March on Versailles

(noun)

A march began during the French Revolution among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of October 5, 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a crowd of thousands. Encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles.

Related Terms

Examples of March on Versailles in the following topics:

  • The March on Versailles

  • French Architecture in the Baroque Period: Versailles

    • These three artists had worked together previously on the private Chateau Vaux le Vicomte for the king's minister of finance before he was imprisoned.
    • The Hall of Mirrors is the central gallery of the Palace of Versailles and is one of the most famous rooms in the world.
    • The landscape design at the Palace of Versailles is one of the most extravagant in history.
    • King Louis XIV ordered the construction of "little Venice" on the Grand Canal, which housed yachts, gondolas, and gondoliers received from Venice.
    • Identify the most impressive features of Versailles and those artistically responsible

  • The Fight for the Treaty

    • The key point of disagreement was whether the League of Nations, one of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, would diminish the power of Congress to declare war.
    • The Senate was divided on a number of issues regarding the Versailles question.
    • One block of Democrats strongly supported the Treaty of Versailles.
    • The Treaty of Versailles was never ratified by the U.S.
    • Discuss Wilson's attempts to rally the nation in support of the Treaty of Versailles.

  • Territory and Reparations

    • The Treaty of Versailles resulted in territorial changes around the world and required Germany to pay reparations for war damage.
    • A number of territorial changes were made under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles .
    • A strategically important port on the Baltic Sea was separated from Germany.
    • The Treaty of Versailles declared that Germany was responsible for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France, parts of Belgium, and parts of Italy.
    • Summarize the territorial changes and reparations laid out in the Treaty of Versailles.

  • Wilson's Fourteen Points

    • The decree led to the March 3, 1918, signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, under which Russia immediately withdrew from the war.
    • The Fourteen Points were accepted by France and Italy on November 1, 1918.
    • President Wilson became sick at the onset of the Paris Peace Conference, which began on January 18, 1919 at the Palace of Versailles approximately 12 miles from Paris.
    • The Treaty of Versailles had little to do with the Fourteen Points and was never ratified by the U.S.
    • Georges Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) served as the Prime Minister of France and was one of the principal architects of the Treaty of Versailles.

  • Isolationism

    • President Thomas Jefferson extended Washington's ideas in his March 4, 1801 inaugural address: "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none. " Jefferson's phrase "entangling alliances" is, incidentally, sometimes incorrectly attributed to Washington.
    • Congress refused to endorse the Treaty of Versailles or the League of Nations.
    • First, the United States Congress rejected president Woodrow Wilson's most cherished condition of the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations.
    • Many Americans felt that they did not need the rest of the world, and that they were fine making decisions concerning peace on their own.
    • With military victory came the spoils of war –a very draconian pummeling of Germany into submission, via the Treaty of Versailles.

  • Wilson's Loss at Home

    • Senate after the election of 1918, but the Senators were divided into multiple positions on the Versailles question .
    • One block of Democrats strongly supported the Versailles Treaty, even with reservations added by Lodge.
    • A poll of historians in 2006 cited Wilson's failure to compromise with the Republicans on U.S. entry into the League as one of the 10 largest errors on the part of an American president.
    • It was signed into law by Harding on July 21, 1921.
    • Identify why the United States Senate was reluctant to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

  • The Wilson Administration

    • Narrowly re-elected in 1916, Wilson's second term beginning in 1917 focused –domestically and in foreign policy – on issues related to World War I.
    • Wilson focused on wartime diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the details of battle primarily in the hands of the Army.
    • He attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to help create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on establishing new nations from the remains of defunct empires.
    • Yet the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the U.S. never joined the League, with the Republicans winning in a landslide in 1920 mainly by denouncing Wilson's policies.
    • On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson took the oath of office in Washington, D.C., for his first term as President.

  • The Aftermath of Saratoga

    • On December 4, 1777, word reached Benjamin Franklin at Versailles that British General John Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga.
    • The Treaty of Alliance was signed on February 6, 1778, and after learning of the treaty, England declared war on France on March 17.
    • General Burgoyne returned to England on parole in May 1778, where he spent the next two years defending his actions in Parliament and to the press.
    • These terms were brought to the Second Continental Congress by the Carlisle Peace Commission in June 1778 and immediately rejected on the grounds that the British were unwilling to recognize the independence of the states.
    • General George Washington’s army shadowed Clinton’s, and Washington successfully forced a battle at Monmouth Courthouse on June 28, the last major battle to take place in the North during the Revolutionary War.

  • France and Spain in the Revolutionary War

    • France formally recognized the United States on February 6, 1778, with the Treaty of Alliance.
    • As a result, Britain declared war on France on March 17, 1778.
    • On April 12, 1779, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Aranjuez.
    • In July 1781, Rochambeau's force left Rhode Island, marching across Connecticut to join Washington on the Hudson River at Dobbs Ferry, New York.
    • In mid-August 1781, Washington and Rochambeau led the Celebrated March of combined Franco-American forces towards Virginia and the siege of Yorktown.