What caused the French Revolution? - Tom Mullaney
-
0:07 - 0:11What rights do people have,
and where do they come from? -
0:11 - 0:14Who gets to make decisions for others
and on what authority? -
0:14 - 0:19And how can we organize society
to meet people's needs? -
0:19 - 0:22These questions challenged
an entire nation -
0:22 - 0:25during the upheaval
of the French Revolution. -
0:25 - 0:27By the end of the 18th century,
-
0:27 - 0:31Europe had undergone a profound
intellectual and cultural shift -
0:31 - 0:34known as the Enlightenment.
-
0:34 - 0:37Philosophers and artists promoted
reason and human freedom -
0:37 - 0:40over tradition and religion.
-
0:40 - 0:43The rise of a middle class
and printed materials -
0:43 - 0:45encouraged political awareness,
-
0:45 - 0:49and the American Revolution had turned
a former English colony -
0:49 - 0:51into an independent republic.
-
0:51 - 0:55Yet France, one of the largest and richest
countries in Europe -
0:55 - 1:00was still governed by an ancient regime
of three rigid social classes -
1:00 - 1:02called Estates.
-
1:02 - 1:07The monarch King Louis XVI
based his authority on divine right -
1:07 - 1:11and granted special privileges
to the First and Second Estates, -
1:11 - 1:14the Catholic clergy, and the nobles.
-
1:14 - 1:17The Third Estate, middle class merchants
and craftsmen, -
1:17 - 1:21as well as over 20 million peasants,
had far less power -
1:21 - 1:24and they were the only ones
who paid taxes, -
1:24 - 1:29not just to the king,
but to the other Estates as well. -
1:29 - 1:30In bad harvest years,
-
1:30 - 1:33taxation could leave peasants
with almost nothing -
1:33 - 1:39while the king and nobles lived lavishly
on their extracted wealth. -
1:39 - 1:43But as France sank into debt due to
its support of the American Revolution -
1:43 - 1:46and its long-running war with England,
-
1:46 - 1:48change was needed.
-
1:48 - 1:51King Louis appointed
finance minister Jacques Necker, -
1:51 - 1:52who pushed for tax reforms
-
1:52 - 1:57and won public support by openly
publishing the government's finances. -
1:57 - 2:01But the king's advisors
strongly opposed these initiatives. -
2:01 - 2:05Desperate for a solution, the king called
a meeting of the Estates-General, -
2:05 - 2:08an assembly of representatives
from the Three Estates, -
2:08 - 2:12for the first time in 175 years.
-
2:12 - 2:17Although the Third Estate represented
98% of the French population, -
2:17 - 2:20its vote was equal to each
of the other Estates. -
2:20 - 2:25And unsurprisingly, both of the upper
classes favored keeping their privileges. -
2:25 - 2:28Realizing they couldn't
get fair representation, -
2:28 - 2:30the Third Estate broke off,
-
2:30 - 2:32declared themselves
the National Assembly, -
2:32 - 2:38and pledged to draft a new constitution
with or without the other Estates. -
2:38 - 2:40King Louis ordered the First
and Second Estates -
2:40 - 2:42to meet with the National Assembly,
-
2:42 - 2:46but he also dismissed Necker,
his popular finance minister. -
2:46 - 2:49In response, thousands
of outraged Parisians -
2:49 - 2:53joined with sympathetic soldiers
to storm the Bastille prison, -
2:53 - 2:57a symbol of royal power
and a large storehouse of weapons. -
2:57 - 3:00The Revolution had begun.
-
3:00 - 3:02As rebellion spread
throughout the country, -
3:02 - 3:05the feudal system was abolished.
-
3:05 - 3:08The Assembly's Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen -
3:08 - 3:11proclaimed a radical idea for the time --
-
3:11 - 3:16that individual rights and freedoms
were fundamental to human nature -
3:16 - 3:19and government existed
only to protect them. -
3:19 - 3:23Their privileges gone,
many nobles fled abroad, -
3:23 - 3:27begging foreign rulers to invade France
and restore order. -
3:27 - 3:31And while Louis remained as the figurehead
of the constitutional monarchy, -
3:31 - 3:33he feared for his future.
-
3:33 - 3:37In 1791, he tried to flee the country
but was caught. -
3:37 - 3:41The attempted escape shattered
people's faith in the king. -
3:41 - 3:45The royal family was arrested
and the king charged with treason. -
3:45 - 3:47After a trial,
-
3:47 - 3:50the once-revered king
was publicly beheaded, -
3:50 - 3:53signaling the end of one thousand
years of monarchy -
3:53 - 3:59and finalizing the September 21st
declaration of the first French republic, -
3:59 - 4:03governed by the motto
"liberté, égalité, fraternité." -
4:03 - 4:05Nine months later,
-
4:05 - 4:06Queen Marie Antoinette,
-
4:06 - 4:09a foreigner long-mocked
as "Madame Déficit" -
4:09 - 4:11for her extravagant reputation,
-
4:11 - 4:13was executed as well.
-
4:13 - 4:16But the Revolution would not end there.
-
4:16 - 4:19Some leaders, not content
with just changing the government, -
4:19 - 4:23sought to completely transform
French society -- -
4:23 - 4:25its religion,
its street names, -
4:25 - 4:26even its calendar.
-
4:26 - 4:28As multiple factions formed,
-
4:28 - 4:33the extremist Jacobins
lead by Maximilien Robespierre -
4:33 - 4:35launched a Reign of Terror
-
4:35 - 4:37to suppress the slightest dissent,
-
4:37 - 4:39executing over 20,000 people
-
4:39 - 4:42before the Jacobin's own downfall.
-
4:42 - 4:46Meanwhile, France found itself
at war with neighboring monarchs -
4:46 - 4:49seeking to strangle the Revolution
before it spread. -
4:50 - 4:54Amidst the chaos, a general named
Napoleon Bonaparte took charge, -
4:54 - 4:59becoming Emperor as he claimed to defend
the Revolution's democratic values. -
4:59 - 5:03All in all, the Revolution
saw three constitutions -
5:03 - 5:06and five governments within ten years,
-
5:06 - 5:10followed by decades
alternating between monarchy and revolt -
5:10 - 5:12before the next Republic formed in 1871.
-
5:13 - 5:16And while we celebrate
the French Revolution's ideals, -
5:16 - 5:19we still struggle with many
of the same basic questions -
5:19 - 5:21raised over two centuries ago.
- Title:
- What caused the French Revolution? - Tom Mullaney
- Description:
-
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-caused-the-french-revolution-tom-mullaney
What rights do people have, and where do they come from? Who gets to make decisions for others, and on what authority? And how can we organize society to meet people’s needs? Tom Mullaney shows how these questions challenged an entire nation during the upheaval of the French Revolution.
Lesson by Tom Mullaney, animation by Sashko Danylenko.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:33
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for What caused the French Revolution? - Tom Mullaney | ||
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Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for What caused the French Revolution? - Tom Mullaney | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for What caused the French Revolution? - Tom Mullaney | ||
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 12/2/2016. 10 subtitles were altered, between 03:45 and 04:11, to reflect changes in the video. The subsequent subtitles were retimed and synchronized with the rest of the video (with no content changes).