history

The Age of Revolution in Europe: 1789-1848,

inaugurated by the Great French Revolution, which

began in 1789.

The French Revolution

Reading: Chapter 22 of the textbook

Causes of the French Revolution

1. decline in quality of political leadership after Louis XIV

2. economic stagnation, 1770s-1780s—stagflation

3. fiscal crisis: government $18-20 billion in debt; taxation:

peasants bore the main burden of direct and indirect taxation;

tithes

4. social crisis: each significant group in French society—

clergy, nobility, upper and petit bourgeoisie, peasantry—

had serious complaints against the Old Regime.

French society was divided into three estates (sort of like classes):

1st estate: the clergy; 2nd estate: the nobility; 3rd estate: everyone else.

The upper clergy (bishops and other church officials) tended to

sympathize with the nobles’ point of view; the lower clergy,

especially parish priests sympathized with the plight of the poor.

Nobles sought to retain their traditional privileges, such as their

exemption from all taxes, while demanding a greater role in

political life;

The upper middle class wanted a reduction in government

interference in economic life;

The lower middle class and working class wanted more

government interference in the form of helping people suffering

from economic difficulties.

Peasants wanted relief from burdens imposed by both the

government and nobles (feudal dues—LOOKUP THE TERM);

The pauperization of the peasantry was especially important:

The peasantry was in a desperate situation in the late 1780s.

Twenty-two of twenty-six million Frenchmen were peasants

(including about one million serfs).

It’s been estimated that 35-50 acres of land was needed to farm

successfully in 18th-centruy France.

Fewer than one in two peasant families had as many as five

acres. Ninety percent didn’t have holdings adequate to feed a

family and had to hire out as laborers, borrow, or beg.

It didn’t help that most peasants engaged in small-plot grain

farming, the most inefficient type of farming.

Terms to look up: terrier=old charters listing peasant

obligations to nobles;

curés=parish priests

petit bourgeoisie=lower bourgeoisie or middle class

Louis XVI of France, 1774-1792

Marie Antoinette

Pressure from the nobility and upper clergy made Louis XVI agree

to convene an Estates General (meeting of representatives of the

three estates: clergy, nobility, and common people) in the spring

of 1789 (the last such meeting had been in 1614). It convened

on May 5.

Argument over voting procedures meant a deadlock ensued.

Tennis Court Oath (June 20): the 3rd Estate and allies among the clergy

(especially curés (from June 19) declared they constituted a

National Assembly and their task was to create a constitution

The King gave in on June 27.

Timeline for French Revolution and Napoleonic Era

Estates General—spring 1789

National Assembly: late spring 1789 to fall 1791

Constitutional Monarchy: king and Legislative Assembly,

1791-August 1792

National Convention: September 1792-November 1795

Directory: November 1795—November 1799

Napoleonic Era: November 1799-April 1814; March-June 1815

Major events—late spring and summer 1789

Rumors of brigands (outlaws), hired by nobles, roaming around,

attacking villages; and nobles

hoarding food

These were alleged to be part of an “aristocratic plot”; leading to

the “Great Fear" in the countryside, culminating in peasant attacks

on noble estates.

Storming of the Bastille (a prison) by a large crowd in Paris on

July 14, 1789. The crowd destroyed it. Henceforth, July 14

became a national holiday, sort of like our Fourth of July

Oct. 5, 1789: 7,000 women invaded the palace at

Versailles—very significant: it graphically demonstrated the

unpopularity of the royal couple.

The storming of the Bastille

National Assembly (from July 9):

August 4, 1789, in reaction to peasant uprisings, abolished serfdom

and other survivals of feudalism, such as feudal dues

Decreed the Declaration of the Rights of Man & Citizen

(August 26, 1789)

1. Mandated equal application of the law, legal equality;

henceforth, differences in status would be based on people’s

contributions to society

2. Asserted rights of liberty, property, security, and resistance to

oppression

3. Contained the idea of popular sovereignty—sovereignty resides

in the people

4. Also nationalism—that the people=the nation

The National Assembly’s major accomplishments:

1. abolished survivals of feudalism

2. Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen

3. confiscated and sold church land to try to pay off the

national debt

4. reorganized governmental administration throughout

France; divided France into 83 “departments,” each

governed by elected representatives

5. finally, drew up a constitution that established a

constitutional monarchy (king and legislative assembly),

which took effect after elections in October 1791

To work, the constitutional monarchy required the cooperation

of the King; Louis XVI and his unpopular wife, Marie Antoinette,

were not happy with the revolution. They were also unpopular,

especially the Austrian-born queen.

Earlier, the flight to Varennes: 20 June, 1791; the royal family

had tried to flee France but were caught when someone noticed the

coach they were riding in bore the royal symbol. This event increased

the unpopularity of the royal couple.

The constitutional/limited monarchy didn’t last long.

The Prussian and Austrian governments threatened the

revolutionaries, only making the King more unpopular.

War erupted in the spring (April) of 1792.

Eventually, France was at war with all the other European powers.

Finally, a Paris crowd stormed the king’s palace in Paris,

effectively overthrowing the monarchy on August 10, 1792.

Attendance question: what was the most numerous group in

French society in 1789?