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4.The French Revolution Liberty, equality and fraternity, image, image,…
4.The French Revolution
Liberty, equality and fraternity
Difficult times for the monarchy
Factors that triggered the revolution
The liberal ideas of the Enlightenment
Criticism of absolutism and the division of society into estates of the realm became widespread
The example of the United States
The marquess of Lafayette fought on the side of the colonists in the American War of Independence
Inequality before the law
Noblemen and clerics did not pay direct taxes, even though they were the richest estates
Economic crisis
The Royal Treasury was forced to pay the huge debts it had taken on to finance the war
Political unrest
A total of more than 25,000 books of grievances were compiled in France’s towns and cities
Citizens and peasants described their complaints and demands in these books
Social inequalities
Farming production could no longer meet the demand for food during poor harvests
Phases of the French Revolution
The Estates-general (1789)
The French Revolution was a long revolutionary process that began in 1789 and finished in 1804
Its first phase began when King Louis XVI assembled a consultative Parliament, the Estates-General.
The Estates-General was assembled proposing that the rich pay taxes
The nobility and clergy rejected this so the Estates-General were dissolved
National Constituent Assembly (1789–1791)
While the National Assembly was doing its work, the social situation got worse
Nobles’ homes were raided, and Parisians rose up and attacked the Bastille prison
The king could not dissolve the Assembly
This introduced reforms such as...
The establishment of censitary suffrage
The creation of a single direct and universal tax
The abolition of feudal privileges
He also drew up the Constitution of 1791
Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen
Article 1
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights
Article 3
The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation
Article 11
The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man
Legislative Assembly (1791–1792)
Once the Constitution was approved elections were held following censitary suffrage
Three new political tendencies appeared
The Jacobins
They were radical liberals, centralists and supporters of the Republic, who were in the minority
The Girondins
They were moderates, federalists and supporters of the parliamentary monarchy
The Plain
They were deputies who were in the majority and did not belong to any party
National Convention (1792–1795)
The Assembly assumed legislative and executive powers
A new Constitution was to be created
Because of the war, the priority was fighting the invaders, who were defeated at the decisive Battle of Valmy
The Convention removed and imprisoned Louis XVI, and it was proclaimed a Republic
Louis XVI was beheaded
Marie Antoinette was also beheaded (6 months later)
The Convention drew up a Constitution that was never approved
So, the period known as "the Terror" started
It ordered the execution of anti-revolutionaries and anyone suspected of being an anti-revolutionary
The excesses and constant instability led a moderate sector of the deputies to carry out a coup d’état in 1794
After they seized power "the White Terror" started
Doing the same thing to Jacobins
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
This motto eventually represented the French Revolution, and later the French Republic itself.
The Directory (1795–1799)
The new Constitution was approved in 1795
he new legal text established an executive power called the ‘Directory’
Internal instability and the lack of a definitive victory abroad led to a new coup d’état
The Consulate (1799–1804)
The most prestigious French general, Napoleon Bonaparte, led a coup d’état in 1799
He seized power and drew up another constitution that same year
With this new Constitution Napoleon could rule in an authoritarian way as the first consul of the Republic
