6.4 The French Revolution

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Chapter 6

6.4

The French Revolution

Typical Aspects

• The aspiration of monarchs to gain absolute power (Regents & princes)
• The continued existence of the ancien régime and the attempts made to shape the political and social system towards Enlightened absolutism.
• 'Enlightened thinking' was applied to everything: religion, politics, economy and social relations
• The democratic revolutions in western countries that resulted in discussions about constitutions, fundamental rights and citizenship

At the end of this lesson...

• You can explain why the storming of the Bastille took place.
  
• You can describe the main line of the French revolution between 1789 and 1799.
• You can distinguish between cause, consequence and reason.

6.4.1

The commoners take initiative

France goes bankrupt

May 1789

• Parties, palaces, governing and wars cost a lot of money, but the money is gone.
• King Louis XVI wants more money. Therefore he brings (for the first time in 175 years) the Estates General together. The meeting of the 3 orders.

• The 3rd order hoped that the king would finally listen to them. They wanted lower taxes and/or the abolishment of the privileges. 
• Sadly: very little happens. This is partially because voting is done by order. The clergy and nobility always help the king.

• The leaders of the 3rd order are angry and disappointed....they leave....
  

De 3e stand hoopt dat de koning nu eindelijk eens naar hen zou luisteren: verlaging van de belasting of afschaffing van de privilieges. 

Helaas: er gebeurt erg weinig. Dit komt ook omdat er per stand wordt gestemd. En de koning heeft altijd de adel en de geestelijkheid mee.

De leiders van de 3e stand zijn boos en teleurgesteld, en lopen weg...

Meeting at the tennis court

June 1789

 

• The 3rd order starts their own assembly: The National Assembly.
• Some members of the 1st and 2nd order join up.
• They decide that the assembly will only break up, if there is a constitution.

Eed op de kaatsbaan

1789

De 3e stand begint zijn eigen vergadering: de Nationale Vergadering.

Een deel van de 1e en 2e stand sluit zich hierbij aan.

Op een kaatsbaan spreken ze af pas uit elkaar te gaan als 

er een nieuwe grondwet is.

How do you reach commoners?

• Not everyone was able to read (3rd order).
• But cartoons? Everyone understood those!

• These cartoons were usually made by the bourgeoisie.
  

The Clergy

The 1st order.

Nobility

The 2nd order.

The 3rd order

All of the people who do not belong to the 1st or 2nd order.

Storming of the Bastille

14th of July 1789

• The king sends an army to Paris to break up several groups of people.
• French citizens storm the Bastille, a prison and a place where gunpowder was stored (they already had weapons).
• The French Revolution has begun...and reaches other places in the country.

'Rien'

''Nothing

This was the only thing Louis XVI wrote in his diary that night.

Louis had asked an adviser whether it was an 'uprising'.

He answered: "It's not an uprising, it's a revolution.''

Louis didn't understand: "Why?"

Homework

6.4 exercise 1, 2, 3, 4

6.4.2

The commoners take over the revolution

What do you remember from last lesson?

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

August 1789

• This document makes it clear that every human being is born free and with equal rights.
• This statement has been used as an example for the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

From Versailles to Paris

October 1789

• The French people demand that the king live in Paris, and not far away in Versailles. The crowd was dressed as women in the hope that they would not be shot.
• With success: the royal family moved to the Tuileries Palace.

The king has fled!

June 1791

• It is clear that the king has little power left and that his position is in danger.
• The royal family decides to flee, but are caught in the north of France and taken back to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

A new constitution

September 1791

• There is room for the king according to the new constitution. However, he will not have much power. 
• Meanwhile, the king secretly seeks support from  kings and emperors of other countries: "Come and help me!"

Storming of the Tuileries

September 1792

• The King and Queen are arrested and imprisoned.
• The monarchy is abolished: France becomes a republic.

Louis XVI is beheaded

January 1793

• The revolutionaries discover the secret correspondence between Louis and the Austrian emperor, and call it: "High treason!"
• The king is sentenced to death and executed in Paris.
• The Queen, Marie Antoinette, will also follow in October.

Lodewijk wordt onthoofd

januari 1793

De Jakobijnen ontdekken de geheime briefwisseling tussen Lodewijk 

en de Oostenrijkse keizer, en oordelen: "Hoogveraad!"

De koning wordt ter dood veroordeeld en terechtgesteld in Parijs.

Marie Antoinette was greatly hated by the people.

This was mainly due to her luxurious lifestyle and the

large amounts of money she spent on

her court, clothes and jewellery.

6.4.3

Terrorized citizens 

Terror

1793-1794

• Power in France falls into the hands of the radical Jacobins.
• During the Reign of Terror, tens of thousands of 'opponents' of the Revolution are rounded up and executed. 
• The leader of the Jacobins is Robespierre.

Jacobins= A radical political group during the French revolution, they wanted to carry through the most changes. 

On the other side are the Girondins: Members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. They wanted change, but didn't want to change a lot.

Marat was one of the leaders of the Terror.

Due to a skin disease, he spent much his day in a bath. There he also received visitors. One of these visitors, Charlotte Corday, an opponent, stabbed him to death during one such visit: "It is done, the monster is dead''.

Unfortunately, in response to the assassination, thousands of opponents were murdered.

End of the Terror

Summer 1794

• Resistance to Robespierre grows and in July 1794 he and his accomplices are arrested and executed.

• The night before his beheading, he makes a failed suicide attempt.
  

The reason

• An event can have several causes.
• Usually there is one direct cause: 'the straw that breaks the camel'
• Recognizing the main cause of an event is sometimes difficult. But the reason is often clear.

Homework

6.4 exercise 6, 7, 8 and 10