Chapter 5: Developments In The Country, The Great Fear & The October Days Flashcards
What was the cause of the revolt of the Peasantry?
Economic crisis
Grain hoarded by church and landowners
What caused an economic crisis?
What was the affect of the economic crisis?
Years of bad harvests
Less grain drives up prices
1788-9 = 88% wages spent on bread
Textile production fell by 50%
Spring 1789 = grain riots (attacks on grain stores) as prices peaked
Many peasants became politicised
Linked famine to the political crisis hoped NA could address poverty
What was the great fear?
Peasants believe 1st and 2nd estates are hoarding grain
Attack hundreds of chateaux of nobility
Law and order collapsed
What were the August decrees in response to?
When were the August decrees?
The great fear
4th August
What were the August decrees?
Measures to appease peasants by ending lots of noble privileges and noble dues:
Tithe abolished
Tax privileges abolished
Seigneurial courts abolished (lords act as they see fit)
All citizens eligible for all offices
Some dues abolished
What was the significance of the August decrees?
End of noble privilege, start of equal society
Allied peasants with revolution
End of old institutions, room for national, uniform system of administration
In other words, the ancien regime had disappeared
When and how did the nobility impact the outbreak of revolution?
1787-89
Call for meeting of E-G
Opposed king’s new taxes and acts (resistance)
What was the significance of the nobility’s impact?
E-G enabled estates to bring complaints
Ideas of reformation in E-G
Nobles leave king more alone
Nobles had power
How did the bourgeoisie impact the outbreak of revolution?
Vote by head and x2 of 3rd representatives in E-G (equality, justice)
Formation of NA
Tennis court oath
What was the significance of the bourgeoisie impact?
Open form of resistance
Call for, and won’t disband until constitution
How did the urban working class impact the outbreak of revolution?
Revolt of Paris (political protest)
National Guard
Kings army mutiny at Bastille
What was the significance of the urban working class impact?
Left king (“absolute ruler”) powerless with no control
How did the peasantry impact the outbreak of revolution?
The fear; attacking noble houses and burning grain stores
What was the significance of the peasantry impact?
August decrees; estates more equal, breaking chain of being and ancien regime
When was the declaration of the rights of man?
August 26, 1789
