FRENCH REVOLUTION
Prelude to the French Revolution: Monarchy in Crisis
As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution
and extravagant spending by King Louis XVI (1754-1793) and his
predecessor had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy. Not only
were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor cereal
harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had
kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. Many expressed their
desperation and resentment toward a regime that imposed heavy taxes yet
failed to provide relief by rioting, looting and striking.
In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), proposed a financial reform package that included a universal land tax from which the privileged classes would no longer be exempt. To garner support for these measures and forestall a growing aristocratic revolt, the king summoned the Estates-General (“les états généraux”)–an assembly representing France’s clergy, nobility and middle class–for the first time since 1614. The meeting was scheduled for May 5, 1789; in the meantime, delegates of the three estates from each locality would compile lists of grievances (“cahiers de doléances”) to present to the king.
In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), proposed a financial reform package that included a universal land tax from which the privileged classes would no longer be exempt. To garner support for these measures and forestall a growing aristocratic revolt, the king summoned the Estates-General (“les états généraux”)–an assembly representing France’s clergy, nobility and middle class–for the first time since 1614. The meeting was scheduled for May 5, 1789; in the meantime, delegates of the three estates from each locality would compile lists of grievances (“cahiers de doléances”) to present to the king.
The French Revolution at Versailles: Rise of the Third Estate
France’s population had changed considerably since 1614. The
non-aristocratic members of the Third Estate now represented 98 percent
of the people but could still be outvoted by the other two bodies. In
the lead-up to the May 5 meeting, the Third Estate began to mobilize
support for equal representation and the abolishment of the noble
veto–in other words, they wanted voting by head and not by status. While
all of the orders shared a common desire for fiscal and judicial reform
as well as a more representative form of government, the nobles in
particular were loath to give up the privileges they enjoyed under the
traditional system.
By the time the Estates-General convened at Versailles, the highly public debate over its voting process had erupted into hostility between the three orders, eclipsing the original purpose of the meeting and the authority of the man who had convened it. On June 17, with talks over procedure stalled, the Third Estate met alone and formally adopted the title of National Assembly; three days later, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court and took the so-called Tennis Court Oath (“serment du jeu de paume”), vowing not to disperse until constitutional reform had been achieved. Within a week, most of the clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles had joined them, and on June 27 Louis XVI grudgingly absorbed all three orders into the new assembly.
By the time the Estates-General convened at Versailles, the highly public debate over its voting process had erupted into hostility between the three orders, eclipsing the original purpose of the meeting and the authority of the man who had convened it. On June 17, with talks over procedure stalled, the Third Estate met alone and formally adopted the title of National Assembly; three days later, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court and took the so-called Tennis Court Oath (“serment du jeu de paume”), vowing not to disperse until constitutional reform had been achieved. Within a week, most of the clerical deputies and 47 liberal nobles had joined them, and on June 27 Louis XVI grudgingly absorbed all three orders into the new assembly.
The French Revolution Hits the Streets: The Bastille and the Great Fear
On June 12, as the National Assembly (known as the National
Constituent Assembly during its work on a constitution) continued to
meet at Versailles, fear and violence consumed the capital. Though
enthusiastic about the recent breakdown of royal power, Parisians grew
panicked as rumors of an impending military coup began to circulate. A
popular insurgency culminated on July 14 when rioters stormed the
Bastille fortress in an attempt to secure gunpowder and weapons; many
consider this event, now commemorated in France as a national holiday,
as the start of the French Revolution.
The wave of revolutionary fervor and widespread hysteria quickly swept the countryside. Revolting against years of exploitation, peasants looted and burned the homes of tax collectors, landlords and the seigniorial elite. Known as the Great Fear (“la Grande peur”), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from the country and inspired the National Constituent Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789, signing what the historian Georges Lefebvre later called the “death certificate of the old order.”
The wave of revolutionary fervor and widespread hysteria quickly swept the countryside. Revolting against years of exploitation, peasants looted and burned the homes of tax collectors, landlords and the seigniorial elite. Known as the Great Fear (“la Grande peur”), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from the country and inspired the National Constituent Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789, signing what the historian Georges Lefebvre later called the “death certificate of the old order.”
The French Revolution’s Political Culture: Drafting a Constitution
On August 4, the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen (“Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du
citoyen”), a statement of democratic principles grounded in the
philosophical and political ideas of Enlightenment
thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The document
proclaimed the Assembly’s commitment to replace the ancien régime with a
system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular
sovereignty and representative government.
Drafting a formal constitution proved much more of a challenge for the National Constituent Assembly, which had the added burden of functioning as a legislature during harsh economic times. For months, its members wrestled with fundamental questions about the shape and expanse of France’s new political landscape. For instance, who would be responsible for electing delegates? Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or the French government? Perhaps most importantly, how much authority would the king, his public image further weakened after a failed attempt to flee in June 1791, retain? Adopted on September 3, 1791, France’s first written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly, establishing a constitutional monarchy in which the king enjoyed royal veto power and the ability to appoint ministers. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794), Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794) and Georges Danton (1759-1794), who began drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and the trial of Louis XVI.
Drafting a formal constitution proved much more of a challenge for the National Constituent Assembly, which had the added burden of functioning as a legislature during harsh economic times. For months, its members wrestled with fundamental questions about the shape and expanse of France’s new political landscape. For instance, who would be responsible for electing delegates? Would the clergy owe allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church or the French government? Perhaps most importantly, how much authority would the king, his public image further weakened after a failed attempt to flee in June 1791, retain? Adopted on September 3, 1791, France’s first written constitution echoed the more moderate voices in the Assembly, establishing a constitutional monarchy in which the king enjoyed royal veto power and the ability to appoint ministers. This compromise did not sit well with influential radicals like Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794), Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794) and Georges Danton (1759-1794), who began drumming up popular support for a more republican form of government and the trial of Louis XVI.
The French Revolution Turns Radical: Terror and Revolt
In April 1792, the newly elected Legislative Assembly declared war on
Austria and Prussia, where it believed that French émigrés were
building counterrevolutionary alliances; it also hoped to spread its
revolutionary ideals across Europe through warfare. On the domestic
front, meanwhile, the political crisis took a radical turn when a group
of insurgents led by the extremist Jacobins attacked the royal residence
in Paris and arrested the king on August 10, 1792. The following month,
amid a wave of violence in which Parisian insurrectionists massacred
hundreds of accused counterrevolutionaries, the Legislative Assembly was
replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of
the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. On January
21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason
and crimes against the state, to the guillotine; his wife Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) suffered the same fate nine months later.
Following the king’s execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (“la Terreur”), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794. His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses.
Following the king’s execution, war with various European powers and intense divisions within the National Convention ushered the French Revolution into its most violent and turbulent phase. In June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and the eradication of Christianity. They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror (“la Terreur”), a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands. Many of the killings were carried out under orders from Robespierre, who dominated the draconian Committee of Public Safety until his own execution on July 28, 1794. His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses.
The French Revolution Ends: Napoleon’s Rise
On August 22, 1795, the National Convention, composed largely of
Girondins who had survived the Reign of Terror, approved a new
constitution that created France’s first bicameral legislature.
Executive power would lie in the hands of a five-member Directory
(“Directoire”) appointed by parliament. Royalists and Jacobins protested
the new regime but were swiftly silenced by the army, now led by a
young and successful general named Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).
The Directory’s four years in power were riddled with financial crises, popular discontent, inefficiency and, above all, political corruption. By the late 1790s, the directors relied almost entirely on the military to maintain their authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field. On November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch, Bonaparte staged a coup d’état, abolishing the Directory and appointing himself France’s “first consul.” The event marked the end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, in which France would come to dominate much of continental Europe.
The Directory’s four years in power were riddled with financial crises, popular discontent, inefficiency and, above all, political corruption. By the late 1790s, the directors relied almost entirely on the military to maintain their authority and had ceded much of their power to the generals in the field. On November 9, 1799, as frustration with their leadership reached a fever pitch, Bonaparte staged a coup d’état, abolishing the Directory and appointing himself France’s “first consul.” The event marked the end of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, in which France would come to dominate much of continental Europe.
