The French Revolution (1789-1799)

Let's begin with the fight who where considered the one whose events inspire other countries to search and fight for their rights and have their independence

What was the French Revolution?

The French Revolution was a social and political process that took place in France between 1789 and 1799, whose main consequences were the abolition of the absolute monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic, eliminating the economic and social bases of the Old Regime. the political organization of France oscillated between republic, empire and monarchy for 75 years after the First Republic fell following Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état, it is certain that the revolution marked the definitive end of absolutism and gave birth to a new regime where the bourgeoisie, and sometimes the popular masses, became the dominant political force in the country.

The French Revolution was the product of many internal and external factors that played a major role in the overall manifestation of the nation's economic, social and cultural imbalance; the revolutionary activity began to take shape when in the reign of Louis XVI (1774-1792) there was a crisis in the royal finances due to the growth of the public debt; during the reign of Louis XV and Louis XVI, different ministers tried unsuccessfully to reform the tax system into a fairer and more uniform system. Such initiatives met with strong opposition from the

nobility, who would lose their privileges once they were enacted.

The French Revolution is considered to have had two main phases:

the first being the Constitutional Monarchy between 1789 and 1792 and the second the Convention between 1792 and 1794.

the Convention between 1792 and 1794, in which we distinguish the Period of Terror from 1793 and 1794 which ended with the coup d'état by Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Causes of the French Revolution

A monarchical regime succumbing to its own rigidity in a changing world; the rise of a bourgeois class that was becoming and gaining more economic relevance and the discontent of the lower classes, together with the spread of the new liberal ideas that emerged at this time which came under the rubric of the Enlightenment. Enlightenment, which in some ways had a great deal of Masonic ideological Masonic ideology, which was based on rationalism. But we can see the causes reflect in 4 points of view:

From the social point of view:

There is the rise of the bourgeoisie, with a growing and economic power, which was becoming ever greater and more fundamental in the economy of the time. The hatred of monarchical absolutism was fuelled by resentment of the feudal system on the part of the emerging bourgeois class and the emerging bourgeois class and the popular classes. 

From a political point of view: 

A state anchored in an absolutist system that did not absolutist system that did not respond to the demands of a changing reality, where the separation of the powers of the state was rejected which resulted in the stagnation of society.

From the ideological point of view: 

The spread of new ideas from the Enlightenment period was important. "... the concepts of political liberty, fraternity and political liberty, fraternity and equality, or the rejection of a divided society, or the new political theories on the separation of state powers. 

From the economic point of view:

The unmanageable state debt was exacerbated by a system of extreme social inequality and high taxes which the privileged classes, nobility and clergy, were not obliged to pay, but which oppressed the rest of society; this was the main problem from which other unfortunate events arose, such as pre-revolutionary food shortages, reduced benefits to landowners, discontent of the third estate, which was not taken into account in Parliament, etc.

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment movement was characterized by an attitude of questioning the truths that until then were indisputable, among them the authority of traditional institutions such as the church and the absolute monarchy, which reached its greatest strength in France where its most prominent exponents were Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Mostequieu, François Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Baron d' Mostequieu proposed, in his work The Spirit of the Laws, published in 1748, to replace absolute monarchy with parliamentary monarchy, in which the power of kings is limited by the decisions of the representatives of the people, constituted as a Parliament.

Voltaire criticized the political life, the religious practices and the authority of the powerful ones of the time. In his writings he launched harsh attacks on the despotism of monarchs and proclaimed that all citizens, without exception, should obey the laws made by themselves.

Rousseau asserted that sovereignty, the origin of power, comes from the will of the citizens, represents authority and supreme and inviolable power popular sovereignty, in his work The Social Contract he argued that the general will must prevail over the will of the few. 

All these ideas were echoed in French society, which was experiencing financial, political and social problems.

States General and National Assembly

The States General were made up of the nobility (First Estate), the bourgeoisie (Second Estate), and in 1789 a group of liberal Parisians and workers (Third Estate) was implemented; the Committee of Thirty (part of the Third Estate) protested to demand the doubling of the number of assembly members with the right to vote, the king and the nobility did not accept the situation and after this, the Third Estate proclaimed itself the National Assembly which undertook to create a Constitution. 

The first action of the Assembly was to vote in favour of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. While they invited the members of the First and Second Estate to participate in this assembly, made clear their intentions to proceed even without this participation.

Most important event during the revolution 

Louis XVI hastened to deprive the Assembly of its meeting room in retaliation. The Assembly responded by taking the so-called Oath of the Ball Game on 20 June, in which it undertook not to dissolve until a constitution for France had been drawn up. The king had no choice but to give in, inviting the clergy and the nobility to join the Third Ball Game. the clergy and the nobility to join the Third Estate in the newly constituted Assembly, the political revolution was joined by popular revolt.

On 14 July the people of Paris stormed the former Bastille fortress, used as a prison and considered a symbol of despotism, and the revolutionary climate also reached the countryside. The king himself and his family had to flee Versailles and move to Paris.

This state of exaltation and change produced a climate of fear known as the Great Panic, la Grande Peur known as the Great Panic, la Grande Peur, among the nobles who fled abroad , aware that the collapse of the Ancient Régime was in the making. The clergy and the nobility had to renounce  privileges at the session held during the night of 4 August 1789.

To add and clarify something on the subject, I attach this video

Revolución Francesa

I tried to give a short and summarised version of the most important events, although some details were missing, and events after the abdication of the throne and the legitimisation of the National Assembly.

Had you heard before about this event and its stages? or about what it inspired in the population, other countries and governments after what happened?

Let me know in the comments if you have any question and thank you so much for reading, see you next time.