french society in 1789 (lesson 1)

7/29/2019 French Society in 1789 (Lesson 1)

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French

History

1789 - 1814

A Brief

Overview



Society in 1789Group Number Land

Ownership

Power?

The NobilityDukes, Marquis, Counts,

Viscounts etc350,000 25%

The ruling class – did all thewell-paid jobs in the King’s

government

The BourgeoisieProfessions (doctors, lawyers,

civil servants, bankers), MasterCraftsmen and Business Owners

2.5million

30%Educated and well off –

generally wealthy

The Town Workers

(Shopkeepers, artisans,builders, labourers etc)

2million

< 1%

The poorer element in Paris

were called the mob

The Peasants 22million

35%Lived in the countryside –

owed feudal oblige to localLord



Society Divided by law: The Three Estates

1st

Estate The Clergy

130,000 people

Catholic Church controlled education

and looked after the sick

Did not have to do military service

and had their own courts

Generally very wealthy

2nd

Estate The Nobility

350,000 people

Ancient families who owed their

position to birth

Were judges or worked for the King

Very wealthy but did not have to pay

many taxes

3rd

Estate The rest

27 million people

Vast majority were peasants

Had no privileges – paid high taxes



Glossary of Key TermsTerm

ExplanationAbsolutism All power and control in the hands of 1 person

Ancien Regime Old system of royal government before the French revolution

Dauphin The heir to the French throne

Deputies People chosen as representatives

Constitutional

Monarchy

A system of government where a monarch is Head of State but their

power is contained/controlled by an elected Parliament (Britain)Estates All people in France belonged to one of the three estates

Estates General A special meeting of elected representatives of each of the three estates

Girondins Deputies who supported a constitutional monarchy

Jacobins Deputies who supported the deposition and then execution of the King

NationalAssembly

An Assembly of deputies

Parlement A French law court – not to be confused with a British Parliament

Republic A country which has no monarch

Sans Culottes ‘Mob’ of Paris – violent adherents of the Revolution



Roll-Call of Key People

Charles X Born 1757 – younger brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII – former

comte d’Artois – King from 1824 – forced into exile 1830 – died 1836

David – Jacques Louis Propaganda artist of the Revolution and then Napoleon

Louis XVI French King 1754-1793 – executed during Revolution

Louis XVII Son of Louis XVI – uncrowned – died in prison in 1795Louis XVIII Born in 1755 - younger brother of Louis XVI – duc d’Alencon– forced

into exile – became King in 1814, died in 1824

Marie-Antionette Unpopular wife of Louis XVI – executed in 1793

Napoleon Bonaparte French General and military hero – led coup d’etat in 1799

Robespiere Leading Jacobin and instigator of the Revolution and the Terror – executed in 1794

Talleyrand 1754-1838 – a versatile, skilled and influential diplomat OR a traitorwho betrayed in turn, the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution,Napoleon, and the Restoration?



1789: The French Revolution

Liberty, equality and fraternity •

Arguably the most important European event between1715 and 1914

• Ended the divine right absolutist monarchy of theBourbon Kings

• Caused by a variety of circumstances:- – Louis XVI’s lack of money

– Desire by some nobles and rich lawyers for the King to sharepower – a Parliamentary system of government

– All parts of society discontented with ‘chronic’ injustices of an outdated feudal medieval system

– Poor harvests led to hunger and the ‘mob’ of Paris to resortto violence



Brief Timeline of French Revolution

• 1786 Louis XVI virtually bankrupt. An Assembly of Notables defies the King over his plans to tax thenobility

• 1787 Paris Parlement refuses to ratify new taxwithout the approval of the Estates General (hadn’tmet for over 100 years) despite military threat fromLouis XVI

• 1788/9 The 3rd Estate defies the King – demandsfairer system and more power than Estates 1 and 2

• 1789 Louis XVI forced to concede a NationalAssembly to the 3rd Estate



The Storming of the Bastille•

July 14th

1789 The fear that Louis XVI is going to closethe National Assembly by force (30,000 soldiers in Paris) sees

a ‘mob’ of 8,000 people in Paris attack a massive fortress

called the Bastille – main aim to get arms and ammunition –

army ordered to fire on the crowd but mutinied



Brief Timeline of French Revolution

• 1789/91 Louis XVI and family are imprisoned in theTuileries – he refuses to accept the NationalAssembly’s new constitution

• June 1791 Louis XVI and family fail to escape Paris – returned to prison in Paris

• 1792 Austria and Prussia declared war on Francestating that they would raise Paris to the ground if Louis XVI was harmed!

• Sept 1792 Tuileries attacked – 500 Royal supporterskilled. National Assembly declares France a Republic – Louis and family locked away in ‘The Temple’.



Execution of Louis XVI



The Terror

• Robespiere instigated ‘the Terror’. • He enforced conscription for army• He enforced strict food controls• France was dechristianised – new calendar, churches

closed and looted

• The penalty for disobedience wasdeath

• Robespiere was finally arrested andexecuted in 1794



Napoleon Bonaparte• 1795 defeated Royalist revolt

• 1796/7 defeated Austrians

•

1798/9 attacked Britain in Egypt• 1799 led coup d’etat became 1st Consul of France

– plebiscite supported him – 3 million in favour, 1,500 against!

• 1800 defeated Austria in Italy

• 1801 signed Concordat with Pope and passed many reforms

• 1804 became Emperor – lavish coronation – Revolution over?

• 1805-10 conquered western Europe from Spain to Russia (not Britain

due to Battle of Trafalgar in 1805) - the biggest EuropeanEmpire for 1,000 years

•

1812 attacked Russia with 650,000 men – got to Moscow -defeated by the weather – only 20,000 returned

• 1813 force of Austrians, Russians, Prussians and Swedes defeatedhim

• 1814 surrendered, banished and sent to rule Elba off the west

coast of Italy



1st Key Questions:

Our course starts here

Which groups might dictate the natureof the next French government?

What type of government shouldFrance have?

What choices were there?Ultimately, who should run the

country?

Whi h i h di h



Which groups might dictate the nature

of the next French government?

• France was a politically divided nation (would

remain so 1814-1870)

• Divisions in society were not on class lines

but vertically

• France would remain unstable because of the

divisions in society and the fact that there

was always an obvious and popular

alternative to the existing government



What type of government should France have?

• The Republicans – key to all resistance against Kings

and Revolutions of 1830 & 1848 (always analternative to Monarchy) – Popular among Patriotic – France very successful during

the Republic years acquiring land in Belgium, Holland,Italy

– Popular among peasants (freed from feudalism, takenland from church and nobles)

– Popular among bourgeoisie (merit had replaced birth asthe means of appointment and advancement

– The ‘Terror’ was forgotten and during the C19th manyremembered the Republic as a ‘Golden Age’

However, this was unlikely to be acceptable to the foreign powers

and was not desired by a large number of Anti-Republicans



What type of government should France have?

• Anti-Republicans – viewed Revolution and Republic

as ‘legalised banditry’ where no life or property hadbeen protected – unstable and violent governments.However, they were not united:- – Bourbonists (Legitimists) – wanted Louis XVIII to succeed

and rule France• Some even favoured a return to absolutism (the ancien regime of

1792). They were known as the ultra-royalists (ultras)

– Orleanists – (smallest group) favoured a monarchy but notthe Bourbons – wanted Louis-Philippe, duc d’Orleans (distant cousin of Louis XVI) his father had activelysupported the revolution – dropped his title and changedhis name to Philippe Égalité

– Bonapartists – (largest group) – adherents of Napoleon and the glory that he had bought – politically disorganised

and unacceptable to foreign powers

french society in 1789 (lesson 1)

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