French Revolution

A) Causes:

-Government was corrupt, inefficient, & in debt

-Class structure was archaic and unjust

-Began as an attempt at reform

-Caused by ideas of “liberty, equality, fraternity”

B) Old Regime Class Structure:

-First estate of  clergy and Second estate of nobles were exempt from taxes

-Third estate – rest of 95% of population: middle class, urban artisans, & peasants

          a) Wanted to vote by head but Louis XIV wanted to vote by hierarchy

C) First Stage of Revolution

-National Assembly- Third estate in which each deputy would vote as an individual

-Tennis Court Oath- gathering of National Assembly and swore to not disband until France has a constitution they agree w/ -- determination to get constitutional revolution

-Fall of Bastille- rumor Napoleon will use weaponry to suppress them, starts revolt

          a) Major turning point in rev – people willing to take arms in group against king

          b) King and army crumble à formation of National Guard to restore order

-Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen- explains the freedoms of speech, press and religion, equality in taxation and before law, and national sovereignty of the king

          a)Did not include women- causes further social problems between sexes

- Great Fear- peasants feared aristocratic plot to starve people by burning crops/barns

          a) Peasants attack aristocrats, peasants refused to pay seigniorial dues to their lords

-March of Versailles: women march to force king to move to Tuileries

- Civil Constitution of Clergy- abolished convents/monasteries, made state pay saleries of clergymen, clergy forbidden to accept authority of the pope

-Legislative Assembly- National Assembly drafted constitution in which made the king chief executive officer and established voting qualifications for male citizens

D) Radical Phase:

-King taken prisoner, France becomes a republic

-First Coalition: Austria, England, Netherlands, Prussia, and Spain uniting against France

-Political factions- Jacobins supported by Paris mobs and Girondists supported by peasants in rural areas who fought for control of National Assembly

-Maximilien Robespierre: leader of Jacobins pushed for execution of king Louis XVI

-Committee of Public Safety: launched Reign of Terror

          a) Republic of Virtue- de-Christianize France and alienated Catholic majority

-National Convention executed Robespierre when France turns against Reign of Terror

E) Final Stage:

-Thermidorian Reaction: returned moderate bourgeois to power

-Directory: 5 member executives were established by National Convention to run government. When a Paris mob threatened the new government, Napoleon Bonaparte put down the riot and was rewarded w/ command of French armies fighting Austrians in Italy