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W hat was the political system of the old regime?
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The political system was an autocracy, based on the
political theory of absolutism (personal exercise of
power, not accountable to a parliament).
The king was deemed to be put in power by God, hence
to rule by divine right with miraculous powers.
The king was C-I-C of the army.
He had a royal council which was purely consultative.
He was head of the French Roman Catholic church.
There was a common belief in his competence and
benevolence; bad rule could be deemed despotism.
The king’s authority was also fabricated by a virtual PR
industry of image-making (Peter Burke thesis).
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1. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: THE OLD REGIME
2. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: THE OLD REGIME
3. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: THE OLD REGIME
W hat was the social system of the old regime?
W hat was the role of radical ideas in the development of a
revolutionary situation?
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The old regime was a corporate society, made up of
distinct groups each with their own legally recognised
‘special deal’ with the king in matters of taxation, law.
This corporate society was based on privilege, literally,
private sets of laws for members of groups. For example,
there were different law courts for clergy, nobles and
commoners.
This was also a culture of deference, in which people were
taught to feel inferior to their ‘social betters’.
Society was divided into estates (not classes, but broad
occupational groups): first estate: clergy; second estate:
nobles; third estate: all others.
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The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that
existed across much of Europe, from the 1730s onwards.
The Enlightenment thinkers or philosophes did not aim
to cause a revolution, and most had died before 1789.
The philosophes did teach people to question the society
in which they lived, and to use Reason to imagine a more
humane and fair society.
When the revolution later occurred, the men and women
of 1789 adopted the values of the philosophes.
4. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: THE OLD REGIME
5. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: FISCAL CRISIS
6. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: FISCAL CRISIS
W hat were some of the key ideas of the Enlightenment?
W hat was the significance of the Assembly of Notables
(AoN) in the development of a revolutionary situation?
W hat was the significance of the ‘parlements’ in the
development of a revolutionary situation?
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Montesquieu (Spirit of the Laws) proposed the idea of the
separation of powers, and of an intermediary between
king and subjects.
Voltaire (Philosophical Dictionary) criticised political
absolutism and religious fanaticism/intolerance.
Rousseau (Social Contract) suggested that the bond
between ruler and ruled could be broken.
Diderot and d’Alembert co-ordinated many writers to
produce The Encyclopaedia, which gathered together many
of the different themes of the Enlightenment.
© Cambridge
University Press
Rousseau rejected the artificiality
of civilisation.
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The AoN recognised the principle of equal responsibility
for taxation, in theory, but rejected Calonne’s actual plan
for a land-based tax.
The deadlock suggested that the old regime was unable
or unwilling to reform itself.
When Calonne published his protest about the deadlock,
the fiscal crisis became public knowledge, linking up with
the newly-formed force of public opinion.
The failure of AoN  new demands for consultation.
© Cambridge University Press
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The parlements (= high law courts) had defied royal
authority during the reign of Louis XV, who closed them.
Reopened by Louis XVI, they became involved in the
fiscal crisis of 1787–1789, standing for the ideas of
representation and accountability.
In August 1787, the Paris parlement refused the new taxes,
and was exiled.
© Cambridge appeared
UniversitytoPress
By May–June 1788, the parlementaires
be
revolutionary leaders, against royal absolute power.
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W hat was the significance of the Abbé Sieyès to the
development of a revolutionary situation?
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By November 1788 the political scene had polarised over
the question of voting in the EG.
The pamphlet What is the Third Estate? was a quantum
leap, expressing an idea initiated in the Society of Thirty,
that the 3E was so numerically significant that it could
consider itself to be the nation.
The rhetorical brilliance of the pamphlet (‘What is the
Third estate?
Nothing
…’) led to a total
reconceptualisation of the position of the 3E, culminating
in the formation of the National Assembly (17 June 1789)
and TCO (20 June 1789).
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7. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
8. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
9. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
W hat was the significance of the Tennis Court Oath to the
development of a revolutionary situation?
W hat was the significance of the capture of the Bastille to
the development of a revolutionary situation?
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This action was both accidental (the locked door incident)
and principled (a refusal to work within EG).
The participants were the deputies of the 3E, later joined
by some deputies of the 1E.
The significance of the event was that the recently formed
national assembly removed itself physically from the EG,
asserting its autonomy.
The deputies also swore an oath for one course of action
(= not to disband until there was a constitution), thus
unifying them to one clear programme.
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The Bastille itself was of immense symbolic value, and still
of some strategic value.
The capture of the Bastille made the king realise the
power and agency of the Parisian crowd, the weaknesses
of his own forces, and the need to withdraw his amassing
troops  saved the NA.
The King also had to accept new forms of revolutionary
power (Bailly, Mayor of Paris; Lafayette, Commander of
National Guard).
Revolution split between legality (Committee of Electors)
and crowd violence (murder of de Launey).
10. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
11. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
12. FRANCE: AOS 1 – RILME: POLITICAL CRISIS
W hat was the nature of the Great Fear (July–August
1789)?
W hat was the significance of the Great Fear to the
development of the revolution?
W hat was the significance of the August Decrees (ADs) to
the development of the revolution?
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According to Marxist historians, this was the fourth and
final stage of the outbreak of the revolution, after 1)
Aristocratic Revolt (AoN), 2) Bourgeois Revolt (TCO) 3)
Urban Revolt (Invalides, Bastille).
Peasants already rebellious in countryside by late 1788.
After July 1789, peasants formed fears of a noble ‘plot’ to
retaliate.
From July–August 1789, peasants in several (not all)
© Cambridge
University
Press
provinces made focussed attacks
on noble
chateaux
to
burn feudal dues.
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Historian Judy Anderson calls this the last great crisis of
the old regime.
Historian Georges Lefebvre feels that the peasant
rebellion pushed the NA in to a whole new domain, a
conflict with the feudal order itself.
Historian Albert Soboul also feels that it forced the
deputies (mainly middle-class and urban) to realise that
they had to engage with the feudal system.
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Press
Peasants, like the urban ©
crowds,
nowUniversity
realised their
numerical strength and their effective collective action.
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The NA first branded the peasant actions of the great
Fear as ‘brigandage’ (property was sacred).
Reports of uprisings  panicky/idealistic Night of
Patriotic Delirium (4–5 August 1789), in which NA
‘abolished’ the feudal system.
Subsequently rewritten, it demanded the redemption of
feudal dues by compensation (= impossible).
The AD’s also stated the great bourgeois principles of
equality before taxation, merit over birth, equality before
© Cambridge University Press
law ( = first draft of DORMAC).
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W hat were the key ideas in the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and Citizen (DORMAC) (August 1789)?
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Liberty: The careful definition of how an individual’s
personal liberty may be taken away (arrest, trial,
punishment).
Equality: Not socio-economic equality, but equality of
tax responsibility, and equality of opportunity in the
professions. Privilege now illegal in all forms.
Utility/Merit: There will still be inequalities amongst
people, but no longer based on birth/social rank but on
differences in people’s merit and social usefulness.
Property: Private property is sacred, and cannot be taken away except
under strictly defined conditions. SOVEREIGNTY: Power now comes
‘from below’, from the human beings who make up ‘the Nation’
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13. FRANCE:
AOS AOS
2 – CANS:
DOCUMENTS
FRANCE:
2: KEY
CANS
14. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: KEY DOCUMENTS
15. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESISTANCE
W hat was the significance of the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and Citizen (August 1789) to the development of
the revolution?
W hat was the significance of the Flight to Varennes (FtV)
to the development of the revolution?
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The DORMAC was an early statement of the
fundamental principles upon which the Constitution of
1791 would be based.
It altered forever the origin of sovereignty (= power,
legitimacy): it now came from below, from the Nation,
rather than from above, and from God and the absolute
king.
It formalised the legal basis for the abolition of privilege,
which had been essential to the OR.
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The FtV was crucial to the ongoing development of the
revolution, because it made the newly-created political
system of constitutional monarchy unworkable.
It further radicalised the popular movement, compelling it
to demand the abdication and punishment of the King.
It disproved the King’s acceptance of the revolution, and
damaged belief in his loyalty and benevolence.
It also ultimately discredited Lafayette, the Feuillants
group, and constitutional monarchy.
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16. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESISTANCE
17. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESISTANCE
18. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESPONSES
W hat were the causes of the crisis of the civil war in the
Vendée (1793)?
W hat were the causes of the crisis of the Federalist
Revolt in June 1793?
W hat were the institutions of the Terror?
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The Vendée region (NW France) reacted early and firmly
to the CCC: 90% of priests rejected oath.
Scattered armed uprisings occurred in October 1791.
New laws demanding the clerical oath enflamed the
situation; arrest/replacement of beloved local priests.
The sale of church land in large lots angered disappointed
peasants.
© Cambridge University Press
The execution of the King angered loyal Vendeans.
The Decree of Conscription (February 1793) angered
peasants, because many townspeople were exempt.
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The Federalist Revolt was not strictly a counterrevolutionary movement, but a movement of
provincial revolutionaries concerned at the power of
the popular movement in Paris over the Convention.
The arrest of the Girondins in June 1793  fear of
Parisian radicalism and formation
of local
Girondin
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University
Press
governments in southern trading cities such as
Bordeaux.
Lyon, then Marseille, also declared themselves in
rebellion against the central authority of Paris.
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Terror, in the revolutionary sense, is the legal use of
violence and coercive laws, in a period of emergency,
to discourage and disempower the enemies threatening
the new society.
Revolutionary government is the suspension of normal
government and the use of special measures
(committees, laws) to meet©anCambridge
emergency.
University Press
The Committee of Public Safety was essentially an
emergency war cabinet, with extensive powers.
The Committee of General Security was a police
committee to locate and try traitors.
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W hat was the significance of the Law of Suspects
(September 1793)?
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This law vastly expanded the range of people who could
be deemed enemies of the revolution: monarchists, but
also federalists, food hoarders, emigrated nobles and
simply ‘non-patriotic’ citizens.
The law contravened the careful definition of personal
liberty stated in the DORMAC (August 1789).
The law did allow the committees and their courts to deal
quickly and effectively with those who resisted the new
society.
It made use of local spying, by Watch Committees, who
denounced suspects to the CGS.
22. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: OUTCOME OF 1795
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19. FRANCE:
AOSAOS
2 – CANS:
RESPONSES
FRANCE
2: CANS:
20. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESPONSES
21. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: RESPONSES
W hat was the significance of the Decree of Revolutionary
Government (October 1793)?
W hat was the Factional Terror?
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The Convention voted to suspend the ultra-democratic
Constitution of 1793 until the new society had been saved
from those who resisted it.
The Committee of Public Safety was now given
sweeping executive powers to co-ordinate the effort to
save the revolution, including government and army.
The Revolutionary Armies were placed in each main city
to crush counter-revolution and to carry out requisition of
grain.
By December 1793, the Law of Frimaire gave the CPS
greater power; not accountable to Convention.
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How did the Constitution of 1795 try to consolidate the
new society?
W hat was the role of Boissy d’Anglas in consolidating the
new society?
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After the revolt against Robespierre and the elimination
of the Jacobins, the Convention was dominated by
moderates, including surviving Girondins, members of
the Plain and a revived right-wing of returned
monarchists.
The creation of the new society was destabilised by the
W hite Terror, the process of terrorising Jacobins.
By 1795, the Convention was caught between a revived
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Press
right wing (demanding monarchy)
and, University
soon, a revived
left wing (demanding Constitution of 1793).
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24. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: OUTCOME OF 1795
W hat was the state of the revolution after the fall of
Robespierre in Thermidor (July 1794)?
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The Factional Terror was the process by which
Robespierre and the Jacobins progressively eliminated
any other revolutionary groups that disagreed with the
Mountain’s emergency policies.
The Girondins were purged from the Convention
June 1793, executed October 1793.
The Hébertistes (extreme left-wing followers of
Jacques Hébert) were tried and executed, March 1794.
The Indulgents (Danton, Desmoulins and others
suggesting an end to the Terror) were tried and
executed April 1794.
Robsepierre claimed that any opposition was treason.
23. FRANCE: AOS 2 – CANS: OUTCOME OF 1795
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d’Anglas was protestant/nobility of robe/deputy of 3E
to EG, supporter of Constitution of 1791.
In Convention, sat with Girondins, then crossed to Plain.
Became a hero for firmness in the Uprisings of 12
Germinal and 1 Prairial (attack by radical sansculottes movement threatening the Convention).
Preferred constitutional monarchy, or at least, after death
© Cambridge
of ‘Louis XVII’, a very moderate
republic.University Press
In 1795, 77 out of the 86 departments voted for him.
He wanted the values of 1789, in a stable democracy.
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d’Anglas and his committee aimed to keep the principles
of 1789, but to avoid the radicalism of 1793.
The Constitution of 1795 created a two-house
legislature, with a Council of Five Hundred to propose
laws, and a Council of Ancients to vote on them.
© Cambridge
Press
The rights of 1789 were now
defined University
as Liberty,
Equality and Security; the Jacobin ideal of Fraternity
was removed.
Property is sacred; duties and rights are emphasised.