12.3: The French Revolution

Funerary monuments (not tombs) of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, basilique Saint-Denis Source: https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Edme_G...Antoinette.jpg

The French Revolution

Only eight years after the end of the American Revolution, an even more significant and bloody revolution would break out in France. By the time the dust had settled, the French Revolution and the successive events it gave birth to would bring about change to the rest of the European continent and beyond. Depending upon location, some of these changes include:

• abolishing serfdom and feudal privilege
• creating a uniform system of local government
• laying the groundwork for a national education system
• generating a new legal code
• abolishing slavery in the colonies
• establishing a standardized metric system.

The ideal, if not the practice, of constitutional government would be rooted in the French mind. Most importantly, the seeds of liberalism, constitutionalism, and democracy had been sewn. The most striking result of the Revolution was its violent disturbance of old orders; from Ireland to Poland, nothing would ever be the same again.

The Old Regime

Toward the end of the 18th century, years of feudal oppression and fiscal mismanagement contributed to a French society that was ripe for revolt. The Old Regime in France was the system of feudalism leftover from the Middle Ages, and divided the social classes into three “estates.”

• First Estate was the clergy, consisting of priests and Church officials. It owned about 10% of the land in France and contributed about 2% of its income to the government.
• Second Estate was the nobility. They were exempt from many taxes and had the right to collect feudal dues. Nobles also served as officers in the army and held high positions at court. Though the Second Estate only made up about 2% of the population, it owned 20% of the land.
• Third Estate was the largest of the three estates, making up about 98% of the French population. This estate differed greatly in economic conditions, and consisted of three subgroups.
  • The first group – the bourgeoisie – were merchants and artisans. They were well-educated and believed strongly in the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality. Although some of the bourgeoisie were as rich as nobles, they paid high taxes and lacked privileges of the Second Estate. Many felt that their wealth entitle them to a greater degree of social status and political power.
  • The workers of France’s cities – cooks, servants, and others – formed the second group, and were poorer than the bourgeoisie. Most of Paris’ poor people ate three pounds of bread a day and very little else. If the cost of bread rose, hungry mobs attacked carts of grain and bread to steal what they needed. In 1788, grain harvests were small. The price of bread doubled. Thus, the sans-culottes, as France’s city workers were called, were in a dangerous mood in the spring of 1789.
  • Peasants formed the largest group within the Third Estate – more than 80% of France’s 26 million people. They paid about half their income in dues to nobles, tithes to the church, and taxes to the king’s agents. They even paid taxes on such basic staples as salt! Peasants joined the urban poor in resenting the clergy and the nobles for their privileges and special treatment.

The Three Estates of France: "You should hope that this game will be over soon." The Third Estate carrying the Clergy and the Nobility on its back Source: https://worldhistorycommons.org/we-m...l-soon-be-over

Because of the Enlightenment's ideas, many Frenchmen were unwilling to accept the divine right of kings and the privileged position of the Church and nobility. Plus, the success of the American Revolution inspired them. Further, the radical ideas of Rousseau and Voltaire encouraged debates within the salons of the day.

Against this backdrop, France’s once-prosperous economy was failing. The population was expanding rapidly, as were trade and production. However, the heavy burden of taxes made it impossible to conduct profitable business. The cost of living rose for everyone. In addition, in the 1780s, bad weather caused widespread crop failures, resulting in a severe shortage of grain, and many people faced starvation.

During this period, France’s government sank deeply into debt. Extravagant spending by the king and queen was part of the problem. Louis XVI, who became king in 1774, inherited part of the debt from his predecessors. He also borrowed heavily in order to help the American revolutionaries in their war against Great Britain–France’s chief rival – thereby nearly doubling the government’s debt. In 1786, bankers refused to lend the government any more money, and Louis faced serious problems.

Unfortunately, Louis XVI was a weak and indecisive leader who allowed matters to drift. He paid little attention to the details of governing and preferred to hunt and tinker with locks. His wife, Marie Antoinette, was unpopular and became known as Madame Deficit because of her extravagant purchases of gowns, jewels, and gifts. Rather than cutting expenses and increasing taxes, Louis put off dealing with the emergency until France faced bankruptcy.

Antoine-François Callet: Louis XVI Source: Wikipedia

The Estates-General

In an act of desperation, Louis XVI decided to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different estates. If the Estates-General could agree on a tax solution, it would be implemented. However, since two of the three estates—the clergy and the nobility—were tax-exempt, the attainment of any such solution was unlikely.

Moreover, the outdated rules of order for the Estates-General gave each estate a single vote, despite the fact that the Third Estate—consisting of the general French public—was many times larger than either of the first two. Feuds quickly broke out over this disparity. Realizing that its numbers gave it an automatic advantage, the Third Estate declared itself the sovereign National Assembly. Within days of the announcement, many members of the other two estates had switched allegiances over to this revolutionary new assembly.

The Bastille and the Great Fear

Shortly after the National Assembly formed, its members took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing that they would not relent in their efforts until a new constitution had been agreed upon. The National Assembly’s revolutionary spirit galvanized France, manifesting in a number of different ways. “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” became the slogan of the Revolution.

The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789 Source: Wikipedia

Rifts in the Assembly

Though the National Assembly did succeed in drafting a constitution, the relative peace of the moment was short-lived. A rift slowly grew between the radical and moderate assembly members, while the common laborers and workers began to feel overlooked. Meanwhile, Louis and his family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands but were caught. Returned to Paris under armed guard, Louis’ attempted escape only served to increase the influence of his radical enemies, sealing his own doom. The moderate Girondins took a stance in favor of retaining the constitutional monarchy, while the radical Jacobins wanted the king completely out of the picture.

Outside of France, some neighboring countries feared that France’s revolutionary spirit would spread in their lands. In response, they issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which insisted that the French return Louis XVI to the throne. French leaders interpreted the declaration as hostile, so the Girondin-led assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia.

The Reign of Terror

The newly named National Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France as a republic. In January 1793, the convention tried and executed Louis XVI on the grounds of treason. Despite the creation of the Committee of Public Safety, the war with Austria and Prussia went poorly for France, and foreign forces pressed on into French territory. Enraged citizens overthrew the Girondin-led National Convention, and the Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, took control.

Backed by the newly approved Constitution of 1793, Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety began conscripting French soldiers and implementing laws to stabilize the economy. For a time, it seemed that France’s fortunes might be changing. But Robespierre, growing increasingly paranoid about counterrevolutionary influences, embarked upon a Reign of Terror. From late 1793–1794, more than 15,000 people were executed at the guillotine. When the French army successfully removed foreign invaders and the economy finally stabilized, however, Robespierre no longer had any justification for his extreme actions. As a result, he himself was arrested in July 1794 and executed.

The Thermidorian Reaction and the Directory

The era following the ousting of Robespierre was known as the Thermidorian Reaction. A period of governmental restructuring began, leading to the new Constitution of 1795 and a significantly more conservative National Convention. To control executive responsibilities and appointments, a group known as the Directory was formed. Though it had no legislative abilities, the Directory’s abuse of power soon came to rival that of any of the tyrannous revolutionaries France had faced.

Napoleon

Meanwhile, the Committee of Public Safety’s war effort was realizing unimaginable success. French armies, especially those led by young general Napoleon Bonaparte, were making progress in nearly every direction. Napoleon’s forces drove through Italy and reached as far as Egypt before facing a deflating defeat. In the face of this rout, and having received word of political upheavals in France, Napoleon returned to Paris. He arrived in time to lead a coup against the Directory in 1799, eventually stepping up and naming himself “first consul”—effectively, the leader of France. With Napoleon at the helm, the Revolution ended, and France entered a fifteen-year period of military rule.

Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France. He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought to improve relations between his regime and the pope (who represented France’s main religion, Catholicism). One of his most significant accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which streamlined the French legal system and continues to form the foundation of French civil law to this day.

In 1802, a constitutional amendment made Napoleon the first consul for life. Two years later, in 1804, he crowned himself emperor of France in a lavish ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

From 1803 to 1815, France was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, a series of major conflicts with various coalitions of European nations. In 1803, partly as a means to raise funds for future wars, Napoleon sold France’s Louisiana Territory in North America to the newly independent United States for $15 million. This transaction would later become known as the Louisiana Purchase.

In October 1805, the British wiped out Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. However, in December of that same year, Napoleon achieved what is considered to be one of his greatest victories at the Battle of Austerlitz, in which his army defeated the Austrians and Russians. The victory resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine.

Beginning in 1806, Napoleon sought to wage large-scale economic warfare against Britain with the establishment of the so-called Continental System of European port blockades against British trade. In 1807, following Napoleon’s defeat of the Russians at Friedland in Prussia, Alexander I (1777-1825) was forced to sign the Treaty of Tilsit. In 1809, the French defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram. During these years, Napoleon reestablished a French aristocracy and began handing out titles of nobility to his loyal friends and family. Meanwhile, his empire continued to expand across much of western and central continental Europe.

Napoleon’s Downfall and First Abdication

In 1810, Russia withdrew from the Continental System. In retaliation, Napoleon led a massive army into Russia. Rather than engaging the French in a full-scale battle, the Russians adopted a “scorched-earth” strategy of retreating whenever Napoleon’s forces attempted to attack. As a result, Napoleon’s troops trekked deeper into Russia despite being ill-prepared for an extended campaign. In September 1812, both sides suffered heavy casualties in the indecisive Battle of Borodino.

Napoleon’s forces marched on to Moscow, only to discover almost the entire population evacuated. Retreating Russians set fires across the city in an effort to deprive enemy troops of supplies. After waiting a month for a surrender that never came, Napoleon was forced to order his starving, exhausted army out of Moscow. During the disastrous winter-time retreat, his army suffered continual harassment from a suddenly aggressive and merciless Russian army. Of Napoleon’s 600,000 troops who began the campaign, only an estimated 100,000 made it out of Russia.

At the same time as the catastrophic Russian invasion, the Peninsular War (1808-1814) tested his forces when the Spanish and Portuguese, with assistance from the British, attempted to drive the French from the Iberian Peninsula. Meanwhile in Germany, during the Battle of Leipzig (1813), also known as the Battle of Nations, Napoleon’s forces were defeated by a coalition that included Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops. Napoleon retreated to France. In March 1814, coalition forces captured Paris.

On April 6, 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate the throne. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau, he was exiled to Elba, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Italy. He was given sovereignty over the small island, while his wife and son went to Austria.

Hundred Days Campaign and Battle of Waterloo

On February 26, 1815, after less than a year in exile, Napoleon escaped Elba and sailed to the French mainland with a group of more than 1,000 supporters. On March 20, he returned to Paris, where he was welcomed by cheering crowds. The new king, Louis XVIII (1755-1824) fled, and Napoleon began what came to be known as his Hundred Days campaign. A coalition of allies–the Austrians, British, Prussians, and Russians–prepared for war.

In June 1815, his forces invaded Belgium, where British and Prussian troops were stationed. On June 16, Napoleon’s troops defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny. However, two days later, on June 18, at the Battle of Waterloo near Brussels, the French were crushed by the British, with assistance from the Prussians. On June 22, 1815, Napoleon was once again forced to abdicate. In October 1815, Napoleon was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely from stomach cancer.

The Congress of Vienna

After Napoleon’s first defeat in 1814, the Congress of Vienna attempted to draw up a peace plan that would last for many years. Eventually, the ideas of the foreign minister of Austria, Klemens von Metternich, would be accepted.

Metternich insisted on three goals. First, he wanted to make sure that the French would not attack another country again. Second, he wanted a balance of power in which no one nation was too strong. Third, he wanted to put kings back in charge of the countries from which they had been removed.

Across Europe, kings and princes reclaimed their thrones. Most monarchs were conservatives, who did not encourage individual liberties or equal rights. However, many people still believed in the ideals of the French Revolution, that all people should be equal and share in power. Later, they would fight for these rights again.

The French Revolution had ignited the spirit of nationalism by teaching that each government should be based on the will of the people. (Nationalism is the belief that each nationality or ethnic group is entitled to its own government and national homeland.) The statesmen at the Congress of Vienna failed to take into account the desire of many people to control their own governments. Instead, they favored maintaining traditional rulers. As a result, many European peoples were still not united, while others continued to live under foreign rule.

Comparing the American and French Revolutions

In some ways, the French Revolution was remarkably similar to the American. Both revolutions applied principles of the Enlightenment; both swept away traditional systems; both followed similar-stage courses, moving from moderate to radical before a final conservative swing; and both helped set in motion modern constitutional government, along with democracy and nationalism.

There were, however, striking differences. Unlike the American colonies, France had a classic Old Regime, with aristocratic privilege and monarchy. Instead of being far removed from the centers of civilization, it was the most populous and cultured state of Western Europe. Its revolution, therefore, was more violent and more decisive.

The French Revolution was an immediate failure. At the turn of the 19th Century, it had not secured liberty, equality, or fraternity. Except for certain prosperous members of the middle classes, the French economy promised less for most people in 1796 than it had two decades earlier. Most discouraging was the realization that the Revolution had betrayed its own ideals, leaving the French people cynical and disillusioned.

The Revolution had brought great changes, as noted in the opening paragraph. The effects of the French Revolution would also soon be felt in the Americas.

Attribution: Material was taken and modified from CK-12 7.2 The French Revolution