Everyone was called a citizen and had a certain amount of equality (Jein for Women)
- Olympe de Gouges The Rights of Women, add to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Women should have the right to Divorce, property, education, etc.
- Mary Wollstonecraft “Vindication of the Rights of Women(English version)
October 5-6th, 1789 March of the Women, spontaneous demonstration of Parisian Women for bread (7,000 walked 12 miles to Versailles)
- Upset because of economic trouble, many of them were unemployed (after the revolution clothing wasn’t affordable for most people)
- Killed the bodyguards looking for Marie Antoinette, who them has to flee to Paris with Louis XVI, and he tries to suck up to the women, signs a treaty to guarantee them bread at a reasonable price
National Assembly moves to Paris Conservative members start quitting because they didn’t like the violence and the uncontrolled masses = the assembly becomes more radical
Sir Edmund Burke (1790, English) – write a conservative response to the revolution in France defending the aristocracy...it can’t really be reflections because the revolution isn’t over. It says why the aristocracy is good, defends inherited rights, and ”predicts” dictatorship and chaos in France. He advised England to slow down on its own reforms, not to give the common people too many rights to prevent chaos
How to Finance a New Government –> Confiscate Church Land (1790) also create a constitution “Civil Constitution of the Clergy” (1790)
- They secularize religion… right…
- National Church - 83 Bishops, abolished convents and monasteries (sold the land to pay the church men
- The clergy were forbidden to be loyal to the pope, but it was still Catholicism, in a way…
- This split the country through all social classes
o The pope condemned the act
o Half of the clergy refused to take the oath (they were called the “refractory” clergy)
- After the revolution, it gave the church more power
Print Assignats – Bonds (quasi printing money
- National Constituent Assembly, Revolution, not War Bonds (their collateral [“Pfand”] was Church Land)
- They lost almost 100% of their value in 5 years (1790-1795)
- The government printed more money INFLATION!!!
o People started using the bonds as money, rather than trading them in for money, which caused even more inflation
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, each diesis had its own state appointed Bishops, Archbishops were forbidden, the Jurying Clergy were the ones who took the oath
- Priest are elected by the district assembly
Eventually Louis XVI “accepts” the Constitution and the National Assembly (1790)
- The nobility was abolished, but the lower class still isn’t getting the vote
The whole of France is divided into self-governing provinces (83 of them !!!)
- Devolution weakened power, it is a form of democracy, BUT the country is largely unable to band together during, for example, a time of war
The French Constitution of 1791 A bourgeoisie Government
- The King lost power, had similar power to the House of Lords (could suspend government legislation and implementation of laws (for up to 4 years), but couldn’t completely veto it)
- The Single Chamber National Assembly could grant taxation, and was judicially independent
Active Citizen – pays taxes = three days labour and could vote
Passive Citizen – 1/3 of adult males were denied the franchise (domestic servants were also excluded)
Newly elected Legislative assembly – their goal was to make sure the country was not turned over to the mob (to stop mob rule)
June 1791 – Royal family tried to flee, caught at the boarder
The First Coalition and the Brunswick manifesto (3.8.1792)
- Duke of Brunswick- if the royal family is harmed, then Paris will be leveled … but he’s in Prussia. this undermines the National Assembly
Leopold I (Austria) – threatens the French government, if they harm the King (and his Austrian queen...) then he will attack if Prussia, UK, Spain, and Piedmont also do
*** But he doesn’t actually plan on fighting because what are the chances of ALL of the other power taking up arms...***
Jacobin vs. Girondin (who were in favour of war and were a sub, more radical, group of the Jacobins)
- Girondins see Leopold’s claim as a declaration of war and they in turn declare war on Austria, and get crushed on the Field which they blame on the King
o The Brunswick manifesto to protect the King
The French army was weak anyway because half of their officers had emigrated and many of the aristocratic families no longer sent one of their sons to become officers in the army anymore
The King was in the Palace in detention, but not under arrest or their direct control, this changed with the Brunswick manifesto
The French Revolution: the “Radical Phase”
The National Convention
- Girondin Rule (1792-1792)
- Jacobin Rule (1793-1794) – ruled by Robespierre, Danton and Marat (“Reign of Terror”), they incite the mobs to storm Toulerries and take the King prisoner (2. Phase Revolution)
- Thermadorian Reaction (1794-1795)
Causes of the Instability in France (1792 – 1795 [when the bonds were worth nothing]
1. War
2. Economic Crisis
3. Political Division
4. Attitude and actions of the monarchy and the court
5. Fear of a Counter revolution
6. Religious decisions
Jacobins started as a middle class debating society
Sans Culottes Parisian working class, supportive of the Jacobins and their values
The September massacre (1792) – the “dark” side of the Revolution
- Anybody who was thought to be on the wrong side (anti-revolutionary) was a potential target
The National Convention (September 1792) the government tries to remake itself
- 1st act- abolish the monarchy in hopes of calming things down and stopping the killings
The Decree of Fraternity – they offer to help people in other countries with their own revolutions seeing as they are such experts in matters of revolution
- “When France Sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold”
- ***Political spectrum diagram***
Sans Culottes backed the leftists in the end
Politics of the National Convention Montegnards vs. Girondists
France declare war on Britain, Holland and Spain (1793)
Vote to Kill the King (387 to 334 in the National Convention)
Attempting to control the Growing Crisis
- Revolutionary Tribunal – to try suspected counter revolutionists (= STASI)
- People were sent to check on the army (Representatives of Mission)
- The keep watch in foreigners (Watch Committees)
- Anyone who returned after being exiles could be tried and executed immediately
They printed more money, even though they were already bankrupt
Committee of Public Safety (CPS) – the oversee the speed up government (led by Robespierre)
- Tried to created a controlled Economy to control prices, control hunger, to wage wars, rationing was introduced
Committee of General Security (CGS) – pursuing suspected counter Revolutionaries (also Robespierre)
Marat was killed by his mistress in the bath tub because he wasn’t radical enough
The Levee en Masse – army based on merit
Legislation passed by the National Convention (September 1793)
- Law of general Maximum – limit s prices and wages trying to control inflation
- Law of suspects – two weeks later anybody not displaying enthusiastic support for the republic could be placed under arrest
The Reign of Terror – Terror is nothing other than justice: prompt, severe, inflexible – Robespierre
- “Let Terror be the order of the day.” Revolutionary tribunal of Paris alone executed 2,639 victims in 15 months (6 a day)
- Total number of victims nationwide during this cycle was 20,00
- Mainly lower and working classes executed
Resistance to the Revolution in the Country side (1793)
- 300,000 troupes needed for wars, They didn’t want to go
- They were still being highly taxed
- They were staunchly catholic and didn’t like what happened to the clergy
- They didn’t benefit from the selling of the church land
- Targets: Local governments officials, National Guardians, Jurying priests
Religious terror
- De-Christianization
- The catholic church was linked with real or potential counter revolutions
They changed the calendar to the Republican Calendar
o Abolished Sundays and religious holidays
o Months are named after seasonal things
o 7 day weeks replaced with 10-day decades
o Yearly calendar started with the start of the republic (July 19th –August 17th = Thermidor)
Returned to the Gregorian calendar in 1806
Banned the public exercise of religion
Backlash – people get pissed
- It alienated most of the population (especially people in rural areas)
- Robespierre never supported it, but he didn’t stop it “silence is consent”
o He persuaded the convention to reaffirm the principle of religious toleration, but he never enforced it
- Decree on the “Liberty of Cults”, but it’s only a cover story, he could always say that they were built on religious toleration
The Terror intensified March to July 1794
- Jacques Hebert and his followers were executed in March 1794, Danton and the “Indulgents” were executed in April 1794
- Law of 22 Prairial (open execution law, no imprisonments, either freed or chopped) Are you an enemy of the people?
- 1500 were executed between June and July
... we could make bread out of ash or very small rocks...
During this time, ironically, the French army was kicking some ass while the nut balls were chopping off heads in Paris. The main thing it had going for it were the number of people and they had true believers. They fought because they really believed
The Thermadorian reaction - July 26th Robespierre is going nuts and has his Hitler moment holds a speech ... and finally the people are suspicious and the Convention arrests him (July 26th)
July 28th Robespierre is tried and was a head shorter
The Cultural Revolution brought about by the Convention
- Abolition of slavery
- Introduce metric system
- Sanction divorce
- Etc.
Thermadorian Reaction
- Curtailed the power of the committee for Public Safety
- Closed the Jacobin Club
- Churches were reopened
- Economic restriction were lifted in favor of lasses faire policies
- August 1795 a new constitution is written
o They are afraid of another Robespierre so they set it up so that no one person is in power
o A more conservative republicanism
Directory
- Outlaw Paris commune
- Law of 22 Prairial were revoked
- People involved in org, terror were now attacked “White Terror”
- Inflation continues
- Rule by rich bourgeoisie liberals
- Self-indulgence – frivolous culture, salons return , wild fashions
- Political corruption
- Revival Catholicism
- 5-man executive committee (to avoid dictatorship)
- Tried to avoid the danger of a one-house legislature (have to be married or widowed to be on the Council of Elders (250 members)
- Council 500, initiates legislation
- All males over 21 who paid taxed voted
- This doesn’t go over well CHAOS (big surprise there)
- Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of Equals = communism
- Napoleon is able to stage a coup
- Directory lasts until 1799
...3,058 words later we are done with the French Revolution... Lovely
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