French+Revolution+Continued

French Revolution Continues

**I.** **Proletarian Outburst** a. The **Fall of the Bastille** on July 14, 1789, becomes the great symbol for the masses to rebel. b. Throughout the country, in response to fears that the nobles were going to hire mercenaries to terrorize them, the peasants banded together and began to attack wealthy homes and properties, destroying the old legal papers which had forced them to pay feudal dues, or burning entire houses. Centuries of resentment and discontent were unleashed by thousands of angry peasants who had been oppressed for too long. (This reaction was called the **Great Fear**, because it was based on fear of counter-revolution). c. In October of 1789, thousands of **Parisian women** armed themselves and marched on Versailles, demanding the National Assembly provide bread, and finally breaking into the palace and forcing Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to return to Paris. Their exit signaled the change of power and radical reforms about to overtake France. **II.** **The mass mobilization of the proletariat soon forced the bourgeoisie in charge of the National Assembly to take more drastic reforms than they had originally planned.** a. (August 1789) National Assembly eliminates the legal privileges of the 1st and 2nd Estates, making common people legally equal to nobles and the clergy, effectively ending the //Ancien Regime.// b. Adopted the “**Declarations of the Rights of Man”** which stated that all “men are born and remain free and equal in rights” such as “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” c. They adopted the slogan “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” d. Church Reforms (//Civil Constitution of the Clergy//, 1790): i. Assembly took over Church lands and eliminated its political independence. The sale of church lands helped pay of France’s huge debt. (This action actually alienated many Catholic peasants) III. (June 1791) Louis XVI tried to escape but is apprehended at the border. This increased the power of his radical enemies and sealed his fate. IV. (September 1791) National Assembly creates a **new constitution** which Louis XVI has basically no choice but to accept. The constitution created a **limited monarchy**, placing many limits on the king’s authority. It also created the **Legislative Assembly**, which had the power to create laws and approve or reject declarations of war. a. The Legislative Assembly split into 3 factions: Radical, Moderate, and Conservative //(represent the factions through illustration, showing left and right wing)//

//define:// V. **Emigres**:

VI. **Sans Culottes**:

VII. France At War a. Austria and Prussia, fearing the influence of radicalization in France, began massing armies on the border of France. In response, the **Girondins**, a moderate faction within the Legislative Assembly, made an agreement with Louis XVI to declare war in April 1792. b. The war went badly for France at first (which Louix, émigrés, nobles, and some moderates had hoped for), but it quickly served to further radicalize the proletariat masses. **The Commune**, a radical wing Legislative Assembly, correctly suspected that Louis XVI of collaboration with the foreign armies, and demanded a suspension of the monarchy. The people then, on August 10th invaded the //Tuileries palace// where the royal family was staying, massacred the guards, and imprisoned Louis, Marie, and their children. c. In September radicalized commoners, fear counter-revolution, invaded the Paris prisons and massacred over 1,000 prisoners, for fear that they would escape and aid the foreign armies and nobles who wanted to return society to its pre-revolutionary order. d. Under radical proletariat pressure, the National Assembly threw out the 1791 Constitution and formed a new governing body, the National Convention, which abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic, providing universal adult male suffrage (right to vote) and the right to hold political office. e. The radical faction called the **Jacobins** (led by Marat, Danton, and Robespierre) had most power in the new National Convention, and had Louis tried for treason and executed. f. (1793) **Great Britain****, Holland, and Spain** joined Prussia and Austria in the war against France. The National Convention was forced to instate a draft of 300,000 French citizens (age 18-40), by the next year the army was 800,000, including women.