FRENCH REVOLUTION: 1789-1795.
The Estates General Meeting.
It was the first meeting since 1614. It was a general assembly representing the three "Estates of the
Realm": clergy, nobility and Third Estate. It was summoned by the King Louis XVI to propose solutions to
his government financial problems. The Estates General reunited an equal number of representatives from
each Estate. Everyone met at the Palace of Versailles.
The Third Estate decided to ask for double representation. Necker supported this initiative, which
increased his popularity significantly. On December 1788, the double representation of the Third Estate was
granted by royal decree.
On May 5th, 1789 the Estates General were opened by the King. The Third Estate was represented
by Maximilien de Robespierre, a young and promising. Robespierre was dedicated to the defense of the
rights of the poor and vulnerable.
The Estates General meeting was an opportunity for the poorest people of the Third estate to finally
be heard by the King. The double representation was seen as a huge victory and a hope for a change was
growing.
On the first days of the meeting, the King and his delegates announced the principles of the meeting
and the Third Estate discovered that the double representation was in fact a sham. It was decided that the
votes will be hold by orders, 1 vote for each estate and not by head. The double representation was a fallacy.
Louis XVI and his advisors focused on a complete overhaul of the French tax system. According to
Necker, the only solution to the financial crisis was to make all the people of France pay the taxes, no matter
what estate they were from.. But obviously, the King's decision was
rejected by the Nobility. Louis
XVI faced a huge resistance from his own group who wouldn't accept any loss of wealth or power.
Meanwhile, the Third Estate, fed up with the King's decisions decided to constitute themselves as the
National Assembly. It was aimed at representing the three Estates but without the supervision of the King.
They called for the two other orders to join them. Then, Louis XVI canceled the Estates General meeting.
This was a very important decision that changed the course of French political system forever.
The newly created assembly led by Robespierre, Mirabeau and Sieyes decided to meet in another
part. During the Tennis Court Oath (June 20th, 1789), they decided to write France a Constitution. On July
9th, a Constituent Assembly was formed.
The Bastile Storm.
Louis XVI admitted his defeat but didn't approve the new Assembly. On July 12th, 1789 the King
dismissed his very popular Minister of Finances, Jacques Necker. On July 13th, 1789 a rumor spread in the
streets of Paris of a coming counter attack by the King's army.
On the morning of July 14th, 1789, a group of people gathered in front of the Bastile looking for
gunpowder and guns. The crowd knew that gunpowder and guns were stocked in the Bastille, a prison that
was a symbol of the King's absolute and arbitrary power. So they decided to attack it.
At the time of the storming, the Bastille was only guarded by a few soldiers. Marquis de Launay was at the
time governor of the Bastile.
The Marquis de Launay, fearing a growing anger among the revolutionaries, accepted to meet some
of their representatives inside the prison. He hoped to buy time, as he was expecting a rescue team to arrive
and to help him.
The path of the revolt completely changed when the rescue team showed up and decided not to fight
against but with the mob. With their canons and their professional soldier skills, they brought victory to the
people of France against Louis XVI's guards. Marquis de Launay surrendered and let the people enter the
Bastille. The guards were violently killed and the Marquis de Launay was beheaded, with his head then put
on a stake and carried all over the city as a sign of victory.
There weren't many prisoners in the Bastille at the time of the storming; only 7 people were freed.
That very night, 800 men began to destroy the Bastille.
Some historians found the diary of the King. On that day, July 14th, 1789 he only wrote "Nothing".
That was the result of his day's hunting. When the Duke de Liancourt informed the King of what happened at
the Bastille, the King asked his advisor "is this a revolt?" and he was answered, "No Majesty, this is a
revolution".
The storming of the Bastille was the symbol of the victory of the French people against the
Monarchy. What started as a revolt became a Revolution that will change the face of France's policy for ever.
The National Guard was quickly formed, composed of more than 40,000 people directed
by Lafayette. They adopted the tri-color rosettes as the new symbol of the Revolution. The White, the color
of the Monarchy is encircled by the Blue and the Red, the colors of Paris.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
On August 26th, 1789 the National Assembly voted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen,
defining a set of individual and collective rights for all the people, regardless of their Estate. Many
revolutionaries participated in the writing of this text, among them Robespierre, Mirabeau, Lafayette and
Sieyes.
1791 Constitution.
A Constitution would define the authority, structure and powers of the new government. Then, the
National Assembly drafted a national Constitution almost inmediately. The process was difficult because of
the differences of opinion and the growing radicalism of the Revolution. The Constitution was ratified by the
Assembly on September 1791. The document established a constitutional monarchy and incorporated
several ideas from the Enlightenment (political and social rights, division of the power, etc).
The Constitution changed Louis XVI title from "King of France" to King of French and the King's
power now comes from the people and the law, not from absolute power or divine right. The King was
granted a 25 million livres money, a reduction of around 20 million. The Constitution also gave the King the
right to appoint the ministers (executive power) and limited veto power over the legislation of the Assembly
(veto power means block the laws passed by the Parliament). But everything changed when the King try to
escape from France.
The National Convention and the French Republic
In the autumn of 1792, the first election took place under the rules of the Constitution of 1791. The
first action of the convention, on September 21, 1792, was to abolish the monarchy. The next day,
the Republic of France was founded.
The Execution of Louis XVI
The next proposal before the National Convention was the execution of Louis XVI. Once again, the
moderates objected and eventually forced a trial, but the effort was in vain. Louis was accused of of
conspiring against France by communicating with foreign and emigre armies and inciting enemy attacks.
Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and, on January 21, 1793, executed at the guillotine. Months later, on
October 16, 1793, his wife, Marie-Antoinette, met the same fate.
The Committee of Public Safety
In the weeks after the execution of the king, the internal and external wars in France continued to
grow. Prussian and Austrian forces pushed into the French countryside, and a French general even defected
to the opposition. The Girondin-led National Convention started to panic. In an effort to restore peace and
order, the convention created the Committee of Public Safety on April 6, 1793, to maintain order within
France and protect the country from external threats.
The Jacobins’ Coup
They sans coulottes stormed the National Convention and accused the Girondins of representing the
aristocracy. Seeing an opportunity, Maximilien Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, took control of the
convention and installed the Jacobins in power.
In July 1793 some of the more radical Jacobin leaders, including Robespierre, installed themselves in
charge of the committee and immediately began to make drastic changes. Among the changes was the
suspension of many clauses of the new constitution. One of the most important Jacobin policies was
the Maximum, a decree that fixed prices in an attempt to stop the inflation that was ruining the economy.
In August, military strategist Lazare Carnot was appointed head of the French war effort and
immediately set about instituting conscription throughout France. Propaganda and discipline helped to
reenergize the nation, particularly in rural areas. Carnot’s effort succeeded, and the new army managed to
push back the invading Austrian and Prussian forces and reestablish France’s traditional boundaries.
The Reign of Terror
In the autumn of 1793, Robespierre and the Jacobins focused on addressing economic and political
threats within France. In September, Robespierre began pointing an accusing finger at anyone whose beliefs
seemed to be counterrevolutionary (citizens who had committed no crime but
had social or political
thinkings that varied too much from Robespierre’s). The committee targeted even those who shared many
Jacobin views but were perceived as too radical or conservative. Executions spread in Paris and in rural
areas.
During the nine-month period that followed, anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 French citizens were
beheaded at the guillotine. Even longtime associates of Robespierre such as Georges Danton, who had
helped the Jacobins to rise to power, fell victim to the paranoia. When Danton questioned Robespierre’s
actions, and tried to arrange a truce between France and the warring countries, he himself lost his life to the
guillotine, in April 1794.
Robespierre’s bloody attempt to protect the Revolution had exactly the opposite result. Roberspierre
even killed many former allies. People shifted their focus from equality to peace.
By the time the French army had almost completely defeated foreign invaders, Robespierre no longer
had a justification for his extreme actions in the name of public “safety.” His final proposal was the
foundation of a “Republic of Virtue,” which would change the morals of Christianity into a new set of
values. On July 27, 1794, a group of Jacobin allies arrested Robespierre. Receiving the same treatment that
he had mandated for his enemies, he lost his head at the guillotine the following day.
The Thermidorian Reaction
With Robespierre out of the political scene, a number of the bourgeoisie who had been repressed
under the Reign of Terror (many of them Girondins) took power in the late summer of 1794. These
moderates freed many of the Jacobins’ prisoners, neutralized the power of the Committee for Public Safety,
and had many of Robespierre’s fellows executed in a movement that became known as the Thermidorian
Reaction.
ACTIVITIES.
1. Explain these concepts with your own words:
1. Beheaded:
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2. Conscription:
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3. Guillotine:
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4. Inflation:
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2. The Execution of Louis XVI. Describe the picture in 50 words.
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3. True or false, change false sentences into true.
1. After the Thermidorian reaction Robespierre had to exile in Spain.
2. Louis XVI was found guilty of treason and imprisoned in the Bastile.
3. Robespierre government control the inflation by fixing prices.
4. Robespierre beheaded political enemies and promoted close friends as Danton to the
direction of the Public Safety Comittee.
5. 100.000 french citizens were beheaded during the Reign of Terror.
6. Queen Marie-Antoinette was beheaded on october 1793.
7. The Republic of Virtue wanted to change the morals of Christianity into a new set of values.
8. Once King Louis canceled the Estates Meeting, delegates met in the Hall of the Mirrors in
Versailles.
9. Queen Marie Antoinette was sent to exile, back to her homeland Austria.
10. The Estates Meeting reunited delegates from different regions of France and they voted by
head.
11. On July 1789, Rumor spread across Paris that the King was sending an army for a counter
attack.
12. Sans coulottes were the common people from Paris.
13. 1791 Constitution granted King Louis veto power over legislation.
14. Thermidorian Reaction refers to the moment that Robespierre took control of the
government.
15. Committee of Public Safety was led by Robespierre, Danton and Napoleon.