French Revolution

UNIT 3 - POLITICAL CHANGE
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA

WORKPLAN

Diary Entry: Stages 1 and 2 of French Revolution

Routines: Checking of Attendance, News Reporting

Discussion: Stages 1 and 2 of French Revolution

Activity: Breakout room - UA Topic Pitch

Wrap up: Burning Questions & Reminders for next meeting

MAKING MEANING

ABSOLUTISM

the monarch had absolute control over the

government

MAKING MEANING

DIVINE RIGHT

God put some people in positions of power;

Power is given by God.

Poll

Where did you first learn about the French Revolution or study it?

• School

• Film and other similar media

• Book or a novel

• Family members and friends

• Internet

Video discussion

Multiple Choice

A form of government in which a single person—usually a king or queen—holds full power, autocratic power.

• Absolute Monarchy

• Constitutional Monarchy

Multiple Choice

A belief by which people, particularly monarchs are selected by God.

• Divine Selection

• Divine Right

• Divine Life

• Divine Birth Right

OLD REGIME

● socio-political system which

existed in most of Europe during
the 18th century

● Classes of people – privileged

and unprivileged
- Privileged - did not pay

taxes and treated well

- Unprivileged - paid taxes

and treated badly

OLD REGIME

●

In France, people were divided into three
estates

1.

First Estate
-High-ranking members of the Church

-Privileged class

2.

Second Estate
-Nobility

-Privileged class

3.

Third Estate
-Everyone else – from peasants in the
countryside to wealthy bourgeoisie
merchants in the cities

-Unprivileged class

Open Ended

In one word, how would you describe the social hierarchy and society of France before the French Revolution?

STAGE 1: SYMPTOMS

Economic Conditions under the Old Regime

●France’s economy was based primarily
on agriculture

●Peasant farmers of France bore the
burden of taxation

●Poor harvests meant that peasants
had trouble paying their regular taxes

●Certainly could not afford to have their
taxes raised

●Bourgeoisie often managed to gather
wealth

●But were upset that they paid taxes
while nobles did not

STAGE 1: SYMPTOMS

France Is Bankrupt

●The king (Louis XVI) lavished money on
himself and residences like Versailles

●Queen Marie Antoinette was seen as a
wasteful spender

●Government found its funds depleted as a
result of wars

●Including the funding of the American
Revolution

●Deficit spending – a government spending
more money than it takes in from tax
revenues

●Privileged classes would not submit to being
taxed

STAGE 1: SYMPTOMS

Bankruptcy

Great Fear

Estates-General

●Caused by deficit
spending

●Financial ministers
proposed changes

●But these were
rejected

●Assembly of
Notables voted
down taxation for
the nobility in 1787

●Worst famine in
memory

●Hungry,
impoverished
peasants feared that
nobles at
Estates-General
were seeking greater
privileges

●Attacks on nobles
occurred throughout
the country in 1789

●Louis XVI had no choice
but to call for a meeting
of the Estates-General
to find a solution to the
bankruptcy problem

●All three estates

●Had not met since 1614

●Set in motion a series of
events which resulted in
the abolition of the
monarchy and a
completely new
socio-political system
for France

Poll

To what extent do the symptoms of the American and French Revolutions resemble one another?

• High Extent

• Average Extent

• Neutral

• Low Extent

• Not Observed

STAGE 2: RISING FEVER

TENNIS COURT OATH

●June 20, 1789

●The Third Estate declared itself to be the
National Assembly.

●Louis XVI responded by locking the Third
Estate out of the meeting.

●The Third Estate relocated to a nearby tennis
court where its members vowed to stay
together and create a written constitution for
France.

●On June 23, 1789, Louis XVI relented. He
ordered the three estates to meet together
as the National Assembly and vote, by
population, on a constitution for France.

STAGE 2: RISING FEVER

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

● Louis XVI did not actually want a

written constitution

● When news of his plan to use

military force against the National
Assembly reached Paris on July
14, 1789, people stormed the
Bastille

STAGE 2: RISING FEVER

People of Paris seized

weapons from the Bastille

Uprising spread throughout

France

●

July 14, 1789

●

Parisians organized their
own government which
they called the Commune

●

Small groups – factions –
competed to control the
city of Paris

●

Nobles were attacked

●

Records of feudal dues and
owed taxes were destroyed

●

Many nobles fled the country
– became known as émigrés

●

Louis XVI was forced to fly
the new tricolor flag of France

Open Ended

Describe the French Monarchy and Government during the reign of Louis XVI in one (1) word.

UNIT 3 - POLITICAL CHANGE
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA

WORKPLAN

Diary Entry: Stages 3 and 4 of French Revolution

Routines: Checking of Attendance, News Reporting

Discussion: Stages 3 and 4 of French Revolution

Activity: Thinking Routines, Moodle Activity

Wrap up: Burning Questions & Reminders for next meeting

STAGE 3: CRISIS

TENNIS COURT OATH

●June 20, 1789

●The Third Estate declared itself to be the
National Assembly.

●Louis XVI responded by locking the Third
Estate out of the meeting.

●The Third Estate relocated to a nearby tennis
court where its members vowed to stay
together and create a written constitution for
France.

●On June 23, 1789, Louis XVI relented. He
ordered the three estates to meet together
as the National Assembly and vote, by
population, on a constitution for France.

STAGE 3: CRISIS

STORMING OF THE BASTILLE

●July 14, 1789

●Jacques Necker, director-general of the
finances who was considered sympathetic to
the common people, was dismissed by King
Louis XVI.

●They responded by storming toward the
Bastille fortress on July 14, 1789, to secure
gunpowder and weapons. The troops at
Bastille resisted for a few hours before they
surrendered to the mob.

●The fall of the Bastille, a symbol of power and
the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, is considered by
some as the start of the French Revolution.

STAGE 3: CRISIS

DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZENS

●August 26, 1789

●Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen, a charter of human liberties,
containing the principles that inspired the
French Revolution.

●France was proclaimed a constitutional
monarchy, while the National Assembly was
dissolved and replaced by a new political
body named the Legislative Assembly.

STAGE 3: CRISIS

WOMEN’S MARCH TO VERSAILLES

●

On October 4, 1789, a crowd of
women, demanding bread for their
families, marched toward Versailles.

●

When they arrived, soaking wet from
the rain, they demanded to see "the
Baker," "the Baker's wife," and "the
Baker's boy".

●

The King met with some of the
women and agreed to distribute all
the bread in Versailles to the crowd.

STAGE 3: CRISIS

THE ROYAL FLIGHT TO VARENNES AND

EXECUTION OF KING LOUIS XVI

Video discussion

STAGE 3: CRISIS

THE REIGN OF TERROR

●SEPTEMBER 5, 1793 TO JULY 28, 1794

●Before the execution of Louis XVI, the
Legislative Assembly had disbanded and
replaced itself with a new political body named
the National Convention.

●Consisting of 12 members with the most
prominent being Maximilien Robespierre, the
committee became the de facto executive
government in France

●An estimated 500,000 suspects were arrested,
17,000 were officially executed and 25,000 died
in summary executions, i.e. without benefit of a
full and fair trial. Hence the total death toll was
around 40,000.

Video discussion

STAGE 4: CONVALESCENCE

COUP OF 18TH BRUMAIRE

●9–10 November 1799

●After the fall of Robespierre, the National
Convention approved the new “Constitution of the
Year III” on 22nd August 1795. The new
constitution created the Directory.

●Moreover, it became more and more reliant on the
Army in foreign and domestic affairs, as well as
finance.

●Three “consuls”: the famous military leader
Napoleon Bonaparte; director Emmanuel Joseph
Sieyès; and politician Roger Ducos. This coup,
known as the Coup of 18th Brumaire, referring to
the date according to the revolutionary calendar, is
regarded by many as the end of the French
Revolution.

STAGE 4: CONVALESCENCE

FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WAR

●Revolutionary France was considered dangerous
by the other European monarchies who viewed it
with both fear and anger. This led to the French
Revolutionary Wars, a series of military conflicts
lasting from 1792 until 1802.

●France, under the leadership of Napoleon
Bonaparte, was able to conquer a wide array of
territories by 1802, from the Italian Peninsula and
the Low Countries in Europe to the Louisiana
Territory in North America.

●French success in the French Revolutionary Wars
allowed the spread of revolutionary principles over
much of Europe.

WRAP UP

Answer Week 7-8 French Revolution

Moodle Review Quiz