4.4 - The French Revolution (1789 - 1799)

The American Revolution (1775 - 1783)

France went deeper into debt after assisting the Americans in their war against Britain.

Abbe Emmanuel Sieyes (1748 - 1836)

A French author and clergyman who published an influential pamphlet in 1789 called "What is the Third Estate?". The questions he asked represented the frustration many in the Third Estate felt, especially the middle class. He wrote: "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been in the political order up to the present? Nothing. What does it ask? To become something."

Olympe de Gouges (1748 - 1793)

A French writer who published the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Female Citizen." She criticized the "Declaration of the Rights of Man" for leaving out women and called for political equality for both men and women.

The First Estate

A social class in France made up of the clergy, who paid no taxes.

The Second Estate

A social class in France made up of the nobility. The nobility were divided into two classes: the nobles of the sword and the nobles of the robe. The first group could trace its noble status back for many generations. Though they had social status, not all of the them were wealthy. Nobles of the robe did not come from a long line of nobles. Instead, many of them had purchased their status and specific positions in France's high courts, called parlements. Nobles had great influence, paid few taxes, and collected dues from peasants who lived on their lands. Some nobles, influenced by the Enlightenment, wanted to see the power of the monarchy diminished in France as it had been in England. Most were opposed to reforms that might limit their prestige, privileges, and positions in society.

The Third Estate

A social class in France made up the commoners, including the peasants, middle class, and the upper middle class of doctors, bankers, and lawyers known as the bourgeoisie. While most peasants in France were better off than those in other European countries, a majority of them were still poor. The bulk of France's tax burden fell on the peasants, who were politically powerless. Peasants were also required to be a tax to the church known as the tithe. By 1789, the bourgeoisie owned about 20 percent of France's land. Many wanted to rise to the status of the noble of the robe, but the offices for sale were often too expensive. As a result, many felt thwarted since they couldn't advance in French society. This is important because the revolution had its start in the Third Estate. It was essentially a middle-class liberal movement.

The Quasi-War (1798-1800)

An undeclared naval war between the United States and France that started over the XYZ Affair. In the late 1700s, the final French Revolutionary government, the Directory, was experiencing problems financing its European wars. Many leaders were also angry that the United States failed to France against Britain (France had come to the aid of the US during the American Revolution). Consequently, in 1796 French leaders decided to issue an order allowing for the seizure of American merchant ships. President John Adams dispatched three U.S. diplomats to restore peace between the United States and France. The American diplomats were approached by three French statesmen (nicknamed X, Y, Z) who demanded a bribe before allowing the Americans to see the French foreign minister. This insult combined with French aggression led to an undeclared naval war between the two nations over the next two years (most of the fighting took place in the West Indies).

Cahiers de doleances

As delegates from throughout France were being chosen to attend the Estates General in May 1789, complaint reports were drawn up. Among many other things, the reports called for no tax to be legal except what the representatives of the people approved.

The Fall of the Bastille

As the National Assembly met, riots broke out in Paris as a result of high food prices and rumors that the king planned to send troops in to murder them. On July 14, 1789, the rioters stormed a prison fortress in Paris called the Bastille to seize weapons to defend themselves. The fortress was also a symbol of the tyrannical power of the king. When news of the fall of the Bastille reached the king, he asked his advisor if this was a revolt. "No," the aide famously responded, "it is a revolution." The Storming of the Bastille led to many other uprisings in France. In what became known as the Great Fear, peasants turned on their lords who were blamed for food shortages and the country's economic problems.

The National Assembly

At the meeting of the Estates General in May 1789, the Third Estate called for every delegate to have a vote. The king refused and said that each estate could only have one vote, which ensured that the first two estates would have the advantage over the third. The Third Estate's refusal to accept this led to the first act of revolution. On June 17, 1789, led by Honore Gabriel Riquetti, the Third Estate renamed itself the National Assembly and called on the other two estates to join it. To prevent the National Assembly from meeting, Louis XVI ordered the doors locked. The members found an indoor tennis court that was unlocked and swore not to leave Versailles until they had written a new constitution for France. This became known as the famous "Tennis Court Oath."

Thermidorian Reaction

By 1794, many had grown tired of the excesses of the Revolution (Danton himself had been executed after asking Robespierre to end the Reign of Terror). In what became known as the "Thermidorian Reaction," the National Convention brought the Reign of Terror to an end by executing Robespierre and his Jacobin followers.

Napoleon

By 1799, the only institution in France that was held in high regard was the 700,000 man revolutionary army, which had won a series of stunning victories. In November 1799, with the help of conspirators and soldiers, a military officer by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte abolished the unpopular Directory in a coup d'état (an illegal takeover of the government) and declared himself to be First Consul of France.

Paris Commune

By August 1792, the war against Austria was going poorly for France. Some feared that Louis XVI might try to ally with the invaders and end the revolution. Unhappy with the Legislative Assembly, Danton and other Jacobins called for a more radical government and constitution that would abolish the monarchy For two months while a new government was being formed, Danton and his radical Paris Commune held power. Danton and members of the commune, known as sans-culottes (peasants without fancy knee-breeches), attacked and murdered supporters of the monarchy and those deemed anti-revolutionary.

Committee of Public Safety

Facing internal disorder (a region of western France called the Vendee revolted against the radical National Convention) and foreign invasion, the National Convention appointed twelve men to solve the threats facing the Revolution. This group was called the "Committee of Public Safety," which included Danton and Maximillian Robespierre.

Assembly of Notables (1787)

In 1787, Louis XVI convened this assembly to gain the First and Second Estates' consent to a tax on the church and nobility. The assembly refused to approve the king's plan, and bankers in France began to refuse to lend money to the king. As a result, the king called for the Estates General to convene for the first time in over 150 years.

The Jacobin Club

In 1791, the National Assembly completed their promised constitution and created a new governing body called the Legislative Assembly. The radicals in the Legislative Assembly were known as the "Jacobin Club" and were led by Georges Jacques Danton and Jean Paul Marat.

The Directory

In 1795, the unpopular National Convention wrote a new constitution, establishing a legislature overseen by a Directory consisting of five men. However, this didn't solve the internal economic problems and external threats facing France.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

In August 1789, the National Assembly produced "The Declaration of the Rights of Man," which declared that all citizens were politically equal with inherent rights to "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." The document brought the ancien regime and many of the privileges of the nobles and clergy to an end. Nobles lost their titles and everyone in France became known as citoyens or citizens. The document specifically promoted the following: 1) all people are innocent until proven guilty; 2) granted the people the freedom of speech, but only to the extent that it doesn't limit another person's freedom and that public order is not disturbed. For the revolutionaries, the nation was more important than the individual (nationalism); 3) protection of private property; 4) taxation based upon ability to pay; 5) the elimination of tax exemptions for nobles. The actions of the National Assembly turned France into a constitutional monarchy, with the king sharing power with the assembly. Like the American Declaration of Independence, the French declaration reflected Enlightenment ideas. But where the American declaration placed power in the hands of individuals who join together in common cause, the French declaration claimed that "all authority rests in the nation." Because of this some historians say that modern nationalism began with the French Revolution. Nationalism is the idea that all people, including the ruler, serve the state (it used to be that the state served the ruler).

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

In his "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790), this English writer criticized the excesses of the French Revolution and wrote that "People will not look forward to posterity who never look back to their ancestors." This writer warned that sudden breaks with the past are doomed to fail. The established order exists to provide order and stability. As a result of these ideas, this writer is sometimes called the "father of modern conservatism."

Secularization

New laws sought to remove France even further from the ancien regime. Churches were closed by the government, anti- revolutionary clergy were executed, the Christian calendar was eliminated (the seven-day week was replaced by a ten-day week and the months were renamed), the cathedral of Notre Dame became the Temple of Reason, and Robespierre created a new religion called the "Cult of the Supreme Being." Though France's radical revolutionaries were hardly tolerant of people with different views, they did value books, reason, and learning. Many book collections were held in monasteries and when the church came under attack in revolutionary France, much of the church property, including its books, was confiscated and placed in a national library.

National Convention

On September 22, 1792, the new and more radical government called the National Convention came to power and arrested the king, abolished the monarchy, and declared 1792 to be Year One of the new French Republic. But even the National Convention would soon find itself divided. The Girondins represented the countryside and favored a constitutional monarchy. The Mountain represented Paris and had more radical ideas. Soon many of the conservative Girondins were purged from the government. In 1792, the National Convention placed King Louis XVI on trial for treason. He was found guilty and executed by guillotine on Jan. 21, 1793.

The Declaration of Pillnitz (1791)

The Austrian emperor Leopold II and Prussia's King Friedrich Wilhelm II issued a declaration which stated that their armies would invade France if Louis XVI and his family were harmed by the French revolutionary government.

Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790)

The French church was placed under state control and required all clergy to take an oath of allegiance

Louis XVI (r. 1774 - 1792)

The king of France (r. 1774-1792) who ruled during the French Revolution and was executed by the National Convention in 1793.

Queen Marie Antoinette

The unpopular Austrian wife of King Louis XVI. She was executed by the National Convention in 1793.

The Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763)

This global war against Britain added to France's debt.

The War of Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748)

This war added to the debt of France.

Reign of Terror

To address the internal political threats to the Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety arrested and executed anyone who was suspected of being an "enemy of the people." This brutal program to silence critics of the Revolution became known as the "Reign of Terror." Nobles, supporters of the monarchy, and commoners who questioned the revolution were executed. Altogether, between 25,000 and 50,000 French men and women were sent to the guillotine over the next ten months.