The French Revolution

1. The Three Estates

2. National Assembly

3. Reign of Terror

4. Napoleon

THREE ESTATES

French society divided into 3 classes (Estates)

First Estate- Clergy+Priests (0.5% of population)

Second Estate- Nobles (1.5% of population)

Third Estate- Everyone else (98% of population, but only owned 40% of the land)

Third Estate paid high taxes, had few rights, and had no wealth

FRENCH TROUBLES

France was in massive debt

King Louis XVI ordered leaders from the Three Estates to meet and come up with a plan to get out of debt

Called the Estates General Met in Versailles in June,

1789

THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Third Estate considers limiting the power of the king and pushes for reform and more equality

Rename themselves National Assembly, plan to make decisions for France with/without First and Second Estates

Louis XVI locks the doors of the Salle de Etats to prevent the Estates from meeting

TENNIS COURT OATH

June 20, 1789- National Assembly (and some from the First and Second Estates) are locked out of the Salle de Etats

Meet at an indoor tennis court and pledge to continue meeting till they come up with a new constitution for France

Military begins to arrive in Paris and National Assembly gains support throughout France.

CREATING A CONSTITUTION July 14, 1789- Storming of the Bastille Represented the evils of the king’s rule August 26, 1789- Declaration of the Rights of

Man and Citizen Violence in the countryside led to massive food

shortages 7000 armed women marched on Versailles in

October, 1789 to protest poverty

A NEW REPUBLIC

Louis XVI and family try to flee France in 1791

Arrested and forced to accept the new Constitution and France becomes a republic and the king’s power is limited

Other European leaders promise to support Louis XVI militarily if he want to take destroy the National Assembly—this infuriates and scares the French people

Executed King Louis XVI in 1793

STRUGGLING REPUBLIC New government was

not strong enough to deliver on its promises

Political rivalries prevented decisions from being made

Poverty was widespread and violence plagued the countryside

Other European nations declared war on France to destroy or contain the Revolution

REIGN OF TERROR Counter-revolutionists became stronger

because of the weak government Government founded Committee of Public

Safety to prevent counter-revolutionary actions and imprison critics of the government

Led by Maximillien Robespierre Over 16,000 people executed by the

guillotine and 25,000 killed or die in prisons Lasts from late 1791-1793 Robespierre became most powerful man in

France, so he was also killed on July 27, 1793

THE DIRECTORY

In 1795, the constitution established the Directory It was a two house legislature (like the US) and

led by 5 directors The Directory became the ruling body of France The Directory pushed warfare to keep in power

and prevent strong military leaders from coming home

Violence in France came to an end, but the national debt remained high and poverty still hurt the common people

NAPOLEON

November 9, 1799- Napoleon Bonaparte performs a coup d'état and overthrows the Directory

Coup d'état- overthrow of a ruling government Napoleon puts France under the control of the

Consulate The Consulate was a centralized 3-man ruling

party that controlled the country Napoleon makes himself Head Consulate This is the official end of the French Revolution