(17891799)

The causes of the French Revolution

can be attributed to several factors:
(J. H. Shennan)
Long-term factors
(i) inequalities in the society which was divided in three classes or estate. (1st, 2 nd, 3rd).
(ii) Lower classes in the 3rd estate the bourgeoisie and the peasantry - had to pay heavy taxes, but the
noble class were exempted to pay any.

Immediate factors
(i)

the financial crisis as a result of French involvement in the prolonged war e.g. the 7 years war, the
American Revolution - had created a tremendous debt for the French state.

(ii)

The extravagant life of Queen Marie Antoinette and the high of maintenance of Versailles Palace were
also contributed to the financial crisis. In the late of 1780s, the French government was facing
bankruptcy

(iii)To

solve the financial crisis, the monarchy government planned to implement new taxations and to
reduce privileges among the nobility - This sparked a political conflict between the Monarchy and the
nobility over the reform or the introduction of a new tax system .

The French Revolution in 1789 then began as a revolution

by the nobility against the monarchy rvolte nobiliare

Palace of
Versailles

Frances Financial Crisis:

17831788

The Revolution of 1789 began with the financial crisis that

happened around 1780s.

Frances involvement in the Seven Years War of 175663 and their

participation in the American Revolution of 177583 with the really high
costs drained the government treasury, and the government were facing a
bankruptcy.

King Louis XVIs extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous

spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little to relieve the growing
debt.

Fiscal irresponsibility - one of the primary factors that led to the

French Revolution. France had long been recognized as a prosperous
country, and were it not for its involvement in costly wars and its
aristocracys extravagant spending, it might have remained one.

The monarchs of the Bourbon dynasty, the French nobility, and the
clergy had also abuses of power in the late 1780s. They bound the
French peasantry into a lots of feudal obligations at the same time
refused to contribute any tax revenue to the French government.

The efforts by the French finance Minister or Controller General like

Turgot or Necker to introduce taxes for the nobility were failed
because of the opposition of the powerful noble class in many of the
judicial institutions in France, e. g Paris parlement and the
provincial assemblies throughout France.

The Appointment of Charles de Calonne

Finally, in the early 1780s, the French government realized that it had to address the
problem, and fast.

First, Louis XVI appointed Charles de Calonne as controller general of finances in 1783.
Then, in 1786, the French government, worried about unrest should it try to raise taxes on
the peasants, yet reluctant to ask the nobles for money, approached various European
banks in search of a loan.

By that point, however, most of Europe knew the depth of Frances financial woes, so
the country found itself with no credibility.

Louis XVI asked Calonne to evaluate the situation and propose a solution.

Calonne found a financial system in shambles.

As for raising new money, the only system in place was a new taxation. At the time,
however, taxation only applied to peasants. The nobility were tax-exempt, and the
parlements (judicial bodies in France that monopolized by the nobles class)
would never agree to across-the-board tax increases. Calonne tried to get approval from
the aristocracy in the Assembly of Notables to impose new taxes on them.

The Assembly of Notables

Calonne finally convinced Louis XVI to gather the nobility together

for a conference during which Calonne and the king could fully
explain the bad situation facing France. Calonne asked the
notables either to agree to the new taxes or to surrender their
exemption to the current ones.

The Assembly of Natobles refused both plans and turned against

Calonne, questioning the validity of his work. Because of the
opposition by the noble class, Calonne was dismissed shortly
thereafter, and he was replaced by Lomenie de Brienne,
Archbishop of Sens.

Brienne was also failed to convince the nobility to accept the new
tax reform, and thus was also dismissed.

The Estates-General: 1789

In the wake of Briennes dismissal, Louis XVI brought back Swiss banker Jacques
Necker, who had previously served a ten-year stint as director general of finance.

After assessing the situation, Necker insisted that Louis XVI should call back the
Estates-General (Les tats-Gnraux - French Parliament), to obtained a
mandate by a vote of the majority (of political representatives).

Under the Old Regime, the Estates General was a legislative assembly of the
different classes (or estates) of French people. It had a separate assembly for each of
the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king. It had no true power
in its own rightinstead it functioned as an advisory body to the king, primarily by
presenting petitions from the various estates and consulting on fiscal policy.

The Estates-General met occasionally until 1614 and only once afterwards, but was
not definitively dissolved until after the French Revolution

On May 5, 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General. Although Louis

XVI granted the Third Estate greater number of representation, the
Parlement of Paris stepped in and invoked an old rule mandating that
each estate receive one vote, regardless of size.

As a result, though the Third Estate was vastly larger than the clergy and
nobility in their number, each estate had the same representationone
vote. This meant that the Third Estates vote would overridden by the
combined votes of the clergy and nobility by 2-1.

First
Estate =
1 Vote or
130,000
Votes

=1

e
t
a
st r
E
d te o otes
r
i
Th Vo 00 V
0
,
0
00
,
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2

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ote
s

What Is the Third Estate?

On May 5, 1789 the Estate General reconvened to discuss and decide (by a vote) on the new
taxation system that proposed by the monarchy.

To add insult to injury, delegates from the Third Estate in the assembly were forced to use
traditional black robes and to enter the Estates-General meeting hall by a side door.

Necker tried to placate the Third Estate into tolerating these slights until some progress could be
made, but his diplomatic efforts accomplished little. Fed up with their mistreatment, members of
the Third Estate took to the streets in protest.

They expressed their dissatisfaction using the pamphlet. The most famous effort was a pamphlet
written by liberal clergy member Emmanuel-Joseph Sieys titled What Is the Third
Estate? In response to his own question, Sieys answered, The Nation.

The pamphlet articulated the pervasive feeling in France that though a small minority might be in
control, the country truly belonged to the masses. Sieyss pamphlet compelled the Third Estate
to action, inciting the masses to take matters into their own hands if the aristocracy failed to give
them due respect.

The Third Estates Revolt

(First stage: The moderate
phase,
1789-1792)
As the impasse
in the Estates-General continued, the Third Estate

became more convinced of its entitlement to liberty. They

demanded that their voices to be considered as a true voice for
the entire people of France.

Seeing that neither the king nor the other estates would agree to
its requests, the Third Estate began to organize within itself and
recruit actively from the other estates.

On June 17, 1789, bolstered by community wide support, the

Third Estate officially broke away from the Estates-General and
proclaimed itself the National Assembly. Shortly thereafter,
many members of the other estates joined the cause.

Blaming the Aristocracy

When the Estates-General convened, the Third Estate wasnt

seeking a revolution they just claimed a bit of liberty and a
more equal tax burden.

The entire Revolution might have been avoided had the first two
estates simply complied/agreed to some of the Third Estates
moderate proposals. Instead, they fell back on tradition and their
aristocratic lifestyles and lit the revolutionary flame.

The National Assembly: 1789

1791

Three days after splitting from the Estates-General, the delegates from the Third Estate (now
the National Assembly) found themselves locked out of the usual meeting hall and convened
on a nearby tennis court instead.

There, all but one of the members took the Tennis Court Oath, which stated simply that the
group would remain unbreakable until it had succeeded in creating a new national constitution.

Upon hearing of the National Assemblys formation, King Louis XVI held a general gathering
in which the government attempted to intimidate the Third Estate into submission. The
assembly, however, had grown too strong, and the king was forced to recognize the group.

The Parisians (people in Paris) had received word of the upheaval, and revolutionary energy
coursed through the city. Inspired by the National Assembly, commoners rioted in protest of
rising prices. Fearing violence, the king had troops surround his palace at Versailles.

Storming The Bastille

Blaming him for the failure of the Estates-General, Louis XVI

dismissed Director General of Finance Jacques Necker. But
Necker was a very popular figure, and when word of the
dismissal reached the public, hostilities spiked yet again.

In light of the rising tension, a scramble for arms broke out, and
on July 13, 1789, revolutionaries raided the Paris town hall in
pursuit of arms. There they found few weapons but plenty of
gunpowder.

The next day, upon realizing that it contained a large armory,

citizens on the side of the National Assembly stormed the
Bastille, a medieval fortress and main prison in Paris.

The storming of the Bastille was more symbolic than it was

necessary for the revolutionary cause. By storming one of Pariss
most notorious state prisons and hoarding weapons, the
revolutionaries gained a symbolic victory over the Old Regime
and conveyed the message that they were not to be played with.

People of Paris seized

weapons from the
Bastille
July 14, 1789
Parisians organized
their own government
which they called the
Commune
Small groups
factions competed to
control the city of Paris

Uprising spread
throughout France
Nobles were attacked
Records of feudal dues
and owed taxes were
destroyed
Many nobles fled the
country became
known as migrs
Louis XVI was forced to
fly the new tricolor flag
of France

Uprising in Paris

Lafayette and the National

Guard
The national assembly took power and secured control over the

capital from the government, They assumed top government

positions in Paris, and reinstated Necker. The revolutionaries did
not make the king as their enemy.

Even the king himself travelled to Paris in revolutionary

garb/dress to voice his support.

To bolster the defence of the assembly, the Marquis de

Lafayette, a liberal noble, assembled a collection of French
citizens into the French National Guard to control the situation.
Although some blood had already been shed, the Revolution
seemed to be subsiding and safely in the hands of the people.

LE GRANDE PEUR

The chaos and conflict not only taking place in Paris, but the
majorityof the conflicts erupted in the struggling countryside.

Peasants and farmers alike, who had been suffering under high
prices and unfair feudal contracts, began to wreak havoc/inflict
chaos in rural France.

After hearing news of the Third Estates mistreatment by the

Estates-General, and feeding off of the infectious revolutionary
spirit that permeated France, the peasants amplified their attacks
in the countryside over the span of a few weeks, sparking a
hysteria known as the Great Fear (La grande peur).

Starting around July 20, 1789, and continuing through the first
days of August, the Great Fear spread through sporadic pockets of
the French countryside. Peasants attacked country manors and
estates, in some cases burning them down in an attempt to
escape their feudal obligations.

The
Path
of the
Great
Fear

The August Decrees (4-11

August)
Only few deaths among the nobility were reported in the Great Fear.

However, The National Assembly (majority of them were rich

bourgeoisie), which was meeting in Versailles at the time, feared that
the uncontrolled rural peasants would destroy all that the assembly had
worked hard to attain (a democratic and liberal reforms, as
bourgeoisie objectives, not a blood-shed and a violence)

In an effort to calming the peasants and quell the destruction, the

assembly then issued the August Decrees in 4 August 1789, which
abolished many of the feudal obligations that the peasants had to their
landlords. For the time being, the countryside calmed down

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of

the Citizen

Just three weeks later, on August 26, 1789, the assembly issued
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a
document that guaranteed due process in judicial matters and
established sovereignty among the French people.

The main themes found in the declaration made one thing very
clear: that every person was a Frenchmanand that they were
equal.

Not surprisingly, the French people embraced the declaration,

while the king and many nobles did not. It effectively ended the
ancien rgime and ensured equality for the bourgeoisie.

Declaration of the Rights of

Man
Freedom of
religion

Freedom of
speech

Freedom of
the press

Guaranteed
property
rights

Liberty,
equality,
fraternity!

Right of the
people to
create laws

Right to a
fair trial

The Food Crisis

Despite the assemblys gains, little had been done to solve the growing food crisis in
France. Shouldering the burden of feeding their families, it was the French women
who took up arms on October 5, 1789.

They first stormed the city hall in Paris, gathering a sizable ammo and arms.
Numbering several thousand, the mob marched to Versailles, followed by the
National Guard, which escorted the women to protect them.

Overwhelmed by the mob, King Louis XVI, effectively forced to take responsibility for
the situation, immediately sanctioned the August Decrees and the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The next day, having little choice, the
royal family joined the crowd back to Paris. To ensure that he was aware of the misery
of the city and its citizens, the king and his family were imprisoned in the Tuileries
Palace in the city.

Most of the revolutionaries were more against the nobles than the king. They still
regarded the king as their saviour from the aristocracy. It was partly owing to this
perspective that the assembly attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy
alongside the king, rather than simply overthrow him and rule the nation itself during
the revolution.

The National Assembly and the

Church

Over the next two years, the National Assembly took a number of progressive actions to address the
failing economy and tighten up the country.

A number of them targeted the Catholic Church, which was at the time one of the largest landholders in
France. To jump-start the economy, the state in February 1790 confiscated all the churchs land and then
used it to back a new French currency called the assignat. In the beginning, at least, the assignat
financed the Revolution and acted as an indicator of the economys strength.

A short time later, in July 1790, the French Catholic Church itself fell prey to the Civil Constitution of
the Clergy, a decree by the National Assembly that established a national church system with elected
clergy. Civil Constitution of the Clergy required that Church officials be elected by the people, with
salaries paid by the government

- New bishops were required to swear loyalty to the State in far stronger terms than to any religious doctrine

- 2/3 of Church officials fled the country rather than swear loyalty to this Constitution

The country was also divided into eighty-three departments, each of which was governed by an elected
official and represented by an elected bishop. The voting for these positions was open to anyone who
met certain criteria, such as property ownership.

The Civil
Constitution
of theJulyClergy
12,
1790
Jurying
vs.
Non-Jurying
The oath of loyalty permanently
divided the Catholic population!

[refractory]

Clergy

Changes under the National

Assembly
Abolishment of
guilds and
labor unions

Abolition of
special
privileges

Constitution of
1791 (the 1st
const for
France)

Declaration of
the Rights of
Man

Equality before
the law (for
men)

Many nobles
left France and
became known
as migrs

Reforms in local
government

Taxes levied
based on the
ability to pay

Short-term Causes of the

French Revolution
Bankruptcy

Great Fear

Estates-General

Caused by deficit
spending
Financial ministers
(Turgot, Necker,
Calonne)
proposed changes
new taxes for
the privileged
classes

Worst famine in
memory
Hungry,
impoverished
peasants feared
that nobles at
Estates-General
were seeking
greater privileges
Attacks on nobles
occurred
throughout the
country in 1789

Louis XVI had no choice but to call for

a meeting of the Estates-General to
find a solution to the bankruptcy
problem
All three estates
Had not met since 1614
Set in motion a series of events of
revolutionaries which resulted in the
abolition of the monarchy and a
completely new socio-political system
for France

But these were

rejected
Assembly of
Notables voted
down taxation for
the nobility in
1787

Lecture 3 The Radical Phase

Four Phases (Periods) of the French

Revolution
National Assembly (17891791)
Legislative Assembly (17911792)
Convention (1792-1795)
Directory (1795-1799)

Moderate/Liberal
phase looking for
liberal changes
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 1789-1791
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 1791-1792
-----------------------THE ASSEMBLIES WERE UNDER THE MODERATE
BOURGEOISIE WANTED LIBERAL REFORMS FOR UNDER
THE CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
MOSTLY OF THEM WERE GIRONDINS/BRISSOTINS

Radical phase
looking for liberal
changes
CONVENTION1792-1795
DIRECTORY1795-1799
-------------------THE ASSEMBLIES GENERALLY WERE UNDER
THE RADICAL BOURGEOISIE WANTED
RADICAL REFORMS UNDER THE REPUBLICAN
STATE.
MOST OF THEM WERE JACOBINS/MONTAGNE

The Radical Phase

was known as the
Second French
The National Convention:
Revolution
Girondin Rule: 1792-1793
Jacobin Rule:

1793-1794
[Reign of Terror]

Thermidorian Reaction:

The Directory 1795-1799

1794-1795

Escalating Violence: 17911792

Louis XVIs Flight

Although King Louis XVI maintained a supportive front toward the

Revolution, he remained in contact with the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and
Sweden, asking for their help in restoring his family to power.

In late June 1791, Louis and his family attempted to escape to the Austrian
border, where they were supposed to meet the Austrian army and arrange
an attack on the revolutionaries. However, the runaway party was caught
just before reaching the border and brought back to Tuileries in Paris.

This escape attempt considerably weakened the kings position and lowered
his respect in the eyes of the French people. Beforehand, although he had
little real power remaining, he at least still had the faith of his country.

The more radical revolutionaries, who had never wanted a constitutional

monarchy, trusted the king even less after his attempted escape.

The more moderate revolutionaries, who once were loyal proponents of

the constitutional monarchy, found themselves hard-pressed to defend the
monarch. Therefore, although Louis XVI constitutionally retained some
power after being returned to Paris, it was clear that his days were
numbered.

The Declaration of Pillnitz 1791

In response to Louiss capture and forced return to Paris, Prussia and

Austria issued the Declaration of Pillnitz on August 27, 1791, warning
the French against harming the king and demanding that the monarchy
be restored. The declaration also implied that Prussia and Austria would
intervene militarily in France if any harm came to the king.

Prussia and Austrias initial concern was simply for Louis XVIs wellbeing, but soon the countries began to worry that the French peoples
revolutionary sentiment would infect their own citizens. The Declaration
of Pillnitz was issued to force the French Revolutionaries to think
carefully about their actions and, if nothing else, make them aware that
other countries were watching the Revolution closely.

The Constitution of 1791

In September 1791, the National Assembly released its much-anticipated

Constitution of 1791, which created a constitutional monarchy, or limited
monarchy, for France.

This move allowed King Louis XVI to maintain control of the country, even
though he and his ministers would have to answer to new legislature, which the
new constitution dubbed the Legislative Assembly.

The constitution also succeeded in eliminating the nobility as a legal order. It also
established a poll tax and barred servants from voting.

In this context, a distinction was held between active citizens (over the age of 25,
paid direct taxes equal to three days' labour) which had political rights, and
passive citizens, who had only civil rights and barred from voting.

This ensured that control of the country stayed firmly in the hands of the middle
class.

Constitution of 1791

Democratic features

France became a limited monarchy

King became merely the head of state

All laws were created by the Legislative Assembly (replaced the National Assembly
on Sep 30, 1791)

Feudalism was abolished

Undemocratic features

Voting was limited to taxpayers

Offices were reserved for property owners

Revolution gave power to the bourgeois class

The Montagne and Girondins

Divisions quickly formed within the new Legislative Assembly, which coalesced into
two main camps.

On one side were the Montagne (also known as Jacobins), a group of radical
liberals who wanted to drive the Revolution forward aggressively. The Jacobins found
Louiss actions disgraceful and wanted to forgo the constitutional monarchy and
declare France a republic.

Many of the members of Legislative Assembly were moderate liberals, who deemed
a constitutional monarchy. The most prominent of these moderates was JacquesPierre Brissot. His followers were thus labelled Brissotins, although they became
more commonly known as Girondins.

So on 1791, there were two camps of the Legislative Assembly Jacobins (radical
liberal) and girondins (the moderate liberal)

The Politics of the

National Convention
(1792-1795)

Montagnards

Power base in Paris.

Main support from the
sans-culottes.
Would adopt extreme
measures to achieve their
goals.
Saw Paris as the center of the
Revolution.
Supported centralization of
power in Paris

Girondists

Power base in the

provinces.
Feared the influence
of the sans-culottes.
Feared the dominance
of Paris in national
politics.
Supported more
national government
centralization
[federalism].

The Sansculottes

Meanwhile, in cities throughout

France, a group called the sansculottes began to exercise significant
and unpredictable influence.

The groups nameliterally, without

culottes, the knee breeches that the
privileged wore indicated their
disdain for the upper classes.

The sans-culottes consisted mainly of

urban labourers, peasants, and other
French poor who disdained the nobility
and wanted to see an end to privilege.
Over the summer of 1792, the sansculottes became increasingly violent
and difficult to control.

War Against Austria and

Prussia

Although the Girondin leader, Brissot, wanted Louis XVI to remain in power, he felt
threatened by the Declaration of Pillnitz and rallied the Legislative Assembly to
declare war against Austria on April 20, 1792. Brissot also proposed an ambitious
military plan in order to spread the Revolution outside France the objective that
Napoleon later achieved.

The European power like Austria and Prussia had anticipated this kind of reaction and
already had their troops massed along the French border.

The French army, unprepared for the battle, was crushed, defeated and fled, leaving

the country vulnerable to counterattack.

In the wake of the embarrassing French defeat, Louis XVI removed Brissot from
command. In response, a mob of Girondins marched on Tuileries on June 20 and
demanded that Brissot be reinstated. The demand was ignored - leading to a
major increase in political tensions.

The Storming of Tuileries

On August 10, 1792 - anti-monarchy Jacobins with the help from the sansculottes stormed Tuileries, trashing the palace and capturing Louis XVI and
his family as they tried to escape. The mob then arrested the king for
treason.

A month after that, beginning on September 2, the hysterical sans-culottes,

having got rumors of counterrevolutionary talk, raided Pariss prisons and
murdered more than 1,000 prisoners. (The September Massacre)

The Storming of the

Tuilieres:
August 9-10, 1792

This was triggered in part by the publication in

Paris of the August 3 Brunswick Manifesto,
which confirmed popular suspicions concerning
the kings treason.

The Danger of the

Sansculottes
The sans-culottes was very radical in their objectives and actions. The group, consisted

of poor workers and peasants who wanted privilege eliminated. Despite all their
contributions to the revolutionary cause, they still found themselves with little input
into the government, which was dominated by bourgeoisie far richer than them.
Having gained their freedom from monarchical oppression, the sans-culottes switched
their cry from Liberty! to Equality!

Members of this group were easily swayed and often fell into stints of mob hysteria,
which made them difficult to manage. The bourgeoisie groups in charge of the
Revolution originally hoped to harness the power of the masses for their own bidding,
but it soon became apparent that the sans-culottes were uncontrollable.

The Girondins, who had originally rallied the sans-culottes to their cause, quickly found
that the rabble was more radical than they had expected. The massacres that began
on September 2 revealed the true power of the sans-culottes and showed the chaos
they were capable of creating.

The SansCulottes

Depicted as Savages by a British Cartoonist.

The Reign of Terror 17921795 (The Radical

Phases
The National Convention and the French Republic

In the autumn of 1792, the revolutionary government, having written off the idea of a
constitutional monarchy, set about electing a National Convention of delegates to
oversee the country.

In late September, therefore, the first election took place under the rules of the
Constitution of 1791.

Only a third of the newly elected convention members had sat on a previous assembly,
and a great number of new faces belonged to either the Jacobins or the Girondins.

The first action of the convention, on September 21, 1792, was to abolish the
monarchy. And the next day, the Republic of France was founded.

The Execution of Louis XVI

As a sign of the republics newfound resolve and hatred for the

monarchy, 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 XVI was ultimately found guilty of
treason and, on January 21, 1793, executed at the guillotine.
Months later, on October 16, 1793, his wife, Marie-Antoinette,
also met the same fate.

Louis XVIs Head

(January

21, 1793)
c The trial of the king

was hastened by the

discovery in a secret
cupboard in the
Tuilieres of a cache of
documents.

They proved
conclusively Louis
knowledge and
encouragement of
foreign intervention.

The National
Convention voted
387 to 334 to
execute the monarchs.

Attempts to
Control
the Growing
1. Revolutionary
Tribunal in Paris try
suspected counter-revolutionaries.
Crisis
A. Representatives-on-Mission

e sent to the provinces & to the army.

e had wide powers to oversee
conscription.

B. Watch Committees [comit de

surveillance]
e keep an eye on foreigners & suspects.
C. Sanctioned the trial & execution of
rebels and migrs, should they ever
return to France.

2.

Attempts to
Control
the ofGrowing
The printing
more assignats to
pay for the war.
Crisis

3. Committee of Public Safety [CPS]

e to oversee and speed up the work of the

government during this crisis.

4. Committee of General Security [CGS]

e responsible for the pursuit of
counter-revolutionaries, the
treatment of suspects, & other
internal security matters.

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 one famous French general (Dumouriz) even defected to the
opposition.

Unable to assemble an army out of the angry and protesting

peasants, 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

The Committee of Public Safety followed a moderate course after its creation but proved
weak and ineffective.

Once again, at this time the sans-culottes proved to be a formidable force in effecting
change during the Revolution. Already upset about the composition of the National
Conventionwhich remained dominated by middle- and upper-class bourgeoisiethey
became even more angry upon learning that many of the Girondin leaders expected
them to bolster the failing war effort.

After a few months under the committee, the sans-culottes finally reached their boiling
point.

They (under the leadership of Marat) stormed the National Convention and accused
the Girondins of representing the aristocracy. Seeing an opportunity, Maximilien
Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins, joined the violence of the sans-culottes to take
control of the convention, banish the Girondins, and install the Jacobins in power.

Maximillian
Robespierre
(1758 1794)

The Constitution of 1793

Another new constitution, the Constitution of 1793, premiered in June. By July, 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 sweeping new Jacobin policies was the Maximum, a decree that fixed prices in an
attempt to stop the rampant inflation that was ruining the economy.

This radical attempt to counter hoarding and price gouging placed a maximum selling price on
essential goods, chiefly food items. Amongst the items capped by the Maximum were fresh
meat, salt meat and bacon, butter, sweet oil, cattle, salt fish, wine, brandy, vinegar, cider,
beer, firewood, charcoal, coal, candles, lamp oil, salt, soda, sugar, honey, white paper, hides,
iron, cast iron, lead, steel, copper, hemp, linens, woolens, stuffs, canvases, the raw materials
used for fabrics, wooden shoes, shoes, turnips and rapeseed, soap, potash and tobacco.

Merchants were required to display a full list of their maximum prices outside their store. The
general public could inform the city authorities if the prices exceeded the stated maximum;
merchants were to be fined double the value of each overpriced item and the fine would then
be paid to the informer.

The Reign of Terror

In the autumn of 1793, Robespierre and the Jacobins focused on addressing economic and political
threats within France. What began as a proactive approach to reclaiming the nation quickly turned
bloody as the government instituted its infamous campaign against internal opposition known as
the Reign of Terror.

Beginning in September, Robespierre, under the support of the Committee of Public Safety, began
pointing an accusing finger at anyone whose beliefs seemed to be counterrevolutionarycitizens
who had committed no crime but merely had social or political agendas that varied too much from
Robespierres. The committee targeted even those who shared many Jacobin views but were
perceived as just too radical or conservative. Ahasty of executions resulted in Paris and soon
spread to smaller towns and rural areas.

During the nine-month period that followed, anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 French citizens were
beheaded at the guillotine. Even long-time associates of Robespierre such as Georges Danton,
who had helped orchestrate the Jacobin rise to power, fell victim to the fear. When Danton
hesitated in his conviction, questioned Robespierres increasingly rash actions, and tried to arrange
a truce between France and the opposing countries, he himself lost his life to the guillotine, in April
1794.

Georges Jacques
Danton
(1759 1794)

The Terror
Intensified:
March to July,
Jacques
Jacques
Danton
Danton &
& the
the
Hbert
Hbert &
& the
the
Indulgents
Indulgents
1794
Hrbetists
Hrbetists
Executed in March, 1794

Executed in April, 1794

Law of 22 Prairial [June 10, 1794].

Trials were now limited to deciding only on liberty

OR death, with defendants having no rights.
Were you an enemy of the people? (the law was
so broadly written that almost anyone could fall
within its definition!)

1,500 executed between June & July.

Religious Terror:
De-Christianization
(1793-1794)

The Catholic Church was linked with

real or potential counter-revolution.

Religion was associated with the

Ancien Rgime and superstitious
practices.

Very popular among the sans-culottes.

Therefore, religion had no place in a

rational, secular republic!

The De-Christianization
2. The publicProgram
exercise of religion was
banned.

3. The Paris Commune supported the:

e destruction of religious & royal statues.

e ban on clerical dress.
e encouragement of the clergy to give up
their vocations.

4. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris

was turned into the Temple of Reason.
5. The deportation of priests denounced by
six citizens.

The De-Christianization
Program
1. The adoption of a new Republican
Calendar:

e abolished Sundays & religious holidays.

e months named after seasonal features.
e 7-day weeks replaced by 10-day
decades.
e the yearly calendar was dated from
the creation of the Republic
[Sept. 22, 1792]

The Convention symbolically divorced the

state from the Church!!

The Temple of
Reason

Come, holy Liberty, inhabit this temple,

Become the goddess of the French people.

The Festival of
Supreme Being

A new secular holiday

Different Social
Classes Executed
8%

7%
28%

25%
31%

Attitudes
& actions
of
monarchy
& court

Fear of
CounterRevolution

Religious
divisions

The Causes of
Instability and the Terror in France
1792 - 1795
Economi
c
Crises

War

Political
divisions

War of Resistance to the

Revolution:
The Vendee Revolt, 1793

Vendee Revolt,
1793

Drowning the Traitors!

Vendee
Symbol:
For God &
the King!

1.

Why was there a

Revolt
Vendee?
Thein
needthe
for 300,000
French troops

for the war effort.

2. Rural peasantry still highly taxed.
3. Resentment of the Civil Constitution
the Clergy.
4. Peasants had failed to benefit from
the sale of church lands.
TARGETS:

Local government officials

National Guardsmen
Jurying priests

Backlash to the
De-Christianization
Program
It alienated
most of the population
(especially in the rural areas).

Robespierre never supported it.

he persuaded the Convention to

reaffirm the principle of religious
toleration.

Decree on the Liberty of Cults

was passed
December 6, 1793.
BUT, it had little practical effect!

Public Backlash

Robespierres bloody attempt to protect the sacredness of the Revolution

had exactly the opposite result.

Rather than galvanize his supporters and the revolutionary nation, the Reign
of Terror instead incited a weakening on every front - as Robespierre killed
many of his supporters and former allies.

By the time the French army had almost completely defeating their foreign
invaders, Robespierre no longer had a justification for his extreme actions in
the name of public safety. The final straw was his proposal of a Republic
of Virtue, which would need a move away from the morals of Christianity
and 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 picture, a number of the bourgeoisie who had been repressed under the
Reign of Terrormany of them Girondinsburst back onto the scene at the National Convention 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 Robespierres cohorts executed in a movement that became known as
the Thermidorian Reaction.

However, the moderate and conservative initiatives that the convention later implemented were aimed
at the bourgeoisie and undid real accomplishments that Robespierre and his regime had achieved for
the poor.

To address economic concerns, for instance, the National Convention cancelled the price controls and
printed more money, which allowed prices to skyrocket.

This inflation hit the poor hard, and the peasants attempted yet another revolt. However, lacking a
strong leader like Robespierre, the peasant uprising was quickly suppressed by the government.

The Thermidorean
Reaction, 1794
P July 26 Robespierre gives a
speech illustrating new
plots & conspiracies.

he alienated members of the CPS

& CGS.
many felt threatened by his
implications.

P July 27 the Convention arrests

Robespierre.
P July 28 Robespierre is tried &
guillotined!

The Arrest of
Robespierre

The Directory: 17951799

The New National Convention

The National Convention in the era after Robespierres downfall was more
conservative than it had been before they deeply rooted in the values of the
moderate middle class.

They took the drastic action that once-powerful groups like the sans-culottes and
Jacobins were forced underground, and sans-culottes even became a insulting term in
France. Meanwhile, the French economy struggled during the winter of 17941795, and
hunger became widespread.

Although the members of the convention tried to establish a new constitution, they
faced opposition at every turn. There were signs showing pro monarchy group rise
again in the French politics

Because many sanctions against the churches had been revoked, the clergymany of
whom were still loyal to the royaltystarted to return from exile. The Comte de
Provence, the younger brother of Louis XVI, for example, declared himself next in line
for the throne and, taking the name Louis XVIII, declared to France that royalty would
return.

The Constitution of 1795 and the Directory

On August 22, 1795, the convention was finally able to ratify a new constitution, the
Constitution of 1795.

The new legislature would consist of two houses:

an upper house, called the Council of Ancients, consisting of 250 members,

a lower house, called the Council of Five Hundred, consisting of 500 members.

Fearing influence from the left, the convention decreed that two-thirds of the members of the
first new legislature had to have already served on the National Convention between 1792 and
1795.

The new constitution also stipulated that the executive body of the new government would be
a group of five officers called the Directory.

Although the Directory would have no legislative power, it would have the authority to appoint
people to fill the other positions within the government, which was a source of considerable
power in itself.

The dilemma facing the new Directory was to rid the scene of Jacobin influence while at the
same time prevent royalists from taking advantage of the disorder and reclaiming the throne.

Government under the Directory

Napoleon and the French

Meanwhile, fortified by the Committee of Public Safetys conscription drive of 1793, the
Army
French army had grown significantly.

The French army, having successfully defended France against invasion from Prussia and
Austria, kept right on going, blazing its way into foreign countries and annexing land.

During the period from 1795 to 1799 in particular, the French army was nearly
unstoppable.

Napoleon Bonaparte, a young Corsican in charge of French forces in Italy and then
Egypt, won considerable fame for himself with a series of brilliant victories in the war.

The Directory encouraged this French war effort across Europe, not only as a democratic
crusade against tyranny but also to resolving the unemployment crisis in France.

A large, victorious French army lowered unemployment within France and guaranteed
soldiers a steady pay check to buy the goods they needed to survive. The Directory
hoped that this increase in income would encourage an increase in demand,
strengthening the French economy.

Abuses by the Directory

Unfortunately, it was not long before the Directory began to abuse its power.
The results of the elections of 1795 were worriying to the Directory
because a number of moderate royalists won. Although these royalists didnt
exactly qualify as counterrevolutionaries, their loyalty to the Directory was
nevertheless suspect.

Then, in May 1796, a group of Jacobins, led by prominent publisher

Gracchus Babeuf, met secretly to plan a coup in the hopes of reinstating
the (Jacobins) government of the Constitution of 1793.

Gracchus Babeuf attempts to overthrow Directory with the Conspiracy of

Equals

Already troubled by the 1795 election results, the Directory squashed the
coup plot, had the conspirators arrested, and had Babeuf guillotined.

The Elections and Coup of

1797
As the elections of 1797 drew near, the Directory noticed that significant

royalist and neo-Jacobin influences were leaking into the republic, which could
have terrible implications for the direction of the legislature.

On the other hand, the Directory had to obey the Constitution of 1795 and its
mandate for annual elections. It therefore allowed the elections to proceed as
scheduled.

However, on September 4, 1797, after the elections did indeed produce

decidedly pro-royal and pro-Jacobin results, three members of the Directory
orchestrated an overthrow of the legislature, cancelling the election results
and removing a majority of the new deputies from their seats. The coup plotters
also unseated two members of the Directory itselfformer military strategist
Lazare Carnot being one of themand installed two new directors, further
ensuring that the government would remain faithful h in its moderate stance.

Popular Discontent

This new Directory was powerfully conservative, initiating strong new financial
policies and cracking down on radicalism through executions and other means.

However, the coup and the Directorys subsequent abuses of power destroyed all
of the governments credibility and further disillusioned the French populace. In the
electionsof 1798, the left made gains, feeding on public anger about the coup
and the reinstatement of the military draft.

The Directory, justifiably fearing the oppositions gains, once again cancelled
almost one-third of the election results, ensuring that its own policies would remain
strongly in place.

Public dissatisfaction was an obvious result, and the next elections would have the
lowest turnout of any during the Revolution. Meanwhile, inflation was continuing
unchecked, leading the public to wonder whether a royal return to power wouldnt
be more beneficial. Trust and faith in the government neared an all-time low.

French Military Defeats

As the governments credibility took a turn for the worse, so too

did French military fortunes.

In 1799, Napoleons seemingly unstoppable forward progress ran

into a roadblock in Egypt, and Frances army in general faced
simultaneous threats from Britain, Austria, Russia, and the
Ottoman Empire.

Hearing of the chaos taking place in mainland Europe, as well as

within in his own country, Napoleon deserted his men and
headed back to France.

Sieys and the Coup of 1799

The failing war efforts increased the French peoples distrust of the Directory

Large majorities of the French public began calling for peace at home and abroad.

In May 1799, the upper house of the legislature, the Council of Five Hundred, elected
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieysof What Is the Third Estate? fameto the Directory. This
election was the result of extensive maneuvering on Sieyss part.

Sieys, however, did not want to keep his newfound power for himself but instead
intended to use it to protect the French government from future instability and
disturbances.

Therefore, he enlisted the aid of Napoleon, with whom he began to plan a military coup
to topple the very same Directory on which Sieys himself served.

This coup materialized on November 9, 1799, when Napoleon, who had returned to
France, overthrew the Directory. The next day, Napoleon dissolved the legislature and
instituted himself as first consul, the leader of a military dictatorship. By imposing this
state of military rule that would grip France for fifteen years, Napoleon effectively ended
the French Revolution.

Reasons for the Coup

Although it was the Directory that had encouraged the French armys actions, ultimately, the
armys unprecedented success in its outward expansion actually ended up working against
the Directory rather than for it.

Being away from home for so long, the respective companies of soldiersparticularly those
under the control of Napoleonformed their own identities and group philosophies.

By splitting the spoils of each successful campaign with his own troops, Napoleon earned the
steadfast devotion of what amounted to a private army. This loyalty would prove essential to
the success of his eventual coup and the years of military rule and expansionism that would
follow.

Sieyss political manoeuvring may seem inexplicable at first, as he essentially finagled his
way into power in the Directory just so he could use that power to remove himself from it.

To Sieys, it was clear that, at the time, a military rule under the watch of someone such as
Napoleon would be far more beneficial to France than the argumentative, corrupt, and
generally ineffective system that was in place. Indeed, though Napoleon would lead as a
dictator of sorts, he would do so with much more respect for the spirit of liberty and equality
than the originators of the French Revolution had pursued.