French Revolution 1789

Some of the most important causes of the French Revolution?

 French Revolution was started on 5 May 1789 because of several reasons. In 1774 Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of kings ascended the throne of France, throne came along with severe challenges.
Upon his accession, the new king found an empty treasury because of long years of war which drained the financial resources of France. Under Lois XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy Britain. The war added than a billion livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion livres. 

The storming of the Bastille

Lenders who gave the credit now began to charge 10 percent interest on loans this was very high. To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices, etc. The French society in the 18th  century was divided into three estates, and only the members of the third estates were obliged to pay taxes.

Social Division- Society of estates was part of the feudal system(In a feudal system, a peasant or worker known as a vassal received a piece of land in return for serving a lord or king, especially during times of war.). Peasants made about 90 % of the population, however, only a few of them owned the land they cultivated. About 60 % of the land was owned by nobles, the church, and other richer members of the third estates. 

• The members of the first two estates, that is is clergy and nobility enjoyed certain privileges by birth,  most important of these was an exemption from paying taxes to the state opposite to these, peasants were obliged to render services to the Lord to work in their houses and fields. The Church had its own taxes called tithes which were collected from the members of the third estates. These included a direct tax, called taille, and several indirect taxes. 
• Within third estates some were rich and others poor, third estates included big  businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, peasants, artisans, small peasants, landless labor, servants                                

                                                                                                                   
Population Explosion- The population of France rose from 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789, this cause a rapid increase in the demands of food grain, but production couldn't keep pace with the demand. Most workers were employed as laborers in workshops. But wages didn't keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened.

The emergence of the middle class- The 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups terms as middle class, who earned their wealth through overseas trade and manufacture of goods such as woolen and silk textiles, besides, third estates included professions such as lawyers or administrative officials. Two philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Rousseau. Rousseau carried out an idea of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

Outbreak And Formation Of National Assembly

                                                      

On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI called an assembly the Estates-General to pass proposals for new taxes on the third estate, Versailles was prepared to host the delegates but there was clear discrimination between the members of first two estates and the third estate. The first and second estates sent 300 representatives each to participate in the assembly who were seated, while the third estate sent 600 representatives and they had to stand at the back. The third estate was represented by its more educated and prosperous members. Peasants, artisans, and women were not permitted to attend the assembly. However, the grievances and demands were listed in some 40,000 letters which representative brought with them.
The voting principle which had been followed proposed that each estate had one vote. This time too Luis XVI was determined to carry out the same thing. But the members of the third estate demanded that voting should be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member has one vote. This was one of the democratic principles put forward by philosophers like Rousseau about which we have discussed in the first section. When the king rejected the proposal, members of the third estate boycotted the assembly and moved out.

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Struggle for  Formation of National Assembly

• The representative of the third estate viewed themselves as representative and voice for the whole French nation. On 20 June they assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court of Versailles. They declared themselves a National Assembly demanded a constitution for France and they started drafting it. They were led by Mirabeau and Abbe Sieyes. 

• While the National Assembly was busy drafting the constitution, the rest of France was going through turmoil. A severe winter shattered this resulted in high inflation especially high price of bread which had been stapled diet of French, people spent hours in queues, this made the population distressed, because of these crowds of angry women stormed into shops. At the same time, the king ordered troops to enter Paris.

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• At last Louis XVI finally accorded the recognition of the National Assembly and accepted the principle that his power would from now on be checked by the constitution. On the night of 4August 178, the assembly passed order abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes. This order limited the privileges that had been with first and second estates. Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church were seized too. As a result, the government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion livres .

• The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791, its main object was to limit the power of the monarch. This made France a constitutional monarchy. The constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. According to this, citizens voted for a group of electors, who in turn chose the Assembly. Not all citizens had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labor "swage were given the status of active citizens and they were entitled to vote and remaining men and all women were entitled with passive citizens.        

• The constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, Rights such as the right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before the law, were established as  'natural and inalienable ' rights. 

                                                

How did France abolish Monarchy and became a Republic and the role of Jacobins?

The situation in France worried other neighboring states too, although LouisXVI had signed the Constitution, he entered into secret negotiations with the King of Prussia. and planned to send troops to put down the events that had been taking place since the summer of 1789. Before this could happen, the National Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria. They saw this as a war of the people against kings and aristocracies all over Europe.

•  Large sections of the population were convinced that the revolution had to be carried further, as the constitution of 1791  gave political rights only to the richer sections of society. Political clubs became important, the most successful of these clubs was that of the Jacobins and women formed their own clubs too.

• The members of the Jacobins club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of society which included small shopkeepers, artisans, pastry cooks, watchmakers, etc. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre. In the summer of 1792, the Jacobins planned an insurrection of a large number of Parisians who were angered by the short supplies and high prices of food this resulted in massacred of the king's guards and held the king himself as a hostage for several hours.

• The newly elected assembly was called the Convention and on 21 September 1792, it abolished the monarchy and declared France a Republic. (a republic is a form of government where the people  elect the government including the head of the government). On 21 January 1793, he was executed publicly.

The Reign of Terror

'Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not power" but this line wasn't suitable for Robespierre. The period from 1793 to 1794 is referred to as the Reign of terror. He followed the policy of severe punishment, all those whom he saw as rivals or enemies even the members of his own political power who didn't agree with his method were arrested, imprisoned and if the court found them guilty then they were guillotined.

 (The guillotine is a device consisting of two poles and a blade with which a person is beheaded, it's named after Dr. Guillotin)

                                                             

                                                   

• Robespierre's government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices. Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices fixed by the government. The use of more expensive white flour bread was forbidden, all citizens were allowed to eat the (equality if bread), a loaf made of wholewheat. Robespierre pursued his policies so relentlessly that even his supporters began to demand moderation. Finally, he was convicted by a court in July 1794. Finally, he was convicted by a court and on the next day sent to the guillotine.

A Directory Rules France And Emergence of Napoleon Bonaparte

The fall of the Jacobin government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power. A new constitution was introduced which denied the vote to a non-propertied section of the society. It provided for two elected legislative councils. These then appointed a Directory, an executive made up of five members to safeguard against the concentration of power in one hand. However, the Directors often clashed with the legislative councils, who sought to dismiss them. The French Revolution began in 1789, within three years revolutionaries had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed the France Republic but it didn't sustain for too long. The political instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napolean Bonaparte.

• In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. He sent out to conquer neighboring European countries. He introduced many laws such as the protection of private property and a uniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system. Initially, he was viewed as a liberator who would bring freedom for the people but soon the Napoleonic armies came to be viewed everywhere as an invading force. He was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. 

Women's role in the Revolution

Most women of the third estate had to work for a living, they worked as launderers, sold flowers, fruits and vegetables at the market or were employed as domestic servants in the houses of wealthier people. Only daughters of nobles had access to education. To discuss and voice their interests, they started their own political clubs and newspaper, The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous of them.

Symbolizes the idea of freedom

• One of their demands was the same political rights as men. They were disappointed that the Constitution of 1791 didn't have anything for them and reduced them to passive citizens. They demanded the right to vote, to be elected to the Assembly and to hold political office.

• The revolutionary did introduce laws that helped improve their condition, with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all girls and their fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will. Divorce was made legal and could be applied by both men and women. Women could now train for jobs, could become artists or run small businesses. 

• During the Reign of Terror, the new government-issued laws ordering closer of women's club and banning their political activities, many of the prominent women were arrested a number of them were executed. Women's movement for voting rights and equal wages continued for the next two hundred years in many parts of the world.

      The Abolition Of  Slavery

    The slave trade began in the 17th-century French merchants sailed from the ports of Bordeaux to the African coast, where they brought slaves from local chieftains, the slaves were packed tightly into ships for the three-month-long voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean where they were sold to plantations owners. The exploitation of slaves made it possible to meet the growing demand of the European market of sugar, coffee, indigo.

• One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in French colonies. The colonies in Caribbean-Martinique and San Domingo were the important suppliers of tobacco, indigo sugar, etc. 

• Throughout the 18th century, the National Assembly held long debates about whether the rights of man should be extended to all French colonies or not but it didn't pass any laws, fearing opposition from businessmen but finally the Convention which in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in the French colonies but later Napoleon reintroduced slavery.