NEA Task 2 - October Days
Storyboard Text
- OCTOBER DAYS
- FRANCE, 1789
- "1789...A YEAR OF SADNESS EVERYWHERE..."
- IT WAS UNCANNILY PROPHETIC. THE SUMMER HAILSTORMS OF JULY 1788 HAD DEVASTATED CROPS ACROSS NORTHERN FRANCE. A BITTERLY COLD WINTER WAS FOLLOWED BY TORRENTIAL RAINS, FLOODING LOWLANDS AND DROWNING LIVESTOCK. THE FRENCH WERE STARVING, FOOD PRICES HAD DOUBLED AND SOCIAL UNREST WAS GROWING BY THE DAY. IT WAS IN THIS ATMOSPHERE THAT JEAN-JACQUE BEGAN HIS DIARY.
- "THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HUNGRY..."
- CRIPPLED BY HEAVY TAXES, THE PEOPLE COULD DO LITTLE TO HELP THEMSELVES. FRANCE’S ECONOMY WAS GROWING AND MODERNISING BUT ITS POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS HAD SCARCELY CHANGED. GOVERNMENT HAD BECOME EXTREMELY COMPLEX AND THE ROYAL AUTHORITY ESTABLISHED BY LOUIS XIV HAD DWINDLED. WITH A NATIONAL DEBT OF 12 BILLION LIRES THE GOVERNMENT WAS RAPIDLY APPROACHING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BUT LOUIS XVI REFUSED TO EXTEND TAXATION
- "TAX THE THIRD ESTATE ONLY"
- "INDEED WE HAVE EARNED OUR PRIVILEGES"
- THE PEOPLE BEGIN TO RIOT
- LIBERTIE!
- EGALITIE!
- LIBERTIE!
- EGALITIE!
- FRATERNITIE!
- LIBERTIE!
- EGALITIE!
- 24TH JANUARY 1789...
- "HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! A SUMMONS FROM THE KING..."
- “...APRIL 5th...THE CRIES OF LIBERTIE! EGALITIE! FRATERNITIE!; FIRST WHISPERS; NOW ECHO ACROSS THE VILLAGE. DAILY UNREST IS GROWING…THE PEOPLE ARE SENDING OUT A CALL FOR REVOLUTION. IT IS LEFT TO THE KING TO ANSWER…”
- FRATERNITIE!
- "...WE HAVE NEED OF A CONCOURSE OF OUR FAITHFUL SUBJECTS TO ASSIST US IN SURMOUNTING THE GREAT DIFFICULTIES WE HAVE SURROUNDING OUR FINANCES…WE ARE RESOLVED TO ADDRESS THE GRIEVANCES OF OUR PEOPLE TO ESTABLISH A FIXED AND DURABLE ORDER AND BRING PROSPERITY TO ALL..."
- FOR JEAN-JACQUE...
- “…THE LETTRE DU ROI* SEES A HISTORIC MOMENT; THE FIRST IN THIS LIFETIME THAT THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO THE KING... THE MONARCHY IS IN A WEAKENED STATE, SUBJECT TO THE DEMANDS OF ITS PEOPLE. PERHAPS NOW ONES DREAM OF LIBERTIE MAY BE FULFILLED…”
- THE ESTATES-GENERAL MEET AT VERSAILLES. THE THIRD ESTATE PRESENT THE CAHIERS DE DOLEANCES** TO THE KING
- MAY 1789...
- WE ASK FOR THE LEVY OF OUR TAXES...
- FOR FREEDOM...
- ...A MORE REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT
- FOR EQUALITY...
- "ENOUGH!"
- ...AND, IN ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC SCENES OF THE REBELLION, PLEDGE NOT TO RETURN HOME UNTIL FRANCE RECIEVES ITS CONSTITUTION.
- LOCKED OUT OF VERSAILLES, ANGRY MEMBERS OF THE THIRD ESTATE, INCLUDING JEAN-JACQUE, MEET IN A NEARBY TENNIS COURT...
- "THE THREE ESTATES CANNOT BE RECONCILED..."
- "THE ANCIEN REGIME* REMAINS"
- THE 'TENNIS COURT OATH' MARKED THE FORMATION OF FRANCE'S FIRST 'NATIONAL ASSEMBLY'
- FOR JEAN-JACQUE...
- "...A BETRAYAL. THE KING HAS REFUSED OUR PROPOSAL AND HENCEFORTH THE STAGE FOR REVOLUTION IS SET...THE THIRD ESTATE, TODAY NOTHING IN OUR POLITICAL ORDER, DEMANDS TO BECOME SOMETHING. THE END OF OUR TYRANNY IS OVER??? ETC..."
Image Attributions
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