Women's Role in the French Revolution
You can find this storyboard in the following articles and resources:
The French Revolution
Lesson Plans by John Gillis
Facilitated by enlightened thinking and the terrible violence in the late 18th century, the French Revolution of 1789 brought major political and social change to France. Learn more with Storyboard That.
Storyboard Description
Women's Role in the French Revolution
Storyboard Text
- WOMEN'S MARCH ON VERSAILLES
- ROLE
- BREAD SHORTAGE / ROYAL FAMILY PLOTTING RUMORS
- MOTIVATION
- The Queen feasts while we starve!!
- KING / QUEEN LEAVE PALACE
- OUTCOME
- Hundreds of women marched the 12 miles from Paris to Versailles in the rain. They hoped to voice their plight to the royal family and demand change.
- DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
- Major bread shortages and rumors of the royal family plotting a counterrevolution pushed working-class women to the brink. Their frustration turned to action.
- OLYMPE DE GOUGES
- Things quickly got out of control at Versailles. The women were joined by men. They broke into the palace and killed two guards. The King and Queen agreed to leave their palace and live in their home in Paris. They would never return to Versailles.
- EXECUTION
- Declaration of the Rights of Woman
- Attention: Let it be known that Marie Gauze is a traitor and an enemy of France and is hereby sentenced to death on November 3, 1793.
- Inspired by the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen promised French men "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity." The problem: it neglected women!
- CHARLOTTE CORDAY - ASSASSINATION OF MARAT
- Writing under the pen-name Olympe De Gouges, Marie Gauze showed how women had been excluded from the promises made in the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" by publishing the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman".
- L'AMI DU PEUPLE
- In 1793, De Gouges was labeled an agitator and an enemy of the Revolution. She was executed for these crimes.
- MURDERED
- Corday did not approve of the intolerant, violent nature of the revolution. Marat published an inflammatory newspaper called "The Friend of the People" which called for people to kill those who were critical of the revolution. Corday gained access to his home and killed him in his bathtub.
- MARIE ANTOINETTE
- Jean-Paul Marat's revolutionary newspaper, L'Ami du Peuple, frequently promoted violence as a way to further the revolution.
- UNINTERESTED IN HUSBAND
- Charlotte Corday helped shut down the newspaper, but was executed by guillotine for the murder of Marat.
- MURDERED
- What a bore!
- Let me tell you about my hunting trip....
- The Queen is a traitor! She must die!
- Marie Antoinette was the unpopular Austrian wife of Louis XVI. Her ever-increasing spending on luxury items earned her the nickname "Madame Deficit."
- Marie Antoinette was from Austria. She was not interested in her husband, Louis XVI, and distracted herself with gambling, parties, and fashion.
- Less than a year after her husband was executed, the unpopular queen was a victim of the guillotine herself.
Image Attributions
- Rebull, La muerte de Marat - Joaquín Martínez Rosado - (License Attribution )
- Versailles 2012 - contemplicity - (License Attribution )
Over 30 Million Storyboards Created