The French Revolution was a social, ideological, political and military event that took place in France in 1789. This revolution is considered one of the most important moments in history. Thus, it is used as a dividing moment between the Modern Age and the Contemporary Age.
The Europe of that time was dominated by absolute monarchies, although with some influence of the Enlightenment. In those political systems there was a clear social division, with the nobility and the clergy at the top, only behind the monarch, and a third estate made up of peasants and the growing bourgeoisie at the bottom of the pyramid. It was precisely the bourgeoisie who led the revolution.
At first, they kept King Louis XVI in his post, albeit with weakened powers. Later, the monarch was executed and the country became a Republic. The revolution ended up affecting the entire continent, with the absolutist monarchies trying to avoid contagion to their countries.
However, his ideals ended up reaching the entire planet, including Latin America. The end of that period is marked by the coup d'état of Napoleon, son of the Revolution. Background The French Revolution began in 1789, with the outbreak of all the social problems of the Old Regime.
Until then, French society had been changing, both in its composition and in its economic relations. The Old Regime Historians call the political, social and economic system prior to the French Revolution the Old Regime. Like most of Europe, France was ruled by an absolute monarchy.
In this type of government, it was the king who accumulated all the power, without limitations. In most cases, monarchs claimed that their right to rule was of divine origin. The king was in charge of dictating the laws, declaring war or peace, creating taxes or disposing of the assets of the subjects.
There was no concept of individual freedom, nor that of conscience or the press. Society The society of the Old Regime was based on rigid estates; below the king were the clergy and the nobility. These classes did not have to pay taxes, in addition to other social and economic privileges.
At the base of the pyramid was the so-called third estate, originally made up of peasants, artisans, and serfs. However, in the time before the revolution another new social class had begun to appear: the bourgeoisie. It included individuals who had achieved a good economic position through their business, trade or industry.
The bourgeoisie was legally within the third estate and therefore did not enjoy any rights. Its components were the ones who led the revolution, seeking to improve their social situation. In fact, the revolutions of the time, not only the French one, are known as “bourgeois revolutions”.
Economy The French economy reflected the social classes. Wealth belonged, especially land, to the nobility and the clergy. In contrast, the third estate had no possessions of its own and was obliged to pay taxes.
The bourgeoisie began to change this situation, as they opened businesses and began to trade. Causes of the French Revolution There were several factors that influenced the French Revolution, both ideological and social, economic and political. The Enlightenment The eighteenth century in Europe was marked by the appearance of the Enlightenment.
The authors of this current were philosophers, political scientists, scientists and economists. His work, especially after 1750, changed the ideological paradigm of the continent and the world. His main contribution was to discuss the existence of a Divine Law of kings.
The enlightened placed reason above any faith and proclaimed aspects such as the equality of all human beings. Social imbalances The social evolution of France in the eighteenth century caused imbalances to occur in rigid structures incapable of adapting to the new times. One of the most important factors was the appearance of the bourgeoisie.
Their economic power did not correspond to the role they could play in the society of the Old Regime. The bourgeois began to question the power of the nobility and the king, as well as the privileges they held. For its part, the peasantry, who lived subject to the exploitation of the lords, was reaching an unbearable point, increasingly exploited and with worse living conditions.
In short, it was an absolutist monarchy with no flexibility to adapt. When he forcibly tried to carry out some reforms, he found an aristocracy clinging to its feudal privileges that prevented any small reform. Economic crisis The bad harvests that occurred in the 1780s, as well as the agricultural crisis, made all economic sectors almost paralyzed.
The situation was especially serious in the countryside and in the city. In the years before the revolution there were riots and popular uprisings caused by poverty and hunger. Triggering factor The reason that triggered the French Revolution was the political crisis that arose after Louis XVI's attempt to improve the appalling financial situation that the kingdom was experiencing.
The French economy was the main problem during the years before the revolution. The expenses produced by their confrontations with Great Britain, as well as the extravagance of the Versailles court, made it essential to take urgent measures. The person in charge of finances, Jacques Necker, proposed some measures to balance the budget.
The rejection of the clergy and the nobles caused his dismissal. Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the new finance minister, tried to launch a fiscal reform. In practice, this meant that the clergy and nobility lost their privileges in that area.
Like Necker, Calonne was also removed. The new minister, Lomenie de Brienne, was totally against the reforms. However, realizing that the finances were going to collapse, he had to resort to Calonne's project.
Nobles and clergy intervened again. On this occasion, they denied the legitimacy of the monarch to eliminate his privileges and requested the convening of the Estates General. Stages of the French Revolution Normally there are two main stages during the Revolution: the monarchical and the republican.
These, in turn, are divided according to the most important events. Estates General of 1789 The Estates General were a kind of legislative body in which the three estates were represented: nobility, clergy and third estate. Although it had been of some importance during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it had not met since 1614.
1,200 deputies participated in this assembly. Of these, 300 belonged to the clergy, another 300 to the nobility and the rest, 600, to the Third Estate. Louis XVI had no choice but to call a meeting of the Estates General.
The chosen date was early May 1789. In addition, Loménie de Brienne tendered her resignation. To replace him, the king called Necker again, who had achieved a certain popularity among the population.
The Third Estate took the initiative and presented some proposals favorable to the people. These were dismissed by the king and the nobility. One of the most important was the request that the vote be by head, since being a majority the people would benefit.
Instead, the clergy and nobility agreed to maintain the vote by order, which favored them. Given this, the Third Estate decided to disobey the king and met on their own. National Assembly (1789) This new body created by the Third Estate received the name of National Assembly.
Its foundation took place on June 17, 1789 and the organizers, despite inviting members of the clergy and aristocracy, made clear their intentions to continue even without them. The king tried to prevent the meetings by closing the rooms where they were meeting. For this reason the participants moved to a nearby building, where the nobility practiced the ball game.
In this new location, the assembly members proceeded to the so-called "Oath of the Ball Game". In that declaration, made on June 20, they promised not to separate until France had a new constitution. The lower clergy and 47 noblemen joined the Assembly.
The monarchy responded by amassing large contingents of military troops. Meanwhile, the Assembly began to receive multiple supports from Paris itself and other French cities. On July 9, the National Constituent Assembly was proclaimed.
Constituent Assembly (1789 – 1791) Louis XVI and his closest circle (some noblemen and his brother the Count D'Artois) decided to dismiss Necker as minister. The people considered this as a kind of self-coup of the royalty and responded by rebelling in the streets. On July 14, one of the most symbolic events of the entire French Revolution took place.
Fearing that the king's troops would stop the assemblymen, the people stormed and took the Bastille fortress, one of the symbols of the monarchy. The revolution spread throughout the country and created new municipalities that only recognized the Constituent Assembly. Violence appeared in much of France, especially directed against the landed nobility.
This agrarian rebellion is known as the Great Fear. For his part, the king had to retreat with his troops, while Lafayette took command of the National Guard and Jean-Silvain Bailly was appointed mayor of Paris. The monarch returned to the capital on July 27 and accepted the tricolor cockade, symbol of the revolution.
Instead, some nobles fled the country and began promoting military action in their host countries. They were called "emigrants". Declaration of the Rights of Man The Assembly began its legislative work on the night of August 4.
Among the new laws were the abolition of personal servitude (feudalism), the abolition of tithes and seigneurial justice, as well as the establishment of equality in the payment of taxes and in access to public office. On August 26, the Assembly promulgated the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Louis XVI tried to flee abroad, but was discovered in Varennes and then arrested and locked up in the Tuileries.
The Legislative Assembly (1791 – 1792) The 1791 Constitution, promulgated by the Assembly, declared France a constitutional monarchy. The king remained in his position, but his powers had been reduced and he only maintained the possibility of veto and the power to choose the ministers. The Assembly was inaugurated on October 1, 1791.
The distribution of its components gave rise to the concepts of political left and right, depending on where the most progressive and the most conservative sat. Likewise, it was the germ of the birth of political parties. The deputies met in clubs, the best known being that of the Jacobins, led by Maximilian de Robespierre.
Even further to the left were the ropemakers, who advocated universal male suffrage and the establishment of a republic. Their leaders were Marat and Danton. Among the most moderate, the Girondins stood out, supporters of the census suffrage and of the constitutional monarchy.
Between both extremes there was a large number of parliamentarians, called the Llano. The Assembly took the lead in the war against the absolutist countries, which soon began to attack the new France. Meanwhile, the monarch was still imprisoned in Las Tuileries.
From there, he conspired against the revolutionaries. First Republic The people stormed the Tuileries Palace on August 10, 1792. That same day the Assembly suspended the functions of the monarch, overthrowing him de facto.
The revolutionary project focused on calling elections to elect a new parliament, which they called the Convention. At that time France was threatened on several fronts. Inside, attempts at counterrevolution, and abroad by European absolutist monarchies.
Given this, the insurrectionary Commune replaced the Assembly as the highest authority of the State. That was maintained until September 20, when the Convention was formed. France became a republic and introduced a new calendar, in which 1792 became the year I.
The Convention (1792-1795) Powers in the new Republic were divided between the Convention, which took over the legislature, and the Committee of National Salvation, responsible for the executive power. The new authorities decreed universal suffrage and sentenced Louis XVI to death. The execution took place in January 1793.
This period led to the Age of Terror. Robespierre, the Jacobin leader, came to power and ordered the arrest and execution of thousands of suspected opponents of the revolution. Among the victims were former revolutionaries such as Marat or Danton, who had been against Robespierre.
Finally, the guillotine also reached Robespierre himself, executed by his enemies in the Convention. The government of terror was made up of three committees: that of public salvation, that of general security, and the revolutionary tribunal. The Directory (1795 – 1799) In the year III (1795) the Convention promulgated a new Constitution.
It created the Directory, a moderate republican government. This government was formed by the executive power, in charge of the Directory of 5 members, and by the legislative power, exercised by two different councils. During that stage the main problem for France came from abroad.
The absolutist powers continued trying to end the republic, although without success. In these conflicts a name began to become very popular in the country: Napoleon Bonaparte. This Corsican soldier took advantage of his military successes for the 18th of Brumaire (November 19, 1788) to stage a coup and establish the Consulate as the new government body.
The Consulate (1799-1804) On December 25, 1799, the Consulate approved a new Constitution. This established an authoritarian regime, with all power in the hands of Napoleon. In that Magna Carta there was no mention of the fundamental rights of citizens.
That date is considered by many historians as the end of the revolution and the beginning of a new stage, in which Napoleon would end up proclaiming himself Emperor (May 18, 1804) and conquer much of Europe. Consequences of the French Revolution Few historical events have had as many consequences as the French Revolution. This represented a before and after in the European situation, by ending the Old Regime and propagating the ideas of the Enlightenment.
New constitution The constitution promulgated by the National Assembly marked the end of the absolute monarchy and feudal structures. In the Magna Carta appeared the principles of constitutional monarchy, with power residing in the people and not in the king by the grace of God. Furthermore, the constitution was one of the pillars for the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
The revolutionary ideals -liberty, equality and fraternity- became those of the most advanced democracies. Broadly speaking, the Declaration of Human Rights affirms the freedom of thought of each individual, as well as the equality of all citizens before the law and the State. Separation between Church and State One of the consequences of the French Revolution was the separation between Church and State.
Its laws established the primacy of the civil over the religious, eliminating privileges and powers to the ecclesiastical authorities. Added to this was the seizure of assets accumulated by the institution, which became the property of the State. Power in the hands of the bourgeoisie An emerging social class managed to displace the aristocracy from positions of power: the bourgeoisie.
Although legally belonging to the Third Estate, the bourgeoisie had acquired considerable economic power thanks to their business and trade. In addition, unlike the peasants, they had access to education, receiving the influence of the Enlightenment. New metric system The revolutionaries came with the intention of changing the whole society, including some theoretically minor aspects.
The calendar did not materialize, but some reforms in the scientific fields that were applied to trade did. In 1799, the French introduced the meter and kilogram standards, later expanding throughout Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte From a historical point of view, the revolution ended with the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, although the figure of the Emperor would not be understood without revolutionary ideals.
Bonaparte established an Empire based on his person, but tried to bring democratic and egalitarian ideals to the rest of the continent through war. His conquests had a great impact, spreading the ideas of nationalism, the Enlightenment and democracy throughout Europe. We are done with this topic.
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