THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 1789-1790'S

The French revolution 1789-1790’s
Was one of important historical revolutions the world experienced. It was the revolution waged by middle class people against feudal autocratic regime of King Louis XVI of France in 1789. At the time of revolution France was divided into many classes where by the middle and lower class had many discontent toward the regime in power.
Classes that existed in French at the time of revolution

1. Clergy class: these were the people who run the church .their income where through churches properties.  They also got privilege from the king and his government. They owned land which they used to correct rent from it through renting to peasants. Also they were free from taxation.
2. Nobility Class: these were the king’s administration officers. They were living in Versailles city under feudal administration helping the king to rule the country. These nobility were divided into great nobility (richest one,) the Lasser nobility (second rank of nobility) and last was robe nobility who had acquired the title of nobility basing on their service they offer to the king and the loyal family (they had no wealth).
3. The Bourgeoisie Class:  it was the small class consists of merchants (traders), doctors, industrialists, lawyers and other professional group which together formed the middle class. They had no privilege, not included in the government, taxed high, those who where in army had no chance of promotion to higher ranks.
4. Lower Class (Peasant Class): this was the lower class who owned nothing. They had no land, they were highly taxed, and they had to pay high rent.

Background toThe French revolution 1789-1790’s

• At the time of the revolution French was under the regime of LOUIS XVI who claimed himself to have Devine power.i.e power derived from the God and thus he claimed that he was not answerable to anyone in the state.
• There were no proper laws and thus people were unfairly punished. And sometimes a person can be tried fifty times or even more for the single offence he or she has committed.
• On the side of economy there were economic hardship whole over French and the government was severely indebted due to luxury life of the loyal family and government participation on American war of independence.  On other hand people were highly taxed to meet government expenditures.
• Food shortage was the call of the day due to decline in production as the outcome of bad weather condition which hit the country.

Causes of the French revolution.

1. Heavy taxation. The government imposed different taxes which came to be a burden to the peasants and bourgeoisies class as nobility and clergy class enjoyed tax exemption. Such taxes imposed included;a gabelle tax or salt tax which was imposed to all people aging 8 years old and above , whereby they were forced to buy salt each amounting to 7lb of salt per year.

Peasants also had to pay poll tax to the king, twentieth of his or her income to the king and had also to pay tithe of his produce to the church.Toil tax was also paid for the use of local needs such as path, road, mills etc.
Furthermore there were direct tax imposed on each individual. All of these seem to be the heavy burden to the people and thus they decided to revolt against the regime hence united and wage the revolution.

2. Dictatorship regime of the king: the king ruled French under dictatorship. He assumed himself divine power and thus those who questioned his authority or ways of ruling were imprisoned and sometimes even got killed. The King changes and introduced new taxes whenever he wished and he even dissolved the parliament when challenged or questioned his authority. All these created discontent among the people and hence ought to overthrew the King as the means of getting rid of harsh conditions of the regime.

3. Economic hardship/ bankrupt of the government: the government faced severe economic hardship as the outcome of being bankrupt caused by misuse of government fund due to luxury life of the loyal family. Also American war of independence cost  the government 1,200,000,000 livres. Thus altogether ,war cost and luxurious life made French government to be highly indebted  and thus the government were paying 236 million livres out above 472 million livres income each year as interest on the national debt.

4. Influence of American revolution:  apart from causing financial hardship in French, American war of independence brought ideas of freedom , liberty and equality. The people of America were not fighting against misgovernment or being taxed rather they were fighting only for their self rule. Thus  when French soldiers compared  American situation and that of theirs and peasant at home they found they have more reasons to rebel against their government at home and thus  general Marquis de Lafayette returned home from America six years before revolution to rebate the French people against the regime.

5. Bad advices from the queen Marie Antoinette:  the king was under fatal influence of his wife, Marie Antoinette. Ignorant of the need for reform, unsympathetic to her people’s need and incapable of grasping the political situation, she poisoned Louis mind first against the Turgot and then against Necker and everywhere advised a fatal firmness at precisely the wrong moments. These in turn made majority to hate the king and his regime and thus joined revolutionary movement.

6. Influence of great thinkers and philosophers: example Voltaire who criticized the church and proposed that the property owned by the church should be given to majority peasant.
Jean Jacque Rousseau suggested the need to have democracy and get rid of autocratic regime of the King Louis XVI through his work “du contrat social” he sketches his idea of basis of government arguing that men were born free but subjected to chains of government and thus need to be liberated and left free.

7. Food shortage/ bad climatic condition: there was food shortage everywhere in French. The situation was caused by the bad climatic conditions  of 1788 which ruined the harvest ,raised the cost of  corn to a famine price, and caused wide spread starvation  only to be followed by severe winter of early 1789, when all great rivers  of France were frozen and even the port of Marseilles,In the south was blocked by extreme ice.  The situation led to many people from country sides to gather in Paris hoped for food and shelter led to Paris Mob idles.
8. Role of the church: the Roman Catholic Church also influenced French revolution as it was declared as nation religion where by denied people rights to worship in denomination they wished.  Also the church as one of feudal institution taxed the peasant forcing them to pay rent and tithe. Furthermore the church had its own laws used to tries those who broke the law of the church.

9. Poor and unfair laws and judicial system: there was poor and unfair further more un uniform law all over the country. Sometimes people were imprisoned without a trial or for a single crime a person could be tried several times sometimes up to 50 times for the single crime offence.

Effects of French revolution
1. Decline of the power from feudal monarchy and being replaced by bourgeoisies who took the control of the state.

2. Development of capitalism and spread of industries in French and later the rest of Europe. Poor peasants who were once exploited were turned into working class in newly growing industries.

3. It led to the development and spread of democracy in French and later Europe and the rest of the world where ideas of freedom and equality as well as liberty were practiced.

4. It led to unification of small feudal state into one strong country under Napoleon rule.

5. French revolution led to death and destruction of properties as it involved violence and bloodshed were by king and the queen were caught and hanged.

6. It led to confiscation of church property
Brought about freedom of worship were formally it was declared that Roman Catholic to be national church.

7. Freed people from intensive feudal exploitations such through rent, taxation and tithe on side of church.

Contribution of French revolution to the rise of democracy in the world.

• French revolution brought constitutional government in French which later on adopted by other nations. Constitution insured and guaranteed the rule of law where all people were equal before the law such that no man was above the law as it was during autocratic regime of King Louis XVI.
• It brought election system whereby all people got right to contest, vote, elect and be elected as a leader in different position ones fit. Through this it led to rise of common man into political power such as Napoleon Bonaparte.
• French revolution brought about the declaration of human rights which is one among the important elements of democratic states. Human rights ideas later came to be adopted by other states.
• It brought about parliamentary system of government and consolidated representative system which is adopted all over the world to date.
• The rule of law and the constitution brought about power separation in French and later all over the world where by there were three pillars of the government which were Judiciary, Executive and Legislature each work as an independent entity without being interfered by others.