Bonjour! Today we started by going over some current events.
Then, we reviewed our TEST from last week. Finally, we began the story of the French Revolution. See the slides below to follow the process leading up to the French Revolution:
First, we looked at this famous painting called "Liberty Leading the People"
There are several hidden symbols in this painting... can you find them? When looking for the "hidden symbols," try to see if you can see what the artist was trying to tell you what the French Revolution was all about... Who are the people fighting this revolution? Who are they fighting against? Why would Lady Liberty bare her chest? Why is she a woman? Who is the guy in the top hat?
(For those symbols, scroll down to the bottom of today's blog!)
So, what problems did the French people have???
First of all, 97% of French people were DIRT POOR. But what about their King & Queen? Below, you will meet King Louis XVI and his Austrian wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The French people hated King Louis because he was kinda nerdy and could never make a decision for the country on his own.
But Marie Antoinette was the most hated. They called her "Madame Deficit" because she spent so much money on ridiculous stuff. Some of the things in the slide are her favorite necklace, which in today's money cost her around $1 billion, making it the most expensive necklace in the world. Also, you can see her "peasant cottage" that she had built as a vacation house because she thought the peasants of France lived in the "cutest little houses." ...Imagine what the poor French people thought about that...!
The people of France had another BIGGER problem than Marie Antoinette... They were so poor that they pretty much could only afford flour to make bread. Things like milk and eggs and meat were wayyyyyy too expensive for most people to buy only a few special times a year. See the diagram below of the price of bread BEFORE the revolution and then the price jump on the morning the revolution started...
Here was another problem... The Estates General
The Estates General was similar to a parliament because it allowed all the people in France to have a vote... BUT LOOK CLOSELY!!!! The poor people of France had more votes, but they were still angry!
Can you do the math and tell why they were mad???
(By the way, CLERGY means priests.)
And FINALLY, we have some IDEAS!
Many Enlightenment Philosophes lived in Paris at this time and were pushing the French people to "see" their situation and start a revolution. See what Voltaire tells the French below and see if you can tell what he is trying to tell them...
Hidden Symbols in "Liberty Leading the People"
- Poor people in the background
- Bourgeoisie guy in top hat helping lead the poor
- Trampling of the rich/powerful (you can tell by the clothing)
- Kid with guns symbolizes chaos
- Revolution flag red/white/blue
- Liberty herself is a poor (barefoot) woman symbolizing total reversal of social order
- Baring her chest as symbol of freedom and breaking with "old ways"
