The French Revolution

• Introduction

  • Date: 14 July 1789 (Fall of the Bastille)
  • Significance: End of absolute monarchy, birth of a new era of liberty and equality.

• Causes of the Revolution

  • Social Inequality (The Estates System)
    • First Estate: Clergy (Privileged, exempt from taxes)
    • Second Estate: Nobility (Privileged, feudal dues from peasants)
    • Third Estate: Everyone else (98% population - Peasants, artisans, businessmen, bourgeoisie)
      • Bore the burden of all taxes (Taille, Tithe, Indirect taxes).
  • Economic Crisis
    • Long years of war drained financial resources.
    • Maintenance of an extravagant court at the Palace of Versailles.
    • Subsistence Crisis: Bad harvests led to grain scarcity and soaring bread prices.
  • Intellectual Awakening (The Philosophers)
    • John Locke: Refuted the divine right of kings (Two Treatises of Government).
    • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Proposed a social contract between people and representatives (The Social Contract).
    • Montesquieu: Proposed the division of power within government (The Spirit of the Laws).

• Outbreak of the Revolution

  • The Estates-General
    • Summoned by Louis XVI to propose new taxes (May 1789).
    • Dispute over voting system (Third Estate demanded one vote per member).
  • Tennis Court Oath
    • Third Estate representatives declared themselves the National Assembly.
    • Led by Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyès.
    • Swore not to disperse till they drafted a constitution limiting the king's powers.
  • Storming of the Bastille
    • Agitated crowds stormed the fortress-prison symbolising royal tyranny.
    • Peasant revolts spread across the countryside.

• France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy

  • Constitution of 1791
    • Vested power in the National Assembly.
    • Divided government into Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.
    • Introduced Active Citizens (wealthy men who could vote) vs. Passive Citizens (women and poor men).
  • Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
    • Guaranteed natural rights: right to life, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, equality before law.

• Reign of Terror and the Directory

  • Fall of Monarchy & The Republic
    • Austria and Prussia threatened invasion; France declared war.
    • Jacobins club gained power; led by Maximilian Robespierre.
    • Execution of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette (1793).
  • The Reign of Terror (1793–1794)
    • Period of severe control and punishment by Robespierre.
    • Use of the Guillotine for enemies of the republic.
    • Ended with Robespierre's execution in July 1794.
  • A Directory Rules France
    • Fall of Jacobins allowed wealthier middle class to seize power.
    • Directory: Executive body of five members (led to political instability).

• Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

  • Political instability of the Directory paved the way for a military dictator.
  • Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804.
  • Introduced modern laws (Napoleon's Code) and protected private property.
  • Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

• Legacy of the French Revolution

  • Ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity spread across Europe and the world.
  • Abolition of censorship and feudal system.
  • Inspired anti-colonial movements in India (Tipu Sultan and Raja Ram Mohan Roy).