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The French Revolution is a period in the History of France, covering the years 1789-
1799, in which the monarchy was overthrown and radical restricting was forced upon the
Roman Catholic Church. In 1792, the revolution a second stage which saw the downfall
of moderate middle class leaders and their replacement by radical republications claming
to rule on behalf of the common people .Three major reasons accounted for this abrupt
and drastic alteration in the course of revolution.
The politically literate lower classes grew disillusion as they perceived that
revolution was not benefiting them. The uncontrolled free-enterprise resulted in
constantly fluctuating and generally rising prices. This increases particularly
exasperated those elements of the Parisian population that had agitated for change
in preceding years.
The second major reason for the of course was a lack of effective national leadership
during the first two years of the revolution .Prior to 1789,Louis XVI remained the
weak and vacillating monarch. He was forced to support measures of the Civil
Constitution of the Clergy. He was to the plotting of the queen who was in
correspondence with her brother Leopold II of Austria. Urged by Marie Antoinette,
Louis agreed to attempt an escape from France in June 1791, in hopes of rallying
foreign support for counterrevolution. The leadership of that body remained in the
hands of Honore Gabriel Riquetti, comets de Mirebeau, until his death I791. he
was the most effective leader among the moderate constitution, a group that
generally failed to capitalize on its opportunities.
The dramatic turn of affairs was the fact that after 1792 France found itself at war
with much of the rest of Europe is the third reason. In the years immediately after
1789, the revolution in France won the enthusiastic support of a wide range of
politically committed intellectuals, businessmen and artisans. The English poets
William Wordsworth became disillusioned by the subsequent course of
revolutionary events and his sentiments were echoed across the continent by poets
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and philosopher, especially the German Johann Gottfried von Herder, who declared
the revolution the most important historical moment since reformation .
Inflamed by their poverty and hatred of wealth, the common people insisted that it
was the duty of the government to guarantee them the right to existence. Such a
policy ran counter to the bourgeois aspirations of the National Assembly. The sans-
culottes demanded that the revolutionary government immediately increase wages,
fix prices, end food shortages, punish hoarders and most important, deal with the
existence of counter-revolutionaries. In terms of social ideals the sans-culottes
wanted laws to prevent extremes of both wealth and property. Their vision was of a
nation of small shopkeepers and small farmers. They favored a democratic republic
in which the voice of the common man could be heard. In this respect, their
ideology falls into line with that of Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the English radical
who argued that the best form of government was the one which governed least:
government should guarantee basic natural rights and then lay off the citizen .In
other words, and this is important to grasp, the social and economic ideas of the
sans-culottes were politicized by the Revolution itself.
On August 10, 1792, enraged Parisian men and women attacked the kings palace
and killed several hundred Swiss Guards. The result of this journee was the
radicalization of the Revolution. Louis and Marie Antoinette were forced to flee the
Tuileries and took refuge in the Legislative Assembly itself. The royal family was
placed under house arrest, and lived rather comfortably, but the king could not
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perform any of his political functions. Although the revolutionaries had drafted a
constitution, now they had no monarch.
After the execution of Louis, the National Assembly, now known as the National
Convention, faced enormous problems. The value of paper currency (assignats)
used to finance the Revolution had fallen by 50%. There was price inflation,
continued food shortages, and various peasant rebellions against the Revolution
occurred across the countryside. France was close to civil war.
Meanwhile, the revolutionaries found themselves not only at war with Austria and
Prussia, but with Holland, Spain and Great Britain. As the Revolution stumbled
under the weight of foreign war and civil war, the revolutionary leadership grew
more radical. Up to June 1793, moderate reformers had dominated the National
Convention.
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Guillotine
20,000 die
King and queen die
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Robespierre was a disciple of Rousseau who knew that a Republic of Virtue could
not become a reality unless the threats of foreign and civil war were removed. To
preserve the Republic, Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety instituted
the Reign of Terror. Counter-revolutionaries, the Girondists, priests, nobles, and
aristocrats immediately fell under suspicion. Danton (1759-1794), a revolutionary
who sought peace with Europe, was executed.
The Committee of Public Safety also closed the numerous political clubs of the
sans-culottes. The CPS feared spontaneous action, that is, that the revolutionary
leadership might pass into other hands. About 17,000 people died as a result of the
Terror. The choice instrument was the guillotine -- it was quick and humane. In
1794, there were mass executions at Lyons. Boats were fired upon and sunk at
Nantes -- 500 were killed in one execution. About 15,000 people perished officially
and over 100,000 people were detained as suspects.
7. The property of church was confiscated by the Nations Assembly to use it for
resorting the countrys economic crises.
Election in March 1797 was the first free election held in France as a republic and
returned a large number of constitutional monarchists to the councils of
government. with the support of army ,the directory in September 1797 annulled
most of the election results and after two years the Directors were desperate .This
time they called their brilliant young general ,Napoleon Bonaparte91769-1821),to
their assistance. On November 9, 1799, Bonaparte was declared a temporary
consul. He was the answer to the prayers of the Directory :a strong ,popular leader
who was not a king .Sieyes , who had declared for revolution in the name of third
estate ,now declared for counter revolution in the name of virtual dictatorship
Confidence from below ,authority from above,. With those words Sieyes
pronounced the end of the revolutionary period.
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THE END