Chapter 20 French Revolution and Napoleon 1789-1815

Chapter 20 French Revolution and Napoleon1789-1815 20.1 The Revolution Begins

Causes of Revolution • The French ill will could be found in the inequality in the French government and society • Inequality in Society • Under the Old Order the king was at the top of society and three groups called estates were under him • King Louis XVI was in control at the time of the rebellion and he taxed the people so he could live an extravagant life style in the palace of Versailles • His wife was Marie-Antoinette an Austrian who married Louis XVI to form an alliance with France. • The people did not like her and she threw lavish parties and wore expensive clothes when most people were starving and wore rags

Causes of Revolution • Inequality in Society (continued) • The rest of society was broken up into estates • First Estates- Roman catholic clergy (1% of the populations) • They made laws and enforced them, they did not have to follow these laws and did not have to pay taxes • They controlled much of the land in France and charged high rents and fees • This made the bishops and clergy very wealthy and were resented by most of the population • Second Estate- Nobility ( 2% of the populations) • They controlled most the wealth in France but did not pay taxes. • They controlled most of the government positions and military positions • They owned a lot of land and had peasants do most of the work and pay a high fee for living on their land

Causes of Revolution • Inequality in Society • Third Estates- Most of the Society (97% of population) and made up of several groups all highly taxed • At the top was the bourgeois- professionals , bussiness owners, lawyers ect.. They did not have say in the gov’t even though most of them were wealthy • Next the san cluttos- worker.. Shoe makers, carpenters.. ect if they did not have work they went hungry • Last was the peasants- the manual labors and the most taxed portion of the population

Causes of Revolution • Enlightenment Ideas • The enlightenment ideas, and the American Revolution highly influenced many of the bourgeoisie and made them think what would happen if they implemented these idea into the French government • Financial Crisis • France of in debt • The spent large amounts of money on wars and the lavish life style of the monarchy • The borrowed from other countries and continued to spend and tax the people (third estate) • Natural disasters and draught brought hunger and starvation into France

First Events in the Revolution • All estates in French Society were unhappy with the current government and life in the France • Meeting of the Estate General • The representatives from each Estate had not met for more than 175 years. • They wanted to approve the taxes on the Third Estate • The Generals wrote all of their grievances with the French monarch in a notebook called the cahier. Because of this it was obvious the people wanted mass reform • Usually the Estate had one vote all together and the 1st and 2nd Estate would always out vote the 3rd Estate • The 3rd Estate used the enlightenment idea come up with the idea of a new type of representative voting • The 3rd Estate had the most representatives and declared themselves the national assembly able to make laws • The king locked the 3rd Estate out of the Estate General Meeting • The 3rd Estate met in the Tennis courts and created a new constitution for France • Because of this the king allowed each representatives to have a vote

First Events of the Revolution • The Storming of the Bastille • Louis made a serious mistake and had the French troops come protect Versailles in case the National Assembly wanted to abolish the monarchy • The NA feared the king would use violence to end their new meetings • The people of Paris sympathized with the National Assembly and wanted to take up arms against any action the King might take • A mob begins to storm the Bastille ( a prison) to gain weapons to use • They tried to negotiate with the commander of the Bastille but it did not go well and the mob killed the commander and placed his head on a stake • The mob controlled the Bastille and had all of their weapons • The storming of the Bastille became a symbol for the revolution

First Events of the Revolution • The Spread of Fear • The Third Estate feared the king would punish them for their action at the Bastille and thought he would hire foreign forces to shut them down • This created a great fear to sweep the 3rd Estate and a lot of this was based on stories, rumors and fiction • They began to fear and start to protect themselves and started to burn down nobles homes and lands. • They started the violence they feared

Creating a New Nation • Violence began throughout the beginning of the revolution. The Third Estates attack the 1st and 2nd Estates capturing and killing some of them. The National Assembly began to create new laws and government and the violence decreased once the monarch crumbled • Legislating New Rights • NA eliminated the 1st Estates legal privleges • The NA wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizens. • The Declaration laid out basic principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. • It protected the natural rights of it citizens and was heavily influenced by enlightenment thinks and the American Bill of Rights and Constitution

Creating a New Nation • Restriction of Power • King Louis called the troops to protect him again • The people again feared he would try and stop the revolution and the National Assembly • A mob of 7000 of men and women storm the palace of Versailles. The captured the royal family and the king agreed to leave and live in Paris • This success encouraged the revolutionaries to take more against and the seized all the land the church owned to help pay off their national debt

Creating a New Nation • Formation of a New Government • 1791 the National Assembly completed it’s constitution • Created a Legislative Assembly • Gave people (taxing paying men who are older than 25) the right to vote • Restricted the power of the King • The King and Queen knew they were unsafe so they put on disguises and tried to flee Paris but were not successful

Creating a New Nation • The Intervention of Foreign Powers • In 1792 Austria and Prussia issued a warning that if the French monarchy was harmed they would declare war. Austria sent 50,000 troops to the border of France • The Legislative Assembly declared war however Frances Army was weak and was defeated • People were hungry and starving for the rebellion and the war. They were angry and blamed the war against Austria and Prussia failing on the king

Creating a New Nation • The End of the Monarchy • August 10th 1792 a mob storm the Palace of Tuileries were the King and Queen lived and siege the royal family- Louis XVI Marie- Antoinette and their children in prison • The legislative Assembly feared the mobs and foreign invaders so they voted themselves out of existence • They called for a new legislature, the National Convention. The radicals were put into control • They abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic

Assignment In groups of TWO read the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens on top of page 598 Answer question 1 and 2 about the document Paraphrase each principle listed in the declaration and explain it’s significance. Complete this on a piece and paper

Chapter 20 French Revolution and Napoleon 1789-1815