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| THE FRENCH REVOLUTION |
The Age of Enlightenment
It was a country where the First (aristocracy) and Second (clergy) estates enjoyed a tax-free and luxurious lifestyle whereas the Third estate (commoners) worked hard to make ends meet and was the only taxed estate. It also felt unfair to the people that the taxes were so non-uniform throughout France, and some regions had to pay very low taxes while others had to pay a lot. People started to question whether France really is that beautiful, and so began the “Age of Enlightenment”, possibly a result of the Renaissance period.
Coronation of King Louis XVI
After the end of the French-Indian war over North America in 1763, which France lost, France was in a severe financial crisis. It had never been this bad before. To make things worse, the Bourbon King of France, Louis XV, died in 1774, leaving Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, archduchess of Austria, to succeed to the throne. Louis was a very timid and meek man to manage a country, never mind one in a crisis.
King Louis’ first act was to actively provide naval support, arms and ammunition to the American Revolution, between 1778 and 1782, to get revenge on the British. This helped the colonies gain independence and form their own nation, but how did it help the French? (It didn't…)
France was now going BANKRUPT and the Assembly of Notables was called in 1787. The Assembly of Notables referred to a group of advisers appointed by the king, who were usually nobility and from the aristocratic estate.
The King placed his thoughts on wanting to tax the first two estates as well, but since the advisors feared losing their privileges, they led him to raise taxes on the poor.
Of course, the poor weren't happy about this decision, and sometimes tax collections escalated to fights between the people and collectors. What would be a perfect cherry on top to all the current problems…? How about some Natural Disasters…!?
In the spring of 1788, France was struck with a drought. In July, people had to face a hailstorm along with the cruel winters of the same year. All this caused the crop to go into ruins. People could barely feed themselves, never mind paying taxes. The cost of bread shot up in the sky and people were seriously starving. The people got so hungry that they started raiding bakeries to fulfil their basic need for food. King Louis now started taxing higher estates, but they refused to pay until the estate general was called.
The Estates General had to be called in Versailles on the 5th of May 1789. This was the closest thing France had to a government, except the king. Each estate had its own representative selected by the estate’s people, who would openly give their suggestions to the king and other representatives to try to make reforms. And, this hadn't been called for 175 years before this.
Anyways, the Estates General ended in failure as all the Estates including the third were allowed to make only 1 vote, as they all had one representative. This wasn’t fair since the third estate formed 98% of France's population. The representative of the third estate always got outvoted by the representatives of the other two estates. The final decision was to increase taxes on the third estate.
The National Assembly
This made the commoners so mad that they decided to take things into their hands. A few of the smartest men in the Third Estate came together and formed the National Assembly in a Tennis Court on 17th June 1789. On June 20th, the members of the National Assembly took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing to continue meeting until their demands were fulfilled. This was one of the main events in the French Revolution and it brought to France much change.
The Jacobin Club
In the same June, a political party called the Jacobin Club was formed, (which got its name as they used to meet in Dominican Rue Saint-Honore, Paris and the Dominicans in France were called Jacobins.) Anyways; this group was founded by Maximilian Robespierre, with another important person being Georges Danton. Soon, the Jacobins started calling for the removal of all monarchy.
The Jacobin Club had two main subdivisions: The Mountains and Montagnards were radical and wanted the removal of monarchy. They were led by Maximilian Robespierre.
The other faction was the Girondists, who were the moderate opponents of the Jacobins and didn’t desire the removal of the monarchy. They were led by Jacques Pierre Brissot. Eventually, Girondins agreed to remove the monarchy and form a republic.
The king, fearing the loss of his position, due to the formation of this new group, placed troops around Paris. This made the radicals of Paris think that the King was planning on executing them or maybe even putting their revolution to a stop. So on 14 July 1789, they decided to take action and raided Hotel les Invalides, a hospital for disabled war veterans, acquiring 32,000 rifles. They also raided the Bastille, a prison fort, and took its gunpowder and other weapons. Governor de Launay, the governor of the Bastille, was murdered by a butcher in the mob: Mathieu Jouve Jordan, and his head was cut and put on a pike and carried around the city. This marked the start of the French Revolution and showed that the crowd was done suffering under the upper classes’ cruel rule.
The National Assembly, too, agreed to use violent means to get equality. They had also formed the Bourgeois Militia or the National Guard, a revolutionary army, and many troops of the French Guard went to the revolutionary side. This acceptance of violent means for gaining equality has also been credited to Jean-Paul Marat, a man with a horrible and itchy skin condition, which kept him in his bathtub and he usually stayed sick. he published the radical paper: L’Ami du People (The Friend of the People).
Women’s March to Versailles
In August, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, an incredible document that was written by Marquis de Lafayette with the help of Thomas Jefferson was made official. Although, it was the declaration of the rights of men (not women). Despite its gender shortcomings, people didn’t care about this document as much as they cared about the fact that they were still starving. The people now felt that all their suffering was because the king simply couldn't see what the problem was.
On the 5th of October, a crowd of 6,000 women in Paris decided to give a direct confrontation to the king concerning the scarcity of bread & demanding reforms. They marched 35 kilometres southwest to the Palace of Versailles, with some support from the National Guard. Forced to give an audience to the mob, the king agreed to go to Paris with the crowd and shifted to the palace of Tuileries.
The Champ de Mars
For the next couple of years, King Louis stayed calm while the National Assembly slowly stripped away his power, until one fine day: He freaked out. He and Marie Antoinette planned on fleeing to Austria on the night of 21 June 1791, but they got caught in the act and were sent back to Paris shortly.
Now King Louis’ intentions were clear to all and he was considered a traitor who tried to abandon his people during a crisis. As a result of this Flight to Varennes, the 1791 constitution limited all monarchy’s power but didn’t remove it.
The fact that monarchy wasn’t completely abolished made the radicals furious, so on 17th of July the leaders of the mountains along with a crowd of radicals decided to protest on Champ de Mars. Jean Sylvain Bailly and General Lafayette, who were moderates, along with some members of the National Assembly feared an uprising, so they sent the National Guard to dismiss the crowd, but things escalated to the National Guard having to fire on a crowd of radicals, killing up to 50 protestors. This incident scarred the unity of the moderates and radicals deeply. Bailly resigned and retired to Nantes in November. The Champ de Mars massacre did help the radical faction get much support as the act made by the moderates was considered counterrevolutionary.
The Montagnards got a large number of seats, replacing most of the Girondins in the National Assembly after the Champ de Mars episode, which is how they got their name, Mountain or Montagnards (mountain dwellers) as they sat on the highest seats in the National assembly. Still, the number of Girondins in the National Assembly was a lot more than the mountains.
The Declaration of Pillnitz
People started calling for the arrest of those who took advantage of the unequal systems before the revolution. This included members of the aristocracy and clergy. Priests, too, were arrested after they refused to take oath on the revolution. People were arrested in the 1000s. Churches became a target and they replaced it with a state-sponsored atheistic religion: The cult of reason. Even the Christian calendar was replaced.
Many aristocrats started fleeing to other parts of Europe to seek solace. These immigrants came to be called the “Emigre” The neighbouring countries were not happy about what was going on. They feared that this spreading of emigres would also result in the spread of revolutionary ideas and would affect their nations which enjoyed monarchy advantages.
Also, Queen Marie Antoinette’s brother, Leopold II, the holy emperor of the Roman Empire (until 1806, Austria was the heart of the Roman Empire), became concerned about his sister’s safety as well as the King and his family’s, but he didn’t want to interrupt the French affairs as he felt that would only increase the tension and make it more dangerous. On the 6th of July 1791, he tried to propose an alliance of the emigres, and other European forces that might invade France and put an end to the revolution (These armies of emigres later came to be known as Armée d'Émigrés) through the Padua Circular, demanding the Europeans to join him for King Louis’ freedom.
The declaration of Pillnitz was declared on 27 August 1791 by Fredrick William II of Prussia, Leopold II, making the alliance of Prussia and Austria for the freedom of King Louis XVI official.
War of the First Coalition (1792-1797)
The National Assembly– now the Legislative Assembly, decided that instead of waiting to be attacked, it was more sensible to attack first, so on 20 April 1792, the Girondins declared war on Austria (not the Holy Roman Empire). As a result of the execution of King Louis on the 13th of August 1792, and his execution on the 21st of the same month. The first battle was fought at Verduns, between the Prussian army and the French army, which lasted from the 29th of August to the 2nd of September, 1792. The Prussians won that battle, leaving a clear path to Paris.
The September Massacres
The news of the Prussians winning and advancing towards Paris spread around, resulting in panic. In L’ami du Peuple, Marat wrote that their crowded prisons might be a place for counterrevolutionary ideas. He believed that the Prussians might break them out, and allow them to get their revenge on the revolutionaries..
This was enough to cause a massacre. A large number of people broke into the prison grounds and tried to execute all prisoners then and there. No one was spared, not even women and children.
This caused a lot of hatred towards Jean-Paul Marat since all Girondins and the moderates blamed him for this massacre. All this hatred eventually became the cause of his destruction.
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On the 20th of September, the National Convention was established as a replacement for the Legislative Assembly, and on the 21st of September France became the French Republic.
Counter-revolution
Things at the border were really getting tense, and the National Convention sent troops to take control of the Prussians and push them back, which they managed to do, but then Austria started helping them out, and all was undone. Now, the only option left to the government was to conscript the masses. This enraged the people. Many regions other than Paris didn’t face that much inequality before the revolution, and some still supported Christianity and aristocracy. Now, they had to fight for the new government they never asked for. Ideals for counterrevolution started to spread throughout France.
One particular act of counterrevolution was in Toulon, one of the important water ports of France. The people of Toulon invited the British Navy to take control of the naval ports of Toulon. This obviously upset the National Convention, so they sent a young man by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte to take control of the situation, which he did very well and managed to do The Siege of Toulon. For his services, Napoleon was promoted to Brigadier General. One of the important counterrevolutions was by the Owls in the Chouan region. Another counterrevolutionary act was in the Vendee region, which was settled through cruel pacification of Jean-Baptiste Carrier. A new court called the Revolutionary Tribunal was made to make decisive acts on the revolution offenders
The Reign of Terror
The Death of Marat
In 1793, Marat wrote something about the Girondins which they took offence to. They tried to arrest him, but the Mountains were able to stop them. This thing which was published helped the Mountains receive a lot of support, leading to the new leader being Maximilian Robespierre.
A woman by the name of Charlotte Corday, from Normandy felt exhausted from all the things that were going on. She was a Girondin supporter and she blamed one man for all the bad things that happened: Jean-Paul Marat. She felt that the only way to stop the reign of terror is by killing him. So, one day, she travelled all the way to Paris. She somehow managed to get invited by Marat himself. She was allowed inside his home and then and there, she plunged a knife right into his chest, killing him instantly, on July 13th 1793. She too was soon guillotined for murder.
Marat’s death made him more of a martyr, rather than a victim.
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The radical government believed that internal offenders of the revolution too, could cause harm. All the Girondins were executed. Robespierre made a new committee: The Committee for Public Safety, with twelve men in control. Spies and secret police were everywhere and those suspected of counterrevolutionary ideals were taken to the Revolutionary Tribunal for trial. Even the most minor of offences could end you in the Revolutionary Tribunal.
He guillotined thousands of people and managed to save the revolution through terror. The food condition wasn’t so bad right now and the French won the battle of Fleurus which marked the ascending point for the French in the War of The First Coalition.
Georges Danton felt it was time to normalise France. He argued with Robespierre against the Reign of Terror, which led to his execution.
Even more were executed in the summers of 1794. Robespierre created a new deistic religion called the Cult of Supreme Being. People felt that Robespierre was going blood-thirstily insane, and had him guillotined on the 28th of July. He killed 17,000, arrested 300,000, and about 10,000 died in prison without trial. The people felt that because of the amount of terror he had spread, he deserved to die with terror. Before his execution, he had been shot, shattering his jaw. His face was heavily bandaged. He was forced to face the blade while being executed and all his bandages were removed, making him scream in agony as he saw the blade fall like thunder, with the blood of all those he killed.
The White Terror
After the end of the reign of terror, another group: the Thermidorians took over. They replaced the National Convention with a group called the Directory, vowing to never let power fall in the hands of a single person ever again. This entire thing was established on the 27th of July, 1794, and while it was setting up, a group of royalists, who wanted to bring back monarchy battled with the Thermidorians, but luckily, Napoleon was there to save the day and got promoted to General. Napoleon was sent to Italy, where the Peace of Basel was established, and he negotiated Spain and Prussia out of the war.
The directory was corrupt and they struggled to keep the economy high. In 1795, France was able to set up a sister republic: The Batavian Republic after capturing the Netherlands.
In the battle of Quiberon, against the royalists and the British as the enemies, France emerged victorious.
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In 1796, France planned a three-team attack, with the two main attacking teams in the North being led by Jean-Victor Moreau & Jean-Baptiste Jourdan with Napoleon’s team being in the South, being more of a diversion team. The plan was to close in on Vienna, forcing a peace establishment.
The main teams were pushed back by the border troops of Austria, but the team led by Napoleon advanced to Italy and won battle after battle. He knocked Sardinia out and closed in on Austria, making them freak out until they reached Vienna, and established peace, through the treaty of Campo Formio.
This made Napoleon a national hero. The unfamous Directory saw how famous he was and feared that he might try to overthrow them, so they sent him to Egypt so that he might block the trade route of the British with India and reestablish trade with Levant. Napoleon had to abandon his men due to being trapped by the British. He fled Egypt in 1799.
When Napoleon was back he noticed how the Directory was so unpopular and he had some ideas about overthrowing them and establishing his empire. Conveniently, a politician by the name of Emmanuel J. Sieyes asked for his help to stage a coup, along with a man named Roger Ducos. They locked the Thermidorians in an isolated building: Château de Saint-Cloud and threatened them with weapons until they gave them their power (with the help of Napoleon's politician brother: Lucien Bonaparte. )
The Consulate
Napoleon formed a new government called the Consulate, with three consuls with him being the top consul. He normalised France and brought back the churches, Christian calendar and other things which the national convention had changed. He fought many wars and expanded France until he eventually became an emperor.
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The French Revolution stands as one of the most transformative periods in human history. Beginning as a quest for equality and liberty, it spiralled into a violent period that shook the very foundations of French society and reflected across Europe. Born out of centuries of social, economic, and political inequality, the revolutionaries fought to dismantle the oppressive structures of the monarchy, aristocracy, and clergy.
The Third Estate, representing the common people, rose up against a system that favoured privilege and power over justice and fairness. The revolution unleashed a wave of radical change that reshaped the course of history.
The French Revolution serves as a reminder of the complexities of human nature and the perils of unchecked ambition. It is a testament to the enduring struggle for freedom and justice, as well as the dangers of fanaticism and tyranny. While its legacy remains contested and debated, the French Revolution continues to captivate and inspire generations with its vision of a better, more just society.