War in the Vendée Main article: War in the Vendée The War in the Vendée was a royalist uprising that was suppressed by the republican forces in 1796. In Vendée, peasants revolted against the French Revolutionary government in 1793. They resented the changes imposed on the Roman Catholic Church by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) and broke into open revolt in defiance of the Revolutionary governments military conscription . [86] This became a guerrilla war , known as the War in the Vendée. [87] North of the Loire, similar revolts were started by the so-called Chouans (royalist rebels). [88] The revolt and its suppression, including both combat casualties and massacres and executions on both sides, are thought to have taken between 117,000 and 250,000 lives (170,000 according to the latest estimates). [89] Because of the extremely brutal forms that the Republican repression took in many places, certain historians such as Reynald Secher have called the event a genocide . This description has become popular in the mass media, [90] but has largely been rejected by mainstream scholars. [91] Furet concludes that the repression in the Vendee not only revealed massacre and destruction on an unprecedented scale but also a zeal so violent that it has bestowed as its legacy much of the regions identity. [92] Facing local revolts and foreign invasions in both the East and West of the country, the most urgent government business was the war. On 17 August, the Convention voted for general conscription , the levée en masse , which mobilized all citizens to serve as soldiers or suppliers in the war effort. The National Convention subsequently enacted more legislation, voting on 9 September to establish sans-culottes paramilitary forces, revolutionary armies, and to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. On 17 September, the Law of Suspects was passed, which authorized the charging of counter-revolutionaries with crimes against liberty. On 29 September, the Convention extended price limits from grain and bread to other household goods and established the Law of the Maximum , intended to prevent price gouging and supply food to the cities. [93] Systematic executions The guillotine became the tool for a string of executions. Louis XVI had already been guillotined before the start of the terror; Queen Marie Antoinette, Barnave, Bailly, Brissot and other leading Girondins, Philippe Égalité (despite his vote for the death of the King) Madame Roland and many others were executed by guillotine. The Revolutionary Tribunal summarily condemned thousands of people to death by the guillotine, while mobs beat other victims to death. The Festival of the Supreme Being on 8 June 1794. At the peak of the terror, the slightest hint of counter-revolutionary thoughts or activities (or, as in the case of Jacques Hébert, revolutionary zeal exceeding that of those in power) could place one under suspicion, and trials did not always proceed according to contemporary standards of due process . Sometimes people died for their political opinions or actions, but many for little reason beyond mere suspicion, or because some others had a stake in getting rid of them. Most of the victims received an unceremonious trip to the guillotine in an open wooden cart (the tumbrel ). In the rebellious provinces, the government representatives had unlimited authority and some engaged in extreme repressions and abuses. For example, Jean-Baptiste Carrier became notorious for the Noyades (drownings) he organized in Nantes ; [94] his conduct was judged unacceptable even by the Jacobin government and he was recalled. [95] Another anti-clerical uprising was made possible by the installment of the Republican Calendar on 24 October 1793. Against Robespierres concepts of Deism and Virtue, Héberts (and Chaumettes) atheist movement initiated a religious campaign to dechristianize society. The climax was reached with the celebration of the flame of Reason in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November. [96] The Reign of Terror ultimately weakened the revolutionary government, while temporarily ending internal opposition. The Jacobins expanded the size of the army, and Carnot replaced many aristocratic officers with soldiers who had demonstrated their patriotism, if not their ability. The Republican army repulsed the Austrians, Prussians, British, and Spanish. At the end of 1793, the army began to prevail and revolts were defeated with ease. The Ventôse Decrees (February–March 1794) proposed the confiscation of the goods of exiles and opponents of the Revolution, and their redistribution to the needy. However this policy was never fully implemented. [97] In the spring of 1794, both extremist enragés such as Hébert and moderate Montagnard indulgents such as Danton were charged with counter-revolutionary activities, tried and guillotined. On 7 June Robespierre, who had previously condemned the Cult of Reason, advocated a new state religion and recommended the Convention acknowledge the existence of the Supreme Being. [98] Three approaches attempt to explain the Reign of Terror imposed by the Jacobins in 1793-94. The older Marxist interpretation arguing the Terror was a necessary response to outside threats (in terms of other countries going to war with France) and internal threats (of traitors inside France threatening to frustrate the Revolution.) In this interpretation, as expressed by the Marxist historian Albert Soboul , Robespierre and the sans-culottes were heroes for defending the revolution from its enemies. François Furet has argued that foreign threats had little to do with the terror. [99] Instead, the extreme violence was an inherent part of the intense ideological commitment of the revolutionaries – their utopian goals required exterminating opposition. Sobouls Marxist interpretation has been largely abandoned by most historians since the 1990s. Hanson (2009) takes a middle position, recognizing the importance of the foreign enemies, and sees the terror as a contingency that was caused by the interaction of a series of complex events and the foreign threat. Hanson says the terror was not inherent in the ideology of the Revolution, but that circumstances made it necessary. [100] Thermidorian Reaction Main article: Thermidorian Reaction The execution of Robespierre on 28 July 1794 marked the end of the Reign of Terror . On 27 July 1794, the Thermidorian Reaction led to the arrest and execution of Robespierre, Louis de Saint-Just , and other leading Jacobins. The new government was predominantly made up of Girondists who had survived the Terror, and after taking power, they took revenge as well by persecuting even those Jacobins who had helped to overthrow Robespierre, banning the Jacobin Club, and executing many of its former members in what was known as the White Terror . [101][102] In the wake of excesses of the Terror, the Convention approved the new Constitution of the Year III on 22 August 1795. A French plebiscite ratified the document, with about 1,057,000 votes for the constitution and 49,000 against. [103] The results of the voting were announced on 23 September 1795, and the new constitution took effect on 27 September 1795. [103] The new regime was called The Directory. The Directory (1795–1799) Main article: French Directory The new constitution created the Directoire (English: Directory) with a bicameral legislature . Power was in the hands of the five members of the Directory, only one of whom, Lazare Carnot , has a reputation for leadership or political sagacity. [104] The Directory denounced the arbitrary executions of the Reign of Terror, but itself engaged in large scale illegal repressions, as well as large-scale massacres of civilians in the Vendee uprising. The economy continued in bad condition, with the poor especially hurt by the high cost of food. A series of financial reforms started by the Directory finally took effect after it fell from power. Although committed to Republicanism, the Directory distrusted democracy. When the elections of 1798 and 1799 were carried by the opposition, it used the Army to imprison and exile the opposition leaders and close their newspapers. Increasingly it depended on the Army in foreign and domestic affairs, as well as finance. Finally the Army, under Napoleon , simply deposed the Directory on 9 November 1799 (see 18 Brumaire ) and set up what amounted to a personal dictatorship under Napoleon. In foreign affairs, the Army at first was quite successful. It conquered Belgium and turned it into another province of France. It conquered the Netherlands, and made it a puppet state. It conquered Switzerland and most of Italy, setting up a series of puppet states. The result was glory for France, and an infusion of much needed money from the conquered lands, which also provided direct support to the French Army. However the enemies of France, led by Britain and funded by the inexhaustible British Treasury, formed a Second Coalition in 1798 (with Britain joined by Russia, the Ottoman Empire and Austria). It scored a series of victories that rolled back French successes in Europe, retaking Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands and ending the flow of payments from the conquered areas to France. The treasury was empty. Despite his publicity that claimed many glorious victories, Napoleons army was trapped in Egypt after the British sank the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Napoleon escaped by himself, returned to Paris and overthrew the Directory in November, 1799. Historians have seldom praised the Directory; it was a government of self-interest rather than virtue, thus losing any claim on idealism. It never had a strong base of popular support; when elections were held, most of its candidates were defeated. Its achievements were minor. [105][106] Brown stresses the turn toward dictatorship and the failure of liberal democracy under the Directory, blaming it on, chronic violence, ambivalent forms of justice, and repeated recourse to heavy-handed repression. [107] The election system was complex and designed to insulate the government from grass roots democracy. The parliament consisted of two houses: the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of the Five Hundred) with 500 representatives, and the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Elders) with 250 senators. Executive power went to five directors, named annually by the Conseil des Anciens from a list submitted by the Conseil des Cinq-Cents . Furthermore, the universal male suffrage of 1793 was replaced by limited suffrage based on property. The voters had only a limited choice because the electoral rules required two-thirds of the seats go to members of the old Convention, no matter how few popular votes they received. [108] With the establishment of the Directory, contemporary observers might have assumed that the Revolution was finished. Citizens of the war-weary nation wanted stability, peace, and an end to conditions that at times bordered on chaos. Those on the right who wished to restore the monarchy by putting Louis XVIII on the throne, and those On the left who would have renewed the Reign of Terror tried but failed to overthrow the Directory. The earlier atrocities had made confidence or goodwill between parties impossible. [109] State finances were in total disarray; the government could only cover its expenses through the plunder and the tribute of foreign countries. If peace were made, the armies would return home and the directors would have to face the exasperation of the rank-and-file who had lost their livelihood, as well as the ambition of generals who could, in a moment, brush them aside. Barras and Rewbell were notoriously corrupt themselves and screened corruption in others. The patronage of the directors was ill-bestowed, and the general maladministration heightened their unpopularity. [110] Napoléon Bonaparte in the coup détat of 18 Brumaire , which marked the end of the revolution. The constitutional party in the legislature desired toleration of the nonjuring clergy , the repeal of the laws against the relatives of the émigrés , and some merciful discrimination toward the émigrés themselves. The directors baffled all such endeavours. On the other hand, the socialist conspiracy of Babeuf was easily quelled. Little was done to improve the finances, and the assignats continued to fall in value until each note was worth less than the paper it was printed on; debtors easily paid off their debts. [111] The new régime met opposition from Jacobins on the left and royalists on the right (the latter were secretly subsidies by the British government). The army suppressed riots and counter-revolutionary activities. In this way the army and in particular Napoleon gained total power. In the elections of 1797 for one-third of the seats the Royalists won the great majority of seats and were poised to take control of the Directory in the next election. The Directory reacted by purging all the winners in the Coup of 18 Fructidor , banishing 57 leaders to certain death in Guiana and closing 42 newspapers. That is, it rejected democratic elections and kept its old leaders in power. On 9 November 1799 (18 Brumaire of the Year VIII) Napoleon Bonaparte staged the coup of 18 Brumaire which installed the Consulate. This effectively led to Bonapartes dictatorship and eventually (in 1804) to his proclamation as Empereur (emperor) which brought to a close the specifically republican phase of the French Revolution. [112] Foreign affairs In foreign affairs, the Army at first was quite successful. It conquered Belgium and turned it into another province of France. It conquered the Netherlands, and made it a puppet state. It conquered Switzerland and most of Italy, setting up a series of puppet states. The result was glory for France, and an infusion of much needed money from the conquered lands, which also provided direct support to the French Army. However the enemies of France, led by Britain and funded by the inexhaustible British Treasury, formed a Second Coalition in 1799 (with Britain joined by Russia the Ottoman Empire, and Austria). It scored a series of victories that rolled back French successes, and The French Army trapped in Egypt. Napoleon himself slipped through the British blockade in October 1799, returning to Paris. [113][114] Napoleon conquered most of Italy in the name of the French Revolution in 1797-99. He consolidated old units and split up Austrias holdings. He set up a series of new republics, complete with new codes of law and abolition of old feudal privileges. Napoleons Cisalpine Republic was centered on Milan. Genoa the city became a republic while its hinterland became the Ligurian Republic. The Roman Republic was formed out of the papal holdings while the pope himself was sent to France. The Neapolitan Republic was formed around Naples, but it lasted only five months before the enemy forces of the Coalition recaptured it. In 1805 he formed the Kingdom of Italy , with himself as king and his stepson as viceroy. In addition, France turned the Netherlands into the Batavian Republic, and Switzerland into the Helvetic Republic. All these new countries were satellites of France, and had to pay large subsidies to Paris, as well as provide military support for Napoleons wars. Their political and administrative systems were modernized, the metric system introduced, and trade barriers reduced. Jewish ghettos were abolished. Belgium and Piedmont became integral parts of France. [115] Most of the new nations were abolished and returned to prewar owners in 1814. However, Artz emphasizes the benefits the Italians gained from the French Revolution: For nearly two decades the Italians had the excellent codes of law, a fair system of taxation, a better economic situation, and more religious and intellectual toleration than they had known for centuries.... Everywhere old physical, economic, and intellectual barriers had been thrown down and the Italians had begun to be aware of a common nationality. [116] Media and symbolism Main article: Symbolism in the French Revolution Newspapers A copy of L’Ami du peuple stained with the blood of Marat In the Old regime there were a small number of heavily censored newspapers that needed a royal license to operate. Newspapers and pamphlets played a central role in stimulating and defining the Revolution. The meetings of the Estates-General in 1789 created an enormous demand for news, and over 130 newspapers appeared by the end of the year. The next decade saw 2000 newspapers founded, with 500 in Paris alone. Most lasted only a matter of weeks. Together they became the main communication medium, combined with the very large pamphlet literature. [117] Newspapers were read aloud in taverns and clubs, and circulated hand to hand. The press saw its lofty role to be the advancement of civic republicanism based on public service, and downplayed the liberal, individualistic goal of making a profit. [118][119][120][121] By 1793 the radicals were most active but at the start the royalists flooded the country with their press the Ami du Roi (Friends of the King) until they were suppressed. [122] Napoleon only allowed four newspapers, all under tight control. Symbolism Symbolism was a device to distinguish the main features of the Revolution and ensure public identification and support. In order to effectively illustrate the differences between the new Republic and the old regime, the leaders needed to implement a new set of symbols to be celebrated instead of the old religious and monarchical symbolism. To this end, symbols were borrowed from historic cultures and redefined, while those of the old regime were either destroyed or reattributed acceptable characteristics. These revised symbols were used to instill in the public a new sense of tradition and reverence for the Enlightenment and the Republic. [123] La Marseillaise Main article: La Marseillaise Rouget de Lisle, composer of the Marseillaise, sings it for the first time in 1792 La Marseillaise The French national anthem La Marseillaise ; text in Spanish. Problems playing this file? See media help . La Marseillaise (French pronunciation: [la maʁsɛjɛz] ) became the national anthem of France. The song was written and composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, and was originally titled Chant de guerre pour lArmée du Rhin . The French National Convention adopted it as the First Republics anthem in 1795. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on the capital. The song is the first example of the European march anthemic style. The anthems evocative melody and lyrics have led to its widespread use as a song of revolution and its incorporation into many pieces of classical and popular music. Cerulo says, the design of La Marseillaise is credited to General Strasburg of France, who is said to have directed de Lisle, the composer of the anthem, to produce one of those hymns which conveys to the soul of the people the enthusiasm which it (the music) suggests. [124] English cartoon attacking the excesses of the Revolution as symbolized by the guillotine; between 18,000 and 40,000 people were executed during the Reign of Terror Guillotine Main article: Guillotine Hanson notes, The guillotine stands as the principal symbol of the Terror in the French Revolution. [125] Invented by a physician during the Revolution as a quicker, more efficient and more distinctive form of execution, the guillotine became a part of popular culture and historic memory. It was celebrated on the left as the peoples avenger and cursed as the symbol of the Reign of Terror by the right. [126] Its operation became a popular entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators. Vendors sold programs listing the names of those scheduled to die. Many people came day after day and vied for the best locations from which to observe the proceedings; knitting women (tricoteuses) formed a cadre of hardcore regulars, inciting the crowd. Parents often brought their children. By the end of the Terror, the crowds had thinned drastically. Repetition had staled even this most grisly of entertainments, and audiences grew bored. [127] What it is that horrifies people changes over time. Doyle comments: Even the unique horror of the guillotine has been dwarfed by the gas chambers of the Holocaust, the organized brutality of the gulag, the mass intimidation of Maos cultural revolution, or the killing fields of Cambodia. [128] Tricolore cockade Main article: tricolore cockade Cockades were widely worn by revolutionaries beginning in 1789. They now pinned the blue- and-red cockade of Paris onto the white cockade of the Ancien Régime - thus producing the original Tricolore cockade. Later, distinctive colours and styles of cockade would indicate the wearers faction—although the meanings of the various styles were not entirely consistent, and varied somewhat by region and period. The tricolour cockade, created in July 1789. White was added to nationalise an earlier blue and red design. The tricolour flag is derived from the cockades used in the 1790s. These were circular rosette- like emblems attached to the hat. Camille Desmoulins asked his followers to wear green cockades on 12 July 1789. The Paris militia, formed on 13 July, adopted a blue and red cockade. Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, and they are used on the citys coat of arms. Cockades with various colour schemes were used during the storming of the Bastille on 14 July. [129] The blue and red cockade was presented to King Louis XVI at the Hôtel de Ville on 17 July. Lafayette argued for the addition of a white stripe to nationalise the design. [130] On 27 July, a tricolour cockade was adopted as part of the uniform of the National Guard, the national police force that succeeded the militia. [131] Fasces The unofficial but common National Emblem of France is backed by a fasces, representing justice. Fasces are Roman in origin and suggest Roman Republicanism. Fasces are a bundle of birch rods containing an axe. The French Republic continued this Roman symbol to represent state power, justice, and unity. [132] Liberty cap Early depiction of the tricolour in the hands of a sans-culotte The Liberty cap, also known as the Phrygian cap , or pileus , is a brimless, felt cap that is conical in shape with the tip pulled forward. It reflects Roman republicanism and liberty, alluding to the Roman ritual of manumission of slaves, in which a freed slave receives the bonnet as a symbol of his newfound liberty. [133] Role of women Main articles: Women in the French Revolution and Militant Feminism in the French Revolution Club of patriotic women in a church Historians since the late 20th century have debated how women shared in the French Revolution and what long-term impact it had on French women. Women had no political rights in pre-Revolutionary France; they were considered passive citizens; forced to rely on men to determine what was best for them. That changed dramatically in theory as there seemingly were great advances in feminism. Feminism emerged in Paris as part of a broad demand for social and political reform. The women demanded equality for men and then moved on to a demand for the end of male domination. Their chief vehicle for agitation were pamphlets and womens clubs, but the clubs were abolished in October 1793 and their leaders were arrested. The movement was crushed. Devance explains the decision in terms of the emphasis on masculinity in a wartime situation, Marie Antoinettes bad reputation for feminine interference in state affairs, and traditional male supremacy. [134] A decade later the Napoleonic Code confirmed and perpetuated womens second-class status. [135] When the Revolution opened, groups of women acted forcefully, making use of the volatile political climate. Women forced their way into the political sphere. They swore oaths of loyalty, solemn declarations of patriotic allegiance, [and] affirmations of the political responsibilities of citizenship. De Corday dArmont is a prime example of such a woman; engaged in the revolutionary political faction of the Girondists, she assassinated the Jacobin leader, Marat . Throughout the Revolution, other women such as Pauline Léon and her Society of Revolutionary Republican Women supported the radical Jacobins, staged demonstrations in the National Assembly and participated in the riots, often using armed force. [136] The March to Versailles is but one example of feminist militant activism during the French Revolution. While largely left out of the thrust for increasing rights of citizens, as the question was left indeterminate in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, [137] activists such as Pauline Léon and Théroigne de Méricourt agitated for full citizenship for women. [138] Women were, nonetheless, denied political rights of ‘active citizenship’ (1791) and democratic citizenship (1793). [137] On 20 June 1792 a number of armed women took part in a procession that passed through the halls of the Legislative Assembly, into the Tuilleries Gardens, and then through the King’s residence. [139] Militant women also assumed a special role in the funeral of Marat, following his murder on 13 July 1793. As part of the funeral procession, they carried the bathtub in which Marat had been murdered (by a counter- revolutionary woman) as well as a shirt stained with Marat’s blood. [140] On 20 May 1793, women were at the fore of a crowd that demanded bread and the Constitution of 1793. When their cries went unnoticed, the women went on a rampage, sacking shops, seizing grain and kidnapping officials. [141] Olympe de Gouges was the author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791. The Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, a militant group on the far left, demanded a law in 1793 that would compel all women to wear the tricolor cockade to demonstrate their loyalty to the Republic. They also demanded vigorous price controls to keep bread – the major food of the poor people – from becoming too expensive. After the Convention passage law in September 1793, the Revolutionary Republican Women demanded vigorous enforcement, but were counted by market women, former servants, and religious women who adamantly opposed price controls (which would drive them out of business ) and resented attacks on the aristocracy and on religion. Fist fights broke out in the streets between the two factions of women. Meanwhile, the men who controlled the Jacobins rejected the Revolutionary Republican Women as dangerous rabble-rousers. At this point the Jacobins controlled the government; they dissolved the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women, and decreed that all womens clubs and associations were illegal. They sternly reminded women to stay home and tend to their families by leaving public affairs to the men. Organized women were permanently shut out of the French Revolution after October 30, 1793. [142] Prominent women Olympe de Gouges wrote a number of plays, short stories, and novels. Her publications emphasized that women and men are different, but this shouldn’t stop them from equality under the law. In her Declaration on the Rights of Woman she insisted that women deserved rights, especially in areas concerning them directly, such as divorce and recognition of illegitimate children. [143] Madame Roland (aka Manon or Marie Roland) was another important female activist. Her political focus was not specifically on women or their liberation. She focused on other aspects of the government, but was a feminist by virtue of the fact that she was a woman working to influence the world. Her personal letters to leaders of the Revolution influenced policy; in addition, she often hosted political gatherings of the Brissotins, a political group which allowed women to join. As she was led to the scaffold, Madame Roland shouted O liberty! What crimes are committed in thy name! [144] Most of these activists were punished for their actions. Many of the women of the Revolution were even publicly executed for conspiring against the unity and the indivisibility of the Republic. [145] Counter-revolutionary women A major aspect of the French Revolution was the dechristianisation movement, a movement strongly rejected by many devout people. Especially for women living in rural areas of France, the closing of the churches meant a loss of normalcy. [146] When these revolutionary changes to the Church were implemented, it sparked a counter-revolutionary movement among women. Although some of these women embraced the political and social amendments of the Revolution, they opposed the dissolution of the Catholic Church and the formation of revolutionary cults like the Cult of the Supreme Being . [147] As Olwen Hufton argues, these women began to see themselves as the “defenders of faith”. [148] They took it upon themselves to protect the Church from what they saw as a heretical change to their faith, enforced by revolutionaries. Counter-revolutionary women resisted what they saw as the intrusion of the state into their lives. [149] Economically, many peasant women refused to sell their goods for assignats because this form of currency was unstable and was backed by the sale of confiscated Church property. By far the most important issue to counter-revolutionary women was the passage and the enforcement of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1790. In response to this measure, women in many areas began circulating anti- oath pamphlets and refused to attend masses held by priests who had sworn oaths of loyalty to the Republic. These women continued to adhere to traditional practices such as Christian burials and naming their children after saints in spite of revolutionary decrees to the contrary. [150] Economic policies Early Assignat of 29 Sept, 1790: 500 livres The value of Assignats (1789-1796) The French Revolution abolished many of the constraints on the economy that had slowed growth during the ancien regime. It abolished tithes owed to local churches as well as feudal dues owed to local landlords. The result hurt the tenants, who paid both higher rents and higher taxes. [151] It nationalized all church lands, as well as lands belonging to royalist enemies who went into exile. It planned to use these seized lands to finance the government by issuing assignats . It abolished the guild system as a worthless remnant of feudalism. [152] It also abolished the highly inefficient system of tax farming, whereby private individuals would collect taxes for a hefty fee. The government seized the foundations that had been set up (starting in the 13th century) to provide an annual stream of revenue for hospitals, poor relief, and education. The state sold the lands but typically local authorities did not replace the funding and so most of the nations charitable and school systems were massively disrupted. [153] The economy did poorly in 1790-96 as industrial and agricultural output dropped, foreign trade plunged, and prices soared. The government decided not to repudiate the old debts. Instead it issued more and more paper money (called assignat) that supposedly were grounded seized lands. The result was escalating inflation. The government imposed price controls and persecuted speculators and traders in the black market. People increasingly refused to pay taxes as the annual government deficit increased from 10% of gross national product in 1789 to 64% in 1793. By 1795, after the bad harvest of 1794 and the removal of price controls, inflation had reached a level of 3500%. The assignats were withdrawn in 1796 but the replacements also fueled inflation. The inflation was finally ended by Napoleon in 1803 with the franc as the new currency. [154] Napoleon after 1799 paid for his expensive wars by multiple means, starting with the modernization of the rickety financial system. [155] He conscripted soldiers at low wages, raised taxes, placed large-scale loans, sold lands formerly owned by the Catholic Church, sold Louisiana to the United States, plundered conquered areas and seized food supplies, and levied requisitions on countries he controlled, such as Italy. [156] Long-term impact Main article: Influence of the French Revolution The French Revolution had a major impact on Europe and the New World. [157][158] Otto Dann and John Dinwiddy report, It has long been almost a truism of European history that the French Revolution gave a great stimulus to the growth of modern nationalism. [159] Nationalism was emphasized by historian Carlton J. H. Hayes as a major result of the French Revolution across Europe. The impact on French nationalism was profound. For example, Napoleon became such a heroic symbol of the nation that the glory was easily picked up by his nephew, who was overwhelmingly elected president (and later became Emperor Napoleon III). [160] The influence was great in the hundreds of small German states and elsewhere, where it was either inspired by the French example or in reaction against it. [161][162] France The changes in France were enormous; some were widely accepted and others were bitterly contested into the late 20th century. [163] Before the Revolution, the people had little power or voice. The kings had so thoroughly centralized the system that most nobles spent their time at Versailles, and thus played only a small direct role in their home districts. Thompson says that the kings had: ruled by virtue of their personal wealth, their patronage of the nobility, their disposal of ecclesiastical offices, their provincial governors ( intendants) their control over the judges and magistrates, and their command of the Army. [164] After the first year of revolution, this power had been stripped away. The king was a figurehead, the nobility had lost all their titles and most of their land, the Church lost its monasteries and farmlands, bishops, judges and magistrates were elected by the people, the army was almost helpless, with military power in the hands of the new revolutionary National Guard. The central elements of 1789 were the slogan Liberty Equality ,and Fraternity and the The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which Lefebvre calls, the incarnation of the Revolution as a whole. [165] The long term impact on France was profound, shaping politics, society, religion and ideas, and polarizing politics for more than a century. Historian François Aulard writes: From the social point of view, the Revolution consisted in the suppression of what was called the feudal system, in the emancipation of the individual, in greater division of landed property, the abolition of the privileges of noble birth, the establishment of equality, the simplification of life.... The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. [166] Religion and charity The most heated controversy was over the status of the Catholic Church. [167] From a dominant position in 1788, it was almost destroyed in less than a decade, its priests and nuns turned out, its leaders dead or in exile, its property controlled by its enemies, and a strong effort underway to remove all influence of Christian religiosity, such as Sundays, holy days, saints, prayers, rituals and ceremonies. The movement to dechristianise France not only failed but aroused a furious reaction among the pious. [168][169] Napoleons Concordat was a compromise that restored some of the Catholic Churchs traditional roles but not its power, its lands or its monasteries. Priests and bishops were given salaries as part of a department of government controlled by Paris, not Rome. Protestants and Jews gained equal rights. [170] Battles over the role of religion in the public sphere, and closely related issues such as church-controlled schools, that were opened by the Revolution have never seen closure. They raged into the 20th century. By the 21st century angry debates exploded over the presence of any Muslim religious symbols in schools, such as the headscarves for which Muslim girls could be expelled. J. Christopher Soper and Joel S. Fetzer explicitly link the conflict over religious symbols in public to the French Revolution, when the target was Catholic rituals and symbols. [171] The revolutionary government seized the charitable foundations that had been set up (starting in the 13th century) to provide an annual stream of revenue for hospitals, poor relief, and education. The state sold the lands but typically local authorities did not replace the funding and so most of the nations charitable and school systems were massively disrupted. [153] In the ancien regime new opportunity for nuns as charitable practitioners were created by devout nobles on their own estates. The nuns provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons estates, acting not only as nurses, but took on expanded roles as physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. During the Revolution, most of the orders of nuns were shut down and there was no organized nursing care to replace them. [172] However the demand for their nursing services remained strong, and after 1800 the sisters reappeared and resumed their work in hospitals and on rural estates. They were tolerated by officials because they had widespread support and were the link between elite male physicians and distrustful peasants who needed help. [173] Economics Two thirds of France was employed in agriculture, which was transformed by the Revolution. With the breakup of large estates controlled by the Church and the nobility and worked by hired hands, rural France became more a land of small independent farms. Harvest taxes were ended, such as the tithe and seigneurial dues, much to the relief of the peasants. Primogeniture was ended both for nobles and peasants, thereby weakening the family patriarch. Because all the children had a share in the familys property, there was a declining birth rate. [174][175] Cobban says the revolution bequeathed to the nation a ruling class of landowners. [176] In the cities entrepreneurship on a small scale flourished, as restrictive monopolies, privileges, barriers, rules, taxes and guilds gave way. However the British blockade virtually ended overseas and colonial trade, hurting the port cities and their supply chains. Overall the Revolution did not greatly change the French business system, and probably helped freeze in place the horizons of the small business owner. The typical businessman owned a small store, mill or shop, with family help and a few paid employees; large scale industry was less common than in other industrializing nations. [177] Constitutionalism The Revolution meant an end to arbitrary royal rule, and held out the promise of rule by law under a constitutional order, but it did not rule out a monarch. Napoleon as emperor set up a constitutional system (although he remained in full control), and the restored Bourbons were forced to go along with one. After the abdication of Napoleon III in 1871, the monarchists probably had a voting majority, but they were so factionalized they could not agree on who should be king, and instead the French Third Republic was launched with a deep commitment to upholding the ideals of the Revolution. [178][179] The conservative Catholic enemies of the Revolution came to power in Vichy France (1940–44), and tried with little success to undo its heritage, but they kept it a republic. Vichy denied the principle of equality and tried to replace the Revolutionary watchwords Liberty, Equality, Fraternity with Work, Family, and Fatherland. However there were no efforts by the Bourbons, Vichy or anyone else to restore the privileges that had been stripped away from the nobility in 1789. France permanently became a society of equals under the law. [180] Communism The Jacobin cause was picked up by Marxists in the mid-19th century, and became an element of Communist thought around the world, especially in the Soviet Union. Gracchus Babeuf, became a special hero. [181] Outside France Main article: Influence of the French Revolution Britain Britain saw minority support but the majority, and especially the elite, strongly opposed the French Revolution. Britain led and funded the series of coalitions that fought France from 1793 to 1815, and then restored the Bourbons. Edmund Burke was the chief spokesman for the opposition. [182][183] In Ireland, the effect was to transform what had been an attempt by Protestant settlers to gain some autonomy into a mass movement led by the Society of United Irishmen involving Catholics and Protestants. It stimulated the demand for further reform throughout Ireland, especially in Ulster. The upshot was a revolt in 1798, led by Wolfe Tone, that was crushed by Britain. [184] Germany German reaction to the Revolution swung from favorable to antagonistic. At first it brought liberal and democratic ideas, the end of gilds, serfdom and the Jewish ghetto. It brought economic freedoms and agrarian and legal reform. Above all the antagonism helped stimulate and shape German nationalism. [185] Switzerland Main article: Helvetic Republic The French invaded Switzerland and turned it into an ally known as the Helvetic Republic, (1798–1803). The interference with localism and traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms took place. [186][187] Belgium Main article: History of Belgium § French control The French invaded and controlled Belgium, 1794-1814, imposing all their new reforms and incorporating what had been the Austrian Netherlands and the Diocese of Liege into France. New rulers were sent in by Paris. Belgian men were drafted into the French wars and heavily taxed. Nearly everyone was Catholic, but the Church was repressed. Resistance was strong in every sector, as Belgian nationalism emerged to oppose French rule. The French legal system, however, was adopted, with its equal legal rights, and abolition of class distinctions. Belgium now had a government bureaucracy selected by merit. [188] Antwerp regained access to the sea and grew quickly as a major port and business center. France promoted commerce and capitalism, paving the way for the ascent of the bourgeoisie and the rapid growth of manufacturing and mining. In economics, therefore, the nobility declined while the middle class Belgian entrepreneurs flourished because of their inclusion in a large market, paving the way for Belgiums leadership role after 1815 in the Industrial Revolution on the Continent. [189] [190] Scandinavia Main article: History of Denmark § Reforms The Kingdom of Denmark adopted liberalizing reforms in line with those of the French Revolution, with no direct contact. Reform was gradual and the regime itself carried out agrarian reforms that had the effect of weakening absolutism by creating a class of independent peasant freeholders. Much of the initiative came from well-organized liberals who directed political change in the first half of the 19th century. [191] United States While it had little practical influence, the Revolution deeply polarized American politics. Despite official neutrality, Americans were deeply involved and their polarization shaped the First Party System . In 1793, as war broke out in Europe, the Jeffersonian Republican Party favored France and pointed to the 1778 treaty that was still in effect. Washington and his unanimous cabinet (including Jefferson) decided the treaty did not bind the U.S. to enter the war; instead Washington proclaimed neutrality. [192] Under President Adams, a Federalist, an undeclared naval war took place with France in 1798-99, called the Quasi War . Jefferson became president in 1801, but was hostile to Napoleon as a dictator and emperor. Jefferson had a direct influence on the opening stage of the French Revolution. The broad similarities but different experiences between the French and American revolutions lead to a certain kinship between France and the United States, with both countries seeing themselves as pioneers of liberty and promoting republican ideals. Historiography Main article: Historiography of the French Revolution By the year 2000, many historians were saying that the field of the French Revolution was an intellectual disarray. The old model or paradigm focusing on class conflict has been discredited, and no new explanatory model had gained widespread support. [193][194] Nevertheless, as Spang has shown, there persists a very widespread agreement to the effect that the French Revolution was the watershed between the premodern and modern eras of Western history. [195] The French Revolution has received enormous amounts of historical attention, both from the general public and from scholars and academics. The views of historians, in particular, have been characterized as falling along ideological lines, with disagreement over the significance and the major developments of the Revolution. [196] Alexis de Tocqueville argued that the Revolution was a manifestation of a more prosperous middle class becoming conscious of its social importance. [197] Other thinkers, like the conservative Edmund Burke , maintained that the Revolution was the product of a few conspiratorial individuals who brainwashed the masses into subverting the old order—a claim rooted in the belief that the revolutionaries had no legitimate complaints. [198] Other historians, influenced by Marxist thinking, have emphasized the importance of the peasants and the urban workers in presenting the Revolution as a gigantic class struggle . [199] In general, scholarship on the French Revolution initially studied the political ideas and developments of the era, but it has gradually shifted towards social history that analyzes the impact of the Revolution on individual lives. [200] Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in history. It marks the end of the early modern period , which started around 1500 and is often seen as marking the dawn of the modern era. [201] Within France itself, the Revolution permanently crippled the power of the aristocracy and drained the wealth of the Church, although the two institutions survived despite the damage they sustained. After the collapse of the First Empire in 1815, the French public lost the rights and privileges earned since the Revolution, but they remembered the participatory politics that characterized the period, with one historian commenting: Thousands of men and even many women gained firsthand experience in the political arena: they talked, read, and listened in new ways; they voted; they joined new organizations; and they marched for their political goals. Revolution became a tradition, and republicanism an enduring option. [202] Some historians argue that the French people underwent a fundamental transformation in self- identity, evidenced by the elimination of privileges and their replacement by rights as well as the growing decline in social deference that highlighted the principle of equality throughout the Revolution. [203] The Revolution represented the most significant and dramatic challenge to political absolutism up to that point in history and spread democratic ideals throughout Europe and ultimately the world. [204] Throughout the 19th Century, the revolution was heavily analyzed by economists and political scientists, who saw the class nature of the revolution as a fundamental aspect in understanding human social evolution itself. This, combined with the egalitarian values introduced by the revolution, gave rise to a classless and co-operative model for society called socialism which profoundly influenced future revolutions in France and around the world. See also Glossary of the French Revolution for definitions of technical terms List of people associated with the French Revolution History of France Political clubs during the French Revolution Jacobin Cordeliers Feuillant Society of the Friends of Truth Montagnards Girondin
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:12:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015