The republics of slovenia, croatia, and bosnia-herzegovina once were all part of
a. poland
b. turkey
c. yugoslavia
d. russia

His. 102: Intro. to Western

Civilization

French Revolution

Instructor: Michael D. Berdine, Ph.D.

Pima Community College – West Campus

TTh, 10:10-11:25am, Tucson H205

Fall 2003

http://wc.pima.edu/~mberdine

French Revolution

Overview

• The year 1789 witnessed two far-reaching events:

the ratification of the Constitution of the United

States of America and the eruption of the French

Revolution.

• Compared to the American Revolution, the French

Revolution was more complex, more violent, and

far more radical in its attempt to reconstruct both a

new political and a new social order.

French Revolution

Background

• The long-range or indirect causes of the

French Revolution must first be sought in

the condition of French society.

– Before the Revolution, France was a society

grounded in the inequality of rights or the idea

of privilege.

– Its population of 27 million was divided, as it

had been since the Middle Ages, into three

orders, or Estates.

French Revolution

Background

• The First Estate consisted of the clergy and

numbered about 130,000 people who owned

approximately 10% of the land.

– Clergy were exempt from the taille, France’s chief tax.

– Clergy were also radically divided:

• The higher clergy, stemming from aristocratic families, shared

the interests of the nobility;

• While the parish priests were often poor and from the class of

commoners.

French Revolution

Background

• The Second Estate was the nobility, composed of

about 350,000 people who nevertheless owned

about 25 to 30% of the land.

– The nobility had continued to play an important and

even crucial role in French society in the 18th century,

holding many of the leading positions in the

government, the military, the law courts, and the higher

church offices.

– The nobles sought to expand their power at the expense

of the monarchy and to maintain their control over

positions in the military, church and government.

French Revolution

Background

Second Estate (cont.)

– Moreover, the possession of privileges

remained a hallmark of the nobility.

– Common to all nobles were tax exemptions,

especially from the taille.

• The Third Estate, or the commoners of

society, constituted the overwhelming

majority of the French population.

2

French Revolution

Background

Third Estate (cont.)

– They were divided by vast difference in

occupation, level of education, and wealth.

– The peasants, who alone constituted 75 to 80%

of the total population, were by far the largest

segment of the Third Estate.

• They owned about 35 to 40% of the land, although

their landholdings varied from area to area and over

half had little or no land on which to survive.

French Revolution

Background

Third Estate (cont.)

– Serfdom no longer existed on any large scale in

France, but French peasants still had

obligations to their local landlords that they

deeply resented.

• These “relics of feudalism,” or aristocratic

privileges, were obligations that survived from an

earlier age and included the payment of fees for the

use of village facilities, such as the flour mill,

community oven, and winepress.

French Revolution

Background

Third Estate (cont.)

– Another part of the Third Estate consisted of

skilled craftspeople, shopkeepers, and other

wage earners in the cities.

• In the 18th century, a rise in consumer prices greater

than the increase in wages left these urban groups

with a noticeable decline in purchasing power.

• Their day-to-day struggle for survival led many of

these people to play an important role in the

Revolution, especially in Paris.

French Revolution

Background

Third Estate (cont.)

• About 8% of the population, or 2.3 million people,

constituted the bourgeoisie, or middle class, who

owned about 20 to 25% of the land.

– This group included merchants, industrialists, and

bankers who controlled the resources of trade,

manufacturing, and finance and benefited from the

economic prosperity after 1730.

– The bourgeoisie also included professional people –

lawyers, holders of public offices, doctors, and writers.

French Revolution

Background

Third Estate (cont.)

– Many of the members of the bourgeoisie had their own

set of grievances because they were often excluded

from the social and political privileges monopolized by

the nobles.

– At the same time, remarkable similarities existed

between the wealthier bourgeoisie and the nobility.

• By obtaining public offices, wealthy bourgeoisie could enter

the ranks of the nobility.

• During the 18th century, 6500 new noble families were created.

French Revolution