Revolutionary France Review


Main Themes:

1.  The French Revolution passed through distinct stages, each of which can be found in every major
     revolution  (** See Crane Brinton's sheet on Stages of a revolution **).
2.  Old regimes overthrown by revolution are not only corrupt and bankrupt, but incapable of defending
     themselves.
3.  Revolutions occur in societies in which poverty is a factor, but not always extreme poverty.
4.  A revolution will continue until the needs of all segments of society are met.
5.  The French Revolution was a collision between a decadent aristocracy and a rising middle class.

  I. Causes of the Revolution:Underlying
        A.  Failure of Enlightenment despots in France to satisfy all social classes.
        B.  Dissatisfaction with the Ancien Regime.
        C.  High taxation of the poor to support the luxurious lifestyle at Versailles and of the upper clergy.
        D.  Social class unrest --> vast social inequality (Three Estates);  no real social mobility.
        E.  The government isolates itself from the problems of the poor. (Poor Rulers ignoring advice to revise tax system)
        F.  War debts --> eventual financial collapse.
        G.  Ideas of the Enlightenment.

  I. Causes of the Revolution:Immediate
        A.  Calling of the Estates General.
.
        B.  Fall of the Bastille.
        .
        C.  The Great Fear.
       


II.  Phases of the Revolution:
        A.  absolutism --> Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
        B.  limited constitutional monarchy --> Legislative Assembly (middle class is in charge).
                    -- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
                    -- Civil Constitution of the Clergy.
                    -- Constitution of 1791.
        C.  First French Republic --> National Convention
                    -- king and queen executed.
                    -- France engaged in foreign wars against the First Coalition.
        D.  radical phase --> "Reign of Terror" under Robespierre
                    -- Committee of Public Safety.
                    -- Jacobins.
                    -- Sans-culotte (revolt of the lower classes in the cities).
        E.  Thermidorean Reaction --> Directory
                    -- weak, with little support outside of the military.
                    -- government in the hands of the property owners who did nothing to relieve the problems of
                       the lower classes (conservative reaction to the radicalism of the Terror).
        F.  The Consulate --> "enlightened" despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte

III.  Results of the French Revolution:
        A.  Democratic ideals established --> Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!
        B.  Intensified French nationalism.
        C.  The French Revolution influenced peoples throughout the world.
        D.  A society and a political structure based on rank and birth had given way to one based on civil
             equality.
        E.  Representation was established as a principle of practical politics.
        F.  Eliminated feudal obligations of peasants, destroyed guilds, and other obstacles to the growth of
             French industry and agriculture.

ADDITIONAL TERMS TO KNOW:

Ancien Regime
lettres de cachet
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
nonjurying clergy
Bastille
tricolor
Marseillaise
emigres
Jacobins
Girondists
Montagnards
sans-culotte
assignats
cahiers
Turgot
Necker
Commune
Great Fear
Robespierre
Danton
Marat
Year 1
Thermidorean Reaction
Constitution of Year III
Directory
oligarchy