Key Events: 1789 Flashcards
1
Q
The Estates-General
A
- 8 Aug 1788: King announced Estates-General will convene for May 1789
- Sept 1788: Parlement declare that E-G will vote by order (not head)
- May 2; King welcomes delegates; first and second estates welcomed in hall of mirrors, third estate forced to wait hours in salon
- May 4; mass celebrated; first and second in full costume, third in black clothing
These two days created a sense of division between the states - May 5; the EG formally opens
King gives short, uninspiring speech (anti-climatic) - May 6; credentials to be checked; third argued all credentials should be checked together; led to a 3 week stalemate
- Sieyes argues the third estate are the representatives of the nation; a rival to the power of Louis XVI
2
Q
Tennis Court Oath
A
- 20 June 1789
- June 20; National Assembly go to visit King and begin discussions
- Meeting room locked; sign said that King would hold a royal session in 3 days to declare the - National Assembly illegal
National Assembly move to indoor tennis court nearby - Deputies agree to swear an oath to never separate until France has a constitution
- Oath written by Sieyes
- Each deputy (599 out of 600) swore oath in front of Bailly
- ‘It was the first formal act of disobedience against the monarchy’ (Fenwick and Anderson)
3
Q
Royal Session
A
- 23 June 1789
- King decrees the Nat. Ass. was annulled
- Attempted concessions (equal tax, lettres de cachet abolished)
- Mirabeau declared they would stay
- King lets them
- Complete undermined his authority
- Shows Louis weak leadership
4
Q
Cahiers de Doleances
A
- ‘The Book of Grievances’
- Each state, in each electoral district, produced one book
- Contained a list of issues for the Estates’ General
- Opened up all aspects of French society to criticism (increased social tension) and created an expectation of change
- Over 42% off all cahiers demanded reform of taxes
- Almost a third of the 282 cahiers of the nobility reflected liberal ideas
5
Q
Dismissal of Necker
A
- Failure of royal session blamed on Necker
- 11 July 1789: Necker dismissed, ordered to leave France
- Crowds of Paris begin to protest and chant ‘Necker and the Third Estate’
- Popular with third Estate because of his policies regulating bread prices
- 12 July 1789: Camille Desmoulins (journalist, third estate) calls ‘to arms, to arms’
6
Q
Reveillon Riots (23rd)
A
- 23 April 1789
- Reveillon calls or price of bread to be lowered
- Misunderstood as a call for wages to be lowered
- Crowds gather in protest and chant “Death to the Rich, Death to the Aristocrats”
7
Q
Reveillon Riots (24th) & Significance
A
- 24 April 1789
- Reveillon’s factory and house attacked
- 25 killed by Gardes Francais
- Rumour emerged of a ‘grain plot’
- King to use grain as ransom to force taxation reform
- Represents general national tensions
- Links Harvest Crisis with Financial Crisis
8
Q
The Storming of the Bastille
A
- 14 July 1789
- Seized large prison (was a symbol of royal authority)
- 600 people in the crowd (all Third Estate)
- 98 civilians killed
- A symbolic victory over the monarchy
- Triggered by Necker’s dismissal
- “The seizure of the Bastille… was a political earthquake” (McPhee)
9
Q
The Great Fear
A
- July-Aug 1789
- Rumour spreads that nobility are preparing revenge on peasants for Rural Revolt
- Nobles begin to leave Frances (adds to tensions)
- Peasants arm themselves and attack manors and destroy manorial rolls
10
Q
The October Days
A
- The King had not returned to Paris since July 17, nor ratified the August Decrees or DORMAC
- Belief that Louis was planning to move against the revolution
- Oct 5; Women gather outside hotel de ville (protesting bread prices)
- Crowd of 6000 gathers
- Women March to Versailles; Lafayette and National Guard follow (looked like they were on the side of people but were protecting King)
- Royal family agrees to move to Paris and end tension
- Oct 6; Lafayette, National Guard and crowd escort royal family to Paris
11
Q
The August Decrees
A
- 5-11 Aug 1789
- Committee drafts legislation
- Present them to National Assembly
- Abolished the feudal regime in theory and tasked the Nat. Ass. to begin drafting a constitution
- In a week they do everything the rev. Has been fighting for (abolishes privileges, tax inequality, tithe and seigneurialism)
- “[The August Decrees] destroyed aristocratic society from top to bottom.” (Furet)
12
Q
The DORMAC
A
- 26 Aug 1789
- Nat. Ass. passes “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”
- A list of fundamental rights to be enacted into law
- Drafted by Lafayette and Mirabeau
- “The foundation documents of the new society” (Fenwick and Anderson)
13
Q
The Paris Commune
A
- 13 July 1789
- New municipal government formed (was a bourgeois government)
- Bailly elected as Mayor
- Made up of intellectual 3rd E and reps. from each district in Paris
- City no longer loyal to the king but to the revolution
14
Q
National Guard
A
- 15 July 1789
- Created by the Paris Commune to keep order
- Lafayette placed in command
15
Q
King’s Reaction (To Bastille/Paris Commune)
A
- Agrees to withdraw troops from around Paris
- Puts on revolutionary cockade of red, white and blue (crowds goes nuts)
- Different takes
- Good: smart move to control the crowd and get people on his side
- Bad: nobility sees it as him giving into the people and abandoning them
- “This was as good as an abdication in the eyes of many nobility” (Schama)
