The French Revolution

The French Revolution took place in 1789. It came with it’s own promises of equality, liberty, fraternity etc. It failed on many and became the starting point for some of them and lead to their realization in the modern world today.

These are pretty short summaries of the causes, happening and the aftermath of the revolution.

The Old Regime : The Feudal French Society

The French society was three tiered:

1. The First Estate : The Clergy

At the top was clergy - men of the church (e.g. Bishops, Pastors etc.) - as they were considered holy men.

2. The Second Estate : The Nobility

The second were the nobility, royals or related to royals. The King Louis XVI did come into the second estate but he and his close relatives were above the clergy for obvious reasons.

3. The Third Estate : Peasants, Lawyers, Administration Officers etc.

The last were the common people - the peasants.

The first two tiers,the clergy and the nobility, had to pay little to no taxes and the poor working class had to carry the burden of the rich and powerful.

Major Taxes Included :

• Income Tax
• Tithe (given to the church, 1/ 10^th of agricultural produce.)
• Labour Tax (peasants had to work for their local lord for a certain number of days without payment.)
• Feudal Dues (Extracted by nobles, often violently.)

and many more indirect taxes.
This taxation scheme was also very inconsistent around France.

The Emerging Middle Class : Top Brass of the Third Estate

The wages of peasants were fixed but the rise in the french population from 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789 meant more demand for food which caused the prices of bread and other necessities to rise. Not being able to afford food created a subsistence crisis for the peasants.

This wasn’t new and previous revolts had taken place because of this but they didn’t have the means to communicate and change society effectively.

This was the advantage of the new middle class as compared to their historically poorer ancestors. They emerged as a new class in the 18^th century by means of expanded sea trade and textiles sales. But more importantly they consisted of lawyers and administration officials who were educated and had the resources to organize new revolts and bring effective change.

Publications that effected the revolution :

In his Two Treatises of Government John Locke challenged the concept of divine right to rule and the absolute power of the monarch.

Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws he gave the idea to divide power into between legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed a social contract between the governed and their representatives that as llong as their needs are met they shall keep a civil and peaceful society in place.

Note : Montesquieu’s The Spirit Of the Laws also inspired USA’s constitution for division of power.

The Outbreak : Tipping Point for the Peasants

The subsistence crisis was worsened by a series of natural disasters which affected the food supply. However, the nobility were virtually untouched by this crisis since they had enough food in stock. Unable to afford bread women started raiding shops and setting fire to them, sometimes shop owners suspected of hoarding bread were killed.

To combat the rising debt on France (of 2 billion+ livres) Louis XVI called the Estates General.

The Estates General was a purely advisory body to the king and hadn’t been called since 1614 (175 years ago.) On 5^th May 1789, the king called the Estates General to discuss new tax laws.

The Estates General meeting comprised of the first, second and the third estate. Each getting one vote. Right at the start the discussion, discrimination could be seen. The first and second estate representatives (300 each) sat facing each other while the 600 third estate representatives had to stand at the back.

Traditionally voting had been done by the principle that each estate had one vote, but the third estate asked the king that a representative system be set up so they could have a fair participation in the process. On being denied this they walked out and went inside a nearby tennis court and formed the national assembly and took the tennis court oath.

They were lead by Mirabeau (originally a noble, believed feudal privileges should be abolished. ) and Abbé Sieyès (a priest and thus a member of clergy.)

Louis XVI decided to call in the army to protect himself from what he saw as the dangerous peasants. This only added to the peasants’ fear and finally this fear on 14^th July, 1789 resulted in the destruction of the prison fortress of Paris, and a symbol of royal tyranny, The Bastille.

In the October of 1789, a group of women 7000 strong marched to Versailles, with more people joining along the way and raided the palace of the king. The mob killed several guards and brought the king back to Paris with them. The King finally agreed to share power with the new revolutionary Government.

Changes in French Politics : A New Republic

On the night of 4^th August 1789, the National Assembly passed laws abolishing the feudal system, it’s taxes and privileges. The new government confiscated lands owned by the church and abolished tithes. This resulted in the government acquiring assets worth 2 billion livres.

The Assembly drafted the french constitution of 1791 and introduced elections.

Key Notes of the Constitution :

• Voting rights for men above 25 years of age whose tax equated to at least three days of a labour’s wage.
• Qualified voters were called active citizens.
• No voting rights for women.
• Unqualified voters were called passive citizens.
• Only beneficial to the upper middle class.

The constitution despite it’s shortcomings inspired many other revolutions and movements for freedom, liberty and democracy.

The constitution began with Rights of Man.

Note : Thomas Jefferson also helped in the formation of rights of man.

The Rights of Man was a set of rudimentary fundamental rights.

Summary of The Rights of Man.

• Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.

• The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and inalienable rights of man; these are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression.

• Sovereignty resides in the nation. No body or individual may exercise power that does not come from the people.

• Liberty is the power to do whatever is not injurious to others.

• The law has the right to forbid only actions that are injurious to society.

• Law is the expression of the people. All Citizens have the right to participate in it’s formation. All are equal before it.

• No man may be accused, arrested or detained, except in cases determined by the law.

• Freedom of speech and expression, the citizen must take responsibility of such liberty in cases determined by law.

• For the maintenance of society a common tax is levied on everyone in proportion to their means.

The king had agreed to share power but secretly was in talks with the king of Prussia and other neighbouring countries to restore his power. Before they could wage war the assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria.

The Jacobin Club : The Lower Class Revolts

The lower-class who were deprived of rights even under the constitutional monarchy formed their own groups. One of the most popular among them was the Jacobin Club. Lead by Maximilian Robespierre, it was a radical group looking to depose the king entirely (as opposed to moderates, who wanted to keep him as a figurehead.)

Note : The Name ‘Jacobin’ came from the St. Jacob Convent in Paris.

He advocated for rights of the lower class people and was a revolutionary extremist. Large sections of Jacobins started wearing striped trousers to set themselves apart from the fashionable nobility. Especially, the knee-breech wearing aristocrats, they were known as the Sans-Culottes.

When King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette tried to escape France on June 20^th 1792 and were caught, the Jacobins (radicals) wanted to depose the King entirely. Simplifying a bit, the French revolutionaries feared the intervention of their neighbouring countries to end the revolution and declared war on Austria and it’s allies joined in too.

On 10^th August 1792, the angry public marched into King Louis’ Palace and tried to kill him. He sought refuge in the national assembly. Unfortunately for him the radical factions had gained greater power there and voted to completely remove the King and the Queen and imprison them.

New elections were held and now men above 21 years of age could vote. The newly elected government was called the National Convention. On 21 September 1792 France was declared a republic.

King Louis was charged with treason and executed on 21^st January 1793. Queen Antoinette met the same fate shortly after.

The Reign of Terror : Bloodshed in the Name of Liberty

After the elections of 1792, Robespierre had more control than ever. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as The Reign of Terror.
Robespierre exercised severe control over France, akin to a dictator.

Some of his policies were :

• rationing bread and meat
• a price cap on grains being sold
• a price cap on wages and prices to control inflation
• banning the use of expensive bread and forcing everyone to eat equality bread made of wholewheat
• banning the words Monsieur (Sir) and Madame (Madam) and introducing instead, Citoyen and Citoyenne

His extremism backfired, his own supporters turned against him and he was finally executed in July 1794.

The Directory : Failures and Napoleon

After the fall of Robespierre and his government the upper middle class seized power again. They reverted the rules like men being able to vote irrespective of wealth. This government introduced a new constitution which made two legislative councils, then these councils elected a directory.

The directory, which was an executive, consisted of 5 members so as to avoid one man seizing all power as in the case of Robespierre. But the directory often saw infighting between its directors. Due to being in this state it could not introduce economic stability to France which helped a certain Napoleon Bonaparte to rise to power.

A Short Introduction : Olympe de Gouges

The following text is taken as is from the NCERT textbook for History (Class 9) :

The life of a revolutionary woman – Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)

Olympe de Gouges was one of the most important of the politically active women in revolutionary France. She protested against the Constitution and the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen as they excluded women from basic rights that each human being was entitled to.

So, in 1791, she wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, which she addressed to the Queen and to the members of the National Assembly, demanding that they act upon it. In 1793, Olympe de Gouges criticised the Jacobin government for forcibly closing down women’s clubs. She was tried by the National Convention, which charged her with treason. Soon after this she was executed.

Conclusion

The revolution failed many of it’s promises like true equality, freedom of speech and expression etc. but it did also become a foundation for the propagation of liberty and modern democracy. It inspired whole generations of revolutionaries,both in Europe and outside in the world, to fight oppression and became a precedent for the people’s unity.