French Revolution Course

July 9th 1789

• July 14th 1789 Bastille was captured by the insurgents

The peasantry took up arms as well. After hearing of the storming of the Bastille they broke
their way into the residences of their masters and destroyed them. In some areas peasants seized their
masters’ fields and wood and divided them up among themselves. Peasant uprisings and violence in
protest against the exploitation and oppression to which their noble masters subjected them were to
spread over the length and breadth of France

• August 26th 1789 the Declarations of the Rights of Men adopted by the Constituent Assembly.

Consists of 17 articles

• By the end of 1789 Bourgeoisie came into power

They divided the citizens into the active citizens and passive citizens. They wanted to transform
France in pure Bourgeois lines. Adopted a number of laws.

• 1790- France Administrative apparatuses were restructured. The medieval administrative units –
provinces, generalities, ballages etc., were replaced by 83 departments of more or less equal
size.
The Constituent Assembly did away with the former class divisions into three Estates and
abolished all aristocratic titles.
Church lands were confiscated. The Church was also deprived of various of its former functions
such as registration of births, marriage, death etc.,

After coming to power and putting through all those revolutionary changes necessary to promote its
own particular interests the big bourgeoisie was soon to degenerate into a conservative force opposed
to any further revolutionary demand.

The peasantry , which constituted the vast majority of population, demanded that all feudal practices
and labour services be abolished and that they be given land.

In August 1789 the Constituent Assembly abolished serfdom

1790 peasant unrest. They refused to pay tax to their masters. Open rebellions broke out.

The urban poor was also also far from content, since they were still deprived of any rights and
were now faced by still more desperate poverty than before.

A large part of nobility emigrated and orders for luxury goods had almost ceased coming, thus
bringing about a serious lull in local commerce.
 In addition there were serious food shortages in Paris and other towns.

• October 1789 , the poor people of Paris, and especially working women and wives of cafts men
and petty traders set out on a march to Versailles in protest at the bread shortage and its
exorbitant price. They surrounded the palace and even forced their way into the apartments of
Quenn Marie Antoinette.
• Alarmed on this incident, the Constituent Assembly adopted a law allowing for the use of armed
forces to counter the popular demonstrations.
• June 1791, law was passed prohibiting the forming of workers unions and strikes. Despite
these harsh measures the big bourgeoisie who had upper hand in the Constituent Assembly
was unable to check the mounting tide of popular discontent.
Two defenders of the people’s interests Robespierre aTwo defenders of the people’s
interests Robespierre and Jen Paul Marat, boldly exposed the self- interested and
antidemocratic nature of the big Bourgeoise government.
Marie Antointette kept up a secret correspondence through emigrated clergymen and
nobility with different European nations, urged them to embark on an armed
intervention.
• In June 1791 the King and the Queen attempted to flee abroad and join the enemies of the
revolution. But they were stopped. This incident had an electrifying effect on peoples
mind.People strengthened their demand for Republic.
• July 1791 large demonstrations were organized against monarchy. The
Assembly gave order to suppress the people. They opened fire and many
people were killed and wounded.
Thus massacre was the signal for an open split in the ranks of the Third
Estate.
• On the eve of this incident the leadership of the revolution slipped into
the hands of revolutionaries- Jacobins.
• On September 13th 1791 the King signed the Constitution drafted by the assembly.
• On September 13th 1791 the Constitution Assembly was disbanded.

• On October 1 1791, a new Legislative Assembly came into office. It had been elected by ‘active
citizens’.

• On April 1792 France declared war on Austria. This war had long been prepared for by the
monarchs of Europe, who planned to quell the revolution in France by force. Louis Xvi and a
group of his courtiers had also been working toward this end, in the hope that foreign invention
would protect the monarchy.

• Girondins were in support of the war.But Jacobins protested against declaring war. This led to
a clash between Girondins and Jacobins.
• In 1792 the king asked the Girondins to take over the ministries. The new
government made use of their power to bring the war more closer. The
war started and it began with a defeat of France. The King dismissed the
Girondins

• Queen Antoinette send secret despatches to Vienna about the plan of the French Army.

• At this crucial hour the people arose to defend their revolutionary homeland.The Jacobins led
the popular movement.

• The popular uprising of 1792 marked the end of the French Monarchy. Louis XVI was
overthrown and imprisoned.

• In 1793 the conflict between the Jacobins and Girondins enetered into a new arena with the
Trial of Louis XVI. The Jacobins wanted to execute the King whereas the Girondins wanted to
compromise.

• Despite all the efforts of the Girondins to save the King, he was found guilty and sentenced to
death.On 1793 January he was sent to the guillotine.

• Meanwhile the war dragged on involving more and more European nations. In 1793 England,
Spain and Holland and a number of German and Italian states joined the counter revolutionary
coalition. The Russian Empire also supported the anti-French coalition.

• The long war involving vast material damage and loss of life, France complete isolation and
disruption of the country’s economy all gave rise to an acute food shortage. In the villages, the
peasantry which had still not been freed from all kinds of feudal duties and taxes also came out
in open protests against its grievences. The Girondins kept aloof from Peasants.

• June 1793, the Jacobins organized an armed revolt against Girondins. Jacobins came into
power at the critical stage of revolution. Within an extremely short space of time the Jacobins
were to solve the most important among the outstanding problems of the revolution. The main
demands of the peasants were satisfied by law. Lands of nobles, who emigrated were
confiscated, divided up into small plots. Communal lands were divided among the peasants
with equal portions of the land for each citizen. All feudal practices were abolished and the
peasants were henceforth freed from the feudal obligations.
• Within three weeks the Jacobins had drafted and ratified new constitution. The constitution of
1793 was most democratic France had ever known. However after adopting this extremely
democratic constitution the Convention was not yet in a position to set about implementing it.

• The Reign of Terror (The establishment of Revolutionary Democratic Dictatorship)

• The conflicts between the Jacobins and the Girondist got worsened. This led to the
establishment of a provisional Government.
• This Government inaugurated a reign of terror.
• A committee of General Security, a Revolutionary Tribunal and a Committees of surveillance was
set up. The Reign of Terror began officially with the institution of Revolutionary Tribunal on
March 1793.
• To some persons, the reign of Terror seemed to be aimlessly bloody, disgusting and
unnecessary. To others it appeared to be altogether essential.The Reign of Terror had described
a a martial law go bad.
• Popular fear with fury and antagonism against the counter revolutionaries, took the form of a
military organization.Compulsory military service was prescribed for all the able bodied persons
by a decree of 1794. The Committee of Public Security was given police power to maintain law
and order in the country. The Revolutionary Tribunal was empowered to condemn any person
suspected of disloyalty to the Republic. The Law of the Suspects enabled the government to
arrest and hang any person. Rebellions in different parts of the country were broke out. People
refused to fight in the Republic armies. Government suppressed all these rebellions and justified
it. In October 1793 Marie Antoinette was executed. A large number of Girondists were
guillotined.
• By 1794, it was felt that there was no justification for continuing the Reign of Terror. There was
a general desire to end the horror of tribunals, guillotines, drowning and fusillades. Danton
(leader) expressed his desire to end the Reign of Terror had to pay his life. Robespierre(leader,
Jacobins) wanted to continue the dictatorship.
• In 1794 another movement against Revolutionary party was started. At the end of this revolt,
Robespierre was sent to guillotine and Jacobins were overthrown. This marked the end of
Reign of Terror.
• The Directory
• The overthrow of the Revolutionary Government marked the beginning of a bourgeoisie
counter revolution. In November 1794 the Golden Youth destroyed the Jacobin Club and this
outrage marked the beginning of a counter revolution. The major social and democratic
achievements of the Jacobins were done away with. In 1795 a new constitution was drafted
which abolished universal sufferage and restored electoral qualifications based on property.
• At the end of the 1795 in accordance with the new constitution power was transferred to the
Directory and two legislative Chambers- the Council of the Ancients and the Council of the Five
Hundred.
• The Constitution of 1795 framed by the National Convention vested the Executive authority in
France in acommitte consisted of Five Directors known as the Directory. The Directory
remained in power in France was overthrown by Napolean Bonaparte on 10th November 1799.
• This ruling group was full of contempt for the urban poor, which it feared greatly, and this fear
that lay at the root of the anti-popular reactionary policyit pursued.However, this new
bourgeoisie which had seized the riches of the former landowning nobles couldnot permit the
restoration of the old regime. It was an anti-monarchist government and it ruthlessly crushed all
attempts of the Roylist to recapture the power.