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Examinable Readings:

-Old Regime and the Enlightenment -Causes of French Revolution

-French Revolution ʹ The Origins (Exam Format ʹ Discursive Question)

   

The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European
history, where the absolute Bourbon monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in 3
years (1789 ʹ 1792). It brought people to the forefront of politics, set the model for later revolutions,
and changed the political map of Europe forever.

Brief Timeline of the French Revolution:

05/05/1789 Meeting of the Estates-General, called together to discuss a new taxation

Start of structure by Louis XVI, at Versailles.
Revolution
20/06/1789 Formation of the National Assembly, in the famous Tennis Court Oath, by
the Third Estate members locked out of the Estates-General meeting.

14/06/1789 Storming of the Bastile by the sans-culotte, the militant electors of Paris.

04/08/1789 End of Feudalism and Serfdom announced by the National Assembly.

27/08/1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man issued by the National Assembly.

Liberal 05/10/1789 ͚October Days͛ ʹ The women or Paris invade Versailles and force the King
Revolution back to Paris; the National Assembly declares a constitutional monarchy.

1790 Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed.

1791 Constitution off 1791 passed, giving testimony to the dominant position of
the Bourgeosie, and allowing only limited suffrage. (Government at the time
sells church land, but in such big blocks, it is not in the interest of the
peasants) Decentralisation of Government occurs.

20/06/1791 Louis XVI and family caught trying to escape from France, but caught at
Varennes. There is a lack of leadership.

1792 Politically literate lower class disappointed as they believe revolution not
benefiting them (especially economically), allows for radical republicans to
replace the government, claiming to rule on the common people͛s ticket.
Radicalisation
[Girondists with emphasis on liberty lose out to radical Jacobins with
emphasis on equality, partly due to Girondist͛s power base being in the rural
regions, and the Jacobins centred in urban areas. Jacobins also clost-knit]

20/04/1792 France declares war on Austria and Prussia (other countries do not like how
the revolution is going in France.
 09/1792 First Meeting of National Convention.

21/01/1793 Louis XVI sentenced to death by guillotine.

Radicalisation 08/1793 National draft for all able-bodied men to enlist in the army.

09/93 ʹ 07/94 The Reign of Terror court sentences 20,000 people to death (dictatorship of
the Committee of Public Safety [Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre,
Jean Paul Marat, etc.])

27/07/1794 On the 9 Thermidor (new calendar), the National Convention arrests

Maximilien Robespierre, and beheads him the next day.
Thermidorean 1795 New Constitution emerges with a five-member body called the Directory
Reaction calling the shots

1799 The fall of the directory and the emergence of Napoleon Bonaparte, first as
consul, then emperor.

France prior to the Revolution

France was an absolutist monarchy, built up by Louis XIV, the Sun King, as he removed power from
feudal lords and centralised authority with the monarch. The King was regarded as God͛s agent on
Earth, with a divine right to rule. As opposed to the past where monarchs had to travel widely in the
kingdom, Louis XIV ruled from Versailles and nobles who sought royal favour had to live in Versailles
for much of the year. As Louis VIV put it, ͚È
 
͛ (I am the state).

Beneath the King, society was organised into three distinct classes, the estates. The First Estate,
enjoying high status by virtue of their proximity to God, was the clergy. They comprised less than 1
percent of the population. The second estate was the nobility and aristocracy, who provided military
support for the King. They constituted 1 ʹ 2 percent of the population. They were actually a rather
varied group, with the lesser, more powerful nobles known as Les Grands, and the lesser, provincial
nobles, the seigneurs. The nobles were also broadly distributed into the Nobles d͛epee, whose titles
came from the middle ages, and the Nobles de Robe, later nobles whose titles came from their
possession of public offices. The Third Estate, comprising everyone else, had no political privileges
and constituted 97 percent of the population.

Causes of the French Revolution

Long-term (Structural) causes:

-Agricultural productivity and industrial production increased, literacy rate increased

Socioeconomic Causes

-Growth of a new middle class (from the Third Estate): the Bourgeoisie
-Bourgeoisie upset that they had no political rights; no social mobility ʹ no matter how much
money a merchant, manufacturer, banker or lawyer had, he was still excluded from political
privileges
-Change from mercantilism to free trade
-Many social causes are written down in the Cahiers de doleances (note books of grievances)
which were written for discussion during the Estates-General meeting of 1789
-Estate System
 Enlightenment:
-Emphasis on reason and independent thinking undermined habits of blind obedience to the
church and state
-Sieyes ʹ ͚What is the third Estate?͛ ͚Everything͛
Intellectual Causes

-Rousseau ʹ ͚Man is born free, but everywhere he is shackled͛

-Kant ʹ ͚Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding͛
-Liberalism ʹ liberty in human and natural rights, the sovereignty of the people, equal rights
for all people under the law
-Montesquieu ʹ let a republic become theoretically noble and possible
-Challenged the absolute right to rule
-Appealed to Bourgeoisie grievances
-Liberal society can flourish with free commerce

Weakness of French Monarchy:

-Louis XVI was weak and ineffectual, unable to control his ministers, and was strongly
Political Causes

influenced by his wife, Marie Antoinette

-Was a virtual prisoner in Versailles; isolated from his subjects and the diverse region of his
kingdom, and preferred personal interests to court interests, and was incapable of strong
decisive action
-Louis XVI revived Parlements in 1774, as he did not think a lot of power would go to them, in
the end the financial problems caused Parlements to be centres of resistance to the King

Long and Short Term Causes: Financial Ruin

-Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Religious Reformation) in 1685 had struck a blow at French
Commerce, and the French economy tottered on for the next hundred years
Inefficient system of taxation meant that taxes were levied on the poorest part of the
population and the Nobles and Clergy went untaxed and resisted any attempts to change that
Financial Problems

-The banking system was also incapable of coping with fiscal problems, it was the need for the
King to raise taxes that led to the calling of the Estates-General
Wars consumed a lot of the national finances, with the Seven Years War costing a lot, and
France practically financed the American War
-By the 1780s, the government of France was nearly bankrupt, half of government income was
spent servicing debts, but this was not greater than UK or Holland.
-Efforts to fix the financial problem by Jacques Necker and Charles de Calonne by taxing landed
property were not accepted by the Noblesse de Robe

MUST NOTE: THE MONARCHS WERE ACTUALLY THE MODERNISERS, ONLY AFTER THE REVOLUTION
DID THEY BECOME ARCHAIC, AND SUPPORTED BY THEIR HITHERTO ENEMIES, THE NOBLES AND THE
CLERGY.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ORIGINALLY BEGAN AS AN ARISTOCRATIC REVOLT AGAINST THE

MONARCHY, AND THE THIRD ESTATE WERE PREPARED TO SUPPORT THE MONARCHY IN GETTING
THE NOBILITY AND CLERGY TO PAY TAXES. BUT AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF RISING FOOD PRICES
AND PARIS BEING RADICALISED, THE THIRD ESTATE ALSO REVOLTED.
Short-Term Causes

-Inflation (rising prices): Cost of living went up 62%, whilst wages only went up 25%
-Pitting British textiles against French textiles caused massive unemployment for the
Inflation
and bad
harvest French
year -The 1788 harvest was the worst, with food shortages leading to famine

-Revolutionary ideas were shown to be practical

Revolution
Impact of

American

-The idea of a free republic appealed to the ordinary citizen

-France paid for the American Revolution, causing financial ruin
the

-Declaration of Independence inspired the Declaration of the Rights of Man

Limitations to Causes

Socioeconomic The Third Estate were initially more willing to support the King against the
Causes First and Second Estates to ensure that they paid the same taxes as the Third
Estate.
Intellectual Causes Most of the philosophers were from the upper classes themselves, and were
more of reformers than revolutionaries. While they satirised the old regime,
they favoured the creation of an enlightened, constitutional monarchy rather
than a popular, representative democracy. They did not propose any specific
reform program of policies, and were not part of the revolutionary events of
1789.
Political Causes The monarchy can be slightly absolved from blame due to Louis XVI͛s short
reign, and the uncontrollable natural disasters that occurred during his reign.
Financial Causes -
(Economic)
Inflation/ Harvest -
American Revolution -

Important Events

Fall of the Bastile ʹ showed the monarchy to be vulnerable, and inspired peasants to break into the
chateaus of landlords

Calling of the Estates-General ʹ was originally to get taxes from First and Second Estate, but there
was the case of ͚doubl[ing] the third [estate]͛ and the Third Estate wanted votes to be done by head
and not by Estate. The starting point of the revolution

Tennis Court Oath ʹ National Assembly swore to create a new constitution after their secession from
the Estates-General, declared an end to Feudalism, creating equality for all citizens

Secularisation of State ʹ Adoption of a new anti-Christian calendar that excluded Sunday, and the
introduction of a new state religion, the worship of ͚Reason͛

Radicalisation of revolution ʹ The terror, suppression of supposed ͚counter-revolutionaries͛ which

was basically the mass massacre of numerous people of questionable guilt

Death of Louis XVI ʹ executed as ͚Citoyen Louis Capet͛, end of absolutism, and hopes of royalists