THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

French Revolution: Short Essay

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Feudalism and Unfair Taxation

No one factor was directly responsible for the French Revolution. Years of feudal oppression and fiscal mismanagement contributed to a French society that was ripe for revolt. Noting a downward economic spiral in the late 1700, King Louis XVI brought in a number of financial advisors to review the weakened French treasury. Each advisor reached the same conclusion—that France needed a radical change in the way it taxed the public—and each advisor was, in turn, kicked out.

The Estates-General

In a final act of desperation, Louis XVI decided in 1789 to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different estates that each represented a portion of the French population. 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 Moreover, the outdated rules of order for the Estates-General gave each estate a single vote, despite the fact that the Third Estate—consisting of the general French public—was many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. Realizing that its numbers gave it an automatic advantage, the Third Estate declared itself the sovereign National 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. In Paris, citizens stormed the city’s largest prison, the Bastille, in pursuit of arms. In the countryside, peasants and farmers revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking the manors and estates of their landlords. Shortly thereafter, the assembly released the Declaration Of The Rights Of Man, authored by Sieyes and Lafayette, which established a proper judicial code and the autonomy of the French people.

Rifts in the Assembly

Though the National Assembly did succeed in drafting a Constitution, the relative peace of the moment was short-lived. 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.

The Reign of Terror

The first acts of the newly named National Convention were the abolition of the monarchy and the declaration of France as a Republic. In January 1793, the convention tried and executed Louis XVI on the grounds of treason. Soon, the Jacobins, led by Robespierre, took control. 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 in late 1793–1794, during which he had more than 15,000 people 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, and 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, and 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. In the end, to everyone's delight, Napoleon Bonaparte took control of the French government in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (1799) and installed himself as the dictator of France.