InNo+kathryn_chang+09.5.10

__** Chapter 2- Revolution and Terror Pg. 28-38 **__

The King and the Assembly
 * 1789-revolution began at Versailles, soon other parts of France
 * over the next five years, it brought great changes in the country
 * Revolution, 1789
 * Setting up the National Assembly- great victory for the third estate; defeat or the king
 * Louis XVI lost control of the Estates General
 * were riots nearby Paris
 * urged by the queen and members of his court- king ordered 20,000 royal troops to move into the area around Paris
 * said this was to keep order
 * most people suspected that they were going to break up the National Assembly
 * 12 July- Versailles that Louis had sacked the popular finance minister, replaced him with a hardline who opposed the third estate
 * angry and frightened crowds started looking for weapons to defend themselves against the king's troops
 * crowds broke into arms stores and stole thousands of guns
 * 14 July- rumors said that there were tons of gunpowder in the Bastille-old fortress in the east end of Paris
 * The Storming of the Bastille
 * Parisians hated the Bastille
 * where people were imprisoned when they received the sealed letters
 * heard stories of the Bastille- dark, stinking dungeons, torture chambers, and masked prisoners chained to the walls for life
 * the Bastille was a symbol of how they all hated the king's power
 * the crowd broke into the courtyard and threatened to blow down the gates with cannons to look for weapons
 * governor decided to give in
 * but angry crowds wanted to destroy his symbol of royal power
 * when the drawbridge was let down, they stormed inside, smashing anything in their way and killing the defenders
 * by evening, they had control of the Bastille
 * Images of the Bastille
 * the fall of the Bastille was one of the most famous events of the French Revolution
 * was a symbol of the victory of ordinary people over the power of their rulers
 * victory was recorded in thousands of drawings and paintings
 * some pictures show the climax of events like when they arrested the prison governor, the Marquis de Launay
 * other pictures claimed to show what the attackers found inside the Bastille after they captured it (prisoners chained to the walls of rat-infested dungeon and one wearing an iron mask, also shows a ladder down, which suggests there may be more prisoners)
 * also pictures of prisoners being helped out of a dungeon (a gaoler pointing to even a deeper dungeon beneath)
 * were these images accurate?
 * leading French historian point no
 * attackers were astonished to find so few captives
 * only seven prisoners
 * the meals that the prisoners ate were much better than they would have ever eaten
 * The King Loses Control
 * Louis XVI considered sending his army into Paris to recapture the Bastille
 * war minister warned him that the soldiers would probably refuse orders to do so
 * Louis had to give up control of Paris
 * ordered his army back to its barracks
 * to keep order, he allowed the people in Paris to set up their own military force: the National Guard
 * to run the city, leading officials of the third estate formed a new local government- Paris Commune
 * towns and cities all over France followed the example of Paris
 * rioting crowds attacked town halls, forced out the royal officials, and set up their communes and National Guard units
 * The Great Fear
 * violence then spread into the countryside, where unemployment was high and millions were hungry
 * many thousands of people had left home to seek work or to beg, now wandering around the countryside looking for food
 * farmers lived in fear of gangs of wanderers who stole food from their fields and damaged their farms
 * harvest time approached, rumors spread in the countryside that:
 * nobles were trying to starve the people by hoarding grain
 * nobles were paying the gangs of wanderers to attack farms and terrorize the peasants
 * angry peasants responded to the rumors by refusing to pay their feudal dues
 * in many places, they broke into their lords' homes and burned records of their dues
 * as violence spread, fear of gangs increased
 * villagers who thought they saw gangs rang the church bells to warn neighboring villages
 * the warnings passed from town to town spread panic to many parts of France
 * Late July- the whole country was gripped by a 'Great Fear'.
 * The Assembly Begins its Work
 * the deputies in the National Assembly were scared by the violence of the peasants
 * They took drastic measures to end it
 * Night of 4 August- noble deputies, one by one, announced that they would give up their feudal rights and dues
 * by next morning hunting right, tithes, the corvee, and the rights of the mill and the oven had all been abolished
 * feudalism was dead
 * three weeks later, the Assembly made another important change to French society
 * issued 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen's
 * stated that all men were free and equal in rights
 * said people should have right to speak and write freely
 * changed the laws of arrest and imprisonment
 * banned torture
 * stated that power in France belonged to the entire people, not just the king
 * The Women March to Versailles
 * Louis disliked these decisions of the Assembly
 * he refused to sign them which meant that it could not become law
 * early October- he brought more soldiers to Versailles to add to his bodyguard
 * it looked like again that he was going to break up the Assembly by armed force
 * when news reached Paris, crowds of market women gathered in the streets
 * they marched through the city, collecting weapons
 * 5 October- armed with knives, sticks, rifles and two cannons, they marched to Versailles to protest
 * were supported by National Guardsmen
 * they complained to the king about the high price of bread and about the extra soldiers in Versailles
 * they asked him to leave Versailles and come with them to live in Paris where they could keep an eye on his activities
 * Louis didn't want to go
 * changed his mind when they smashed into his palace, killed two bodyguards and threatened to kill the queen
 * 6 October- Louis, Marie Antoinette and their oldest son travelled in a coach to Paris surrounded by a crowd of 60,000 people
 * The Palace of Versailles was locked and boarded up
 * From then on they lived in the Tuileries Palace in the centre of Paris
 * Reforms of the National Assembly
 * The deputies of the National Assembly followed the royal family to Paris
 * took over an old riding school as a meeting place
 * Over the next two years, the Assembly made many new laws, changing the way France was organized and run
 * **Reforms of the National Assembly**
 * Male tax-payers over 25 years old were given the right to vote
 * All Church land was confiscated so that it could be sold to pay France's debts
 * The Assembly paid off Frances's debts with bank notes call //assignats//: people who were owed money were given //assignats// with which they could buy confiscated church land
 * Local government was re-organized. Local council were elected by citizens
 * Protestants were given the same voting rights as Catholics
 * France was divided into 83 Departments, each run by an elected council
 * Jews were given the same voting rights as everyone else
 * The salt tax (//gabelle//) was abolished
 * Most monasteries and convents were closed down
 * //Assignats// became France's legal currency
 * Noble titles were abolished
 * The Church was reformed: a 'Civil Constitution of the Clergy' said that bishops and priests must be elected by the people and much take an oath of loyalty to France
 * A new system of law courts was created. Judges were to be elected by citizens
 * The //traites// taxes were abolished
 * A tax on land was introduced
 * Trade guilds were abolished
 * The //aides// taxes were abolished
 * The //taille// tax was abolished
 * Black people in French colonies were given the same rights as white people
 * Slavery in France was abolished
 * The Assembly introduced a constitution describing how France would be governed
 * Constitution: a set of rules describing how an organization or a country should be run
 * The Reform of the Church
 * people were divided on the reform of the Church
 * one side of the argument were growing numbers of people who thought the Church had too much power, two much land and two much money, thought that many clergy lived unholy lives
 * other side were millions of God-fearing Catholics who had never questioned the way the Church was run, and who could see no reason to change it
 * when the National Assembly began to take land and money from the Church, many Catholics protested
 * July 1790- protests grew louder when the Assembly drew up a law reducing the power of the Church
 * 'Civil Constitution of the Clergy' stated that the priests and bishops must be elected like other public officials
 * ordered all clergy to take an oath of loyalty to the French nation and the law
 * over half the clergy refused to take this oath
 * said that the Assembly had no right to interfere in Church affairs
 * The Pope supported the protest by condemning the new law
 * the church was divided between who took the oath and who didn't
 * the million of people followed the examples set by their priests
 * the whole entire nation was divided by the question of the Church and its power
 * The Flight to Varennes
 * Louis XVI was deeply unhappy with the Civil Constitution
 * he sided with the priests who refused to take the oath
 * looked again like he opposed the revolution
 * angry crowds protested at the gates of the Tuileries Palace
 * Urged on by members of his court and wife, Louis decided to leave France and get help from French princes who had already left France and had built up armies just across the frontier
 * also hoped for assistance from Marie Antoinette's brother Leopold, the Emperor of Austria
 * to invade France, get rid of the Assembly, and then take back the power that they had lost
 * leaving France was very hard, because the Assembly suspected that Louis might try to escape, there were guards at every door in the Palace
 * Louis and his family had to creep out of the palace in disguise through a temporarily unguarded door
 * a waiting carriage then took them eastwards towards Montmedy
 * They were 50 km from the frontier when they were recognized
 * News of their escape was sent ahead and the local authorities were waiting for them in the little town of Varennes
 * they were arrested and sent back to Paris the next day
 * as they went, crowds shouted insults and spat at the windows
 * The Road to War
 * the flight to Varennes was the first step on a road to war
 * Believing that Louis and Antoinette were in danger, Emperor Leopold issued a statement promising to help them regain their liberty and their power
 * the with the King of Prussia, he called on all European kings to take action to help Louis
 * Leopold privately had no intention of attacking France, his statement was just a show of support for a fellow monarch and for his sister
 * nobody in France new that
 * rumors flew about that foreign armies along with the armies of the French princes would soon invade
 * most people were convinced that war was inevitable
 * far from fearing war, many French people wanted war
 * Louis and his supporters wanted war because they expected the French armies to lose it
 * then Louis could be restored to power
 * People who opposed Louis wanted war because they thought it would force him to show exactly whose side he was on
 * if he took the side of the invaders, they would be then able to de-throne him though an assembly and make France a Republic- a country in which the people hold power through an assembly and a president who they elect

Summary Louis was losing power. The Revolution started, the people took broke into arms stores and stole guns and weapons. The people also took over the Bastille tower and released everyone there. They found out that it wasn't as bad as they had imagined. There were thousands of drawing and paintings of the Bastille and the incident but they were all untrue. Louis had to let go of Paris. Paris created the National Guards and the Paris Commune. Cities and towns followed Paris' example. Rioting people took over the town halls. The violence spread to the countryside. People lived in fear of gangs and wanderers. Rumors of nobles trying to starve people and paying gangs and wanderers to steal farmers' crops and destroy them. People refused to pay the feudal dues. The fear spread throughout France so that France was living under the 'Great Fear'. The Assembly started working and abolished the titles of nobles and issued 'the Declaration of the Rights of the Man and Citizens'. The women marched the Versailles and brought back the Royal family to the center of Paris. There were lots of reforms. The Church reform however divided the country in half. One side wanting the reform, the other side not wanting to since they were Catholics who were afraid of god. Louis wanted to regain his power so he escaped from the Tuileries Palace with his family to try to gather an army from the French princes who left France and to get help from Marie Antoinette's brother, the Emperor of Austria. They were caught and was sent back to Paris. Believing that Louis and Antoinette were in danger, Emperor Leopold issued a statement promising to help them gain their liberty and their power. Emperor Leopold got together all European kings to take action to help Louis. Stared the first step to war, and everyone wanted a war.

Questions Why did Emperor Leopold not have any intention of attacking France? Isn't the Assembly's Reform not official because the King refused to sign and allow it?