee France also stirs up the masses against him
-King accepts new constitution
-other powers in Europe scared about what is happening in France
-war certainly seems to be approaching
-many officers fled France to other countries
-one faction: the Girondists are even more radical than most of the Jaocobins
-huge concern about France’s armies; fear that they would not be good enough in war
-at first the French armies are beaten, but eventually they start to defeat Austrian and Prussian
armies
-sans culottes: wear pants in public to show they are radical
-moderate groups, such as the one led by de Lafeyette, call for moderation: they lose
-troops attack the king’s house
-monarchy is suspended
-fear and chaos is everywhere; prisons are emptied and executed
-France is declared a republic
-universal suffrage is declared: all men can vote
-France currently the most democratic nation in the world
-king put on trial
-king executed
-other countries in Europe shocked at the death of the king
-civil war occurs in France and more chaos follows
-The Terror begins:
-food prices skyrocket
-Committee of Public Safety – kills people
-Robespierre the leader of the Committee
-a military draft is created
-queen is executed
-Terror out of control:
-16,000 killed
-500,000 jailed: 10,000 die in prison
-Terror spreads all over the country
-French army does well
-the Terror spread to social and religious ideas:
-metric system
-change inheritance laws
-divorce allowed
-calendar changed
-births, marriages, and deaths registered with government
-church hospitals taken over
-society de-Christianized
-Notre Dame renamed the Temple of Reason
-churches closed
-some priests and nuns forced to marry
-Catholics are infuriated
-the Cult of the Supreme Being promoted
-treason expanded
-arrests everywhere
Thermidorian Reaction
-revolution is slowed down
-Robespierre is arrested and executed
-prisoners freed
-Churches opened
-a new Constitution is written
-Napoleon Bonaparte takes over
-Napoleon eventually gets as much power, if not more, than the king had in the first place
Legacies
-ideas
-codification of laws
-equality of citizens under the law
