French Revolution: Causes and Key Events 1789-1793
Causes of the French Revolution
Several factors influenced the French Revolution. These included a monarchy that succumbed to its own rigidity in a changing world, the emergence of a bourgeoisie that had achieved great economic power and was beginning to advocate for political power, the discontent of the masses, the spread of new liberal ideas, and the economic crisis that prevailed in France after crop failures. Serious problems were also caused by the financial strain of military support for the independence of the United States. This military intervention became a double-edged sword because, despite France winning the war against Britain and recovering from the previous defeat in the Seven Years’ War, the treasury went bankrupt and incurred significant debt. The fiscal problems of the monarchy, along with the example of democracy in the newly emancipated United States, precipitated events.
From a political standpoint, fundamental ideas such as those expressed by Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu (for example, the concepts of political freedom, fraternity, and equality, the rejection of a divided society, and new political theories on the separation of powers of the state) were crucial. These ideas eroded the prestige of the institutions of the Ancien Régime and contributed to its demise.
From an economic standpoint, the unmanageable debt of the state was exacerbated by a system of extreme social inequality and high taxes that the privileged classes, the nobility and clergy, did not have to pay but which oppressed the rest of society. There was an increase in state spending simultaneous with a decline in farming, resulting in a serious food shortage in the months preceding the Revolution. The tensions, whether social or political, long contained, erupted into a major economic crisis as a result of two specific events: France’s support for the cause of American independence (which caused a huge fiscal deficit) and an increase in agricultural prices.
The whole population showed widespread resentment directed towards the privileges of the nobles and the dominance of public life by an ambitious professional class, for whom the example of the American revolutionary process opened the horizons of political change.
National Assembly
When the French Estates-General finally met at Versailles on May 5, 1789, disputes arose regarding the issue of voting. Members of the Third Estate had to check their own credentials, beginning to do so on May 28 and ending on June 17, when members of the Third Estate declared themselves the only members of the National Assembly: representing not the wealthy but the people themselves. The first step of the Assembly was to vote on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. While inviting the members of the First and Second Estates to participate in this meeting, they made clear their intentions to proceed even without this participation.
The monarchy, opposed to the Assembly, closed the rooms where it was gathering. The Assembly moved to a nearby building, where the aristocracy used to play the game of Jeu de Paume. There, they proceeded with what is known as the “Oath of the Tennis Court” on June 20, 1789, pledging not to separate until they had given France a new constitution. Most representatives of the clergy joined the Assembly, as did 47 members of the nobility. By June 27, representatives of the monarchy had given up. Around that time, large numbers of military troops began arriving in Paris and Versailles. Messages of support poured into the Assembly from Paris and other cities. On July 9, the Assembly named itself the “National Constituent Assembly.”
The Fall of the Monarchy
Under the Constitution of 1791, France would function as a constitutional monarchy. The king had to share power with the Assembly but still maintained veto power and the power to choose his ministers.
The Legislative Assembly met for the first time on October 1, 1791, degenerating into chaos a year later. It consisted of 264 deputies to the right: Feuillants (led by Barnave, Duport, and Lameth) and Girondins, republican spokesmen of the bourgeoisie. In the center were 345 independent deputies, lacking a definite political program. To the left, 136 deputies were registered in the club of the Jacobins or Cordeliers, representing the common people through their Parisian newspapers L’Ami du Peuple and Le Père Duchesne, with Marat and Hébert as spokespersons. Despite its social and popular support of the petty bourgeoisie, the Left had little influence in the Assembly, since the Assembly was dominated by the political ideas represented by the Girondins. While the Jacobins had the support of the great mass of the petty bourgeoisie, the Cordeliers had the support of ordinary people through sections of Paris.
This large number of deputies led to the creation of clubs, the origin of political parties. The most famous among these was the party of the Jacobins, dominated by Robespierre. To the left of this party were the Cordeliers, who defended universal male suffrage (all men having the right to vote after a certain age). Cordeliers wanted the elimination of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic. They were led by Jean-Paul Marat and Georges Danton, always representing the most humble people. The group with more moderate ideas was the Girondins, who defended census suffrage and advocated for a constitutional monarchy. There were also those who were part of “the Swamp” or “the Plain,” as those who did not align themselves with any particular faction were called. They voted for the propositions that best suited them, whether they came from the Jacobins or the Girondins.
In the first months of the Assembly’s operation, the king had vetoed a law that threatened a death sentence to the émigrés and another requiring the clergy to swear allegiance to the state. Disputes of this kind led to the constitutional crisis.
Meanwhile, two European absolutist powers, Austria and Prussia, prepared to invade revolutionary France, which led the French people to become a national army, ready to defend and spread the new revolutionary order throughout Europe. During the war, freedom of expression allowed the people to manifest their hostility to Queen Marie Antoinette (called “the Austrian” as the daughter of an emperor of that country and “Madame Deficit” for the spending she represented to the state, which was no greater than that of most of the courtiers) and against Louis XVI, who almost always refused to sign legislation proposed by the Legislature.
On August 10, 1792, the masses stormed the Tuileries Palace, and the Legislature again suspended the constitutional functions of the king. The Assembly called for elections to configure (by universal suffrage) a new parliament that would be called the Convention. Political and social tension increased in France, as did the military threat of European powers. The conflict thus arose between a French constitutional monarchy on its way to becoming a republican democracy and the absolute monarchies of Europe. The new parliament elected that year abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the Republic. It also created a new calendar, in which the year 1792 became year 1 of the new era.
The government fell under the insurrectionary Commune. When the Commune sent groups of hired killers to prisons, killing 1,400 people, and urging other cities in France to do the same, the Assembly did not resist. This continued until September 20, 1792, when a new legislative body called the Convention was created, which in fact became the new government of France.
The Convention
The legislative power of the new republic was in charge of the Convention, while the executive branch fell to the Committee of Public Safety.
In the Brunswick Manifesto, the Imperial Army and Prussia threatened to invade France if the population resisted the restoration of the monarchy. This led to Louis XVI being seen as conspiring with the enemies of France. On January 17, 1793, the Convention condemned the king to death by a small majority, accusing him of “conspiracy against public liberty and the overall security of the State.” On January 21, the king was executed, which again lit the fuse of war with other European countries. Queen Marie Antoinette, born in Austria and sister of the emperor, was executed on October 16 of that year, thus beginning a revolution in Austria to replace the queen. This caused the breakdown of any relationship between the two countries.