The French Revolution

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 2

The French Revolution

Viva la Vida

Today

The French Revolution	15 min
What is the most important cause?	20 min
Comparing revolutions	10 min

After today you can:

*  place the French Revolution in the right time

* explain what the Estates system was

* give two reasons why the French rebelled against their king

* compare the French and the American Revolution

Third estate:

Peasants/serfs

But since Renaissance:

More and more citizens (educated and wealthy)

May 1789: gathering of the Estates-General

(in Versailles)

• Representatives of third estate proposed that clergy and nobility also pay taxes
• Nobility did not agree, clergy was very divided
• Third estate started their own gathering 
• National Assembly

And then...

... More and more members of the two other estates joined them

... started working on a constitution with less power for the king

... the king (Louis XVI) was not happy

14 juli 1789: storming of the Bastille

start of the French Revolution

Liberty, equality & brotherhood

• violence - rich versus poor
• castles, monasteries burned to the ground
• National Assembly abolishes all feudal rights
• Three estates system ends
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

1792: France becomes a republic

21 january 1793: Louis XVI is beheaded by guillotine

The Reign of Terror

• The revolution derails
• Radical lawyer Robespierre is an important leader
• Everyone who did not agree with the ideals of the revolution should be executed
• Up to 70 executions per day!
• Was beheaded himself in 1794

Coup!

• the moderates cannot control the country 
• general Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup, seizes power
• beginning of Napeleonic era
• Conquers big part of Europe

Question time!

1. When was the French Revolution?

2. What was the Estates system in France?

Causes French Revolution

1. You will get nine cards with causes for the French Revolution
2. Place them in the diamond shape - the most important cause on top, the least important cause at the bottom

(15 mins)

Compare & Contrast

(Individual work)

What are the similarities and differences between the American and French revolutions? ​

​

Answer this question in about 200 words ​

Use your book as first resource ​

Use the internet for additional information

Homework

Read 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3

Make a concept/ word map of every chapter