History - The French Revolution

• The Enlightenment was a period in the late 17th-18th century Europe when many people began to emphasise the importance of science and reason rather than religion and tradition.
• The Royal Society was founded on the 28th of November 1660, creating the Philosophical Transaction in 1665.
• In what ways were literature controlled under King Louis XVI?

  The Ancien Regime censored literature.

  Printers had to be granted royal licenses.

  Royal censors had to approve emerging literature.

  The Catholic Church and French Government produced a list of banned books e.g. by Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau.
• There was a thriving black market in books and pamphlets bought from Geneva that was under liberal control.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau's novel 'Emile' contained anti-Catholic and pro-education messages so it was quickly recalled and blacklisted. Warrants were issued for his arrest so he was forced to flee to Britain and live in exile in 1766.
• Voltaire spent time in his youth in the Bastille prison 1717-1718 and was banned by Louis from living in his home city, Paris, due to his controversial texts.
• Voltaire published 'Candide' on the 15th January 1759 (estimated) and was controversial unsurprisingly due to its harsh treatment of religion especially Christianity but also Islam, it is bitterly satirical, blasphemous and sexually obscene for its era.
• The system instilled to control literature soon failed as pamphlets, books, plays and journals containing radical ideas began circulating in urban areas e.g. Paris and Lyon where the literacy rate was 60% and most had access to book shops.
• Anti-Monarchy novels became popular among the Bourgeoise who had the wealth to afford the luxury, they also held salons which where gatherings for rich philosophers to share their revolutionary ideas.
• Louis-Phillipe Joseph (Duc d'Orleans) was a member of the royal Bourbon family and would hold intellectual gatherings in his Palais Royal in Paris. As a royal, his house was exempt from censorship laws so it was used as a base to print and distribute radical pamphlets.
• The Duke of Orleans gained the nickname 'Phillippe Egalite' meaning 'Equality'.
• French involvement in the American War of Independence:

  Between 1778 and 1782, the French would provide supplies, arms, ammunition, uniforms and troops to the Americans.

  Gave naval support to the Continental Army.

  French navy transported reinforcements, fought off British troops and protected George Washington's forces in Virginia.

  On February 6th 1778 France signed the 'Treaty of Amity and Commerce' and the 'Treaty of Alliance' which recognised the USA as an independent nation and prompted trade between the New World and France.
• Marquis Lafayette's involvement in the American War of Independence:


  An aristocratic general who fought in the Continental army against the British.

  Supported America because he viewed it as an idyllic land where 'the simplicity of manners, the desire to oblige, the love of the country and of liberty' were dominant characteristics of the American peoples.
• Marquis Lafayette was a conflicted individual as he became a prolific leader of the Garde National (National Guard) during the revolution, abolish the trade triangle (that France was involved in) and fight for the 'liberty and equality for all mankind' but at the same time saved Marie Antoinette and Louis in Versailles when the Bastille was stormed in 1789.
• The American Revolutionary wars were sparked when conflict arose from growing tension over Britain and its 13 North American colonies over taxation.
• It cost France 1.3 billion livres to support the Americas during their revolution but arguably cost Louis even more as French volunteers who joined the Continental army returned to France and were able to spread revolutionary ideology and gain influence.
• The French public questioned whether the 6% of the states expenditure going to the royal court was justified, this money was mainly for the court to provide titles and positions by venality.
• Titles were commonly bought by nobles wanting to infiltrate the royal court and avoid taxation or members of the third estate trying to buy their way into the second estate.
• During the 18th century an estimate 30,000-50,000 people bought titles.
• MARIE ANTOINETTE:

  Married Louis on the 16th of May 1770 to unite the 2 most influential families in Europe, the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs.

  Due to the young age of Marie, being only 14 when they married, she was unable to produce any children until 1778 when she had a daughter and 1781 when she produced a male heir.

  The 1785 affair of the Diamond Necklace damaged her reputation as she was accused of trying to purchase the jewellery worth 1.6 million livres when state finances were so low.

  Comtesse de La Matte had forged Marie's signature to try and acquire the necklace.
• MARIE ANTOINETTE:

  Reportedly told starving poor people to 'eat cake' if they could not afford bread.

  Accused of being disinterested in her subjects and encouraging Louis to become involved in the American revolutionary wars.

  Louis was a passive character and so rumours spread that she manipulated him on royal matters in court.

  She made the small pox vaccine fashionable in 1790 by wearing a headdress and hair pouf that celebrated the King's inoculation.
• Marie Antoinette was given the nickname 'Madame Defecit' by her servants and maids.
• Calonne became controller general of finance for Louis in 1783 but was dismissed in 1787 and replaced with Brienne, the new minister of finance.
• Calonne was dismissed as he attempted to impose his policies of universal land tax on parlement with the 'lit de justice' that used the sovereignty of the King to enforce laws without democracy.
• Calonne's reform package consisted of five major points:


  Cut government spending.

  Revive free trade methods (population and demand control the price of goods not the government).

  Authorise the sale of Church property.

  Equalize salt and tobacco taxes.

  Establish a universal land tax.
• The Estates-General met on the 5th of May 1789 in the palace of Versailles a year after France was declared Bankrupt.
• Each region and town was represented by elected members divide by estate, the 1st estate (clergy) was represented by 303 deputies, a large portion of which were parish priests, the 2nd estate was represented by 282 nobles and the 3rd estate was represented by 578 deputies most of who were Bourgeoise doctors and lawyers.
• It was decided that at the meeting of the Estates-General on the 5th of May 1789, the 3rd estate would be given the most representation (double) so that theoretically they were given equal say and their needs were not overshadowed by the rich minority.
• Deputies from each estate were to privately discuss any reforms proposed and then present a simple yes or no vote.
• In a shocking display of selflessness, the Cahiers revealed that a large portion of the 1st and 2nd estate deputies stood in support of the rights of the 3rd estate rather than defending and deepening their own privileges.
• Louis bought together the 3 estates in a Seance Royal (royal session) to put forward a package of reforms, the deputies of the 3rd estate arrived on the 20th of July but were shut out by royal soldiers, barricading the session hall, so that preparations could be made.
• The deputies of the 3rd estate were disturbed by the act of 'discrimination' and gathered on a handball court outside of the Palace to swear a collective oath under the guidance of Mirabeau in an act of defiance against the King.
• The Royal session met days later on the 23rd of Junewhere Louis agreed to accept some significant restrictions to his power e.g. the abolition of the 'lettre de cachet', agreeing to the freedom of the press and that any taxation had to be approved by an elected representative body.
• Demonstrations broke out in support of the National Assembly across France in reaction to him voiding the team on the 17th of June 1789, as a result troops moved into Paris and guarded Versailles which only made tension run high and anger amount among the populous of the capital.
• Radical speakers like Duc d'Orleans and Camille Desmoulins began demonstrating as some Parisians armed themselves.
• In July of 1789, Louis XVI dismissed Necker for sympathising with the third estate and reducing the expenditure of the Royal family.
• The Bastille was a huge fortress used for decades as a prison by the rulers of the Ancien Regime, mainly housing victims of the 'lettre de cachet' e.g. Voltaire from 1717-1718.
• By 1789, the Bastille was used infrequently as a prison but was seen as a symbol of the despair an absolute monarchy caused on the subjects of France, rioters also wanted to seize the gunpowder to accompany the 28,000 muskets taken from an arsenal in Paris on the 13th of July 1789.
• On the 14th of July 1789, Parisian demonstrators demanded entry to the Bastille but the governor of the building, De Launay refused and ordered his troops to fire on the crowd to disperse them.
• Chaos erupted at the entrance to the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789 and the fortress was stormed after the crowd stabbed, killed and decapitated De Launay, impaling his head on a wooden spike.