The document provides background information on the French Revolution from 1789 to 1799. It describes the social structure under the Old Regime, divided into three estates - clergy, nobility, and commoners. The clergy and nobility were exempt from taxes while the commoners faced heavy taxation and economic hardship. Leading causes of the revolution included the depleted treasury due to wars and spending by the king and queen, as well as growing intellectual support for ideas of equality, liberty and popular sovereignty. Key events included the formation of the National Assembly by the third estate, the storming of the Bastille prison, and the abolition of feudalism and establishment of a constitutional monarchy. The revolution eventually led to the establishment of a republic and

1. FRENCH REVOLUTION
1789 to 1799

2. The Three Estates
Before the revolution, the French people
were divided into three groups:
i:The first estate: CLERGY
ii:The second estate:NOBILITY
iii:The third estate: the common people
Legally the first two estates enjoyed many
privileges, particularly exemption from most
taxation.

4. The first estate, which made up
about one percent of the total
population, was divided into
two groups: upper and lower.
The upper clergy included
archbishops, bishops, and
abbots. Due to the power of
Roman Catholic Church, these
people were exempted from
most taxes. These men of high
status and privilege enjoyed
luxurious life in their large
THE CLERGY

5. THE NOBILITY
The second estate was composed of 30,000 families who
belonged to the nobility.
Duke and Duchess, count and countess, and marquis and
marquess. Like the clergy, the nobility represented another
privileged estate. They held the highest position in the
church, the army, and the government. As well, they were
exempt from paying taxes of any kind. They collected rent
from the peasant population who lived on their lands. They
also collected an extreme amount of customary dues, as well
as dues on salt, cloth, bread and wine. Most of the nobility
was descendents from the warriors, who held the king
conquer France in the early days. They lived a life of lordly

6. THIRD ESTATE
About 26 million citizens, the Third estate
consisted the bourgeoisie, the peasantry, and
the urban artisans. The bourgeoisie, which
included merchants, manufacturers, bankers,
doctors, lawyers, and intellectuals, were
generally prosperous and often as wealthy as
nobles. Third estate was dominated by the
middle class. Blending of aristocratic and
bourgeois classes by 1789.

8. CAUSES OF FRENCH
REVOLUTION
Social cause:
• One of the main factors that led to the French revolution
was the unbalanced social structure of society during the
Old regime.
Economic cause:
• It was the main reason of the depletion of the treasury of the
king.
Political cause:
• King was a person of mediocre intelligence
Immediate cause:
• Formation of the estate general
Intellectual cause:

9. ECONOMIC CAUSE
Louis XVI, who belonged to Bourbon family of kings, became the
ruler of France in 1774. By that time; long years of war,
maintenance of the court of the immense palace of Versailles
made the treasury empty. In addition to this; helping during
the war to the thirteen American colonies to gain their
independence from Britain by Louis XVI raised the debt of
treasury to more than 2 billion livers. Lenders to the state also
started charging 10 percent of interest on credit to the state;
this further worsened the situation of the society. Thus, in
order to maintain those expenses, state was forced to increase
taxes which increased the anger among the members of the
third estate.
On the whole, members belonging to third estate were oppressed
class and had to bear all the burden of all types of taxes.

11. FRANCE IS BANKRUPT
• The king, Louis XVI, lavished money on
himself and residences like Versailles
• Queen Marie Antoinette was seen as a
wasteful spender.
• Government found its funds depleted
• As a result of wars including the funding of the
govt. spending more money than it takes in
from tax revenues.
• Privileged classes would not submit to being
taxed.

12. POLITICAL CAUSE
 Louis XVI, the king of France, was a person of mediocre
intelligence. He ruled with help of his empty headed wife
Marie Antoinette, who appointed a number of her friends
and relatives in higher posts and kept some of them at
pension. These people neither did any work nor they
contribute to the national treasury. instead took salary from
the royal treasury.
 Louis XVI wanted to increase his territory. And to do so, he
had to be engaged in wars which meant that he needed a
large army for that purpose. Appointing so many soldiers
required money to pay salaries to them. It depleted the royal
treasury. As a result, the king was forced to rise the taxes
with the consent of the three estates . As the common people
had to pay taxes , they become agitated against their
monarch-Louis XVI.

13. MIDDLE CLASS
 In the eighteenth century, many persons who belonged to
third estate and earned their wealth through overseas trade
and manufacturing goods, were termed as middle class. It
was a new social group, which also comprised of court
officials, lawyers and administrative officials. Peasants,
labours, had been participating in revolts against increase
in taxes and food scarcity for long time, but because of lack
of means and concrete programmes they did not bring any
change to the society. Thus bringing the change about the
social and economic order in the society was left to the
middle class. People of the middle class were also
oppressed at that time, as they had to pay taxes and meet
the demands of clergy and nobility.
 People of Middle class were educated and believed that no
privilege should be given by birth.

14. IMMEDIATE CAUSE
Compelled by financial bankruptcy, the French
emperor called a meeting of Estates general in
1789. it generated much heat as the members
as the members of third estate were determined
to put forth their demand. However, the first
two estates .i.e Clergy and Nobility refused to
have a joint meeting with third estates. The
members of the third estate walked out of
Assembly.

15. INTELLUCTUAL CAUSE
• The middle class favored a society based on freedom and equal laws and
opportunities for all.
• Philosophers, such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau were envisaging a
society based on freedom, equal laws and opportunity for all. The freedom of
thirteen colonies in USA from Britain based on such ideas; strengthened the
thoughts of then philosophers who mainly belonged to middle class. The ideas of
guarantee of individual rights became one of the important examples among the
political thinkers and then philosophers of France.
• Refuting the doctrine of divine and absolute right of the monarch was the main idea
of Locke which was made public in his Two Treaties of Government. Rousseau
proposed the idea to form a government based on a social contract between people
and their representatives. Montesquieu gave the idea of division of power within the
government among the legislative, the executive and the judiciary in his The Spirit
of the Laws.
• These ideas of then philosophers and political thinkers began to spread far and
wide among people. People started discussions to bring the change in society as
well as government based on those ideas. Such discussions began to take place in
salons, coffee house, etc. Many books were published based on those new ideas.
Some persons used to read those books and newspaper aloud among people at

16. THE ESTATE GENERAL
 In order to pass the proposal to raise taxes Louis XVI called an
assembly of the Estates General. On 5 May 1789, 300 representatives
from each of the first and second estate and 600 from the third estate,
a total 1200 representatives, gathered in a splendid hall for the
assembly. Representatives of first and second estates were seated in
two rows while representatives of third estate had to stand at the back.
Representatives of third estate were educated and more prosperous
and they believed to represent the whole people of France. Peasants
and labours were not allowed in that assembly; however about 40000
letters regarding their grievances were carried by representatives of
third estate.
 According to principle of the monarch each estate had one vote. Louis
XVI wanted to apply the same practice this time also. But
representatives of third estate did not agree on this, they wanted
voting assembly as a whole and wanted each of the representatives to
have only one vote. Louis XVI rejected this new proposal. As a result,

17. FORMATION OF NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY
On 20th of the June, the third estate members, who
walked out of the assembly in protest, gathered in
an indoor tennis court in Versailles, where they
declared them as National Assembly and took an
oath not to disburse till the new drafting of a
constitution of France under the leadership of
Merabeau and Abbe Sieyes. Merabeau belonged
to noble family and Abbe Sieyes was a priest to
the church. Inspite of that they believed in the
need of a privilege free society. There, they
delivered powerful speeches regarding the need of
new constitution and equal opportunity to all.

18. OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION
• That very year harvest was badly affected because of
severe winter. This increased the price of bread.
Hoarding of supply by bakers made the situation more
critical. One day after long hours in queues, anger
broken into women and they stormed the bakery. At the
same time troops moved to Paris to suppress the
turmoil. In retaliation, crowd destroyed the Bastille.
• A rumor spread that an order had been given to troops
to destroy the crops. Because of fear, peasants attacked
the chateaux and looted the hoarded grains. Records of
manorial dues were sat on fire. Many people were
killed in this agitation. Many noblemen and clergy fled
to neighbouring countries to save their life.

19. FRANCE BECOMES A
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
Faced with the power of his revolting subjects,
Louis XVI finally accorded recognition to the
National Assembly and accepted the principle
that his powers from now on be checked by a
constitution.
National Assembly completed the draft of the
constitution in 1791. Its main object was to limit
the powers of the monarch. Powers were spread
among legislative, executive and judiciary instead
of king. This made France a constitutional
monarchy.

20. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
CITIZENS
There were two types of citizens according to constitution :– active
citizen and passive citizen.
Persons who paid the tax at least equal to wages of 3 days of a labour
were categorized as active citizens and who did not, were categorized
as passive citizens. Only active citizens above the age of 25 had right
to vote. Women were not given the right to vote.
Active citizens had to elect electors. Electors had to elect National
Assembly and Judiciary from among them. National Assembly had
control over king and group of ministers. But king still had the power
of royal veto and the ability to select ministers.
Qualification for member of elector and National Assembly : – A person
who belonged to bracket of highest taxpayers and above the age of 25
could be chosen as elector and member of National Assembly.

21. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS OF
MAN AND CITIZEN
GAURANTEED
PROPERTY RIGHTS
LIBERTY,EQUALITY,
FRATERNITY
RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE
TO CREATE LAWS
FREEDOM OF
SPEECH
FREEDOM OF
PRESS
RIGHT TO A FAIR
TRIAL
RIGHTS OF
MAN AND
CITIZEN

22. END OF SPECIAL PRIVILEGES
After the draft of
constitution was
completed, Church
lands were seized,
divided, and sold to
peasants.
All feudal dues and
tithes were eradicated.
All special privileges
of the first and second
estate were abolished. LOUIS XVI AND MARIE
ANTOINETTE

23. FORMATION OF JACOBINS
CLUB
 The revolutionary wars brought losses and economic difficulties to the
people. While the men were away fighting at the front women were left to
cope with the tasks of earning a living and looking after their families.
Large sections of the population were convinced that the revolution had to
be carried further as the constitution of 1791 gave political rights only to
the richer section of society. Many political clubs started to discuss about
government policies and they started planning of their own form of
government.
 Jacobins was the most successful club among them. It was named after the
convent of St Jacob in Paris. Maximilian Robespierre emerged as the
leader of Jacobins.
 Jacobins comprised of women, small peasants, labours, artisans, such as
shoemaker, pastry cooks, watch makers, etc. They started wearing long
striped trousers so that they could look different from those who wore knee
breaches (persons belonging to fashionable society). They also wore a red
cap also which was the symbol of liberty. They began to be called ‘sans-
culottes’which means ‘those without knee breaches’. However, women
were not allowed to do so.

24. FRANCE ABOLISHES MONARCHY
AND BECOMES A REPUBLIC
In revolutionary France, the legislative assembly votes to
abolish monarchy and establish the first Republic. The
measure came one year after King Louis XVI
reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped
him of much of his power. King Louis and his queen
Marie Antoinette were imprisoned in August 1792, and
in September the monarch was abolished. Soon after,
evidence of Louis counterrevolutionary intrigues with
foreign nations was discovered and he was put on trial
for treason. In January 1793, Louis was convicted and
condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January
21, he was executed publicly at the Place de la
Concorde. His queen too met with the same fate shortly
after.

26. REIGN of TERROR
The period from 1793 to 1794 is known as the Reign of Terror. Maximilian Robespierre
sentenced to death all those persons who he considered as enemies of the republic,
whether they were ex-noble, clergy, and members of any political parties; including
Jacobins. The execution were completed after trial by revolutionary tribunal. At that
time Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment.
Guillotine, a device, named after inventor Dr. Guillotin, was used to behead a person at
that time. It consists of two poles and a blade. Guilty persons were beheaded using
guillotine.
Government led by Robespierre issued many laws among which ceiling maximum
wages and price and rationing were main. Foods, such as meat and bread were
rationed. Peasants were forced to sell their grains on fixed price in cities. Citizens
were forced to eat equality bread, white flour which was costlier was forbidden. Use
of Citoyen and Citoyenne for men and women citizen started instead of the
traditional Sir (Monsieur) and Madam (Madame). Churches were shut down and
their buildings were converted into offices and barracks. Practice of equality was
sought everywhere. Because of forcible implementation of laws, even supporters of
Robespierre started the demand for change. Finally, Robespierre arrested and

27. DIRECTORY RULES FRANCE
After the fall of Jacobins a new constitution was introduced and power
was again seized by wealthier middle class. According to new
constitution
• Non propertied section of the society had no right to vote.
• Two elected legislative councils would run the government.
• Two elected legislative councils would appoint an executive
committee of five members, called Directory which would finally run
the government.
• Directory could be dismissed by the majority vote of councils.
These new provisions were brought to prevent the concentration of
power in one-man executive; as happened in the reign of Jacobins.
The clash between Directory and member of councils led to political
instability, which opened the door of military dictator, Napoleon
Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte became the emperor of France in
1804.

28. WOMEN AS REVOLUTONARIES
When National Assembly was busy at Versailles drafting a constitution, the rest of France seethed
with turmoil. A severe winter had meant a bad harvest; the price of bread rose, often bakers
exploited the situation and hoarded supplies. After spending hours in long queues at the bakery,
crowds of angry women stormed into the shops.
From the very beginning women were active participants in the events which brought about so
many changes in French society. They hoped that their involvement would pressurize the
revolutionary government to introduce measures to improve their lives. Most women of the third
estate had to work for a living. Most women did not have access to education or job training.
Daughters of nobles or wealthier persons of third estate could study in convent. After that they
were married by their families even against their will. They sold flowers, fruits, vegetables and
employed as servant in house hold. After work they had to cook and look after for their families.
There wages were lower than those of men. In order to discuss and voice their interests women
started their own political clubs and newspapers. About sixty women's clubs came up in different
French cities. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them.
One of their main demands was that women enjoy the same political rights as men. Women were
disappointed that the 1791 Constitution reduced them to passive citizens. They demanded the
right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office. Only then, they felt, would
their interests be represented in the new government.

29. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
In the system of slavery, people were forced to work, treated as properties and
hence sold, bought and forced to work against their will. The trade of slave
started in seventeenth century. French merchants bought slave mainly from
Africa. The branded and shackled slave were then packed tightly into ships
and after two to three month of voyages they were sold in the Caribbean to
plantation owners. The extensive demand of sugar, coffee and indigo in
European market was fulfilled by the exploitation of slaves as labours.
Many port cities like Bordeaux and Nates got economic prosperity by the
trade of slaves and many of the merchants were increasing their wealth by
trade of slavery.
However, the slavery began to be criticized in France. But even National
Assembly could not pass any law to end of slavery in the fear of
repercussion from businessmen who were mainly in slave trade.
By coming in power, Jacobins abolished the system of slavery in the French
colonies, which was one of the greatest social reforms in their reign. But
Napoleon again introduced the slavery system. And finally slavery was
abolished in French colonies in 1848.

30. LOUIS XVI MARIE ANTOINETTE

31. MAXIMILLIAN
ROBESPIERRE
NAPOLEAN
BONAPARTE

32. MADE BY
MOUSOO
FA
NASRIN
ROLL
NO.2
CLASS:IX