It was the result of a long crisis of the feudal system, which led to a conflict between the third estate and the privileged upper class. Despite the difference in class interests of the bourgeoisie, peasantry and urban plebeians (manufactory workers, urban poor), which were part of the third estate, they were united by an interest in the destruction of the feudal-absolutist system. The leader in this struggle was the bourgeoisie.
The main contradictions that predetermined the inevitability of the revolution were exacerbated by state bankruptcy, which began in the year with a commercial and industrial crisis, and lean years that led to famine. In - years, a revolutionary situation developed in the country. Peasant uprisings that engulfed a number of French provinces, intertwined with the performances of the plebeians in the cities (in Rennes, Grenoble, Besancon in the year, in the Saint-Antoine suburb of Paris in etc.). The monarchy, unable to hold its positions by the old methods, was forced to make concessions: notables were convened in the year, and then the Estates General, which had not met since the year.
The sharp deterioration in the economic and especially food situation as a result of the war contributed to the aggravation of the class struggle in the country. In the year the peasant movement intensified again. In a number of departments (Air, Gard, Nord, and others), the peasants arbitrarily carried out the division of communal lands. The protests of the starving poor in the cities took very sharp forms. Spokesmen for the interests of the plebeians - "mad" (leaders - J. Roux, J. Varlet and others), demanded the establishment of a maximum (fixed prices for consumer goods) and the curbing of speculators. Taking into account the demands of the masses and taking into account the current political situation, the Jacobins agreed to an alliance with the "mad". On May 4, the Convention, despite the resistance of the Girondins, decreed the establishment of fixed prices for grain. A new popular uprising on May 31 - June 2 ended with the expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention and the transfer of power to the Jacobins.
This period of the revolution is characterized by the Jacobin dictatorship. The interventionist troops invaded from the north, east and south. Counter-revolutionary rebellions (see Vendée Wars) swept the entire north-west of the country, as well as the south. By agrarian legislation (June - July of the year), the Jacobin Convention handed over communal and emigrant lands to the peasants for division and completely abolished all feudal rights and privileges. Thus, the main issue of the revolution - the agrarian one - was resolved on a democratic basis, the former feudally dependent peasants turned into free owners. On June 24, the Convention approved a new constitution instead of the qualifying constitution of 1791 - a much more democratic one. However, the critical situation of the republic compelled the Jacobins to postpone the introduction of the constitutional regime and replace it with a regime of revolutionary democratic dictatorship. On August 23, the convention adopted a historic decree on the mobilization of the entire French nation to fight for the expulsion of enemies from the republic. The Convention, in response to the terrorist acts of the counter-revolution (the assassination of J. P. Marat, the leader of the Lyons Jacobins, J. Challier, and others), introduced revolutionary terror.
The so-called Ventose Decrees, adopted in February and March of the year, were not put into effect due to the resistance of large-scale property-owning elements in the apparatus of the Jacobin dictatorship. The plebeian elements and the rural poor began to partly depart from the Jacobin dictatorship, a number of social demands who were not satisfied. At the same time, most of the bourgeoisie, who did not want to continue to put up with the restrictive regime and plebeian methods of the Jacobin dictatorship, switched to counter-revolutionary positions, dragging with them the prosperous peasantry, dissatisfied with the policy of requisitions, and after it the middle peasantry. In the summer of the year, a conspiracy arose against the revolutionary government headed by Robespierre, which led to a counter-revolutionary coup that overthrew the Jacobin dictatorship and thus put an end to the revolution (Thermidorian coup).
July 14, Bastille Day is a national holiday in France; The Marseillaise written at that time is still the national anthem of France.
At the first stage of the French Revolution (1789-1791), the absolute monarchy was overthrown in France and a constitutional monarchy with limited suffrage was established.
At the second stage of the revolution (September 1791 - August 1792), revolutionary wars began, as a result of which Louis XVI was overthrown.
At the third stage of the revolution (August 1792 - May 1793), a republic was established in France, in which at first the Girondins were in the majority, and then the Jacobins. The latter established a dictatorship regime, organized important reforms for the peasants and the army.
The fourth stage of the Great French Revolution (1793-1794) ends with the overthrow of the Jacobin dictatorship as a result of the Thermidorian coup.
At the last, fifth stage of the revolution (1794-1799), power was in the hands of the "new rich", the influence of the generals increased. The new Constitution provided for the creation of a new government - the Directory. main role during this period, Napoleon Bonaparte played, who completed the French Revolution with a coup d'état on 18 Brumaire.
In addition to the immediate causes of the French Revolution, some indirect causes contributed to the increase in tension in society. Among them - economic and economic decline in France.
According to the agreement of 1786, concluded by the king with England, the French market received a large number of cheap English goods. French industry was unable to compete. Manufactories were closed, and many workers were thrown into the streets (only in Paris unemployed became 80 thousand people).
At the same time, the village fell crop failure 1788, and after it - an unusually severe winter for France in 1788-1789, when frosts reached -20 °. The vineyards have died olive trees, crops of bread. Many peasants, according to contemporaries, ate grass so as not to die of hunger. In the cities, the sans-culottes gave their last coins for bread. Songs directed against the authorities were sung in taverns, posters and leaflets were circulating around, ridiculing and scolding the government.
The young king of France, Louis XVI, sought to rectify the situation in the country. He appointed the banker Necker as comptroller general of finances. He began to reduce the cost of maintaining the court, offered to collect taxes from the lands of the nobility and the clergy, and also published a financial report that indicated all cash income and expenses in the state. However, the aristocrats did not at all want the people to know who was spending the treasury money and how. Necker was fired.
Meanwhile, the situation in France was deteriorating. The price of bread fell, and the French nobles, accustomed to selling it on the market, began to suffer losses. Trying to find new sources of income, some noblemen extracted from their great-grandfather archives half-decayed letters of payment by peasants 300 years ago dues for the right to marry or move from village to village. Others thought up new dues, for example, for the dust raised by peasant cows on the seigneur's road. Meadows, water holes and forests, which from time immemorial have been used by peasant communities, the nobles declared their full property and demanded a separate payment for grazing or logging. The indignant peasants filed complaints with the royal courts, but they, as a rule, decided the case in favor of the nobles.
| Caricature: peasant, priest and nobleman |
The King of France, Louis XVI, convening the States General, hoped for the introduction of new taxes to restore the treasury and pay off debts. However, the participants of the meeting, taking advantage of the situation, contrary to the king, decided to improve the situation of the peasants and the bourgeoisie in the country, putting forward their demands.
After some time, opponents of the old order announced the creation of the Constituent (National) Assembly, which quickly gained popularity. The king, realizing that he had a minority on his side, had to recognize him.
In parallel with the convening of the Estates General, King Louis XVI was gathering troops to keep the situation under control. But the inhabitants started an uprising, which quickly gained momentum. Supporters of the king also went over to the side of the uprising. This was the start of the French Revolution.
The revolution, which began with the storming of the Bastille, gradually engulfed all of France and led to the overthrow of the unlimited (absolute) monarchy.
The main task of the Constituent Assembly was the rejection of the old order in France - the absolute monarchy, and the establishment of a new one - the constitutional monarchy. To do this, the assembly began drafting the Constitution, which was adopted in 1791.
The King did not recognize the work of the Constituent Assembly, and tried to flee the country, but His attempt failed. Despite the opposition of the king and the assembly, the Constitution did not provide for the removal Louis XVI, but only limited his power.
After the formation of the Legislative Assembly, provided for by the Constitution of 1791, there was a split in French society into political currents in the revolution. It was divided into "right" constitutionalists, "left" Girondins, and "extreme left" Jacobins.
The Constitutionalists, in fact, were not the most "right". Those who adhered to the old order most of all, that is, were completely on the side of the king, were called royalists. But since there were only a few of them left in the Legislative Assembly, those who were considered “right” were those whose only goal was not revolutionary action, but only the approval of the Constitution.
Since the royalists were categorically against the revolution, almost everyone emigrated from France. They hoped to enlist help from abroad in restoring royal power, primarily from neighboring countries. Due to the fact that the revolutionary events in France had a direct threat to spread to the whole of Europe, some countries came to the aid of the royalists. Was created first anti-French coalition, which directed its forces to suppress the revolution in France.
The beginning of the revolutionary wars was unsuccessful for the revolutionaries: the allies of the first anti-French coalition came close to Paris.
But, despite the disastrous start of the war, the revolutionaries could not be stopped: they not only achieved the overthrow of their king Louis XVI, but also managed to expand the revolutionary movement outside of France.
Thus, the old order - the monarchy - was put an end to, and a course was set for a new one - the republican one.
On September 22, 1792, France was declared a republic. After the discovery of evidence of the betrayals of Louis XVI, it was decided to execute the king.
This event caused another revolutionary war of the first anti-French coalition in 1793. Now the coalition has expanded due to several countries included in it.
Another of the first problems of the republic was the rebellion of the peasants - a civil war that lasted from 1793 to 1796.
An attempt to maintain a republican system in France was made by the Jacobins, who were in the majority in the new highest state authority - the National Convention. They began to establish a regime of revolutionary dictatorship.
The development of the French Revolution led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Jacobin dictatorship, which resolved most of the contradictions that had accumulated in France and was able to organize an army that rebuffed the counter-revolutionary forces.
As a result of the abuse of revolutionary terror, as well as due to the dissatisfaction of the peasants with some of the economic reforms of the Jacobins, a split occurred in the society of the latter. 9 Thermidor (date according to the newly introduced French calendar) occurred key events further political development France - the so-called Thermidorians put an end to the Jacobin dictatorship. This event is called " Thermidorian coup".
The coming to power of the Thermidorians meant the creation of a new Constitution, according to which the Directory was the supreme authority. The authorities found themselves in a difficult position, so to speak, between two fires: on the one hand, the remaining Jacobins were opposed to them, on the other, the emigrated "whites", who had hope for the restoration of royal order and the return of their property. The latter continued to oppose France during the still ongoing revolutionary wars.
Thanks to General Napoleon Bonaparte, the army of the Directory was able to stop the attacks of the First Anti-French Coalition and turn the tide of the war back. His invincible army conquered new territories for France with enviable success. This led France to now seek European dominance.
The successes culminated in 1799, when the allies of the Second Anti-French Coalition won a series of victories. The territory of France, even for a time, was under the threat of enemy intervention.
The final moment of the French Revolution is the coup d'état 18 Brumaire (November 9), 1799, who established the dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte instead of the Directory.
On this page, material on the topics:
Questions about this item:
The last decade of the 18th century was marked by an event that not only changed the existing order in a single European country, but also influenced the entire course of world history. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 became the preachers of the class struggle of several succeeding generations. Its dramatic events brought heroes out of the shadows and exposed anti-heroes, destroying the habitual attitude of millions of inhabitants of monarchical states. The main prerequisites and the French Revolution of 1789 itself are briefly described below.
The causes of the French Revolution of 1789-1799 have been repeatedly rewritten from one history textbook to another and boil down to the thesis that the patience of that large part of the French population, which, in conditions of hard daily work and extreme poverty, was forced to provide a luxurious existence for representatives of the privileged classes.
Grounds for the revolution in France at the end of the 18th century:
Louis XVI of the Bourbon dynasty headed the French monarchy at the end of the 18th century. The power of his crowned majesty was unlimited. It was believed that she was given to him by God by chrismation during the coronation. In making a decision, the monarch relied on the support of the smallest, but the most senior and wealthy residents of the country - the nobility and representatives of the clergy. By that time, the state's external debts had grown to monstrous proportions and became an unbearable burden not only for the mercilessly exploited peasants, but also for the bourgeoisie, whose industrial and commercial activities were subject to exorbitant taxes.
The main causes of the French Revolution of 1789 are the discontent and gradual impoverishment of the bourgeoisie, which until recently put up with absolutism, which patronized the development of industrial production in the interests of national welfare. However, it became more and more difficult to satisfy the demands of the upper classes and the big bourgeoisie. There was a need to reform the archaic system of government and National economy, choking on bureaucracy and corruption of government officials. At the same time, the enlightened part of French society was infected with the ideas of philosopher writers of that time - Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Montesquieu, who insisted that an absolute monarchy infringes on the rights of the main population of the country.
Also, in the causes of the French bourgeois revolution of 1789-1799, one can write down the previous natural disasters which worsened the already difficult living conditions of the peasants and reduced the income of a few industrial enterprises.
Let us consider in detail all the stages of the French Revolution of 1789-1799.
The first stage began on January 24, 1789, with the convocation of the Estates General at the behest of the French monarch. This event was out of the ordinary, since the last time the meeting of the highest class-representative body of France was held in early XVI century. However, the situation when the government had to be dismissed and a new one urgently elected CEO finance in the person of Jacques Necker, was an emergency and required decisive action. Representatives of the upper classes set the goal of the meeting to find funds to replenish the state treasury, while the whole country expected total reforms. Disagreements began between the estates, which led to the formation of the National Assembly on June 17, 1789. It included delegates from the third estate and two dozen deputies from the clergy who joined them.
Soon after the meeting, the king made a unilateral decision to cancel all the decisions adopted at it, and already at the next meeting the deputies were placed according to their class affiliation. A few days later, 47 more deputies joined the majority, and Louis XVI, forced to make a compromise, ordered the remaining representatives to join the ranks of the assembly. Later, on July 9, 1789, the abolished States General were reorganized into the Constituent National Assembly.
The position of the newly formed representative body was extremely shaky due to the unwillingness of the royal court to put up with defeat. The news that the royal troops were put on alert to disperse the Constituent Assembly stirred up a wave of popular discontent, which led to dramatic events that decided the fate of the French Revolution of 1789-1799. Necker was removed from office, and it seemed that the short life of the Constituent Assembly was drawing to a close.
In response to events in Parliament, an uprising broke out in Paris, which began on July 12, reached its climax the next day and was marked by the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. The capture of this fortress, which was in the minds of the people a symbol of absolutism and despotic power of the state, entered the history of France forever as the first victory of the insurgent people, forcing the king to admit that the French Revolution of 1789 had begun.
Riots and unrest swept the whole country. Large-scale peasant uprisings secured the victory of the French Revolution. In August of the same year, the Constituent Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen - a landmark document that marked the beginning of the construction of democracy throughout the world. However, not all representatives of the lower class had a chance to taste the fruits of the revolution. The assembly abolished only indirect taxes, leaving direct ones in force, and after a while, when the fog of romantic illusions dissipated, numerous townspeople and peasants realized that the big bourgeoisie had removed them from making state decisions, providing themselves with financial well-being and legal protection.
The food crisis that broke out in Paris in early October 1789 provoked another wave of discontent, culminating in a campaign against Versailles. Under pressure from the crowd that broke into the palace, the king agreed to sanction the Declaration and other decrees adopted in August 1789.
The state headed for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. This meant that the king exercised his rule within the framework of existing legislation. The changes affected the structure of the government, which lost the royal councils and secretaries of state. The administrative division of France was greatly simplified, and instead of a multi-stage complex structure, 83 departments of equal size appeared.
The reforms affected the judiciary, which lost its corrupt positions and acquired a new structure.
The clergy, part of which did not recognize the new civil status of France, was in the grip of a split.
The Great French Revolution of 1789 was only the beginning in a chain of events, including the attempted escape of Louis XVI and the subsequent fall of the monarchy, military conflicts with the leading European powers that did not recognize the new state structure of France, and the subsequent proclamation of the French Republic. In December 1792, a trial took place over the king, who found him guilty. Louis XVI was beheaded on January 21, 1793.
Thus began the second stage of the French Revolution of 1789-1799, marked by a struggle between the moderate party of the Girondins, seeking to stop the further development of the revolution, and the more radical Jacobins, who insisted on expanding its activities.
The deterioration of the economic situation in the country as a result of the political crisis and hostilities aggravated the class struggle. flared up again peasant uprisings which led to the unauthorized division of communal lands. The Girondins, who colluded with the counter-revolutionary forces, were expelled from the Convention, the highest legislative body of the First French Republic, and the Jacobins came to power alone.
In the following years, the Jacobin dictatorship culminated in an uprising of the National Guard, which ended with the transfer of power to the Directory at the end of 1795. Her further actions were aimed at suppressing pockets of extremist resistance. Thus ended the ten-year French bourgeois revolution 1789 - a period of socio-economic upheaval, which was put to an end by a coup d'etat that took place on November 9, 1799.
The Great French Revolution is known as the largest transformation of the political and social systems of the country with the complete elimination of the absolute monarchy. According to historians, it lasted more than ten years (from 1789 to 1799).
France of the eighteenth century is also a complete disorder in the socio-economic sphere. Power in his reign was based on the army and bureaucratic centralization. Due to numerous civil and peasant wars in the last century, the rulers had to make unfavorable compromises (with peasants, bourgeois, privileged classes). But even despite the concessions made, the masses were increasingly dissatisfied.
The first wave of dissent rose under Louis XV, and reached its peak during the reign of Louis XVI. Philosophical and political works of the enlighteners added fuel to the fire (for example, Montesquieu criticized the government, calling the king a usurper, and Rousseau stood up for the rights of the people). Thus, discontent matured not only among the lower strata of the population, but also among educated society.
So, the main causes of the French Revolution:
The above causes of the French Revolution reflect only the internal state of the country. But the first impetus for the coup came from the American Revolutionary War, when the English colonies revolted. This served as a signal for all classes to support the ideas of human rights, freedom and equality.
The war demanded huge expenses, the funds of the treasury were exhausted, there was a shortage. It was decided to convene in order to carry out financial reform. But what was planned by the king and his advisers did not happen. During the meeting at Versailles, the third estate stood up in opposition and declared itself the National Assembly, demanding to adopt
From the point of view of historians, the French Revolution itself (its stages will be briefly described) began with - the symbol of the monarchy - July 14, 1789.
All events of the ten-year period can be conditionally divided into parts:
The causes of the French Revolution during this decade were never resolved, but the people had hope for a better future, and Bonaparte became their "savior" and ideal ruler.
The king was deposed on September 21, 1792, after about twenty thousand rebels surrounded his palace.
Together with his family, he was closed in the Temple. The monarch was accused of betraying the nation and state. Louis refused all lawyers, at the trial, relying on the Constitution, he defended himself. By decision of twenty-four deputies, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. On January 21, 1793, the verdict was put into effect. On October 16, 1793, his wife Marie Antoinette was executed.
After some countries and the French monarchists recognized his young son Louis-Charles as the next king. However, he was not destined to ascend the throne. At the age of ten, the boy died in the Temple, the place of his imprisonment. The official cause of death was tuberculosis.
Thus, of all the children, only Maria Theresa survived, who was released from prison in 1793 in exchange for French prisoners of war. She went abroad. She managed to return to her homeland only in 1814.
The results of the French Revolution are such that the old order collapsed. The country has entered new era with a democratic and progressive future.
However, many historians argue that the causes of the French Revolution did not involve such a long and bloody transformation. According to Alexis Tocqueville, what the coup led to would have happened by itself over time and would not have entailed so many victims.
Another part of historians highly appreciates the significance of the French Revolution, noting that, based on its example, Latin America freed from colonization.
Almost all peoples have had revolutions in history. But today we will talk about the French Revolution, which began to be called the Great.
The largest transformation of the social and political system of France, which led to the destruction of the absolute monarchy, and the proclamation of the First French Republic.
We will tell you about the Great French Revolution from various sources.
Source I - Wikipedia
The beginning of the revolution was the capture of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and historians consider it to end on November 9, 1799 (coup of 18 Brumaire).
France in the 18th century absolute monarchy based on bureaucratic centralization and a regular army. The socio-economic and political regime that existed in the country was formed as a result of complex compromises worked out in the course of a long political confrontation and civil wars XIV-XVI centuries One of these compromises existed between the royal power and the privileged estates - for the renunciation of political rights, the state power protected the social privileges of these two estates with all the means at its disposal.
Another compromise existed in relation to the peasantry - during a long series of peasant wars of the XIV-XVI centuries. peasants achieved the abolition of the vast majority of cash taxes and the transition to in-kind relationships in agriculture. The third compromise existed in relation to the bourgeoisie (which at that time was the middle class, in whose interests the government also did a lot, preserving a number of privileges of the bourgeoisie in relation to the bulk of the population (peasantry) and supporting the existence of tens of thousands of small enterprises, the owners of which constituted a layer of French bourgeois). However, the regime that emerged as a result of these complex compromises did not provide normal development France, which in the XVIII century. began to lag behind its neighbors, primarily from England. In addition, excessive exploitation increasingly armed the masses of the people against the monarchy, whose vital interests were completely ignored by the state.
Gradually during the XVIII century. at the top of French society, an understanding has matured that the old order, with its underdevelopment of market relations, chaos in the management system, corrupt system for the sale of public posts, lack of clear legislation, a confusing system of taxation and an archaic system of class privileges, needs to be reformed. In addition, the royal power was losing confidence in the eyes of the clergy, the nobility and the bourgeoisie, among which the idea was asserted that the power of the king is a usurpation in relation to the rights of estates and corporations (Montesquieu's point of view) or in relation to the rights of the people (Rousseau's point of view). Thanks to the activities of the enlighteners, of whom the physiocrats and encyclopedists are especially important, a revolution took place in the minds of the educated part of French society. Finally, under Louis XV, and to an even greater extent under Louis XVI, liberal reforms were launched in the political and economic fields. The granting of some political rights to the third estate, along with a significant deterioration in its economic situation as a result of the reforms, they inevitably led to the collapse of the Old Order.
Hastened the development of capitalism and the collapse of feudalism
Influenced the entire subsequent struggle of peoples for the principles of democracy
Became a lesson, an example and a warning to the reformers of life in other countries
Contributed to the development of national self-consciousness of European peoples
Source II - catastrofe.ru
The Great French Revolution - the largest transformation of the social and political systems of France, which occurred at the end of the 18th century, as a result of which the old order, and France changed from a monarchy to a de jure republic of free and equal citizens. Motto - Freedom, equality, brotherhood.
The beginning of the revolution was the taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and various historians consider it to end on July 27, 1794 (Thermidorian coup) or November 9, 1799 (Coup of 18 Brumaire).
Marxist historians argue that the Great French Revolution was “bourgeois” in nature, consisting in the replacement of the feudal system by the capitalist one, and the leading role in this process was played by the “bourgeoisie class”, which overthrew the “feudal aristocracy” during the revolution. Most other historians do not agree with this, pointing out that feudalism in France disappeared several centuries before the revolution; the French aristocracy actually included not only large landowners, but also large capitalists) it was the French aristocracy that propagated capitalist (market) relations for 25- 30 years preceding 1789, the revolution began with mass uprisings of peasants and townspeople, which were of an anti-capitalist nature, and they continued throughout its course, and the bourgeoisie, which was the French middle class, took an active part in them) Those who came to power after the first stage of the revolution, especially in the provinces, most of them did not come from the bourgeoisie, but were noblemen, who were at the helm of power even before the revolution - they collected taxes, rent from the population, etc.
Among non-Marxist historians, two views on the nature of the Great French Revolution prevail, which do not contradict each other. The traditional view that arose in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. (Sieyes, Barnave, Guizot), considers the revolution as a popular uprising against the aristocracy, its privileges and its methods of oppression of the masses, from where the revolutionary terror against the privileged classes, the desire of the revolutionaries to destroy everything that was associated with the Old Order, and build a new free and democratic society . From these aspirations flowed the main slogans of the revolution - freedom, equality, fraternity.
According to the second view, which is shared by a large number of modern historians (including I. Wallerstein, P. Huber, A. Cobbo, D. Guerin, E. Leroy Ladurie, B. Moore, Huneke, etc.), the revolution was anti-capitalist in nature and represented an explosion of mass protest against capitalism or against those methods of its dissemination that were used by the ruling elite.
There are other opinions about the nature of the revolution. For example, the historians F. Furet and D. Riche consider the revolution to a large extent as a struggle for power between various groups that replaced each other several times during 1789-1799. There is a view of the revolution as the liberation of the bulk of the population (peasants) from a monstrous system of oppression or some kind of slavery, whence the main slogan of the revolution is freedom, equality, fraternity.
From the storming of the Bastille to the march on Versailles
When the preparations of the royal court for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly became obvious, this was enough to cause an even greater outburst of discontent among the Parisians, who linked the prospects for improving their position with the work of the National Assembly. On July 12, 1789, there were new clashes between the people and the troops in Paris; Camille Desmoulins called the people to arms by attaching a green ribbon to his hat. On July 13, the alarm sounded over Paris.
On the morning of July 14, 12 cannons, 32,000 guns and gunpowder were seized in Les Invalides. Countless crowds of people, partly armed with guns, as well as lances, hammers, axes and clubs, flooded the streets adjacent to the Bastille - a military fortress and the main political prison of Paris. The officers of the regiments stationed in Paris no longer counted on their soldiers. Communication with Versailles was interrupted. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the cannons of the fortress began firing at the people.
However, the people continued the siege, and the cannons captured in the morning were prepared to bombard the fortress. The garrison realized that resistance was pointless, and about five o'clock surrendered.
The king was forced to recognize the existence of the Constituent Assembly. In the weeks that followed, the revolution spread throughout the country. On July 18 there was an uprising in Troyes, on July 19 - in Strasbourg, on July 21 - in Cherbourg, on July 24 - in Rouen. In a number of cities, uprisings took place under the slogan “Bread! Death to the buyers! The rebels seized bread, took possession of the local town halls, burned the documents stored there.
Subsequently, new, elected bodies of power - municipalities - were formed in the cities, a new armed force - the National Guard - was created.
The rebellious peasants burned the castles of the lords, seizing their lands. In some provinces, about half of the landowners' estates were burned or destroyed. (These events of 1789 were called "Great Fear" - Grande Peur).
By decrees of August 4-11, the Constituent Assembly abolished personal feudal obligations, seigneurial courts, ecclesiastical tithes, the privileges of individual provinces, cities and corporations, and declared the equality of all before the law in the payment of state taxes and in the right to hold civil, military and ecclesiastical offices. But at the same time, it announced the elimination of only "indirect" duties (the so-called banalities): the "real" duties of the peasants were left, in particular, land and poll taxes.
On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly adopted the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" - one of the first documents of democratic constitutionalism. The “old regime”, based on estate privileges and the arbitrariness of the authorities, was opposed to the equality of all before the law, the inalienability of “natural” human rights, popular sovereignty, freedom of opinion, the principle “everything that is not prohibited by law” and other democratic principles of revolutionary enlightenment, which have now become the requirements of law and current legislation. The Declaration also affirmed the right to private property as a natural right.
On October 5, a campaign took place on Versailles to the residence of the king, in order to force Louis XVI to sanction the decrees and the Declaration, the approval of which the monarch had previously refused. At the same time, the National Assembly ordered Lafayette, who commanded National Guard, lead the guards to Versailles. As a result of this campaign, the king was forced to leave Versailles and move to Paris, to the Tuileries Palace.
Source III - studopedia.ru
On September 21, the Republic (First Republic) was proclaimed in France. The motto of the Republic was the slogan "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity".
The question that worried everyone at that time was the fate of the arrested King Louis XVI. The convention decided to try him. On January 14, 1793, 387 out of 749 deputies of the Convention voted in favor of giving the king the death penalty. One of the deputies of the Convention explained his participation in the vote in this way: “This process is an act of public salvation or a measure of public safety ...” On January 21, Louis XVI was executed, in October 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette was executed.
The execution of Louis XVI served as a pretext for expanding the anti-French coalition, which included England and Spain. Failures on the external front, the deepening of economic difficulties within the country, the growth of taxes - all this shook the position of the Girondins. Unrest intensified in the country, pogroms and murders began, and on May 31 - June 2, 1793, a popular uprising took place. From this event begins the third stage of the Revolution.
Power passed into the hands of the radical bourgeoisie, which relied on the bulk of the urban population and the peasantry. The victory of the Montagnards on a national scale was preceded by their victory over their opponents in the Jacobin Club; therefore the regime they established was called the Jacobin dictatorship. To save the revolution, the Jacobins considered it necessary to introduce an emergency regime. The Jacobins recognized centralization as an indispensable condition state power. The convention remained the supreme legislative body. In his submission was a government of 11 people - the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Robespierre. The Committee of Public Safety of the Convention was strengthened to fight against the counter-revolution, revolutionary tribunals became more active.
The position of the new government was difficult. The war was raging. In most departments of France, especially the Vendée, there were riots. In the summer of 1793, Marat was killed by a young noblewoman, Charlotte Corday, which had a serious impact on the course of further political events.
The Jacobins continued to advance catholic church and introduced the Republican calendar. In June 1793, the Convention adopted a new constitution, according to which France was declared a single and indivisible Republic; the rule of the people, the equality of people in rights, broad democratic freedoms were consolidated. The property qualification was canceled when participating in elections in government bodies; all men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote. Wars of conquest were condemned. This constitution was the most democratic of all French constitutions, but its introduction was delayed due to the state of emergency in the country.
The Jacobin dictatorship, which successfully used the initiative of the social rank and file, demonstrated a complete rejection of liberal principles. industrial production and Agriculture, finance and commerce, public festivals and private life citizens - everything was subject to strict regulation. However, this did not stop the further deepening of the economic and social crisis. In September 1793 the Convention "put terror on the agenda".
The Committee of Public Safety carried out a number of important measures to reorganize and strengthen the army, thanks to which, in a fairly short time The republic managed to create not only a large, but also a well-armed army. And by the beginning of 1794 the war was transferred to the territory of the enemy. The decisive victory of General J. B. Jourdan on June 26, 1794 at Fleurus (Belgium) over the Austrians gave guarantees of the inviolability of the new property, the tasks of the Jacobin dictatorship were exhausted, and the need for it disappeared.
Among the Jacobins, internal divisions escalated. Thus, from the autumn of 1793, Danton demanded the weakening of the revolutionary dictatorship, a return to the constitutional order, and the abandonment of the policy of terror. He was executed. The lower classes demanded deepening reforms. Most of the bourgeoisie, dissatisfied with the policy of the Jacobins, who pursued a restrictive regime and dictatorial methods, went over to counter-revolutionary positions, dragging along significant masses of peasants.
On 9 Thermidor (July 27), 1794, the conspirators succeeded in carrying out a coup, arresting Robespierre, and overthrowing the revolutionary government. “The republic has perished, the kingdom of robbers has come,” these were last words Robespierre at the Convention. On Thermidor 10, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and their closest associates were guillotined.
Thermidorian coup and the Directory. In September 1794, for the first time in the history of France, a decree was adopted on the separation of church and state. The confiscation and sale of emigrant property did not stop.
In 1795, a new constitution was adopted, according to which power was transferred to the Directory and two councils - the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders. Universal suffrage was abolished, the property qualification was restored (albeit a small one). In the summer of 1795, the republican army of General L. Hoche defeated the forces of the rebels - Chouans and royalists, who had landed from English ships on the Quiberon (Brittany) peninsula. On October 5 (13 Vendemière), 1795, the republican troops of Napoleon Bonaparte crushed a royalist revolt in Paris. However, in the politics of the groupings that were replaced in power (Thermidorians, the Directory), the struggle against the masses of the people became more and more widespread. Popular uprisings in Paris were suppressed on April 1 and May 20-23, 1795 (Germinal 12-13 and Prairial 1-4). On November 9, 1799, the Council of Elders appointed Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) as commander of the army. Large-scale external aggression - the Napoleonic wars in Italy, Egypt, etc. - protected Thermidorian France both from the threat of the restoration of the old order, and from the new upsurge of the revolutionary movement.
The revolution ended on November 9 (Brumaire 18), 1799, when the regime of the Directory was legally abolished and a new state order was established - the Consulate, which existed from 1799 to 1804. A "firm power" was established - the dictatorship of Napoleon.
1. It consolidated and simplified the complex variety of pre-revolutionary forms of ownership.
2. The lands of many (but not all) nobles were sold to the peasants with an installment plan of 10 years in small plots (parcels).
3. Abolished the privileges of the nobility and clergy and introduced equal social opportunities for all citizens. All this contributed to the expansion of civil rights in all European countries, the introduction of constitutions.
4. The revolution took place under the auspices of representative elected bodies: the National Constituent Assembly (1789-1791), the Legislative Assembly (1791-1792), the Convention (1792-1794). This contributed to the development of parliamentary democracy, despite subsequent setbacks.
5. The resolution gave rise to a new state structure - a parliamentary republic.
6. The state now acted as the guarantor of equal rights for the veins of citizens.
7. Has been transformed financial system: the class character of taxes was abolished, the principle of their universality and proportionality to income or property was introduced. The publicity of the budget was proclaimed.
.jpg)
