The French Revolution

The French Revolution - an all-consuming event.

Louis XV - Absolutism; conspicuous consumption

Louis XVI - Absolutism; perceived as progressive

Marie Antoinette - Natural Woman; modern marriage

Triggers of revolution:

-financial crisis

-calling of the Estates General in 1787

-culture of criticism escapes censors

Estates General meets in May 1789
-Voting issue
-Abbe Sieyes: "What is the Third Estate?"

-Becomes the National Assembly
-Tennis Court Oath, June 1789



-People's militias form
-Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789

-Abolishment of the feudal regime, August 1789

-"Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen"

-Church lands confiscated, 1790

Who governs France now?

-Louis XVI attempts to flee France in 1792

-September Massacres

-Vendee

-Attacked by other European countries

-Jacobins versus Girondins

-Maximillien Robespierre

-Louis XVI and his queen are beheaded in 1793
-Reign of Terror lasts to 1794

-Change everything

-Cult of the Supreme Being