The French Revolution

What were the early problems in France?

1. Ancien Regime (class system) 2. The monarch (Louis XVI) was weak, ineffective, and lived a lavish lifestyle. 3. The Estates General had not met in 175 years. The national legislature and the king made laws while the people had no political voice. 4. There was a lack of uniformed laws and taxation policies in France. Therefore, it was difficult to govern and boost the economy. 5. There had been several years of poor crops and harvest. 6. The Enlightenment period had inspired the poor to enact their right to rebel.

What were thy accomplishments of the National Assembly?

1. They limited the power of the king and ended absolutism. 2. They wrote the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens which was a model for all of Europe. This document frightened European monarchs because they were worried about rebellion in their countries. 3. They raised money by seizing church lands and selling them for profit. They issued proper money called assignats.

What were the goals of those who were part of the Jacobin Dictatorship in the 3rd Revolutionary Government during the period of June 1793-July 28, 1794?

1. They wanted to protect the revolution and kill those who were against it. 2. Domestic Insurrence 3. They wanted to stabilize the economy. Laws of maximus were created and wages and prices were controlled. 4. They wanted to create the Republic of Virtue and change man's mentality.

What years did the French Revolution start and end?

1789-1794/1804

What was the Parisian mob?

A radical group who controlled the direction of the revolution and put pressure on the three groups of the national assembly.

What is ideological factionalization?

Division of the ends rather than the means.

Why did the National Assembly's rule from June 1789-September 1792 not last?

Each group of the National Assembly wanted something different.

What caused the end of the revolution?

Robespierre's death.

What did the collapse of the Jacobin Dictatorship cause?

The end of the Reign of Terror

What happened on June 27, 1789?

The king increases the troops in Paris to 20,000 members.

What happened on September 21, 1792?

The monarchy was abolished.

What happened on June 10, 1789?

The third estate declares that they will vote on an individual basis, regardless of the King's decision.

What happened on June 17, 1789?

The third estate declares themselves the National Assembly.

What did the Plains want while in the 2nd Revolutionary Government during the period of September 22, 1792-June 1793?

They swayed with the winning side.

What did the Dantanists want?

They wanted to end the killings brought about by the Reign of terror.

What did the Herbtists want?

They wanted to kill all people in the middle class, rich people, and priests.

What did the Constitutional Monarchs (right side of the National Assembly) want during the period of June 1789-September 1792?

They wanted to preserve a strong king.

Who were the Bourgeois(ie)?

They were rich, upper class members who were not considered nobles.

What did the middle class do in society?

Those who were part of this group were organizers and leaders because they were educated.

What happened from July 20-August 6,1789?

~The Great Fear, the rural equivalent to The Storming of the Bastille, occurred ~There were agrarian revolts. ~The rebels went into the houses of the nobles and killed them. ~They destroyed all evidence of debt they had to the nobility.

What were the cahiers?

•A list of grievances that Louis asked the third estate to write after they wanted to make the Estate General's voting system more fair. •Louis did not listen to the needs of those who wrote it. •By having this document to be written, Louis unintentionally caused an alliance to form between the middle and lower classes.

What was the Paris Commune?

•A very powerful local government in Paris. •They controlled the Parisian mob.

What is the "formula" for a revolution?

•A weak, inefficient, corrupt government. •Middle class discontent. •Mass discontent. This causes there to be more numbers. •An alliance forming between the middle class and the masses.

What was the Tennis Court Oath?

•An oath taken by the National Assembly in a tennis stadium on June 20, 1789. •The oath stated that the National Assembly would not disband until they wrote a new constitution.

What was the Law of Suspects?

•Citizens could arrest anyone they thought was anti revolutionary. •The most killings were in Revolt Vendee, Lyons, and Marseilles. •16,000-50,000 people were killed by guillotine.

What did Robespierre do after they end of the Jacobin Dictatorship?

•He did't want to kill everyone because then there would not be a France left. •However, he doesn't want the Reign of Terror to end. •He killed the Herbertists and arrested the Dantanists.

Who was Maximillian Robespierre?

•He was the leader of the Jacobins. •He was famous for his speech about feeding the hungry above all things. • He disagreed with the Declaration of the rights of Man, which says property is more important than the right of life. •He wanted to execute the king so the revolution may live.

What were the immediate causes of the Revolution?

•In 1786, France went bankrupt. •Most of France's money was spent on helping the Americans defeat the British, France's enemy, during the American Revolution, causing France to be in deep debt. •A sum of France's money is also spent on Marie Antoinette's gowns, wigs, and mini village, causing her to be nicknamed "Madame Deficit". •Half of the French budget is spent on the interest from the French debt. •Because of this, taxes are raised on the middle class while the nobles and the clergy are forced to pay taxes, which they did not do prior to this. •When the intendants come to collect the money from the upper class, the nobility and the clergy attack them and refuse to pay. Louis allows this.

Who issued the Declaration of Pillnitz and what did it state?

•It was issued by Austria and Prussia. •They wanted the king restored to the throne. If this did not happen, they threatened to attack.

What was the levy en masse and why was it enacted?

•It was the national draft. •The draft included 1.1 million soldiers that became known as "The People's Army". This cause the birth of nationalism. •Despite social class, a person could rise up in rank in the army. A person who did this was Napoleon Bonaparte. •This was enacted because Austria, Prussia, and England were invading France and the revolutionaries were losing the war.

What happened on January 21, 1793?

•Louis XVI was executed by guillotine. •This was the most humane and democratic killing method. •All people, despite class, were killed this way. •It was quick and painless with little room for mistakes.

What was the Reign of Terror?

•Organized by the Committee of Public Safety. •A period of violence during the French Revolution

What caused Robespierre's death?

•Robespierre had a list of people who were his followers who he believed to be enemies of the rebellion. •He tells these people that they will be executed the following day. •His followers use this opportunity to arrest him. •Upon being arrested, Robespierre tried to kill himself by shooting himself under his chin with a gun. However, he only manages to shoot his jaw off and lives after the experience. •His followers let him suffer through the and then execute him the following morning.

What happened on August 26, 1789?

•The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens was created. •Women were not included in the document. •The declaration stated that the purpose of government is to preserve natural rights. •It also stated that political power should come from the citizens, all men should be considered equal, there should be equal taxation, and that all government positions should be open to all people.

What happened on May 4, 1789?

•The Estates General is called into session for the first time in 175 years to decide whether or not to pass the tax legislation law. •Each estate only has one vote, causing the third estate to be outvoted. •To make the system more fair, the third estate wanted to vote on an individual basis.

What happened on July 14, 1789?

•The Storming of the Bastille (a prison/armory) occurred. •The third estate killed the governor of the Bastille by cutting his head off with a fruit knife. •The rebels tore the building of the Bastille down with their bare hands. •They let the prisoners escape.

What happened on October 5, 1789?

•The Women's March to Versailles occurred. •This was the third major event of the Revolution. •Women who worked by the docks had heard a rumor that the king was hiding flour and other goods in Versailles from the peasants. •The dock women march to Versailles. They are joined by other women and men along the way. •They break into Versailles by killing the guards and breaking the gates. •They went in with the goal of having the king and queen's heads. •As the rebels reach the queen's room, she escapes through a secret passage, preserving her life. While she is gone, the rebels tear apart the queen's bedroom. •Louis agrees, along with his family, to go to Paris with the mob. •The mob leaves with the guards' heads on spikes. •Louis and his family were prisoners of war. •This was the last time that Louis and Marie Antoinette would be at Versailles.

What happened on June 20,1789?

•The kind locked the doors to the National Assembly so they cannot meet. •The National Assembly went across the street to the Tennis Stadium and declared the Tennis Court Oath.

What happened while the king was a prisoner of the revolution in June 1791?

•The king and his family tried to escape to Austria where Marie Antoinette's brother was the emperor. •Louis' goal was to raise an army in Austria and use it to crush the revolution. •Louis and his family were caught be the revolutionaries in Varennes, ten miles outside of the Austrian border, and forced to return back to Paris, •From this point on, the king was seen as a traitor and was accused of committing treason. This act broke all ties between him and the National Assembly and the people of France.

What was the French Revolutionaries' reaction to the Declaration of Pillnitz?

•They declared war on Austria and Prussia. •Everyone in France wanted this war to occur. •People who supported the revolution wanted the war because it would legitimize the revolution and help them spread revolutionary ideas across Europe. •Those who were against the revolution wanted the war because if France lost, the revolution would end and the king would be put back on the throne.

What did the Jacobins do to try to change man's mentality?

•They tried to get rid of Christianity, freedom, and democracy. •All of the churches were shut down. • Notre Dame was now called the "Temple of Reason". •The calendar was changed three ten day weeks in a month so people wouldn't know when it was Sunday. •The names of the seasons and the months were changed. • Street signs with religious names were taken down. • Religious holidays were canceled and replaced with revolutionary festivals.

What did the middle class (center of the National Assembly) want during the period of June 1789-September 1792?

•They wanted a weak king. •They wanted the masses to be weak, since they were afraid of mobs,

What did the Girandines want while in the 2nd Revolutionary Government during the period of September 22, 1792-June 1793?

•They wanted to secure the middle class and improve the economy. •They were not in favor of executing the king, though they did want to imprison him.

What did the Committee of Public Safety (COPS) do and what were their goals?

•They were created by the Jacobins. •There were twelve members. •Robespierre was the leader. •They ran the government. •Their goal was to get rid of the enemies of the revolutions.

Why was the middle class unhappy?

•They were inspired by the Enlightenment. •They realized they had no political voice, which made them unhappy. •The middle class was considered the economic engine of the French economy, yet they had no say in the policies of France. •They wanted equality before the law, a constitutional monarchy, and equal taxation.

Why were the poor unhappy?

•They were starving while 80-85% of them lived in poverty. There were many food riots as the price of food increased. •There was an unfair tax burden. They had to pay the taille (income tax), the tithe (church tax), the corvee (forced labor and the most hated), the gabelle (salt tax), tolls (from one province to another), and a wine and grain tax. •The nobility and the clergy did not have to pay any of these taxes.

What did the Jacobins (Mountain/Sans Culottes) want while in the 2nd Revolutionary Government during the period of September 22, 1792-June 1793?

•They were the most radical group out of the three sections of the 2nd Revolutionary Government. •They wanted to help the poor first.

What did the Jacobins and the Giordines (left side of the National Assembly) want for France during the period of June 1789-September 1792?

•They were the most radical group out of the three sections of the National Assembly. •They did not want to have a king. •They wanted to empower the masses. •They wanted universal male suffrage.