Difference between revisions of "French Revolution"
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==The Great Fear== | ==The Great Fear== | ||
| − | The [[Great Fear]] or panic resulted | + | During the week following the storming of the Bastille, news of events spread to teh rest of France. This led to a panic as to what the response of the nobility would be to the events, The [[Great Fear]] or panic resulted. Many villages defended themselves against imaginary threats by forming peasents militias riots occurred and peasants proceeded to burn wealthy homes. |
| − | + | The rural uprising prompted the National Assembly to pass a motion to 'destry the [[feudal]] regime entirely', on the 4th August. However, in order to relase himself a peasent would have to pay twenty times his annual rent to the landlord, making the measure ineffectual. | |
| − | Unlike the American declaration that “all men are created equal,” the French version declared that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Unlike the American declaration that all men have inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the French version declared that all men have natural rights of “liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.” Some of the French declarations seem silly, like this one: “Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.” | + | ==Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen== |
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| + | The Assembly also passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on the 4th August. This annuled the right of nobles to demand taxes, tithes and labor from peasents working on their family land. The declaration was inspired by teh American Revolution and was partially written by LaFayette. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Unlike the American declaration that “all men are created equal,” the French version declared that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Unlike the American declaration that all men have inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the French version declared that all men have natural rights of “liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.” Some of the French declarations seem silly, like this one: “Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.” | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | [[Louis XVI]] and his wife, [[Marie Antoinette]], were forced from their home in Versailles by a riot of women over the high price of bread. Supposedly the snobby Antoinette responded unsympathetically to the lack of bread for the peasants by declaring, “Let them eat cake!” Historians doubt she ever actually said that. | ||
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| + | By then the French Revolution was in full swing. | ||
In 1791, a French journalist named [[Olympe de Gouges]] proposed a “[[Declaration of the Rights of Woman]],” but the National Assembly rejected her proposal. She, like many other leaders of that time, was eventually executed by guillotine. | In 1791, a French journalist named [[Olympe de Gouges]] proposed a “[[Declaration of the Rights of Woman]],” but the National Assembly rejected her proposal. She, like many other leaders of that time, was eventually executed by guillotine. | ||
Revision as of 19:09, May 27, 2007
The French Revolution is one of the most famous revolutions in all of history. It started out with hope and promise, but then there was a "Reign of Terror", a chaos wherein anyone could be killed at any time. At least 18,000 people were executed on the Guillotine.
Before the Revolution, France had three levels in its social system: The First, Second, and Third Estates. The First Estate was about 1% of the population, but it controlled 10% of the land. The First Estate consisted of the clergy, and they did not pay any taxes. The Second Estate was about 2% of the population and they controlled 20% of the land. These were the nobility, and they too payed very little taxes. The Third Estate was everyone else, and they were badly overtaxed by the monarch. This overtaxing was a major cause of the French Revolution. Interestingly, taxes also helped to spark the American Revolution.
The leaders of the Third Estate were the middle class, called the bourgeoisie. They were educated in the ideas of the Enlightenment, most importantly Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau's book, "The Social Contract" supported a direct democracy, rather that the republican government that had been adopted in America. The social contract spoke against titles for nobility and demanded complete equality for all people. These ideas later inspired communist writers like Karl Marx.
Contents
Chronology of the French Revolution
In 1785 a drought led to the poorest harvest in France for many years. Realizing the need to increase taxes, the King imposed measures such as building a wall around Paris to act as a customs post. In 1787 he called a meeting of 144 leading nobles to attempt to persuade them to pay tax in return for increased powers. The nobles refused his requests and were supported by the local authority in Paris (the parlment).
The King withdrew his demands at this challenge to his authority, which was greeted by thousands taking to the street to celebrate. When troops were ordered to "Get some lead into the bastards' backsides", they fired into the air instead. In hindsight this can be seen as the start of dissent. It is notable that the initiators of this unrest were the upper classes, who had little reason to think there was any thirst for revolution. In April 1787, Calonne resigned in disgrace and the middle classes, strengthened by the protests, began to demand an Estates-Generale, a Parliament in which they would be represented.
1789 - Year of Revolution
With growing unrest and France was near bankruptcy, the King agreed to call the Estates-Generale in May 1789. The Estate-Generale was divided into the three estates, with the first two estates (nobility and clergy) electing their representatives. The third estate representation required a series of elections in which all property owners over the age of twenty-five were eligible to take part. The elected a group of electors, who in turn chose delegates. The delegates themselves were overwhelmingly middle class, including the young lawyer Maximilien Robespierre. Furthermore, the Third Estate was required to produce a list of grievences.
Between 25,000 and 60,000 documents were filed with grievences. Thousands demanded a constitution, reorganization of the clergy, lessening of the tax burden and an end to Royal waste. Few of these demands could be resolved without challenging the basis of Absolute Monarchy. However, not one of these document has been found to advocate abolition of the monarchy, with the large majority requesting moderate reform and many including expression of adoration towards the King.
The Estates-General had not met in 175 years and retain many of the former characteristics. Each Estate had one vote in the Assembly, such that the First and Second Estates could always outvote the Third Estate. That was acceptable in the early 1600s, but the Third Estate would not allow this in 1789 after learning the Enlightenment ideas. By this time the alliance between the nobility and the third estate has broken down, the nobles may have called a march, but they drew the line at burning down tax offices. The Third Estate wanted a system of one vote per delegate, which would have given the Third Estate the same number of votes as the First and Second Estate combined.
The opening of the Esates-Generale did not bode well. The openingin session was in an open coach house, which meant that the Third Esate struggled to hear the proceedings as they were on wooden benches at the far end of the room. Upon the entry of the King, the first and second estates were expected to remove their hats and sit down after the King, before replacing their hats. The Third Estate were expected to remain standing until after the first and second estates had replaced their hats, however, they chose to sit at the same time as the first and second estates. The First Estate were to ear glittering robes, the second estate were to ear silk coats, whilst the third estate were required to wear black coats. There was no question at this point of rudeness towards the King himself, and at this point none of the delegates (including Robespierre) was a republican in their beliefs. There then followed a speech by Necker on possible solutions to the economic crisis, that was of such length and dullness that Necker had to pass it on to a delegate to complete.
The Third Estate began to win votes in the Estates-Generale by attracting poorer clergy to their side. In an attempt to reassert his control, announded on 14 June that Estates-Generale was postponed. However, new of the postponement did not reach the delegates of the Third Estate, who arrived on the 20 June to find the room locked.
Following a period of confusion, Dr Guillotin (one of the Third Estate delegates) suggested it migh tbe possible to convene at a nearby indoor tennis court and the group of over 500 delegate proceeded to meet at the court. The session was chaired by Bailly (a celebrity astronomer) and Mirabeau propsed that the delegation should not break up until a consitituion was passed, which was opposed by only one delegate (Martin d'Auch). In effect the delegates had declared thenselves the Government of France, pending a consitution to be organized by Mirabeau.
The National Assembly approved the “Declaration of the Rights of Man,” which combined ideas of the American Declaration of Independence with some Enlightenment concepts. The result of this combination had many debatable claims. The entire document is short and worth reading in full: [1] .
The King responded by ordering the delegate to disperse, however this had little effect. The following week the King sent a messenger, the Marquis de Breze, to order the finishing of the session. Mirabeau ordered the messenger to leave.
In the last week of June the royal Government ordered 20,000 troops to march on Paris. It became apparent that compromise was not. This was emphaisized with the replacement of Necker by the hard line Baron de Breteuil. Thousands took to the street to demand the reinstatement of Necker, possibly one of the most boring men in history to have ever prompted such a reaction. Mirabeau spoke to teh assembly, invoking the oath taken at the tennis court. Camille Desmoulins had ridden ot Versailles to report on events and galloped back to Paris to report on the relacement of Necker.
Crowds marched to Abbaye prison to demand the release the soliers who had been arrested for not firing on crowds. Troops were offered drinks by the crowd if they shouted 'Viva le tiers-etat'. Dummies of Necker and Duc d'Orleans were stolen to be paraded as heros.
The deputies were now faced with a dilema, requiring a mass movement for defence of the National Assembly, but fearing crowds getting out of control. Militia were therefore establihed, that excluded all unemployed and vagrants, and many districts demanded emplyers' references before admission. Admission varied enormously across districts, with 1,200 being recruited in Le Petit-St-Antoine, but Les Minimes mustering four.
Storming of the Bastille
With the militia formed to repel the royal troops, there was an urgent need for weapons. The royalist Swiss Guards had stored 30,000 pounds to the Bastille, to be used against the National Assembly. On the morning of July 14, 1789 (“Bastille Day”), a crowd of about a thousand people made up predominantely of small tradesmenarrived at the prison to demand the gun powder be handed over. The prison Governor invited a delegation in for breakfast, which procedded for three and a half hours. Meanwhile, rumours cicrulated that royalist troops were commiting atrocities across Paris.
A demonstrator outside the Bastille realized he would be able to get to the chains of the drawbridge by climbing from a nearby perfume shop. At this point the prison Governor, De Launay, broke off negotiations and late in the afternoon cannon shots were aimed at the crowd. Two companies of French Guards were persuaded to the Bastille to the defend protesters being killed by cannon fire.
A Swiss Guard handed over the keys to the second drawbridge, leadning ot a moat. A clerk from a pawn office visited a carpenter and returned with eleven pieces of wood, one of which was able to span the moat. Once inside, seven prisoners were freed, though contary to what is widely though, this did not include the Marquis de Sade (he had been moved as he had shouting at passers by through a pipe he had been given to urinate through. This took time however, as the keys to release the cells were the same as the keys to open the first draw bridge and the man with the keys had gone home.
In total six defenders of the Bastille were killed, including De launay, and ninety protestors.
The aftermath was one of euphoria throughout much of Paris. Much of the nobility proclaimed support for the act, realizing that it was not healthy to oppose public opimion on the matter. Louis XVI recalled Necker to his job and agreed to recognise the National Assembly, which included the Third Estate delegates, poorer clergy and nobility sympathetic to the Third Estate cause. Lafayette was appointed head of the police and the army, which was to be known as teh National Guard. Bailly became the Mayor of Paris.
The King agreed to come to Paris and accept the gift of a cockade that had become a symbol of the revolution, which the king fastened to his hat, whilst the crowd cheered "Vive le Roi!". Whilst the significane of the day was evident, that it would produce a republic was far from clear. The plan of the King to take Paris with 20,000 troops had failed, but he was able to satisfy the populace that it was not intended and a peaceful resolution was reached. The changes that had so far occured in a brief period of time were so dramatice that the thought that things could change further was difficult to concieve.
The Great Fear
During the week following the storming of the Bastille, news of events spread to teh rest of France. This led to a panic as to what the response of the nobility would be to the events, The Great Fear or panic resulted. Many villages defended themselves against imaginary threats by forming peasents militias riots occurred and peasants proceeded to burn wealthy homes.
The rural uprising prompted the National Assembly to pass a motion to 'destry the feudal regime entirely', on the 4th August. However, in order to relase himself a peasent would have to pay twenty times his annual rent to the landlord, making the measure ineffectual.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Assembly also passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on the 4th August. This annuled the right of nobles to demand taxes, tithes and labor from peasents working on their family land. The declaration was inspired by teh American Revolution and was partially written by LaFayette.
Unlike the American declaration that “all men are created equal,” the French version declared that “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good.” Unlike the American declaration that all men have inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the French version declared that all men have natural rights of “liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.” Some of the French declarations seem silly, like this one: “Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.”
Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were forced from their home in Versailles by a riot of women over the high price of bread. Supposedly the snobby Antoinette responded unsympathetically to the lack of bread for the peasants by declaring, “Let them eat cake!” Historians doubt she ever actually said that.
By then the French Revolution was in full swing.
In 1791, a French journalist named Olympe de Gouges proposed a “Declaration of the Rights of Woman,” but the National Assembly rejected her proposal. She, like many other leaders of that time, was eventually executed by guillotine.
The French National Assembly established a constitutional monarchy and, in 1791, adopted a new constitution that created a Legislative Assembly. Three factions quickly formed in the new Legislative Assembly, known as the radicals (liberals), moderates (centrists) and conservatives, similar to those political movements today in the United States. The three factions sat in different sections of the large assembly hall, with the radicals (liberals) sitting on the left, the moderates sitting in the center, and the conservatives sitting on the right. That gave rise to the left-center-right terminology that we still use today in the United States to describe these three political groups.
Meanwhile, Prussia and Austria were at war with one another, and Prussia offered to help the French King Louis XVI and his royal family. In response, in August 1792, the French revolutionaries imprisoned the king and his family.
A new National Convention replaced the Legislative Assembly and abolished the monarchy in order to establish a republic in 1792, which gave all adult males the right to vote. A radical political group called the Jacobins gained power, led by Georges Danton and Jean Paul Marat. Under the influence of the Jacobins, the National Convention used the guillotine to execute Louis XVI in January 1793. By this time many countries, including Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia and Austria, had formed a First Coalition to invade France and restore monarchy. The National Convention responded by drafting people into an army. Historians claim women were drafted, but such a politically inspired claim is worth investigating before accepting it. The war lasted for several years, on several fronts, but the First Coalition was eventually defeated.
The execution of Louis XVI led almost immediately to the Reign of Terror. Maximilian Robespierre, head of the Committee of Public Safety, proceeded to guillotine numerous alleged enemies, including Marie Antoinette. In a classic illustration of Jesus’s teaching that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword,” Jacobin leaders Georges Danton (a fiery orator) was guillotined, and Jean-Paul Marat (a scientist) was stabbed to death in his bathtub. Eventually Robespierre himself was guillotined in 1794, and the Reign of Terror ended with his death.
At last the government of France was in the hands of a legislature, and an executive branch of five men called the Directory. The Directory picked a young, highly successful military genius named Napoleon to lead the French army. The very next day Napoleon seized all power in France as its dictator, in November 1799.
The influence of the French Revolution was immense throughout the western hemisphere, as other peoples felt that they, too, could rise up against their rulers and defeat them. Historians credit the French Revolution with spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment, limiting the power of nobility and clergy, and ending an absolute monarchy. But many who supported the French Revolution in its beginning were horrified by where it led, including numerous executions and terror. Some would say that France never fully recovered, as the French Revolution unleashed an hostility towards Christianity that continues to this day in France.
References
'Citizens', Simon Schama, London 1989. 'The French Revolution'
