Literature Discussion Questions
Kohl3094
frenchrevolution.pptxThe French Revolution (1789-1799)
Eng 272
King Louis XVI (1754 –1793)
Executed on the 21st of January 1793
The first part of Louis' reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideals. These included efforts to abolish serfdom and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics.
The French nobility reacted to the proposed reforms with hostility and successfully opposed their implementation.
Louis successfully implemented deregulation of the grain market but it resulted in an increase in bread prices. In period of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt.
Legend tells that Marie Antoinette, his wife, in response to the shortage, cries, “Let them eat cake.”
2
End of the “Ancien Regime?”
From 1776 Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain.
The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the “Ancien Régime” (Old Order).
Discontent among the members of France's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy, of which Louis and his wife, queen Marie Antoinette, were viewed as representatives.
In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution.
Everything is Cause . . .
Following the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt and attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes.
Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy.
Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals.
. . . And Effect
Revolution
Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them with republics.
Lady Liberty
Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history.
Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleone di Buonaparte; 1769 –1821)
The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship by Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond.
As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815.
Napoleon
Napoleon implemented foundational liberal reforms in France and across Europe.
He established a system of public education, abolished the vestiges of feudalism, emancipated Jews and other religious minorities, enacted legal protections for an emerging middle class, and centralized state power at the expense of religious authorities.
His lasting legal achievement, the Napoleonic Code, has been adopted in various forms by a quarter of the world's legal systems, from Japan in East Asia to Quebec in North America.
