THE

FRENCH
REVOLUTION
FRENCH SOCIETY DURING LATE 18TH
CENTURY
• Louis XVI, in 1774, ascended the throne of France.
• Financial France was drained because of the wars.
• France, under Louis XVI, helped the thirteen American
colonies to gain their independence from Britain.
• Taxes were increased to meet regular expenses
• The country of France was divided into three estates in
the eighteenth century.
• The feudal system was part of the society.
• The clergy and the nobility, members of the first two
estates enjoyed certain privileges by birth. These groups
of members were exempted from paying taxes and
enjoyed feudal privileges.
• The Church extracted taxes called tithes from peasants.
All members of the third estate had to also pay taxes to
the state which included a direct tax, called taille, and a
number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of
everyday consumption like salt or tobacco.
THE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE
A GROWING MIDDLE CLASS ENVISAGES
AN END TO PRIVILEGES
• Peasants used to participate in revolts against taxes and food scarcity. Group of the
third estate had become prosperous and had access to education and new ideas.
• In the eighteenth century, new social groups emerged, termed the middle class, who
earned their wealth through expanding overseas trade and by manufacturing woolen
and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer members of society.
• The third estate included professions such as lawyers or administrative officials. A
person’s social position was dependent on their merit.
• All of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged
by birth. Rather, a person’s social position must depend on his merit. A new form of
government was proposed by Rousseau based on a social contract between people and
their representatives.
• Similarly, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between
the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. In the USA, this model of government
was put into force.
• Such ideas were discussed in salons and coffee-houses and spread among people
through books and newspapers
• Louis XVI planned to impose further taxes to meet the expenses.
OUTBREAK OF THE REVOLUTION
• In France, the monarch didn’t have the power to impose taxes. They had to call a meeting of the Estates-General, a
political body to which the three estates sent their representatives, to pass proposals for new taxes.
• Louis XVI, on 5 May 1789, called an assembly to pass proposals for new taxes.
• Representatives from the first and second estates were present and the third estate was represented by its prosperous
and educated members.
• According to the principle each estate had one vote. But, representatives from the third estate demanded each member
would have one vote.
• The demand was rejected by the king, so members of the third estate walked out to protest.
• On 20 June ,1789 the members of the third estate assembled in the hall of the indoor tennis court in the grounds of
Versailles. They declared themselves as the National assembly. They swore not to disperse till a constitution was drafted
for France that would limit the powers of the monarch -TENNIS COURT OATH

Due to the severe winter and poor harvest bread price rose and people had to spend hours in long queues

• Rumours spread that the lords of the manor hired bands of brigands to destroy the ripe crops.
• In fear, peasants started looting hoarded grain and burnt down documents containing records of manorial dues. Nobles
fled from their homes. Peasants attacked chateaux
Louis XVI accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the principle that his powers would from now
on be checked by a constitution. The Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes
on 4 August 1789. Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated.
FRANCE BECOMES A CONSTITUTIONAL
MONARCHY
• After the National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791 with the objective of reducing the
powers of the monarch, France became Constitutional Monarchy
• Powers were separated and assigned to different institutions like the legislature, executive and judiciary
• National Assembly was given power to make laws
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN
AND CITIZEN
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen by
France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil
rights document from the French Revolution
FRANCE ABOLISHES MONARCHY AND
BECOMES A REPUBLIC
• Louis XVI entered into secret negotiations with king to Prussia as
he was not happy with the formation of the constitution.
• Before Austria and Prussia could send their troops to silence the NA
, in April 1792, the National Assembly voted for a war against
Prussia and Austria.
• Marseillaise became the national anthem of France.
• While men were away fighting at the war, women took care of their
families.
• Large sections of the population demanded that the revolution had
to be carried further, as the Constitution of 1791 gave political
rights only to the richer sections of society.
• Political clubs were formed and among them, Jacobins became the
most successful club. Members of the Jacobin club included small
shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-
makers, printers, as well as servants and daily-wage workers.
JACOBINS
• Jacobin members started wearing long striped trousers similar to those worn
By dockworkers.
• These Jacobins were called the sans-culottes, literally meaning ‘those without
knee breeches.
• On August 10 1792, Jacobins stormed the Palace of the Tuileries and held the
king hostage for several hours.
• Elections were held and all men of 21 years and above got the right to vote.
• Monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792 and France was declared a
republic.
• Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a court on the charge of treason and was
publicly executed on 21 January 1793.
• The National Assembly voted to declare war against Prussia and Austria.
• The newly elected assembly was called the Convention.
Executed on 21/1/1793 on charge of Treason
REIGN OF TERROR
•After the execution of the monarch, the political control fell into the hands
of Jacobin leader Maximilian Robespierre.
•The period from 1793 to 1794 is called Reign of Terror because Robespierre
followed a policy of severe control and punishment. Ex nobles, clergy,
members of other political parties and even the members of his own party,
who did not agree with his methods, were arrested, imprisoned and
guillotined.
• Laws were issued by Robespierre 's government placing a maximum ceiling
of wages and prices. Meat and bread were rationed.
• Peasants were forced to transport the grains to the cities and sell it at price
fixed by government. The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden;
all citizens were required to eat equality bread.
•Equality was also sought to be practice through forms of speech and
address. Instead of the traditional Sir and Madam, French men and women
were addressed as citizens.
• Churches were shutdown and their buildings converted into barracks or
offices.
•Finally, Robespierre was convicted by a court in July 1794, arrested and the
next day, sent to the guillotine.
GUILLOTINE - NAMED AFTER DR
GUILLOTINE WHO INVENTED IT

All those considered to be the enemies of the Republic were severely

punished . If court found them guilty they were guillotined. Including
Louis XVI and finally Robespierre himself
A DIRECTORY RULES FRANCE
• The fall of the Jacobian government allowed the wealthier
middle classes to seize power.
• The wealthier middle classes formed a new constitution.
• It provided for two elected legislative councils. These then
appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members.
• This was meant as a safeguard against the concentration of
power in a one-man executive as under the Jacobins.
• However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative
council members.
• On 9 November 1799, due to the political instability, the
Directory was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in a military
Coup .

THROUGH ALL THESE CHANGES IN THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT,

THE IDEALS
OF FREEDOM
OF EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW
OF FRATERNITY
REMAINED INSPIRING IDEALS THAT MOTIVATED POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN FRANCE
AND THE REST OF EUROPE DURING THE FOLLOWING CENTURY
DID WOMEN HAVE A REVOLUTION?
THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
• Before the French Revolution in 1789, France had three
colonies of the Caribbean - Martinique, Guadeloupe and San
Domingo under its control. These places were major
suppliers of sugar, coffee, indigo and tobacco.
• The triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa and
America began in the 17th century.
• Merchants sailed from the French ports to the African coast
where they bought Negroes, who are natives of Africa, from
the local chieftains.
• Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes were flourishing
economically because of the slave trade.
• The National Convention under Jacobins voted to abolish
slavery in all the French colonies on February 4, 1794.
• Slavery was reintroduced in the French colonies by
Napoleon Bonaparte. Slavery was finally abolished in 1848
by the French Second Republic.
THE REVOLUTION AND THE EVERYDAY LIFE
After 1789 there was a significant difference in the lives of the French
people, in the way they dressed, the language they spoke and the books
they read.
After the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, censorship was abolished.
The government put into practice the ideologies of liberty, equality and
fraternity.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen contained in the Preamble
of the Constitution of 1791 asserted that every citizen had the right to
freedom of speech and expression.
Written material such as newspapers, books, pamphlets and pictures were
spread throughout France.
Printed pictures and paintings were circulated, and pamphlets and books
were read aloud for the illiterate. Plays, songs and processions made it easy
for the common people to grasp the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality
and justice.
Freedom of the press in the Declaration of 1791 supported the right to
oppose views of events. This paved way for political clubs to convince the
others of their position through the medium of print.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
• In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself emperor Napoleon set out to conquer neighboring European
of France. countries , dispossessing dynasties and creating
• He saw his role as a modernizer of Europe kingdoms where he placed members of his family
• Napoleon destroyed democracy in France Initially saw him as a liberator who would bring freedom
• However, he incorporated revolutionary reforms in the for the people.
administrative field to make the whole system more Soon the Napoleonic armies were viewed everywhere as
rational and efficient an invading force
->Did away with all privileges based on birth He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
->established equality before law
->secured Right to property
->abolished the feudal system
->freed peasants from serfdom
->guild restrictions were removed
->transport and communication – improved
->For trade- uniform laws, standardized weights and
measures and a common national currency