French Revolution The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant. Maximilien de Robespierre When we talk about “revolution”, generally we mean that drastic changes have taken place in history at a certain time period. The French Revolution (1789-1799) is not an exception. The French Revolution is known as the revolution, which affected not only the history of France, but also the history of Europe. Economic, social, and political instabilities marked the beginning of the revolution. The motto, “Liberté, egalité, fraternité”, which stands for “Liberty, equality, fraternity”, had unified revolutionaries, who fought for their social and political rights. The abolition of feudalism and the monarchy, establishment of civil equality and, finally, formation of the First French Republic; these historically significant events prove that the French Revolution is genuinely a watershed in the history of Europe. The storming of the Bastille is considered as the start of the French Revolution and the fall of the French monarchy, but what induced people to take such courageous step? Starting from Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), where France took part, it suffered heavy losses. Thus, for France this war ended up with the loss of its lands in Northern America in favor of Great Britain. This encouraged France to take part in American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and help the United States defeat Great Britain. This means that Great Britain would be weakened, which was exactly what France wanted. However, the participation costed a lot and France was set up in debts. Therefore, in February 1787, the controller general of finances, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne introduced a taxation reform, which proposed the increase of taxation for the privileged groups of society. But all of Calonne’s efforts were unsuccessful, because the nobility refused. Besides, the poor harvest of 1788, which happened due to the coldest winter. It killed off all fruits and vegetables, froze rivers and all stored grains, and deprived people of food. Urban dwellers experienced the shortage of food more than anyone. Certainly, this harvest failure worsened already difficult economic and social issues. At the same time, a movement, which quickly gained a priority in European communities of the 17-18th centuries — Enlightenment. In France, people were bothered by the absolute monarchy because the King was only concerned about his, nobility’s and clergy’s prosperity and did not take into account the needs and the rights of the commoners. Eventually, people came to the conclusion that indignity, unhappiness, inequality, starvation, and ignorance were unessential. From this moment, 1685, and up until the beginning of the French Revolution, French people experienced the modern ideas of the Enlightenment. The optimistic attitude about the new stage of industrialization, scientific and technological advancements, and attempts to establish a social community based on the equality, liberty and religious tolerance; people wanted to be educated and enlightened. Besides, there was a frustration of the bourgeoisie. Despite having an influence in economic branches, such as trading and banking, the bourgeoisie wanted to attain social and political rights. Another aspect, which displeased the bourgeoisie is the obvious privilege of the Nobles and the Clergy. The bourgeoisie aimed to abolish such an injustice. In 1789, the Estates-General: First Estate — the clergy, Second Estate — the nobility, and the Third Estate — the common people — met for the first time after 1614. France had tough times because of the financial crisis, the taxation reform, and King Louis’ XVI uncertainty and conservatism. At this point, Jacques Necker became controller general of finance, he was honored among the Third Estate. In January 1789, in France, elections of deputies had begun and a huge amount of cahier de doléances were sent. There were no restrictions for people to write the cahier de doléance, where electors wrote their grievances and suggestions. A few months later, in May 1789, the Third Estate became National Assembly. The parish priests joined The National Assembly and outnumbered the clergy. King Louis XVI was against the National Assembly, so he gathered troops against it. This caused the Great fear of July, which was accompanied by riots along by the relief of Necker. As a result of these events, on July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed by Parisians. The storming of the Bastille symbolized the termination of the ancien régime. Starting from August 1789 to Spring 1791, the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism, established civil equality among men, and gave a right to vote for half of the male population – these reforms established a new regime. Moreover, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) was proposed. It had plenty of similarities with the United States’ Declaration. The main ideas of the French Declaration were equality, having natural rights, liberty, and the inviolability of property. After the abolishment of the monarchy, in 1792, the First Republic was established. From April to September 1792, France was beaten many times. However, France put itself together and in the same year occupied Belgium, the Rhineland, Savoy, and the country of Nice. In response to this, Prussia and Great Britain organized a coalition along with other European countries. King Louis XVI was condemned to death and on January 21, 1793, was guillotined. His wife, Marie-Antoinette, was guillotined nine months later. Simultaneously, the National Convention was distributed between the Jacobins and the Girondins. The Girondins, whose leader was Jacques Pierre Brissot, planned to spread the revolution all over Europe. Maximilien de Robespierre was a leader of the Jacobins, he set up a radical regime and supported violence. Robespierre’s rise to power fell on 1793-1794, the period of the Reign of Terror. The coalition of European countries was against France, as a result, France was surrounded by these countries. Furthermore, the counter-revolution unleashed riots and a lack of food. This gave birth to fear among civilians and the Jacobins came to power. Robespierre kept dictatorship, control over the citizens and created the conscripted army, which preserved France from attacks of their enemies and anarchy. Unfortunately, during the Reign of Terror, 17.000 people were executed, and 300.000 were under the suspicion of counter-revolutionary activity. In 1794, France gained a victory over Austria at Fleurus. Therefore, the need in the Reign of Terror was no longer necessary, so that Maximilien de Robespierre was overthrown and executed. The Directory (1795-1799) of five members became a new French government. The French army advanced and this let France occupy so-called “sister republics” in Central and Southern Europe. France, and Great Britain were still fighting, therefore, the Directory, by Bonaparte’s advice, decided to menace Great Britain in India by occupying Egypt. France did not succeed, so, later, Austria, Russia, Turkey, and Great Britain formed a Second Coalition. This coalition weakened France. On November 9th, 1799, Napoleon’s coup of 18-19 Brumaire deposed the Directory and Napoleon Bonaparte became the “first consul” of France. The main question is: What had the French Revolution altered? Liberty. The chief achievement was liberty, French people had natural, political, and religious liberty. People understood that they have rights and law became a priority for all. Equality. The nobles and the clergy had the same rights as the commoners, everyone paid taxes, nobody had priority, everyone was equal before the law. Women participated in politics and had the same rights as men. There were changes in education as well. Napoleon opened the first University in Paris, then schools and colleges were opened. The education is considered essential. Since in the French Revolution participated the majority of European states and even India, the issues of the Revolution were international. Other Europeans conceived that they should assert their rights. The ideas of equality and liberty were introduced to other countries as well. To conclude, it was an important period in the history of the whole of Europe, which abolished monarchy and feudalism, eradicated inequality and privileges. On the one hand, the French Revolution played a significant role in the formation of modern France. On the other hand, the Revolution was an international matter, which unleashed the problems of many countries and proposed new ideas. I chose this topic because, namely France, was the first European country that wanted to change its history, start a new era. People were exhausted of the ancien régime and autocracy, but they were not afraid to oppose and express their dissatisfaction. Consequently, the French Revolution marked the beginning of the new Age, the Modern Age.
