The events that took place in France between 1789 and 1815 profoundly influenced the sociopolitical organization of the contemporary world. The division of powers between the legislative, executive and judiciary is a characteristic feature of the State emerged in the period, as well as the elaboration of a Civil Code, which guaranteed the liberal principles bourgeois. This text will show the reader the main phases of the French Revolution, one of the most important historical events in human history.
Background to the French Revolution
The reasons that led the French population to carry out a revolution were mainly linked to the feudal structure that still prevailed in the country. The privilege held by the aristocracy and the clergy forced peasants to pay high taxes. Furthermore, climatic problems in the years before the revolution caused poor harvests, high prices and hunger among a large part of the people. City people were also dissatisfied, and new social groups emerged with new interests, mainly the bourgeoisie.
To try to appease the dissatisfactions, King Louis XVI convened the Assembly of the States General in 1788. The general states formed three orders: the clergy, the nobility and the people. However, during the Assembly, there was no agreement between the orders. The king dissolved the assembly. The people rebelled against the king, invading the Bastille, and presented the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The peasants began to occupy the lands of the lords and persecute them, in what became known as the “Great Fear”. It started to French Revolution.
Phase of the Constitutional Monarchy (1789-1792)
In addition to the Great Fear and the Declaration of the Rights of Men, this phase was characterized by the loss of rights that aristocracy held since the feudal period and the formation of a constitutional monarchy, after the elaboration of the first Constitution.
These measures generated pressure from other monarchic countries that were afraid that the revolutionary process would affect the spirits of their populations. Austria and Prussia went to war with France in 1791. In August of that same year, the Legislative Assembly, after popular pressure, removed Louis XVI from his reign. The Republic was proclaimed and an organization created in Paris, called the Insurrectionary Commune, began to administer the country.
With the withdrawal of Austrian and Prussian troops, Paris moved away from the danger of being taken. In September 1791, the Convention was created and the Legislative Assembly dissolved.
Republican Convention and the Period of Terror (1792-1794)
The Republican Convention was interested in drafting a new Constitution, guaranteeing greater popular participation in the administration of the State, in addition to preventing the return of an absolute monarchy. During this period, internal political divergences appeared, which resulted in the division between Girondins, Jacobins and the plains. With the consolidation of the Republic, a new calendar was inaugurated, with the year 1792 as year I.
The radicalization of the proposals of the lower classes in the social hierarchy led to the execution of King Louis XVI and his family at the guillotine. The fact that the Girondins opposed the executions also resulted in the loss of their heads to the guillotine. had beginning the Period of Terror.
Through the period of the Terror, the Jacobins led by Robespierre came to power. The new Constitution entered into force, guaranteeing the vote to all men over 21 years of age. The internal counter-revolution was stifled and social laws were promulgated, among them, the end of slavery in the colonies and the maximum price of food. However, these measures and Robespierre's centralization of power, as well as the ordering of condemnations of both enemies and allies, left him isolated, with no basis for holding power. In July 1794 Robespierre was guillotined, and the Jacobins lost state power.
Directory (1794-1799)
The fall of the Jacobins represented the rise to power of the upper bourgeoisie. The Directory was composed of five members, and there were also two assemblies: the Elders and the Five Hundreds. This phase represented the strengthening of the bourgeoisie and the return of some privileges, such as the census vote and the end of social laws from the previous period.
There were also attempts at insurrections, such as that of Graco Babeuf, leader of the Conspiracy of the Equals, who intended to overthrow the Directory and deepen the social reforms of the French Revolution. Babeuf was guillotined, illustrating the dominance of the bourgeoisie in state power. Internal disputes and external wars created the conditions for the strengthening of the army and one of its main generals, Napoleon Bonaparte. With the creation of the Consulate in 1799, the Napoleonic era began.
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* Image Credit: Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtar
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