History Notes of Chapter - 1

History
Chapter – 1 (The French Revolution)

Notes
What Was
French Revolution?
The French Revolution was a time of social and political upheaval in

France and its colonies that began in 1789 and ended in 1799.
Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, Its overthrow of the Monarchy
influenced the decline of absolute Monarchies in other parts of
Europe.
The French involvement in the American revolution of 1776 was a

costly affair that left the country in a state of near bankruptcy. King
Louis’s extravagant spending also did not help matters.
Empty royal coffers, poor harvests and rise in food prices had created
feelings of unrest among the poor rural and urban populace. The
matter was further worsened by the imposition of taxes that provided
no relief. As a result rioting, looting and general strikes became the
norm
Towards the end of 1786, a universal land tax was proposed by the
controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne. This tax reform
would no longer exempt the privileged classes like the clergy and the
nobility as had been the case for centuries
The King summoned the Estates-General to pass these measures. The
Estates-General was an assembly that represented the French nobility
clergy and the middle class. The last time the Estates-General was
called was in 1614.
What Caused
French Revolution?
1. Social – The social conditions in France in the late 18th century

were extremely unequal and exploitative. The clergy and the
nobility formed the first two Estates and were the most
privileged classes in French society. They were exempt from
payment of taxes to the State. On the other hand, the Third
Estate that consisted of peasants and workers formed the
majority of the population. They were burdened with excessive
taxes with no political and social rights. As a result, they were
extremely discontent.
2. Economic – As a result of numerous wars waged by Louis XVI
the State coffers were empty. The situation was made even more
complex by France’s involvement in the American War of
Independence and the faulty system of taxation. While the
privileged classes were excused from paying taxes the Third
Estate was more and more burdened with them.
3. Political – The Bourbon king of France, Louis XVI was an
extremely autocratic and weak-willed king who led a life of
obscene luxury. This led to a lot of disenchantment among the
masses who then were leading life of extreme poverty and
widespread hunger.
4. Intellectual – The 18th century was marked by a conscious
refusal by French thinkers of the ‘Divine Rights Theory’.
Philosophers like Rousseau rejected the paradigm of absolute
monarchy and promulgated the doctrine of equality of man and
sovereignty of people. They played a pivotal role in exposing
the fault lines of the old political system, i.e. the ancien regime,
and articulating the popular discontent.
Important People
of French revolution
• Louis XVI
• Marie Antoinette
• Maximillian Robespierre
• Napoleon Bonaparte
Louis XVI
• Born – 23 August 1754 (Palace of Versailles)
• Died – 21 January 1793 (Place de la Revolution)
• Burial – 21 January 1815 (Basilica of St Denis)
• Spouse – Marie Antoinette of Austria
• Predecessor – Louis XV
• Successor – Louis XVII
• Son of: Father – Louis, Dauphin of France

Mother – Maria Josepha, Dauphin of France
• Louis xvi was a ruler from bourbon dynasty. he married an

Austrian princess, Marie Antoinette. he was a despot, hence in
his reign there were despotism. he believed in divine rules of
kingship which means he considered himself to be god. he was
the last king of France in the line of Bourbon monarchs
preceding the French revolution in 1789.he was executed for
treason by guillotine in 1793.
Marie Antoinette
• Born – 2 November 1755 (Hof burg Palace)
• Died – 16 October 1793 (Place de la Revolution)
• Burial – 21 January 1815 (Basilica of St Denis)
• Spouse – Louis XVI of Austria
• Daughter of: Father – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

Mother – Maria Theresa
• Marie-Antoinette, in full Marie-Antoinette-Josèphe-Jeanne

d’Autriche-Lorraine (Austria-Lorraine (born November 2, 1755,
Vienna, Austria—died October 16, 1793, Paris, France),
Austrian queen consort of King Louis XVI of France (1774–93).
Her name is associated with the decline in the moral authority of
the French monarchy in the closing years of the ancien régime,
though her courtly extravagance was but a minor cause of the
financial disorders of the French state in that period. Her
rejection of reform provoked unrest, and her policy of court
resistance to the progress of the French Revolution finally led to
the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792.
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
Important Dates
• Meeting with the Estates-General, May 5, 1789
• The Tennis Court Oath, June 20, 1789
• The storming of the Bastille Prison, July 14, 1789
• Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 26, 1789
• Women’s march on Versailles, October 5, 1789
• The Royal family attempts to escape, June 20, 1791
• The King’s execution, January 21, 1793
• The reign of Terror, September 1793 – July 1794
• Robespierre’s execution, July 27, 1794
• Napoleon became emperor of France, December 2, 1804

5th May 1789
The Estates-General was an assembly that represented the three

classes, or “estates” in France at the time: the clergy, or the First
Estate, the nobility, or the Second Estate, and the commoners, or the
Third Estate.
The Estates-General had already met several times, but due to the fact
that each Estate was granted one vote, the clergy and the nobility
often ganged up against the commoners, leaving them powerless.
The Estates-General of 1789 was called by King Louis XVI in order
to address the monarchy’s financial crisis. In learning more about the
crisis and recognizing that the two other Estates could easily place the
burden of solving the crisis on the commoners through taxes, the
Third Estate formed their own National Assembly. On May 5, 1789,
the new National Assembly attempted to negotiate with the clergy and
the nobility, but an agreement couldn’t be reached.
20th June 1789
When the National Assembly and the First and Second Estates butted
heads over the financial crisis, King Louis XVI decided to close the
hall where the National Assembly held meetings.
Undeterred, the National Assembly gathered on a tennis court to make
a plan. The group agreed to stay together until they could come up
with a new constitution for France. Their agreement was dubbed “The
Tennis Court Oath.”
14th July 1789
When the National Assembly and the First and Second Estates butted
heads over the financial crisis, King Louis XVI decided to close the
hall where the National Assembly held meetings.
Undeterred, the National Assembly gathered on a tennis court to make
a plan. The group agreed to stay together until they could come up
with a new constitution for France. Their agreement was dubbed “The
Tennis Court Oath.”
26th August 1789
On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly released “The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.” The document
contained the basic beliefs of the revolutionaries. It boasted 17
articles, the most important declared that all men were born free and
equal. The charter would inspire the new French constitution.
1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social
distinctions may be based only on common utility.
2. The purpose of all political association is the preservation of the
natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are
liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
3. The principle of all sovereignty rests essentially in the nation.
No body and no individual may exercise authority which does
not emanate expressly from the nation.
5th October 1789
Due to irresponsible spending and poor harvests, the people of France

were going hungry. Plus, the king raised the price of bread to make up
for his financial problems. This only served to fuel the
revolutionaries’ fire and there was much unrest. Groups of women
began to protest in the Parisian markets, with little to no response
from the monarchy.
On October 5, 1789, a group of mostly women marched from Paris to
Versailles. They were frustrated that the royal family seemed to live
in a world of luxury completely separate from their own. The group
killed several palace guards and demanded that the king live in Paris
amongst the people. Left with no choice, the royal family was forced
to follow the mob back to Paris where they were placed under the
watchful eye of the new National guards.
20th June 1791
Newly installed in Paris, the king began to fear for his own life and
his family’s. He came up with a plan to flee from France and set up
camp in Austria to wait out the Revolution.
On June 20, 1791, the royal family disguised themselves as servants
and were able to sneak out of the Tuileries Palace where they were
being held by the National guards. However, the very next day the
king was recognized in Varennes. He and the rest of the family were
quickly arrested and brought back to Paris.
21st January 1793
After the royal family’s attempt to flee France, popular opinion really
began to turn against King Louis XVI and the French considered him
a traitor. On August 10, 1792, a group of around 20,000 angry
Parisians stormed the Tuileries Palace demanding justice. The king
and the queen were arrested and placed in jail.
On September 21, 1792, the monarchy was officially abolished and
France was officially a new Republic. The Republic charged the king
with treason, and he was found guilty. On January 21, 1793, the King
was executed in front of a crowd in Paris by guillotine.
September 1793 – July 1794
The Reign of Terror is one of the darkest periods in French history.

Before it began, in March 1793, the National Assembly was replaced
by the National Convention. Within the Convention was a group
called the Committee of Public Safety, which was created to protect
the new Republic against traitors. The head of the committee was a
man named Maximilien Robespierre.
Robespierre arrested 500,000 suspected traitors. 17,000 were
executed by the committee, and 25,000 died in custody.
27 July 1794
Maximilien Robespierre, in full Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de

Robespierre, (born May 6, 1758, Arras, France—died July 28, 1794, Paris),
radical Jacobin leader and one of the principal figures in the French
Revolution. In the latter months of 1793 he came to dominate
the Committee of Public Safety, the principal organ of the Revolutionary
government during the Reign of Terror, but in 1794 he was overthrown and
executed in the Thermidorian Reaction.
2 December 1804
On the 2nd of December 1804 Napoleon crowned himself Emperor

Napoleon I at Notre Dame de Paris. According to legend, during the
coronation he snatched the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII
and crowned himself, thus displaying his rejection of the authority of
the Pontiff. As the nineteenth century progressed, Napoleon turned
the armies of the French Empire against every major European power
and came to be known as ‘the scourge of Europe’. The Romantics
viewed him as ‘a descendant of Milton’s Satan’ - a tyrant who had
exposed the hollowness of the rhetoric surrounding the French
Revolution.

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History

Chapter – 1 (The French Revolution)

The French Revolution was a time of social and political upheaval in

The French involvement in the American revolution of 1776 was a

1. Social – The social conditions in France in the late 18th century

• Born – 23 August 1754 (Palace of Versailles)

• Died – 21 January 1793 (Place de la Revolution)

• Burial – 21 January 1815 (Basilica of St Denis)

• Spouse – Marie Antoinette of Austria

• Successor – Louis XVII

• Son of: Father – Louis, Dauphin of France

• Louis xvi was a ruler from bourbon dynasty. he married an

• Died – 16 October 1793 (Place de la Revolution)

• Burial – 21 January 1815 (Basilica of St Denis)

• Spouse – Louis XVI of Austria

• Daughter of: Father – Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor

• Marie-Antoinette, in full Marie-Antoinette-Josèphe-Jeanne

• Meeting with the Estates-General, May 5, 1789

• The Tennis Court Oath, June 20, 1789

• The storming of the Bastille Prison, July 14, 1789

• Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 26, 1789

• Women’s march on Versailles, October 5, 1789

• The Royal family attempts to escape, June 20, 1791

• The King’s execution, January 21, 1793

• The reign of Terror, September 1793 – July 1794

• Robespierre’s execution, July 27, 1794

• Napoleon became emperor of France, December 2, 1804

The Estates-General was an assembly that represented the three

Due to irresponsible spending and poor harvests, the people of France

The Reign of Terror is one of the darkest periods in French history.

Maximilien Robespierre, in full Maximilien-François-Marie-Isidore de

On the 2nd of December 1804 Napoleon crowned himself Emperor

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