Revolution means a great change in the social and political condition of any country within very short period of time.
| a | The political change in France in order |
|---|---|
1 | Abolishment of monarchy |
2 | Birth of democratic government |
3 | Rise of Napoleon |
| b | Social change in France |
|---|---|
1 | Removal of feudalism |
2 | Removal of discriminatory taxes from the members of the third estate. |
The event considered to be the starting point of revolution
Storming of the Bastille Fort
In the morning of 14 July,1789 almost 7000
people are gathered in the city of Paris. All of them seemed to be very angry over the King and began destroying government buildings in search of arms. Because the King had ordered army to enter into the city, and it was rumoured that the army would shoot the people. After hearing this people started attacking buildings to get arms so that they could protect themselves.
They came across a Fort named Bastille Fort. Which was used as a jail and was considered a symbol of royal power.
So lots of people get into the building of fort and had killed the jailer in the fight. There were seven prisoners at that time, all of them were released.Finally the Fort was destroyed by the people and they sold the bricks of Fort to those who wanted to have
memory of this important day which marked the beginning of French Revolution.
14 July is celebrated as National day in France.
Story like a movie
As you see the Bastille Fort was destroyed by the angry mob in Paris,because King had ordered the army to enter into the city. But why did kind do so.
In order to find out the answer of this stirring question we would have to go into flashback of 15 years ago like they do in the movies to understand the full story of the event.
15 Years ago
A new King Louis xvi had ascended the throne, while he was 20 years old. He got married with Austrian princess Marie Antoinette. The tragedy with him was that he found the treasure empty
because his father had wasted the whole money in the war against England.
He needed money to spend on school,college,army and maintainance of his grand Versailles palace.
Furthermore he sent army to America in the war against England. So he took loan to afford all that. Now the lenders were charging 10% interest rate on the loan, which he was not able to pay.
So he thought of increasing taxes on the people. Now let's talk about the people on whom the tax would be imposed.
French society in the 18th century
French society was divided into three estates.
1.First Estate: Clergy(people performing the activity of priest) was part of it.
2.Second Estate: Nobility (People having a lot of land)
Both first and second estates were exempted from paying taxes
3.Third Estates: The 3rd estate of then French society was further divided into three categories. Big businessmen, merchants, court officials, lawyers, etc. belonged to the first category of 3rd estate. Peasants and artisans belonged to the second category. And small peasants, landless labours and servants belonged to third category, and were considered as the lowest class in the society. Members of the third state had to pay all types of taxes including tithes and taille.
Tithes: A type of tax collected by churches from peasants in the form of 1/10th of the agricultural production.
Taille: A type of tax which was paid to the government by members of third estate.
On 5 May 1789, 300 representatives from each of the first and second estate and 600 from the third estate gathered in a splendid hall for the assembly.From third estate educated and more prosperous people represented.Peasants and labours were not allowed in that assembly.
Disagreement in the voting system
In the existing system each estate had one vote.but this time the representatives of third estate wanted each of the third estate had one vote.But King Louis xvi rejected this proposal.As a result the representatives of the third estate walked out of meeting.
Indoor Tennis Court
On 20th of the June they gathered in an indoor tennis court in Versailles, where they declared them as National Assembly and took a pledge not to dispercentage till the new constitution is drafted Merabeau and Abbe Sieyes were the leaders of the National Assembly.
Merabeau belonged to noble family and Abbe Sieyes was a priest to the church.In spite of that they believed in the society where nobody gets some special rights.
Situation outside
Because of harsh winter crops failed,this increased the price of bread.So people were facing extreme hardship because there was scarcity of food.
One day after long hours in queues, angry women attacked the bakery and looted the bread. A rumour was spread At the same time troops moved to Paris to suppress the turmoil. In retaliation, crowd destroyed the Bastille.A rumor spread that the Noble had hired goons to destroy the crops. Because of fear, peasants attacked the palaces of nobles and looted the hoarded grains. Records of manorial dues were sat on fire. Many noblemen and clergy fled to neighbouring countries to save their life.
In such a situation of complete anarchy the King had ordered the army to move into cities which resulted into the destruction of
The Bastille Fort.
King Louis XVI finally surrendered against agitation and accepted the recognition of National Assembly and agreed that his power would be checked by constitution. On the 4th of the August 1789 the feudal system of obligations, taxes, privileges to the nobility and clergy were abolished and lands owned by churches were confiscated. This gave an asset of worth about 2 billion livres to the government.
The French Constitution
The constitution began with the declaration of rights of man and citizens.
Some fundamental rights given in this constitution which were considered natural rights of the citizens.
- Right to life.
- Freedom of expression and opinion
- Equally before law
According to this citizens were divided into two types.
a) Active citizen
. citizens who had been given the right to vote.
.above 25 years of age.
. People who could pay tax equal to 3 days wages of labourer.
b) Passive citizens
.not given the right to vote.
.below 25 years.
.woman (no voting rights).
*power was divided between legislative, executive and judiciary.
King did a secret treaty with the king of Russia and Austria. Those kings were also worried of the development in the revolution in France.
But,in April 1792 National Assembly voted to declare war against Prussia and Austria.They considered the war as people against monarchy in all over Europe.
Thousands of volunteers took part in the war. They sang a patriotic song Marseilles, Marseillaise is now the National Anthem of France.
A lot of people were in the support of the war because a large section of the third estate who were not from high-tax payers were denied the right to vote.
So shoemakers, watchmaker, small peasants,labours etc who were denied the right to vote formed a political party known as Jacobin club. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre.
Activities
in the summer of 1792, they attacked the palace of king, killed the guards and made king hostage.
France abolishes monarchy
New election-A new election was helled, this time everyone above 21 years got the right to vote regardless of wealth, the new government was called convention.
The king and queen were sentence to death, this is how France became a Republic.
The reign of terror (1793-94)
The reign of Maximillian Robespierre is known as the reign of terror because he punished the Clergy, Nobles, even member of his party who disagreed with him.
Guillotine, a device, named after inventor Dr. Guillotin, was used to behead a person at that time. It consists of two poles and a blade. Guilty persons were beheaded using guillotine.
Peasants were forced to sell their grains on fixed price in cities. Citizens were forced to eat equality bread, white flour which was costlier was forbidden.
He closed the church and corvereted them into barrack.
He was ruling so mercilessly that even people from his political party were fed up with him.
Finally, Robespierre was arrested and guillotined in July 1794. Reign of Terror ended with the end of Robespierre.
A Directory Rules France
After the fall of Jacobins the power was again seized by wealthier middle class.
In this rule Non propertied section of the society had no right to vote.
Two elected legislative councils would run the government.
Two elected legislative councils would appoint an executive committee of five members, called Directory which would finally run the government.
These new provisions were brought to prevent the concentration of power in one person.
The fight between Directory and member of councils led to political instability, which opened the door of military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte became the emperor of France in 1804.
DID WOMEN HAVE A REVOLUTION?
In spite of revolution, women did not get right to vote and their position in the society remained unchanged. To get their notable position in society, about 16 women clubs were started in different cities in France. The Society of Revolutionary and Republican Women was the most famous among them. Their main demands were to enjoy the same political rights as men. The constitution of 1791 made them disappointed as they were pushed to the category of passive citizen in that.Most of the women were deprived of education. Daughters of nobles or wealthier persons of third estate could study in convent. After that they were married by their families even against their will. Women who belonged to third estate had to work hard. They sold flowers, fruits, vegetables and employed as servant in house hold. After work they had to cook and look after for their families. During the Reign of Terror women’s clubs were closed and many women were put in jail.
In due course of time, revolutionary government came and introduced laws to improve the lives of women. For example - Many state schools were created, schooling was made compulsory for all girls, marriage against the will of girl was prohibited, divorce was made legal and could be applied for by both women and men, they could train for jobs, could run businesses, could become artists. But to get the voting rights women had to struggle for about next two hundred years in many countries including France. Finally, women got right to vote in the year of 1946 in France.
The Abolition of Slavery
In the system of slavery, people were forced to work, treated as properties and hence sold, bought and forced to work against their will. The trade of slave started in seventeenth century. French merchants bought slave mainly from Africa. The branded and shackled slave were then packed tightly into ships and after two to three month of voyages they were sold in the Caribbean to plantation owners. The extensive demand of sugar, coffee and indigo in European market was fulfilled by the exploitation of slaves as labours. Many port cities like Bordeaux and Nates got economic prosperity by the trade of slaves and many of the merchants were increasing their wealth by trade of slavery.However, the slavery began to be criticized in France. But even National Assembly could not pass any law to end of slavery in the fear of repercussion from businessmen who were mainly in slave trade.
By coming in power, Jacobins abolished the system of slavery in the French colonies, which was one of the greatest social reforms in their reign. But Napoleon again introduced the slavery system. And finally slavery was abolished in French colonies in 1848.
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