French Revolution: Causes and Impact on Modern Nations
The French Revolution: A Summary
During this period, French citizens razed and redesigned their country’s political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as the absolute monarchy and the feudal system. Like the American Revolution before it, the French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals, particularly the concepts of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights. Although it failed to achieve all of its goals and, at times, degenerated into a chaotic bloodbath, the movement played a critical role in shaping modern nations by showing the world the power inherent in the will of the people.
The Estates-General and the Storming of the Bastille
The Estates-General convened in May, at Versailles. In this meeting, delegates of the Third Estate complained that they wanted voting by head and not by status. They rebelled, breaking away and creating their “National Assembly.” Members of the National Assembly wanted the creation of a parliamentary system similar to what the British had, and they swore not to disperse until a constitution had been written and ratified (a swearing to be known as the Tennis Court Oath or serment du Jeu de paume). Meanwhile, Parisians grew panicked as rumors of an impending military coup began to circulate. A popular insurgency culminated on July 14 when rioters stormed the Bastille fortress in an attempt to secure gunpowder and weapons; many consider this event, now commemorated in France as a national holiday, as the start of the French Revolution.
Abolition of Feudalism and the Declaration of Rights
But people were also rebelling outside of Paris. Most of France was rural: 80% of the population. So, these peasants burnt title deeds, and the nobles who resisted were sometimes killed. On August 4, the National Assembly abolished feudalism. The Two Orders were no longer exempt from paying taxes and adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), based on the philosophical and political ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The document replaced the ancien régime with a system based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty, and representative government.
The Congress of Vienna (1815)
In 1815, a congress of the Great Powers of Europe met at Vienna to redraw the map of Europe. Almost every state in Europe was represented. The more conservative powers were interested in adopting a policy to restore the situation as it was before the war and the monarchies across Europe.
The Constitutional Monarchy (1790-91)
The constitution was completed on September 3 and sent to the king for acceptance. The constitution confirmed the existence of a hereditary monarchy with limited veto powers. There was a Parliament with a single legislative house. All judges were to be elected, and voting was to be by all who paid taxes equivalent to three days’ wages or more. The king accepted the new constitution on September 13.
The First Republic (1792-93)
In August 1792, the political crisis took a radical turn when a group of insurgents, led by the extremist Jacobins, attacked the royal residence in Paris and arrested the king. The Legislative Assembly was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French Republic. On January 21, 1793, it sent King Louis XVI, condemned to death for high treason and crimes against the state, to the guillotine.