Best Known For: Louis XVI was the last king of France (1774-92) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French Revolution of 1789. This significantly reduced the yield from those that were approved and as a result, France struggled to service its debt despite being larger and wealthier than Britain. A new decree stated retracting this oath, making war upon the nation, or permitting anyone to do so in his name would be considered abdication. [269][270] These writers were associated with "history from below" as opposed to traditional "history from above" which emphasised conflicts between the monarchy, the nobles, revolutionary political leaders and foreign powers. [205] Olwen Hufton argues some wanted to protect the Church from heretical changes enforced by revolutionaries, viewing themselves as "defenders of faith". Despite limited support from sections of the military, it was easily crushed, with Babeuf and other leaders executed. However, the British blockade virtually ended overseas and colonial trade, hurting the cities and their supply chains. On 17 August, the Convention voted a second leve en masse; despite initial problems in equipping and supplying such large numbers, by mid-October Republican forces had re-taken Lyon, Marseilles and Bordeaux, while defeating Coalition armies at Hondschoote and Wattignies. With the press reliant on reprinting articles from British newspapers, local opinion followed them in being generally positive on the aims and objectives of the revolutionaries. [144], Despite general war weariness, fighting continued and the 1798 elections saw a resurgence in Jacobin strength. The first conscription measure or leve en masse on 24 February sparked riots in Paris and other regional centres. [242], Conversely, two seminal political pieces of political history were written in Price's favour, supporting the general right of the French people to replace their State. The French Revolution didn't just take place in 1789. The Paris militia, formed on 13 July, adopted a blue and red cockade. The assemblies refused to implement the decree and fighting broke out between the coloured population of Saint-Domingue and white colonists, each side recruiting slaves to their forces. [118] Many Jacobins ridiculed the festival of the Cult of the Supreme Being on 8 June, a lavish and expensive ceremony led by Robespierre, who was also accused of circulating claims he was a second Messiah. As well as external enemies, the Republic faced internal opposition from both Royalists and Jacobins and in order to deal with these threats, the French Directory took power in November 1795. The first writings on the French revolution were near contemporaneous with events and mainly divided along ideological lines. In August 1789, colonial slave owners and merchants formed the rival Club de Massiac to represent their interests. De Brienne, who succeeded Calonne in May 1787, tried to address the budgetary impasse without raising taxes by devaluing the coinage instead; the result was runaway inflation, worsening the plight of the farmers and urban poor. '[42], The short-lived unity enforced on the Assembly by a common threat quickly dissipated. [216], Within France itself, the revolution permanently crippled the power of the aristocracy and drained the wealth of the Church, although the two institutions survived despite the damage they sustained. In 1793, as war broke out in Europe, the Democratic-Republican Party led by former American minister to France Thomas Jefferson favored revolutionary France and pointed to the 1778 treaty that was still in effect. The Council of 500 was responsible for drafting legislation, which was reviewed and approved by the Council of Ancients, an upper house containing 250 men over the age of 40. [143], With Royalists apparently on the verge of power, the Republicans staged a coup on 4 September. [52] These protests quickly turned political, and after seizing weapons stored at the Htel de Ville, some 7,000 marched on Versailles, where they entered the Assembly to present their demands. Equality, Freedom, Democracy, sovereignty, secularism, welfare state are the ideas of the French Revolution that are still giving momentum to the world. This is generally seen as marking the end of the Revolutionary period. It stimulated the demand for further reform throughout Ireland, especially in Ulster. Upon coming to the throne in 1774, Louis XVI inherited a kingdom beset with serious problems. While the convention was evenly divided on the question of his guilt, members were increasingly influenced by radicals centred in the Jacobin clubs and Paris Commune. On 30 September, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved, and the Legislative Assembly convened the next day. Led by Lafayette, the National Guard was ordered to "preserve public order" and responded to a barrage of stones by firing into the crowd, killing between 13 and 50 people. At the end of July, the Convention set price controls over a wide range of goods, with the death penalty for hoarders, and on 9 September 'revolutionary groups' were established to enforce them. France promoted commerce and capitalism, paving the way for the ascent of the bourgeoisie and the rapid growth of manufacturing and mining. Martinique remained under British occupation, while colonial landowners in Runion and the les Mascareignes repulsed the republicans. Under the pressure of events, splits appeared within the Montagnard faction, with violent disagreements between radical Hbertists and moderates led by Danton. The French Revolution of 1848 ( French: Rvolution franaise de 1848 ), also known as the February Revolution ( Rvolution de fvrier ), was a brief period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. [107], The Reign of Terror began as a way to harness revolutionary fervour, but quickly degenerated into the settlement of personal grievances. July 21: Assembly of Vizille, assembly of the Estates-General of Dauphin. [85] As expected and indeed intended by their authors, both were vetoed by Louis who was now portrayed as opposed to reform in general. However, there were no efforts by the Bourbons, Vichy or anyone else to restore the privileges that had been stripped away from the nobility in 1789. "[61], The Revolution caused a massive shift of power from the Catholic Church to the state; although the extent of religious belief has been questioned, elimination of tolerance for religious minorities meant by 1789 being French also meant being Catholic. The attempted escape had a profound impact on public opinion; since it was clear Louis had been seeking refuge in Austria, the Assembly now demanded oaths of loyalty to the regime, and began preparing for war, while fear of 'spies and traitors' became pervasive. The long-term impact on France was profound, shaping politics, society, religion and ideas, and polarising politics for more than a century. An effort was made to replace the Catholic Church altogether with the Cult of Reason, and with civic festivals replacing religious ones, leading to attacks by locals on state officials. [227], Two thirds of France was employed in agriculture, which was transformed by the Revolution. [246], German reaction to the Revolution swung from favourable to antagonistic. As internal and external threats to the Republic increased, the position worsened; dealing with this by printing assignats led to inflation and higher prices. Many feared their own survival depended on Robespierre's removal; during a meeting on 29 June, three members of the Committee of Public Safety called him a dictator in his face. [232], The Revolution meant an end to arbitrary royal rule and held out the promise of rule by law under a constitutional order, but it did not rule out a monarch. Since the Council of 500 controlled legislation and finance, they could paralyse government at will, and as the Directors had no power to call new elections, the only way to break a deadlock was to rule by decree or use force. [233][234] The conservative Catholic enemies of the Revolution came to power in Vichy France (194044), and tried with little success to undo its heritage, but they kept it a republic. The Paris-based Insurrection of 31 May 2 June 1793 replaced the Girondins who dominated the National Assembly with the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Maximilien Robespierre. With the revolution, the king had ceased to be the "sovereign" of the empire. Although Robespierre himself was one of those excluded, his support in the clubs gave him a political power base not available to Lafayette and Bailly, who resigned respectively as head of the National Guard and the Paris Commune. Although the victors of Thermidor asserted control over the Commune by executing their leaders, some of those closely involved in the "Terror" retained their positions. After the collapse of the First French Empire in 1815, the French public lost many of the rights and privileges earned since the revolution, but remembered the participatory politics that characterised the period. "[196] Women also assumed a special role in the funeral of Marat, following his murder on 13 July 1793 by Corday; as part of the funeral procession, they carried the bathtub in which he died, as well as a shirt stained with his blood. It wasn't initiated by a rising capitalist bourgeoisie and ended in a victory for conservative property owners, a result which retarded economic development. [66], When clergy were required to swear loyalty to the Civil Constitution in November 1790, it split the church between the 24% who complied, and the majority who refused. The assignats were withdrawn in 1796 but inflation continued until the introduction of the gold-based Franc germinal in 1803. [41], Alarmed by the prospect of losing control of the capital, Louis appointed the Marquis de Lafayette commander of the National Guard, with Jean-Sylvain Bailly as head of a new administrative structure known as the Commune. Belgian men were drafted into the French wars and heavily taxed. Attack and take of the Crte--Pierrot (March 24, 1802) by Auguste Raffet. The socio-economic analysis of the revolution and focus on the experiences or ordinary people dominated French studies of the revolution after World War II. [106] The new class of military leaders included a young colonel named Napoleon Bonaparte, who was appointed commander of artillery at the siege of Toulon thanks to his friendship with Augustin Robespierre. Tackett, Timothy, "The French Revolution and religion to 1794," and Suzanne Desan, "The French Revolution and religion, 17951815," in Stewart J. Among the most significant were Marat's L'Ami du peuple and Elyse Loustallot's Revolutions de Paris[fr]. On 17th, the Law of Suspects ordered the arrest of suspected "enemies of freedom", initiating what became known as the "Terror". [108], Fixed prices, death for 'hoarders' or 'profiteers', and confiscation of grain stocks by groups of armed workers meant that by early September, Paris was suffering acute food shortages. [165], In February 1788, the Socit des Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of Blacks) was formed in France with the aim of abolishing slavery in the empire. Prior to 1789, there have been a small number of heavily censored newspapers that needed a royal licence to operate, but the Estates-General created an enormous demand for news, and over 130 newspapers appeared by the end of the year. [211], The French Revolution had a major impact on western history, by ending feudalism in France and creating a path for advances in individual freedoms throughout Europe. [142] The elections of May 1797 resulted in significant gains for the right, with Royalists Jean-Charles Pichegru elected President of the Council of 500, and Barthlemy appointed a Director. In return, it provided a minimal level of social support. [243], This exchange of ideas has been described as "one of the great political debates in British history". [69], Centrists led by Sieys, Lafayette, Mirabeau and Bailly created a majority by forging consensus with monarchiens like Mounier, and independents including Adrien Duport, Barnave and Alexandre Lameth. [131] They were quickly dispersed and the main impact was another round of arrests, while Jacobin prisoners in Lyon were summarily executed. There is no evidence of a negative effect of French invasion. Long story short: For much of the. [6] Antiquated farming methods and transportation networks failed to keep up with these numbers. In economics, therefore, the nobility declined while middle-class Belgian entrepreneurs flourished because of their inclusion in a large market, paving the way for Belgium's leadership role after 1815 in the Industrial Revolution on the Continent. They ransacked the palace, killing several guards. His success in that role resulted in promotion to the Army of Italy in April 1794, and the beginning of his rise to military and political power. Colonial products accounted for about a third of France's exports. [90] Louis and his family took refuge with the Assembly and shortly after 11:00 am, the deputies present voted to 'temporarily relieve the king', effectively suspending the monarchy. It hadn't met since 1614. The Lige Revolution expelled the tyrannical Prince-Bishop and installed a republic. In 1781, Louis allegedly refused to appoint him Archbishop of Paris on the grounds 'an Archbishop should at least believe in God'. "Gender and the Shifting Ground of Revolutionary Politics: The Case of Madame Roland. Led by de Brienne, a former archbishop of Toulouse,[a] the council also refused to approve new taxes, arguing this could only be done by the Estates. 1799 - Napoleon . Slaves initiated the rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony. By the time peace finally came in 1815, the conflict had involved every major European power as well as the United States, redrawn the map of Europe and expanded into the Americas, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean. They wrote, "While restoration returned most of their power to the absolute monarchs who had been deposed by Napoleon, only the most recalcitrant ones, such as Ferdinand VII of Spain, went to the trouble of completely reversing the legal innovations brought on by the French. Led by the revolutionary Franois-Nol Babeuf, their demands included the implementation of the 1793 Constitution and a more equitable distribution of wealth. He was able to fund the war through loans rather than taxes, but his dire warnings about the impact on national finances led to his replacement in 1781 by Charles Alexandre de Calonne. [261], Dupuy identifies three main strands in nineteenth century historiography of the revolution. According to archival records, from September 1793 to July 1794 some 16,600 people were executed on charges of counter-revolutionary activity; another 40,000 may have been summarily executed or died awaiting trial. ", Desan, Suzanne. They sternly reminded women to stay home and tend to their families by leaving public affairs to the men. [141], Prior to 1797, three of the five Directors were firmly Republican; Barras, Rvellire-Lpeaux and Jean-Franois Rewbell, as were around 40% of the legislature. [168] In 1789-90, a delegation of free coloureds, led by Vincent Og and Julien Raimond, unsuccessfully lobbied the Assembly to end discrimination against free coloureds. Later that year, ceding to popular pressure, [214] Some modern historians argue the concept of the nation state was a direct consequence of the revolution. [80] Restricting the franchise to those who paid a minimum amount of tax meant only 4 out of 6million Frenchmen over 25 were able to vote; it largely excluded the sans culottes or urban working class, who increasingly saw the new regime as failing to meet their demands for bread and work. The upshot was a revolt in 1798, led by Wolfe Tone, that was crushed by Britain. [274], Recent studies of the French colonies have largely abandoned the Jacobin-Marxist approach of classic studies such as C. L. R. James' The Black Jacobins (1938) and Aim Csaire's Toussaint Louverture: La Rvolution franaise et le problme colonial (1960). Both failed to attract international support. [274] Furet later argued that a clearer distinction needed to be made between analyses of political events, and of social and economic changes which usually take place over a much longer period than the Jacobin-Marxist school allowed. [21], By 1788, total state debt had increased to an unprecedented 4.5 billion livres. [202], Counter-revolutionary women resisted what they saw as the increasing intrusion of the state into their lives. [100], The crisis led to the creation on 6 April 1793 of the Committee of Public Safety, an executive committee accountable to the convention. They were followed by 15,000 members of the National Guard under Lafayette, who tried to dissuade them, but took command when it became clear they would desert if he did not grant their request. [262], Rud and Doyle identify Jules Michelet with the democratic republican interpretation of the revolution, and Thiers, Mignet and Tocqueville with the liberal strand. January 21, 1793 Louis XVI, judged by the convention, is executed for treason. Resistance was strong in every sector, as Belgian nationalism emerged to oppose French rule. In response to protests by the Commune, the Commission warned "if by your incessant rebellions something befalls the representatives of the nation,Paris will be obliterated". [269][270] Albert Soboul, also writing in the Marxist-Republican tradition, published a major study of the sans-culottes in 1958. [130] By April 1795, people were starving and the assignat was worth only 8% of its face value; in desperation, the Parisian poor rose again. Much of the initiative came from well-organised liberals who directed political change in the first half of the 19th century. Although the coup failed, on 2 June the convention was surrounded by a crowd of up to 80,000, demanding cheap bread, unemployment pay and political reforms, including restriction of the vote to the sans-culottes, and the right to remove deputies at will. [104] In mid-October, Marie Antoinette was found guilty of a long list of crimes and guillotined; two weeks later, the Girondist leaders arrested in June were also executed, along with Philippe galit. [247], The French invaded Switzerland and turned it into the "Helvetic Republic" (17981803), a French puppet state. The intention was for tenants to pay compensation for these losses but the majority refused to comply and the obligation was cancelled in 1793. After Brissot's fall, the new constitution of June 1793 included a new Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, but excluded the colonies from its provisions. [125] Despite his links to Augustin Robespierre, military success in Italy meant Napoleon Bonaparte escaped censure. [231] Others argue the redistribution of land had an immediate positive impact on agricultural productivity, before the scale of these gains gradually declined over the course of the 19th century. On 17 July, Louis visited Paris accompanied by 100 deputies, where he was greeted by Bailly and accepted a tricolore cockade to loud cheers. Uprisings followed in Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulon, Marseilles and Caen. This French Revolution site contains articles, sources and perspectives on events in France, 1781-1795. June 7: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble, first revolt against the king. The revolutionaries, however, had recognized the existence of only one people, the French people, while there were several nations in the empire. [199], Olympe de Gouges wrote a number of plays, short stories, and novels. A chronology of key events in modern French history: 1789 - French Revolution ends rule of monarchy going back to 9th Century; followed by establishment of the First Republic. However, France's biggest challenge was servicing the huge public debt inherited from the former regime, which continued to expand due to the war. [109], On 10 October, the Convention recognised the Committee of Public Safety as the supreme Revolutionary Government, and suspended the Constitution until peace was achieved. Between 1789 and 1793, the annual deficit increased from 10% to 64% of gross national product, while annual inflation reached 3,500% after a poor harvest in 1794 and the removal of price controls. Executive power was in the hands of five Directors, selected by the Council of Ancients from a list provided by the lower house, with a five-year mandate. Already unsettled by changes imposed on the church, in March the traditionally conservative and royalist Vende rose in revolt. The Reign of Terror was the most violent phase of the French Revolution, a year-long period between the summers of 1793 and 1794. In January 1790, the National Guard tried to arrest Marat for denouncing Lafayette and Bailly as 'enemies of the people'. Taken to the Htel de Ville, he was executed, his head placed on a pike and paraded around the city; the fortress was then torn down in a remarkably short time. [98] Horrified conservatives across Europe called for the destruction of revolutionary France; in February the Convention anticipated this by declaring war on Britain and the Dutch Republic; these countries were later joined by Spain, Portugal, Naples and the Tuscany in the War of the First Coalition. [81], This meant the new constitution was opposed by significant elements inside and outside the Assembly, itself split into three main groups. During this time around 50,000 French citizens were executed. [206], Economically, many peasant women refused to sell their goods for assignats because this form of currency was unstable and was backed by the sale of confiscated Church property. It was celebrated on the left as the people's avenger, for example in the revolutionary song La guillotine permanente,[187] and cursed as the symbol of the Terror by the right. [177], In republican controlled areas from 1793-99, freed slaves were required to work on their former plantations or for their former masters if they were in domestic service. [267][268] Georges Lefebvre elaborated a Marxist socio-economic analysis of the revolution with detailed studies of peasants, the rural panic of 1789, and the behaviour of revolutionary crowds. [14] As a result, the court became the target of popular anger, particularly Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was viewed as a spendthrift Austrian spy, and blamed for the dismissal of 'progressive' ministers like Jacques Necker. Emboldened by this, on 22 September the Convention replaced the monarchy with the French First Republic and introduced a new calendar, with 1792 becoming "Year One". On the morning of 10 August, a combined force of the Paris National Guard and provincial fdrs attacked the Tuileries Palace, killing many of the Swiss Guards protecting it. [35] After an extended stalemate, on 10 June the Third Estate proceeded to verify its own deputies, a process completed on 17 June; two days later, they were joined by over 100 members of the First Estate, and declared themselves the National Assembly. He was married to Marie Antoinette and was executed. Austria, Britain, Prussia and other external powers sought to restore the Ancien Rgime by force, while many French politicians saw war as the best way to unite the nation and preserve the revolution by exporting it to other countries. [221] In 1788, it held a dominant position within society; to be French meant to be a Catholic. Tallien, in August 1794, to explain the appearance of the regime of terror, said that it presumed a power that was at once "arbitrary", "absolute" and "endless": "The system of terror presupposes not only [] arbitrary and absolute power, but also endless power"[152]. [188], Its operation became a popular entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators. [157], From 1701 to 1801, the population of Europe grew from 118 to 187million; combined with new mass production techniques, this allowed belligerents to support large armies, requiring the mobilisation of national resources. The extent of the brutal repression that followed has been debated by French historians since the mid-19th century. The Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, a militant group on the far left, demanded a law in 1793 that would compel all women to wear the tricolour cockade to demonstrate their loyalty to the Republic. [138] The power of the Parisian sans culottes had been broken by the suppression of the May 1795 revolt; relieved of pressure from below, the Jacobins became natural supporters of the Directory against those seeking to restore the monarchy. There were about 700,000 slaves in the colonies, of which about 500,000 were in Saint-Domingue. [156] France declared war on Austria in April 1792 and issued the first conscription orders, with recruits serving for twelve months. [171], Brissot and his supporters envisaged an eventual abolition of slavery but their immediate concern was securing trade and the support of merchants for the revolutionary wars. The new "sovereign" was now the "people." [164], In 1789, the most populous French colonies were Saint-Domingue (today Haiti), Martinique, Guadeloupe, the le Bourbon (Runion) and the lede la France. The American Revolution brought independence for the people and long term economic success. Prelude to Revolt By the late 1780s, the French monarchy was on the brink of collapse. [16] Following partial default in 1770, within five years the budget had been balanced thanks to reforms instituted by Turgot, the Controller-General of Finances. "[237], A 2016 study in the European Economic Review found that the areas of Germany that were occupied by France in the 19th century and in which the Code Napoleon was applied have higher levels of trust and cooperation today.[238]. It contains 232,935 words in 357 pages and was last updated . The Revolution initiated a series of conflicts that began in 1792 and ended only with Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. For the next seven years, the hostilities known as the French Revolutionary wars continue between France and various European powers. 2. Having started in Versailles in May 1789, the French Revolution saw its first concrete act here in October of the same year with the departure of the king. Britain led and funded the series of coalitions that fought France from 1793 to 1815, and then restored the Bourbons. [136] Although these criticisms were certainly valid, it also faced internal unrest, a stagnating economy and an expensive war, while hampered by the impracticality of the constitution. When most people hear the words ''French Revolution,'' they think of the events of the late 18th century, the guillotine, and figures like Marie Antoinette. This came to a head in late September, when the Flanders Regiment arrived in Versailles to reinforce the Royal bodyguard, and were welcomed with a formal banquet as was common practice. [265] Rud states that Alphonse Aulard, in The French Revolution, a Political History, 17891804 (1905), was the first historian to rigorously and critically analyse primary sources in his democratic republican interpretation of the revolution. The state sold the lands but typically local authorities did not replace the funding and so most of the nation's charitable and school systems were massively disrupted[210], Between 1790 and 1796, industrial and agricultural output dropped, foreign trade plunged, and prices soared, forcing the government to finance expenditure by issuing ever increasing quantities assignats. The Republic seemed on the verge of collapse. It was a different kind of war, fought by nations rather than kings, intended to destroy their opponents' ability to resist, but also to implement deep-ranging social change. To change the laws, the king called a representative body known as the Estates General in 1788. [169][167], In May 1791, the National Assembly granted full political rights to coloureds born of two free parents, but left the rights of freed slaves to be determined by the colonial assemblies. [204] This sparked a counter-revolutionary movement led by women; while supporting other political and social changes, they opposed the dissolution of the Catholic Church and revolutionary cults like the Cult of the Supreme Being. ", or "Long live the king if he keeps his word". [259] Under President John Adams, a Federalist, an undeclared naval war took place with France from 1798 until 1799, often called the "Quasi War". [92] The former Brissotins now split into moderate Girondins led by Brissot, and radical Montagnards, headed by Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton and Jean-Paul Marat. [104], Key areas of focus for the new government included creating a new state ideology, economic regulation and winning the war. [216][278] The historiography of the revolution has become more diversified, exploring areas such as cultural histories, regional histories, visual representations, transnational interpretations, and decolonisation. During this period, French citizens. Recent French Revolutionary Historiography,", Landes, Joan B. The revolt failed and Og was killed. Despite a series of military victories, many won by Napoleon Bonaparte, political divisions and economic stagnation resulted in the Directory being replaced by the Consulate in November 1799. The French National Convention adopted it as the First Republic's anthem in 1795. In August 1790, the loyalist General Bouill suppressed a serious mutiny at Nancy; although congratulated by the Assembly, he was criticised by Jacobin radicals for the severity of his actions. Its cultural influence was also under attack, with efforts made to strip civil life of religious elements such as Sundays, holy days, saints, prayers, rituals and ceremonies. These policies were promoted by the atheist Hbert and opposed by the deist Robespierre, who denounced the campaign and replaced the Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being.
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