The
French Revolution
Inaugural session of the Estates General (May 5, 1789)
Stages
of the French Revolution
Top
Questions
1. What
were the causes of the Reign of Terror?
Prior to
the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror (1793–94), France was governed by the
National Convention. Power in this assembly was divided between the more
moderate Girondins, who sought a constitutional monarchy and economic
liberalism and favored spreading the Revolution throughout Europe by means of
war, and the Montagnards, who preferred a policy of radical egalitarianism. By
the spring of 1793, the war was going badly, and France found itself surrounded
by hostile powers while counterrevolutionary insurrections were spreading
outward from the Vendée. A combination of food scarcity and rising prices led
to the overthrow of the Girondins and increased the popular support of the
Montagnards, who created the Committee of Public Safety to deal with the
various crises. On September 5, 1793, the Convention decreed that “terror is
the order of the day” and resolved that opposition to the Revolution needed to
be crushed and eliminated so that the Revolution could succeed.
2.What
major events took place during the Reign of Terror?
Laws were
passed that defined those who should be arrested as counterrevolutionaries, and
committees of surveillance were set up to identify suspects and issue arrest
warrants. Later laws suspended the rights of suspects to both legal assistance
and public trials and mandated execution of all those who were found guilty.
Other laws set up government control of prices, confiscated lands from those
found guilty of failing to support the Revolution, and brought public
assistance to the poor and disabled. The French republican calendar was adopted
as part of a program of de-Christianization. About 300,000 people were
arrested, and 17,000 of them were tried and executed. As many as 23,000 more
were killed without trial or died in prison. However, conscription raised a
large army that turned the tide of the war in France’s favor.
3.How did
the Reign of Terror end?
Maximilien
Robespierre, president of the Jacobin Club, was also president of the National
Convention and was the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety;
many credited him with near dictatorial power. The excesses of the Reign of
Terror combined with the decreased threat from other countries led to increased
opposition to the Committee of Public Safety and to Robespierre himself. In
July 1794 Robespierre was arrested and executed as were many of his fellow
Jacobins, thereby ending the Reign of Terror, which was succeeded by the
Thermidorian Reaction.
At the end of the 18th century, the Ancien Régime was
faltering in France. Ignoring the changing times and unable to manage
socioeconomic transformations, the monarchy continued to exercise its absolute
power, consolidating and perpetuating the injustices and inequalities of feudal
society. Due to the privileges of the nobility and the clergy, peasants were
forced to bear the brunt of the tax burden. Since the middle of the century,
however, Enlightenment intellectuals such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau
had undermined the legitimacy of monarchical absolutism by formulating
political principles (popular sovereignty, equality before the law, separation
of powers) that were embraced by the bourgeoisie, an emerging social class that
aspired to see its economic power reflected in the legal system.
The immediate triggers of the French Revolution (1789-1799)
were the country's financial bankruptcy and poor harvests, which generated
widespread poverty and hunger. To resolve the state's serious economic and
financial crisis, King Louis XVI convened the Estates General in May 1789, an
assembly that brought together, separately, representatives of the three
estates (the nobility, the clergy, and the people, or "Third
Estate").
The Popular Revolt and the National Assembly (1789-1791)
The representatives of the Third Estate, led by the
bourgeoisie, demanded the replacement of the traditional voting system (one
vote per estate) with the individual vote. Faced with the rejection of their
demands and the hesitant stance of the monarchy, they formed the National
Assembly, proclaiming it the true repository of national sovereignty and
inviting representatives of the other estates to join them. The members of the National
Assembly, gathered in the Tennis Hall, swore on June 20, 1789, not to disband
until they had given France a constitution.
The Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)
Fearing that the king would dissolve the Assembly by force,
the popular classes stormed the Bastille on July 14, a fortress that served as
a prison and was a symbol of the absolutist monarchy. The French Revolution had
begun and soon spread to other cities and rural areas, where the
anti-seigneurial revolt known as "the Great Fear" broke out.
On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly, now the National
Constituent Assembly, decreed the abolition of all feudal rights and
privileges, and on August 26, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen was published, based on the principles of "liberty, equality, and
fraternity." Dominated by the more moderate sectors of the bourgeoisie,
the Assembly developed extensive legislative work that culminated in the
approval of the Constitution of 1791, which established popular sovereignty and
the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers.
The new order established France as a constitutional monarchy
and combined the revolutionary achievements with respect for the king: the
monarch and his ministers would retain executive power. Legislative power would
be vested in the Legislative Assembly, whose members would be elected by census
suffrage, as would the judges and members of the courts.
Royal family return to Paris after trying to escape July 1791
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Antoinette
The constitutional process was not without difficulties,
particularly in its final phase. While pretending to accept the reforms, Louis
XVI secretly negotiated an intervention by foreign absolutist monarchies to end
the revolution, and in June 1791, he staged a failed escape attempt that unleashed
strong anti-monarchist sentiment. In July, the National Guard, a force created
by the revolutionaries, had to violently suppress a republican demonstration on
the Champ de Mars. In August, the kings of Austria and Prussia issued veiled
threats of intervention. Nevertheless, the revolution continued: after the
calling and holding of elections, the Legislative Assembly began its sessions
on October 1, 1791.
The Constitutional Monarchy: The Legislative Assembly
(1791-1792)
Subjected to intense pressure, the newly established
constitutional monarchy would have little effect: it did not even survive a
year. Although the Legislative Assembly enacted progressive measures, it was
unable to satisfy the discontent of the working classes.
Fearing that the king would dissolve the Assembly by force,
the popular classes stormed the Bastille on July 14, a fortress that served as
a prison and was a symbol of the absolutist monarchy. The French Revolution had
begun and soon spread to other cities and rural areas, where the
anti-seigneurial revolt known as "the Great Fear" broke out.
On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly, now the National
Constituent Assembly, decreed the abolition of all feudal rights and
privileges, and on August 26, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen was published, based on the principles of "liberty, equality, and
fraternity." Dominated by the more moderate sectors of the bourgeoisie,
the Assembly developed extensive legislative work that culminated in the
approval of the Constitution of 1791, which established popular sovereignty and
the separation of executive, legislative, and judicial powers.
The new order established France as a constitutional monarchy
and combined the revolutionary achievements with respect for the king: the
monarch and his ministers would retain executive power. Legislative power would
be vested in the Legislative Assembly, whose members would be elected by census
suffrage, as would the judges and members of the courts.
The constitutional process was not without difficulties,
particularly in its final phase. While pretending to accept the reforms, Louis
XVI secretly negotiated an intervention by foreign absolutist monarchies to end
the revolution, and in June 1791, he staged a failed escape attempt that
unleashed strong anti-monarchist sentiment. In July, the National Guard, a
force created by the revolutionaries, had to violently suppress a republican
demonstration on the Champ de Mars. In August, the kings of Austria and Prussia
issued veiled threats of intervention. Nevertheless, the revolution continued:
after the calling and holding of elections, the Legislative Assembly began its
sessions on October 1, 1791.
The Constitutional Monarchy: The Legislative Assembly
(1791-1792)
Subject to intense pressure, the newly established
constitutional monarchy would have little effect: it did not even survive a
year. Although the Legislative Assembly enacted progressive measures, it was
unable to satisfy the discontent of the working classes over the high cost of
basic goods resulting from the worsening economic crisis.
Abroad, faced with the danger posed by the spread of
revolutionary ideas to the rest of Europe, an alliance of absolutist forces
(Austria and Prussia) was organized and entered into war with France on April
20, 1792. Successive defeats of the French armies radicalized the situation;
the Jacobin left, a minority but influential republican group in the
Legislative Assembly, demanded the election by universal suffrage of a National
Convention and the establishment of a Republic.
The Assault on the Tuileries Palace (August 10, 1792)
A threatening declaration by a Prussian general (crudely
expressing the counterrevolutionary aims of the war) sparked a new uprising of
the popular masses (the "sans-culottes") in Paris. On August 10,
1792, they stormed the Tuileries Palace, the king's residence, where documents
proving his treason were found. The monarch was deposed and imprisoned.
The Republic: The Convention (1792-1795)
The fall of the monarchy was followed by the holding of
elections (by universal male suffrage) and the constitution of the National
Convention, whose launch coincided with the victory of French troops over the
Prussians at Valmy (September 20, 1792). Two days later, on September 22, the
National Convention proclaimed the Republic.
The struggle for power within the Convention between its left
(Jacobins) and right (Girondins) wings reached one of its high points in the
trial and execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793). In immediate response to
the king's beheading, Austria, Prussia, Spain, the Netherlands, and England
joined together in the First Coalition, an alliance with no other objective
than to militarily end the revolutionary process. Faced with the advance of the
First Coalition forces, counterrevolutionary conspiracies by the nobility and
clergy, the outbreak of peasant revolt in the Vendée, wheat shortages, and
widespread speculation, the moderate policies of the Girondins proved
ineffective.
The Jacobins, with the support of the sans-culottes, took the
reins of the Convention in June 1793. The French Revolution, closer than ever
to the common people, radicalized. Attempts were made to develop the principles
of social democracy (popular sovereignty, universal suffrage), reflected in a
new constitution, which, however, never came into force.
Maximilian Robespierre
Dominated by the Jacobins, the Convention conferred
exceptional powers on the executive institutions: the Committee of Public
Safety decreed emergency measures (massive forced levies and price controls),
and the Committee of General Security directed a repression against the enemies
of the Revolution, which led to the guillotine of nobles, Girondin leaders, and
Queen Marie Antoinette, as well as anyone who tried to evade conscription
. The Terror (1793-1794) had been established, a period
dominated by Robespierre. Their drastic measures were effective: French troops
halted the armies of the First Coalition, and internal rebellions were
suppressed.
Once stability was achieved, the moderate bourgeoisie of the
Convention considered it unjustified to maintain the state of emergency and, in
July 1794, launched the so-called "Thermidor reaction": they withdrew
their confidence in Robespierre (who was guillotined) and unleashed a
"White Terror" against the leftists. The Convention drafted the
Constitution of 1795, the legal framework for the new institutions in the next
stage of the Republic, which is designated by the name of its executive branch:
the Directory.
The Directory (1795-1799)
In October 1795, the Convention was dissolved and replaced by
two chambers, the Council of Elders and the Council of Five Hundred, elected by
census suffrage. Executive power was held by the five members of the Directory,
each of whom could be renewed annually. Dominated by the conservative
bourgeoisie, the Directory relied on the army to suppress popular revolts when
the abolition of price controls made basic goods more expensive again, and also
to crush conspiracies and insurrections promoted by both royalists (who aspired
to restore monarchical absolutism) and the radical left.
While abroad, French generals (among whom the young Napoleon
stood out) led successful military campaigns that culminated in the defeat of
the First Coalition in 1797, the Directory proved incapable of Maintaining
internal stability was not possible, not even within the republican
institutions themselves, which were victims of internal struggles between
various factions. Census suffrage did not prevent the Jacobin left and the
royalists from enjoying considerable representation in the legislature; this
threat was compounded, in December 1798, by the formation of a Second European
Coalition against revolutionary France.
The prevailing anarchy and the weakness of the regime led the
bourgeoisie and key leaders to favor a military solution; finally, with the
support of one of the directors, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, and other high-ranking
officials, Napoleon Bonaparte led the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (November 9,
1799). The French Revolution was over: the Directory was replaced by a new
authoritarian regime, the Consulate (1799-1804), headed by Napoleon himself as
First Consul, invested with broad powers.
Marie Antoinette
Louis 16
How to cite this article:
Tomás Fernández and Elena
Tamaro. "Stages
of the French Revolution [Summary]" [Internet]. Barcelona, Spain:
Editorial Biografías y Vidas, 2004. Available at
https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/historia/revolucion_francesa_resumen.htm [page
consulted on July 31, 2025].
With affection,
Ruben
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