Title 02. French Revolution.pdf ✅

FRENCH REVOLUTION 1 CHAPTER CONTENTS  The Ancient Regime and its crisis  Causes of the French Revolution  The course of Revolution  Impact of the French Revolution  Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte ➢ INTRODUCTION The later part of the eighteenth century saw one of the greatest revolutions which played an important role in the making of the modern world. The Renaissance in Europe had brought about intellectual freedom and also gave birth to a chain of revolutions, especially in Europe, which destroyed the age-old feudal order and prepared the ground for the development of an industrial society. It gave to the world the ideas of liberty, equality and opened fraternity and opened the flood-gates for the development of an open society. ➢ THE ANCIENT REGIME AND ITS CRISIS The term 'Old Regime' is usually used to describe the society and inhibition of France before 1789. 'The French Revolution had been building up for many years. The peasant worked from dawn to dusk on land owned by their local lords. Taxes were very high because of wars that France had fought in the 17th and 18th centuries, and because of the extravagance of Louis XIV and Louis XV. ➢ CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1. Economic Crisis : The seven Years war was fought from 1756 to 1763. The War was fought between Austria, Sweden, Russia and Spain on one side and Prussia, Britain and Honover on the other side. The war had a deep impact on the economy of France. There was no alternative for the king except leaving heavy taxes. 2. Excessive Taxation : (i) Before the Revolution, the common people were groaning under the burden of heavy taxes. (ii) The system of taxation was unjust and unreasonable. The upper class which consisted of the nobles and the church-fathers were exempted from all sorts of taxes. The burden of taxation was passed on to the masses whose life was one of misery, starvation and humiliation. (iii) The expenditure of the government was ever increasing on account of useless wars and extravagance rulers (iv) With every increase in the demand for money, fresh taxes were imposed on the common people.
(v) People were forced to pay all kinds of taxes. There was the land tax, the road tax, the toll tax, the church tax, the salt tax and the tariff duties charged for moving goods from one province to another, up or down or across a river and so on. Sometimes four fifths of the total income of a farmer would go towards the payment of taxes. (vi) Taxes were taille, the direct land tax, salt tax known as Gabelle, feudal dues or payments were taken by nobility and taxes known as tithe was taken the church. 3. Social Disparity : In the 17th century the French society was divided into three groups called estates : (i) The First Estate : It consisted of the clergymen and church-fathers who were the custodians of religion and conscience of man and the most venerated persons in society. (ii) The Second Estate : It consisted of landlords, men of noble birth and aristocrats. (iii) The Third Estate : It consisted of the vast majority of the common masses which included the landless peasants, petty peasant proprietors, artisans, masons, craftsman, manufactures, traders, merchants and other businessmen. First Estate (Clergy man and church fathers). • No Taxes and had all privileges • Minority group Second Estate (Landlords aristocrats, and men of noble birth). • This class also shared most of the privileges • Minority group Third Estate (Common masses). • Lived in poverty and misery and paid all the taxes. • Majority group. Out of the total population the First and the Second estate had a share of 2%. The remaining 98% of the people belonged to the Third Estate. Although the upper two classes made up only a small fraction of the total population, they were the people who controlled the political and economic system of the nation. They enjoyed all the rights and privileges. The entire machinery of the government was designed to protect their interests and privileges. They owned two fifths of the total lands. The nobles and the upper clergy occupied all important positions in the king’s court and drew heavy salaries and pensions. The people belonging to the Third estate did not enjoy any political rights. They were even denied the right to protection of life. The gulf between the rich and the poor was so wide that a handful of the nobles and clergy got all the money while the poor masses did all the work. 4. The Rise of the Middle Class : (i) The spread of industrial revolution led to the emergence of the middle class. It was the class of businessman, traders, bankers, manufactures, scholars etc. (ii) The Middle Class people become the leaders of the Revolution. (iii) They came forward with the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity. (iv) They were now determined to get rid of the feudal system. They realized that so long as the feudal system prevails the French society had no chance of moving forward on the road to prosperity and plenty as the feudal barriers were a serious obstruction to the growth of industrial capitalism. 5. Influence of the Philosophers and Writers : There were many French Philosophers and thinkers like Montesquieu, Rousseu, Voltaire and Mirabue who exposed the evils prevailing in the system. They infused people with the ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity. 1. Charles Monstesquieu : A nobleman by birth, he become a lawyer and a judge. In his book, “The Spirit of Laws”, he criticised autocracy and praised the democratic republic.
2. Francis Aronet Voltaire : Voltaire was another out standing philosopher of the Revolution. He wanted the people to think about their material life on earth and forget about heaven. He condemned the Church which supported the privileged class and ignored the poor. 3. Jean, Jacques Rousseau : Rousseau is regarded as the architect of the French Revolution. He gave the slogan “Man was born Free yet he is everywhere in chains”. In the famous book, “The Social Contract”, he proved that the government was the result of a social contract between the people on the one hand and ruler on the other. So if the ruler did not fulfill the contract, the people had the right to withdraw their loyalty to him and bring down the tyranny of the ruler by revolting. 6. Political Causes : (i) The political structure of the French state was highly unpopular with the people who were burdened with heavy taxes and insecure conditions of life and property. (ii) Divine rights of the Kings, despotism and tyranny of the French monarchs topped by the extravagance and inefficiency of the Bourbon kings. (iii) Louis XV indulged in a life of ease and pleasure, was not interested in administrative reforms or the welfare of the people. (iv) Louis XVI through good natured was completely under the influence of incompetent and corrupt ministers and a domineering queen, Marie Antoinette. (v) Absence of any representative body to voice the needs of the people. Local bodies called Parliament were courts of justice rather than voice of people ➢ THE COURSE OF THE REVOLUTION In 1789 the French government found itself in the grip of huge financial crisis. The King Louis XVI, summoned a meeting of the ‘Estates General’ to get their consent to impose new taxes. During that period there were three estates. The First and the Second estate consisted of the upper class and the Third estate was of the commoners. The commoners (Third Estate) was in majority. They demanded that the matters before the Assembly should be decided by a majority of votes but other two estates were against this. (a) The Tennis Court Oath : Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. Members of the Third Estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as a whole, where each member would have one vote. When the king rejected this proposal, members of the Third Estate walked out of the assembly in protest. The representatives of the Third Estate on June 20, 1789 assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court in the grounds of Versailles. They declared themselves a National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers of the monarch. While the National Assembly was busy at Versailles, the rest of France seethed with turmoil, on 14 July the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille. (b) Storming of the Bastille : On the morning of July 14, 1789 the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. A severe winter had meant a bad harvest, the price of bread rose. Bakers exploited the situation and hoarded supplies. Crowds of angry women stormed into the shops. The army was ordered by the king to move into the city. It was rumored that the army would be ordered to open fire upon the citizens. Thousands of persons gathered and decided to form a people's militia. They broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms. Bastille was a dreaded fortress-prison. It was hated by all because it stood for the despotic power of the king. Protestors stormed into the Bastille in search of arms. The commander of Bastille was killed. the prisoners were released. the fortress was demolished. Louis XVI
finally accorded recognition to the National Assembly and accepted the principle that his powers would from now on the checked by a constitution. On the night of 4 August 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes. (c) France becomes a Constitutional Monarchy : (i) The National Assembly completed the drafting of the constitution in 1791. Power was now separated and assigned to different institutions, the legislature, executive and judiciary making France a constitutional monarchy. (ii) The constitution of 1791 vested the power to make laws in the National Assembly, which was indirectly elected. (iii) The constitution began with a declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Rights such as the Right of life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law were established as 'natural and inalienable' rights. ➢ IMPACT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION The French Revolution is one of the most important events in the world history. After revolution the Republic of France was established and Liberty, Fraternity and Equality became its guiding principles. With the fall of the Bastille, The National Assembly became the supreme power in France. The serfs were set free. The system of forced labour was stopped. Every citizen was given the political and economic rights. The Church was taken over by the State. In keeping with the slogan of the Revolution, “Liberty, equality, fraternity,” the National Assembly made its famous ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen’. Some of the rights mentioned were. (a) All men were born free and have equal rights. (b) All men would have freedom of speech and expression. (c) Nobody should be punished without a fair and proper trail in a court of law. (d) The Government would be responsible to the people for all its actions. The Revolution brought following major changes in the France. (i) It brought end of absolute monarchy (ii) It spread the spirit of nationalism and democracy. (iii) All were given equal rights without discrimination. A new constitution of Revolutionary France was framed. It was based on the Principles of democracy. The king was reduced to the position of a nominal head of the State. Out of fear, the king and the Queen tried to escape from France in disguise but they were arrested and brought back as prisoners. The Old National Assembly was replaced by a new one. The king and the Queen were tried and executed in 1793. (A) The Reign of Terror : The period in between 1793-94 is referred as the 'Reign of terror' (i) During this period Robespierre, who was the head of the government of France followed a policy of severe control and punishment. (ii) Ex-nobles and clergy, even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods were arrested, imprisoned and then guillotined. (iii) France witnessed the guillotine of thousands of nobles and innocent men who supported monarchy (iv) Robespierre issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on prices. Churches were shut down. (v) Finally Robespierre was guillotined in July 1794. (B) A Directory Rules France :