Causes, Measures & Impact of the French Revolution
Causes of the French Revolution
Around 1770, France was a rural society. The bourgeoisie had economic power but lacked political power. French society was a society of privilege, where someone’s position depended on the estate into which they were born.
This situation worsened considerably due to Treasury problems:
- Costly military foreign policy.
- Indebtedness by the crown expanded during the 18th century.
- Court politics and life were over-extravagant.
Due to the serious situation of the Treasury, King Louis XVI put prestigious economists of the period in charge of the Treasury. They tried to rationalize expenses and devise the possibility of contribution by the nobility to the public fund – the privileged estates did not pay taxes. Calonne summoned an Assembly of Notables, with chosen nobles and clergy, proposing a new taxation on the nobles’ and clergy’s property. The assembly rejected the proposal. The aristocracy demanded the call of Estates-General. The bourgeoisie demanded representation proportional to the majority of the population, as the nobility and clergy together, and also wanted individual voting (one person, one vote).
Measures Taken by the French National Assembly in 1789
The Assembly declared the end of the feudal system, abolishing all the apparatus of serfdom and noble privilege. A Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was drawn up as a preamble for the Constitution, which was still in development. This Constitution left women without a political voice.
Other measures were also taken: the abolition of hereditary aristocracy and nobility titles, the abolition of guilds, and legislation regarding the clergy. The Clergy’s estates were expropriated and sold as free land, losing independence in relation to political power. The intervention on the church fueled the counter-revolution.
Girondins vs. Jacobins: The National Convention
During this time, the confrontation between the Girondins and the Jacobins (Montagnards) grew worse. The Girondins favored a decentralized government, a federal constitution similar to the USA’s, while the Montagnards wanted a highly centralized republic. The Montagnards arrested 22 Girondin leaders, marking the beginning of the “Reign of Terror.” The Committee of Public Safety, led by Robespierre, became an instrument of Terror, where about 17,000 people died by guillotine, including Robespierre. Robespierre thought that a transitory dictatorship was necessary to save the revolution and the republic.
After Robespierre’s death, power passed to moderate bourgeois from the first part of the revolution, and a new Constitution was drafted. The Directory finished at the end of 1799 with General Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’etat.
Defining the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution is a process in which an agrarian society becomes an industrial society. This process is likely to happen in a place or territory containing the necessary conditions for capitalist development. This was the case of England from the 18th century; England is considered the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. From England, industrialization would spread to other countries.