French Revolution 1787–1799
French Revolution, also called Revolution of 1789, the revolutionary movement that shook France
between 1787 and 1799 and reached its first climax there in 1789. Hence
the conventional term “Revolution of 1789,” denoting the end of the ancien régime in France and serving also to distinguish that event from the later French revolutions of 1830 and 1848.
The execution of Louis XVI in 1793.Album/Prism/Album/SuperStock
Origins of the Revolution
The
French Revolution had general causes common to all the revolutions of
the West at the end of the 18th century and particular causes that
explain why it was by far the most violent and the most universally
significant of these revolutions. The first of the general causes was
the social structure of the West. The feudal regime had been weakened step-by-step and had already disappeared in parts of Europe.
The increasingly numerous and prosperous elite of wealthy
commoners—merchants, manufacturers, and professionals, often called the bourgeoisie—aspired to political power in those countries where it did not already possess it. The peasants, many of whom owned land, had attained an improved standard of living and education
and wanted to get rid of the last vestiges of feudalism so as to
acquire the full rights of landowners and to be free to increase their
holdings. Furthermore, from about 1730, higher standards of living had reduced the mortality
rate among adults considerably. This, together with other factors, had
led to an increase in the population of Europe unprecedented for several
centuries: it doubled between 1715 and 1800. For France, which with 26
million inhabitants in 1789 was the most populated country of Europe,
the problem was most acute.
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France: France, 1715–89
A larger population created a greater demand for food and consumer goods. The discovery of new gold mines in Brazil
had led to a general rise in prices throughout the West from about
1730, indicating a prosperous economic situation. From about 1770, this
trend slackened, and economic crises, provoking alarm and even revolt,
became frequent. Arguments for social reform began to be advanced. The philosophes—intellectuals whose writings inspired these arguments—were certainly influenced by 17th-century theorists such as Descartes, Spinoza and Locke,
but they came to very different conclusions about political, social,
and economic matters. A revolution seemed necessary to apply the ideas
of Montesquieu, Voltaire, or Rousseau. This Enlightenment was spread among the educated classes by the many “societies of thought” that were founded at that time: masonic lodges, agricultural societies, and reading rooms.
Voltaire.Stock Montage/Hulton Archve/Getty Images
It is uncertain,
however, whether revolution would have come without the added presence
of a political crisis. Faced with the heavy expenditure that the wars of
the 18th century entailed, the rulers of Europe sought to raise money
by taxing the nobles and clergy, who in most countries had hitherto been
exempt, To justify this, the rulers likewise invoked the arguments of advanced thinkers by adopting the role of “enlightened despots.” This provoked reaction throughout Europe from the privileged bodies, diets. and estates. In North America this backlash caused the American Revolution, which began with the refusal to pay a tax imposed by the king of Great Britain. Monarchs tried to stop this reaction of the aristocracy, and both rulers and the privileged classes sought allies among the nonprivileged bourgeois and the peasants.
Although
scholarly debate continues about the exact causes of the Revolution,
the following reasons are commonly adduced: (1) the bourgeoisie
resented its exclusion from political power and positions of honour;
(2) the peasants were acutely aware of their situation and were less and
less willing to support the anachronistic and burdensome feudal system;
(3) the philosophes had been read more widely in France than anywhere
else; (4) French participation in the American Revolution had driven the government to the brink of bankruptcy;
(5) France was the most populous country in Europe, and crop failures
in much of the country in 1788, coming on top of a long period of
economic difficulties, compounded existing restlessness; and (6) the French monarchy, no longer seen as divinely ordained, was unable to adapt to the political and societal pressures that were being exerted on it.
