EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
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C O U R S E
The French Revolution
Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E An Introduction to the French Revolution Notes taken on July 7, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
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the half century after 1760 was one of the most tumultuous and significant periods in European, American, and world history
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at the heart of this extraordinary half-century of upheaval is the French Revolution
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a time of social, political, economic, and military upheaval
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Louis XVI
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1774: his coronation at the age of 20
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came to the throne in a time of upheaval: bad crops and a military crisis
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he rode out these crises and the early years of his reign went well
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1789: had to confront another crisis
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would eventually change the world in which he had grown up
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was fatal to him and to members of his family
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May 1789
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Louis XVI was confronting a fundamental financial crisis
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convened the clergy, nobility, commons for them to offer him advice through the financial crisis
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a gathering that hadn't met for 175 years
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it was an advisory-only gathering, but arose expectations among the French people
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Louis believed there should be three separate meetings, one for each estate
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the commoner deputies refused to consent to this
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June 1789: ACT 1: Serment du Jeu de paume
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Commoner deputies took an oath not to separate until they had given France a constitution
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started calling themselves the "National Assembly"
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Jacque-Louis David never finished the painting of this since by the time he got back to it, some of the people in it had become opponents to the revolution
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it was clear that the king, the court, the clergy and the army were going to expel these commoner deputies
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as they had been asked to give Louis the XVI advice, not to set themselves up as a National Assembly
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July 1789: ACT 2: Prise de Bastille
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high bread prices
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people were anxious, hungry and full of expectation of what might be achieved by the Estates General, and suspicious of troop movements within the city
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14th of July, seized the Bastille
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the governor of the fortress commanded his troops to open fire
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100s killed
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he paid with his life when he finally surrendered
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August 1789: ACT 3: La Grande Peur
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vast majority of France's 28 million people lived outside of Paris
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when news reached the countryside
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the repercussions were explosive
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countryside was full of expectancy and hunger
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when the people in the countryside heard what blow the revolutionaries had dealt the authorities in Paris, they felt that the landowners in the countryside would find a way of exacting revenge
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common people started arming themselves
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the landlords never suppressed them
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the peasants rose up instead
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confronted nobles and stewards in their castles and chateaus demanding
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food and wine
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list of feudal dues often ceremoniously destroyed
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only a few open, physical attacks on castles
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August 1789: ACT 4: La Nuit du 4 août
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the response to these three acts by the National Assembly was deeply significant
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tried to meet the grievances of the people
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Declarations of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
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a blueprint for a future France
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new regime
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Louis XVI would rule with a National Assembly
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next years
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tried to put into place the blue print of the new France
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Jacques Louis David
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artist deeply involved in and fiercely committed to the French Revolution
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painting not without a propaganda intention
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painting: Death of Marat, 1793
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painting: Napoleon Crossing the Alps, 1800
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Jean August Ingres
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painting: Napoleon on his Imperial Throne, 1806
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in some ways Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806 resembled Louis XVI in 1774
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France was still in the hands of an extremely powerful individual