THE French Revolution it was a historical event that took place in France between 1789 and 1799, which led to the end of absolutism in the country, and had important consequences for the Western world. The importance of the French Revolution is such that historians use it to mark the end of the Modern Age and the beginning of the Contemporary age.
With important political, social and economic transformations, the French Revolution also represented the conquest of power by the bourgeois class which had been developing on the European continent since the late Middle Ages.
The inaugural event of this important historic event was the fall of the Bastille, in July 14, 1789. The Bastille was a prison located in Paris, where those convicted of political actions that affront the French absolutist royalty were directed. Its fall represented the weakening of the political power of the French kings, becoming one of the main symbols of the revolutionary process.
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It was with the French Revolution that the republican form of government spread throughout the world, with the political division between the executive, legislative and judiciary powers. According to historian Eric. J. Hobbawn, it was France that made its revolutions and gave it its ideas, to the point where tricolored flags of one kind or another have become the emblem of virtually every nation. emerging, and European (or even world) policies between 1789 and 1917 were largely struggles for or against the principles of 1789, or even the most incendiary principles. of 1793. France provided the vocabulary and themes of liberal and radical-democratic politics for most of the world. France provided the first great example, the concept and vocabulary of nationalism. It provided the legal codes, the technical and scientific organization model, and the metric system of measurements for most countries. The ideology of the modern world reached, through French influence, the ancient civilizations that until then resisted European ideas. This was the work of the French Revolution.[1]
This important historical process, as demonstrated by the English historian in the passage quoted above, can be divided into three phases: the first was that of the National Assembly; the second phase that of the National Convention; and the third phase that of the Directory.
During the phase of National Assembly, in between 1789 and 1792, the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizens was drafted, which intended to end the privileges held by the nobility and the clergy. A constitution would be promulgated in 1791, establishing the Constitutional Monarchy as a form of government in France, but maintaining the census vote, accessible to those with a certain level of income.
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At this stage there was an increase in social tension between the forces that intended to maintain the revolutionary process under the control of the richer classes of French society and the popular yearnings for a radicalization of the revolution. The action of European absolutist nations against the Revolution led the political sectors more linked to classes exploited to create a popular army, which defeated France's neighbors, and began the new phase of the Revolution French.
the phase of National Convention, in between 1792 and 1794, was marked by the power achieved by the Jacobins, led mainly by Robespierre, and by the support given to them by the sans-culottes. It was the period of greatest radicalization of the revolution, with the execution of several members of the nobility, including King Louis XVI. The Republic was established in France, directed by the Committee for Public Safety, laws designed to control prices were introduced, the nobility and clergy were expropriated, free public education was instituted, a new calendar was created, and slavery was abolished in the colonies. During the National Convention, the role played by the Revolutionary Court led to the persecution of several people considered traitors to the Revolution, leading the period to be called the one of the Horror.
The bourgeoisie managed to reorganize itself despite the persecution, which took place even among the Jacobins. In 1794, Robespierre was removed from power by the Girondins, starting the phase of the Directory (1794-1799). At this stage the repression of the Jacobins intensified (called the White Terror) and a new constitution was instituted to consolidate the rights of the bourgeoisie. The French army's external conquests grew, strengthening the young general Napoleon Bonaparte. Fearing a new radicalization of the internal situation, especially after the arrest of Graco Babeuf and members of the Conspiracy of the Equals, the Girondins supported a coup d'état commanded by Bonaparte, known as the 18th coup. Brumaire. Thus, in 1799, a new moment in French history began, the Napoleonic era.
Note
[1] HOBSBAWN, E. J. The French Revolution. Rio de Janeiro: Peace and Land, 1996. P. 9-10.
By Me. Tales Pinto
