2.  Prior to the revolution, France was one of the
most powerful and advanced countries in Europe.
 France’s population was booming. It was the
largest country in Europe with around 28 million.
 They also had the largest standing army, around
400,000 soldiers ready to go to war!
 France also had a large economy. The sheer size
of the country made it one of the premier
economic powers in Europe.

3.  Despite all this, France in financial crisis.
 The past 50 years had seen conflicts like the
Seven Years War (French and Indian War) and
the American Revolution which put France into
debt.
 Starting with King Louis XIV, the kings incurred
great amounts of debt and passed it on to the
new kings to deal with.
 By 1789, France was essentially bankrupt.

4.  The king of France at this time was
the absolute ruler, King Louis XVI,
who was an introverted, shy and
indecisive king.
 He was known for his lavish
spending and borrowing money.
 He spends most of his time in his
own little capital city, Versailles,
just outside Paris.
 The queen, Marie Antoinette, had
no clue when it came to politics
and often gave her husband bad
advice.
 She was also well known for her
extravagance and opulence and
was very much disliked by the
people.

5. Queen Marie Antoinette
King Louis XVI

6.  Kirsten Dunst
played Marie
Antoinette in the
2006 movie of the
same title.

10.  Another issue leading
into the French
Revolution were the
inequalities in
society.
 The existing social
structure was similar
to the feudal system
in the Middle Ages.
 It basically was a
divide between social
classes and was a way
of determining

11. Varied widely in what they contributed in terms of work and taxes
First Estate Second Estate Third Estate
•Roman Catholic clergy •Nobility •Largest group—97-98%
of the population
•Less than one percent •Less than 2 percent of
of the population the population •Paid most of the taxes
•Exempt from taxes •Paid few, if any taxes •Bourgeoisie—city-
dwelling merchants,
•Owned 10 percent of •Controlled much of the factory owners, and
the land wealth professionals
– Collected rents and
•Held key positions •Sans culottes—
fees
– Government artisans and workers
– Bishops and other
– Military •Peasants—poor with
clergy grew
wealthy •Lived on country little hope, paid rents
estates and fees

14.  Each estate was unhappy with the other. (struggle
for wealth and power)
 The 3rd Estate was obviously the worst off of the
three.
 They thought that the taxes should not be placed
solely upon the 3rd Estate. They felt the other
estates should share the financial burden.
 There was also long standing resentments against
the monarchy.
 King Louis XVI was a shy, indecisive king and Marie
Antoinette was an unpopular, self indulgent queen.

16.  Louis responds to the financial crisis
by raising taxes to get France out of
debt.
 This has a terrible domino effect.
 Prices on goods, services and rent
were raised while wages stayed the
same (inflation).
 People in the Third Estate suffered
greatly from this inflation.
 It was determined that as much as 1/3
of France were now considered
peasants (poor).
 This angers many people who are now
starving, unable to afford a simple
loaf of bread.
 Whispers of revolution start to
abound.

17.  The people were starving
in the streets. Bread was
so scarce and the price of
a loaf was nearly a
month’s wage for a
peasant.
 When told of the crisis
plaguing the people,
Marie Antoinette
supposedly replied, “Let
them eat cake,” referring
to the abundance they had
at the palace…

18.  Enlightened ideas would play a major role
leading up to the revolution.
 There were inspiring writings of people
like English political writer, John Locke
who preached in favor the people’s rights
such as freedom and equality.
 One French Enlightened writer named
Baron de Montesquieu studied
governments across Europe and read about
ancient and medieval Europe, Chinese and
Native American cultures
 He opposed absolute monarchy.
 Proposed that dividing the government
into three branches: legislative, executive
and judicial would provide a system of
checks and balances and ensure not one
group could ever have too much power.

19.  Another Enlightened French writer
also played an important part in the
ideas of revolution.
 He went by the pen name, Voltaire.
 Voltaire used sarcasm to expose the
abuses of daily life.
 Voltaire wrote against intolerance,
corruption, injustice and criticized
the laws and customs of France.
 He was especially critical of the
monarchy and the Catholic church.
 He preached “reason and
rationalism”.
 Voltaire defended freedom of
speech, but that got him exiled and “My trade is to say what I think.”
his books were banished or burned. -Voltaire

20.  The English Revolution,  The success of the
struggle between king and American Revolution in
parliament, led to a change overthrowing a king and
in styles of government, a establishing a new style
“limited constitutional of government, a
monarchy”. “democracy”.

21.  Closer to the
revolution, France
had a severe
drought just before
the winter harvest.
 To add to it, that
winter was
especially harsh.
 The people of
France were left
cold and hungry.

23.  Things in France got
so bad that they
called for the Estates
General.
 This was the first
time this meeting
had happened in over
150 years! (1614)
 Representatives of
each estate met to
discuss the financial
crisis facing them.

24.  The Third Estate, being the largest, had the most
representatives.
 The Third Estate especially thought the burden of
taxation should be addressed.
 They wanted to set up a constitutional government
that limited the king’s power and would also
abolish the tax exemptions for the clergy and
nobility.
 However, the voting system was flawed.
 Each Estate only had one vote.
 The Third Estate argued that it should go to an
individual (popular) vote, but King Louis XVI denied
them.

25.  In reaction, the Third Estate  The constitution
called their own assembly to officially proposes a
draft a constitution. new government called
 The next day, the they were the National Assembly
locked out their own (similar to parliament),
meeting and were forced to which would include the
meet on the tennis court King, and act in the
next door. interests of the people.
 Despite this inconvenience,
they swore that they would
continue to meet until their
constitution was drafted.
 This is known as the Tennis
Court Oath.

27.  People were afraid this
proposition of a new order
would anger the king and
nobility and they would strike
back at the Third Estate.
 Rumors started to swirl that
King Louis was hiring foreign
soldiers to attack them.
 There were also rumors of
massacres taking place across
the country.
 With no way to defend
themselves, the people
panicked.
 This is known as the “Great
Fear”.

28.  On July 14th, 1789, angry
and afraid for their
lives, thousands of
peasants gathered and
stormed the Bastille
looking for weapons to
protect themselves.
 The Bastille was a
fortress/prison and also
housed guns and
ammunition.
 The peasants stormed
the fortress, killed the
guards, hacked up their
bodies and paraded their
heads around on sticks.

31.  On July 14th, 1789,
King Louis was out on
a day long hunting
trip.
 When he returned, he
had heard the news.
 He asked a duke, “is
it a revolt?”
 The duke replied, “no
sire, it is revolution!”

32.  Because the French
were so inspired by
the American
Revolution, a key to
the Bastille was
presented to George
Washington, the
general of the
Colonial Army and
first American
president. The key
currently hangs in his
home at Mt. Vernon.

33.  Soon after the storming of the Bastille, the 3rd Estate’s
National Assembly came up with a constitution.
 Wanting to mimic the U.S. Constitution, their
constitution revoked the special privileges of the 1st
and 2nd Estates.
 They called it, the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
 Revolutionary leaders use the slogan, “Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity”
 The constitution also stated that there would only be
one common assembly (as opposed to three separate)
and the king would have special “veto power”.
 Additionally, it stated many other things similar to the
American Constitution such as freedom of speech and
press.
 It also stated that women had equal rights… so long as
they stayed out of politics.

35.  Although they have
drafted a new
constitution and created
the National Assembly
to revise the current
government, Louis
denies to observe it.
 Louis kept himself in
Versailles and refused
to accept and
recognize these laws,
wishing to remain
absolute monarch and
protect his throne.

36.  Meanwhile, there continued to be many major problems
including debt and food shortages.
 Angered by Louis’ refusal of the new laws, thousands of
women marched on Versailles with pitch forks and pikes.
 They also wanted Queen Marie Antoinette. They were
especially angry that she could not relate to them and the
condition of their starving children.

37.  The mob of women gathered
outside of Versailles (nearly
20,000 of them) and
demanded King Louis return
to Paris and comply with the
new constitution.
 As the king and queen
refused to come out, the
angry mob stormed into the
palace and tore it apart.
 They beat or killed the
guards, many of who's heads
were then raised upon pikes.
 Louis had no choice but to
return to Paris.

39.  Louis, worried about
his future and attempts
to escape France.
 He dresses like a
servant and tries to
flee into Austria (home
of Marie Antoinette).
 Revolutionaries
recognize and catch
him near the border,
just miles from
freedom.

40.  Although a new constitution
has been written, the
country remains split.
 Some people think the King
should be put back into
power while others think
that even more change
needs to happen.
 Other countries such as
Austria and Prussia also
threaten to attack if the
king is not placed back into
power.

41.  Mobs start to break
out in and Paris and
members of the
royal family are
imprisoned and
their guards are
killed.
 Thousands of
supporters of the
king are killed as
well.

42.  Pressured by the mobs,
the National Assembly
deposes the king and
then effectively,
dissolves.
 A new, radical political
group known as the
Jacobins come to power
in 1792 led by Maximilien
Robespierre

43.  Still feeling that a
major change needed
to be made, the
Jacobins bring King
Louis XVI to trial.
 King Louis is tried for
treason and, in a
close vote, is found
guilty.
 He is sentenced to
beheading by
guillotine.

44.  King Louis XVI thought
that the old way of
execution, the
breaking wheel, was
too inhumane.
 He commissioned
Dr. Guillotine to come
up with a new, more
efficient way of
capital punishment
without the infliction
of torture and pain.
 Talk about ironic…

45.  At his execution, thousands of people gathered to
see the king.
 He was marched up onto the stage where he
delivered a short speech proclaiming his innocence.
 He then was placed in the guillotine and the blade
dropped.
 According to accounts, Louis let out a blood
curdling scream as the blade did not completely
sever his neck.
 The blade was raised and dropped again.
 It was said that many people rushed the stage to
be covered in Louis’ blood and to dip their
handkerchiefs in it.

47.  Just nine months
following King Louis’
execution, Marie
Antoinette is also
tried for treason
and found guilty.
 She meets the same
fate as her husband
and is beheaded by
guillotine.

48.  Following King Louis XVI’s
execution, Robespierre assumes
full control of France.
 In effect, he becomes a dictator.
 He must assure that all France
becomes united by any means
necessary.
 To do this, he starts execute
people who are deemed
“enemies of the state”.
 This is known as the “Reign of
Terror”.

49.  Under Robespierre, thousands
of people will die.
 Of those executed; many are
former allies of the king, but
85% of them are people from
the 3rd Estate, the very people
he was supposed to protect.

51.  In July 1794, Robespierre is
arrested and then executed.
 The Reign of Terror results in
public opinion shifting away
from radicals and another,
more conservative group
comes to power.
 The new, moderate leaders
write a new constitution; but
most importantly, they
appoint the young and brave
Napoleon Bonaparte as the
general of the armies.