CCS Junior Certificate History: The French Revolution

•The French Revolution

1789-1799

•Causes of the Revolution

1.An Unfairly divided society

Before the Revolution, France was divided into three ‘Estates’, or social classes.

•The First Estate consisted of the clergy.

•The Second Estate was made up of rich and powerful nobility.

•The Third Estate consisted of everybody else. They ranged from well-off, middle-class people (bourgeoisie) to the peasants (country people), who made up 80 per cent of the population.

•

Only members of the Third Estate

had to taxes. This unfair situation

caused a lot of hardship and resentment.

2. The Enlightenment

Up to now, most people assumed that the King had a God-given right to rule France and the noble people ought to have special privileges. But writers such as Rousseau and Voltaire put forward new, ‘enlightened’ ideas. They proposed that power should rest with the people and that all people should be treated equally. These ideas impressed many.

3. The American Revolution

The American Revolution showed that ordinary people could revolt and take power for themselves. French soldiers who had fought on the side of the Americans brought back this idea of ‘people-power’ to France.

French involvement in the American Revolution had cost so much that King Louis’ government was almost bankrupt (broke). Louis desperately needed to raise taxes in order to generate revenue for the government. To help him do so, he called together the Estates General – an elected assembly of representatives for the three estates.

•The King and Queen

The King and Queen of France also contributed to the revolution.

•King Louis XVI was a kind and religious man. However, he was a weak and indecisive ruler and was greatly influenced by corrupt nobles and by his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. He was a weak lead in a time of crisis.

•Queen Marie Antoinette was extremely unpopular. She led a very extravagant lifestyle at a time when France was bankrupt and this angered the people. She was also an Austrian by birth and many French people hated Austrians.

•Main Events of the Revolution

•In May 1789 the Estates-General met in the royal Palace of Versailles, outside Paris. Representatives of the Third Estate were angry at the inequalities in French society. They called themselves ‘the National Assembly’ and swore that they would not disband until France had a constitution that would set down fair rules by which the country would be governed.

•The King sent for the Army to disband the National Assembly. When the people of Paris heard that soldiers were coming, they took to the streets in search of arms to defend the Assembly. On 14 July 1789 the people stormed the Bastille, which was a grim prison-fortress in Paris. They also set up a sort of private army called the National Guard to defend Paris and the National Assembly against the King. Louis XVI gave in and called off the Army.

•On 26 August 1789 the National Assembly issued the Declaration of Rights of Man. This document declared that all people are born free and equal and that the law must be the same for all.

•On 6 October 1789 thousands of poor Parisian women marched to the Palace of Versailles and forced the royal family to return with them to Paris. The King and Queen were made to live at the Tuileries Palace in the city and were now under the control of the people.

•France becomes a Republic
(1790-1792)

•In 1791 the King and his family tried to escape to Austria, where Marie Antoinette’s brother was Emperor. They got almost as far as the border, but were spotted at the town of Varennes and brought back to Paris. Many people now saw Louis as a traitor and felt that France should be a Republic without a monarch.

•In 1792 the National Assembly declared war on Austria. Louis was delighted because he believed the Austrians would win the war, overthrow the Revolution and restore him to the throne. At first the war went as Louis expected. Austria and its ally, Prussia, invaded France and threatened Paris itself. The Austrian and Prussian leaders declared that they would destroy Paris if the King was injured in any way. This threat infuriated the people of Paris. The King was arrested. Later, the French Army pushed back the Austrians and Prussians.

•The National Assembly (now called the Convention) declared France a Republic and put the King on trial for treason. Louis was found guilty and executed by guillotine on 23 January 1793. Later Marie Antoinette was also executed by guillotine.

•The execution of the King horrified and angered other monarchs in Europe. So Britain, Spain and Holland joined Austria and Prussia in their war against France. The Revolution was now in terrible danger.

French National Anthem

•The Reign of Terror
(1793-1794)

•In the spring of 1793 the Convention set up a twelve-member Committee of Public Safety to deal with the threats to the Revolution. The Committee, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, raised a large army and successfully defended France against attack. However, the committee also pursued a ‘Reign of Terror’, executing about 40,000 French people suspected of being enemies of the Revolution. Even when the danger of invasion had passed, Robespierre continued the Terror. So his critics, fearing for their own lives, had Robespierre arrested and executed by guillotine in July 1794.

•The End of the Revolution

•France continued to wage war and by 1799 it was the strongest country in Europe. An army general named Napoleon Bonaparte made himself ruler of France. In 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor, with powers similar to the kings of old. The French Revolution was over.

•Some consequences of the French Revolution

•The revolution showed that ordinary people could and should take part in government. It spread the idea of ‘democracy’, or ‘rule by the people’.

•In Ireland, people such as Wolfe Tone admired and were inspired by the French Revolution. Tone and others formed The United Irishmen and, with French help, led an uprising to win greater freedom for the oppressed Irish people. The uprising failed, but Tone is remembered as Ireland’s first great Republican. The French Revolution therefore influenced the birth of Republicanism in Ireland.

People in History - Robespierre

•Robespierre was born in the town of Arras, in Northern France in 1758. A small, neatly dress man, he trained and worked as a lawyer.

•When King Louis XVI called together the Estate-General in 1789, Robespierre was elected as a representative of the Third Estate. He later founded The Jacobin Club, a group that had great influence during the Revolution.

•Robespierre wanted France to become a Republic and called for the execution of the King. The King was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793.

•When France was threatened by invasion, the Committee of Public Safety was set up to protect the country. Robespierre was head of this twelve-member Committee.

•The Committee commenced The Reign of Terror, during which about 40,000 French people were executed on the suspicion that they were enemies of the Revolution. One victim of the Terror was Marie Antoinette, the former Queen of France.

•Robespierre was greatly admired by the poor people of Paris, who were known as ‘sans-culottes’. In the first place, he raised a large army and saved France from invasion. Secondly, he kept down the price of bread at a time when many people were hungry.

•Robespierre was called ‘the incorruptible’ because no amount of pressure or money could make him change his views. But he was also a rather cold person who had few close friends.

•When Robespierre refused to end the Terror, he was arrested and executed by guillotine in 1794. He was only thirty-six years old when he died.