Beginning of the French Revolution Roller Coaster

Task: To use the analogy of a roller coaster to help explain how the events leading up to the French Revolution might affect the
people of France
Steps:
1. Get into groups of four as chosen by your teacher.
2. Choose a large piece of Bristol Board for your roller coaster.
3. Cut out all of the events. Make sure that the date is on each.
4. For each event, try to decide if it increases public tension, or decreases public tension.
5. Organize the events as a roller coaster. Remember that events that increase tension will be placed higher on the roller coaster
than the previous event while those that decrease tension will be lower. the amount of height difference will be up to you.
6. When done, answer the questions on the next page.

Questions
1. In your opinion. which three events had the largest effect on the mood of the public. Please explain why you chose each event.





2. In literature, the highest amount of tension in a story is called the climax. what is the climax of this story? Why/why not?





3. Although the nancial crisis of the ancien rgime (old government) was the immediate spark that set off the French Revolution,
which broader factors within France may have contributed to the Revolution?





4. To what extent was the French nobility responsible for the crisis that destroyed the ancien rgime?





5. Which event started the French Revolution? Why do you say so?




6. What did the fall of Bastille signify?
Events
1774
May 10: Louis XVI, age nineteen, ascends to the throne as the state nears bankruptcy.
Summer: Poor grain harvests for the second year in a row raise the price of bread by winter.

1775
April 18: The well-organized bread riots known as the Flour War begin in Dijon and spread.
May 2-3: Flour War rebels demonstrate in front of the Versailles palace.
May 11: By a combination of repressive measures and aid, Turgot puts down most of the bread riots.

1776
January: Turgot presents his Six Edicts calling for the abolition of privilege and the taxation of all social classes.
May 12: Turgot is dismissed after having made powerful enemies with his edicts and other policies.

1781
February: Director-General of the nances Necker publishes a book explaining government nances in a way that, for the rst
time, generates public interest in the subject and leads to a public clash and impasse

1783
November 3: Charles Alexandre de Calonne is appointed to replace Necker, who has been forced out.

1785
October: Calonne, failing to end the nancial crisis with credit and loans, attempts monetary reforms, including a new tax code

1787
April 8: Louis dismisses Calonne in an attempt to break the impasse.
May 25: The rst Assembly of Notables is dissolved.
June: Brienne sends edicts for tax reform legislation to the parlements for registration, which are rejected.
August 6: Legislation is passed at a lit de justice. Subsequently the parlement declares the legistration illegal. Supported by
public opinion, it initiates criminal proceedings against the disgraced Calonne.
August 15: Louis dismisses the Parisian parlement and orders the parlementaires to remove themselves to Troyes.
August 19: Louis orders the closure of all political clubs in Paris.
November 19: A royal session of the Paris parlements for registration of new loans turns into an informal lit de justice when Louis
doesn't allow a vote to be taken.

1788
May 6: Orders for the arrest of two Parisian parlementaireswho are most implacably opposed to the government reforms, are
issued
June 7: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble - a meeting called to assemble a parlement in deance of government order put down by
soldiers.
June: Outcry over the enforced reforms ensues, and courts across France refuse to sit
July 20: Meeting of the Estates of Dauphin, known as the Assembly of Vizille and led by Jean Joseph Mounier, to elect deputies
to the Estates-General, adopts measures to increase the inuence of the Third Estate.
August 8: After being informed that the royal treasury is empty, Brienne sets May 1, 1789 as the date for the Estates-General in
an attempt to restore condence with his creditors
August 16: Repayments on government loans stop, and the French government effectively declares bankruptcy
August 25: Brienne resigns as Minister of Finance, and is replaced by the favored choice of the Third Estate, Jacques Necker
September: Necker releases those arrested for criticising Brienne's ministry
December 12: The second Assembly of Notables is dismissed, having rmly refused to consider doubling the representation of
the Third Estate
December 27: Necker announces that the representation of the Third Estate will be doubled, and that nobles and clergymen will
be able to stand for the same cause.

1789
April 28 - The Rveillon Riots in Paris, caused by low wages and food shortages, lead to about 25 deaths by troops.
May 5: Meeting of the Estates-General - voting to be by Estate, not by head
May 28: The Third Estate (Tiers Etat) begins to meet on its own, calling themselves "communes" (commons)
June 13: Some priests from the First Estate choose to join the Third Estate
June 17: The Third Estate (commons) declares itself to be the National Assembly
June 20: Third Estate/National Assembly are locked out of meeting houses; the Third Estate chooses to continue thinking King
Louis XVI has locked them out and decides upon a declarative vow, known as the "serment au Jeu de Paume" (The Tennis Court
Oath), not to dissolve until the constitution has been established
June 23: Two companies of French guards mutiny in the face of public unrest. Louis XVI holds a Sance Royale, puts forward his
35-point program aimed at allowing the continuation of the three estates.
June 24: 48 nobles, headed by the Duke of Orlans, side with the Third Estate. A signicant number of the clergy follow their
example.
June 27: Louis recognises the validity of the National Assembly, and orders the First and Second Estates to join the Third.
June 30: Large crowd storms left bank prison and frees mutinous French Guards
July 1: Louis recruits more troops, among them many foreign mercenaries
July 11: Necker dismissed by Louis; populace sack the monasteries, ransack aristocrats' homes in search of food and weapons