Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes on the French Revolution

Prelude: Three Key Upheavals that Shaped the Modern World

• Section I of the textbook surveys three transformative events:
  • The French Revolution (1789-1815) – dismantled monarchy, birthed modern notions of citizenship.
  • The Russian Revolution (1917) – re-imagined society around economic equality and workers’ welfare; later curtailed political liberties.
  • The Rise of Nazism (1919-1945) – demonstrated how modern politics could descend into violent dictatorship, racism and genocide.
• Core ideas—liberty, freedom, equality—originated in late 18^{\text{th}}-century France and were later re-interpreted in anti-colonial movements across India, China, Africa and South America.

French Society on the Eve of Revolution (Old Regime)

• Monarchy & Empty Treasury
  • 1774 – Louis XVI (age 20, Bourbon dynasty) inherits a depleted treasury.
  • Costs: Versailles court, long wars, support for American Revolution (>(1 \text{ billion livres})), total debt >2 \text{ billion livres}.
  • Creditors now charge 10\% interest → spiralling budget devoted to debt-service.
• The Three Estates
  1. Clergy – tax-exempt, collect tithes (one-tenth of produce).
  2. Nobility – tax-exempt, enjoy feudal dues & forced labour from peasants.
  3. Third Estate – \approx 97\% population; alone pays direct taille & numerous indirect taxes (salt, tobacco, etc.).
  • Internal diversity:
    • Peasants & landless labour (≈90\% of population, but own <40\% land).
    • City workers & artisans.
    • Rising middle class: merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, officials (economically strong; politically excluded).
• Subsistence Crisis
  • Population growth: 23 \text{ million (1715)} \rightarrow 28 \text{ million (1789)} → food demand ↑.
  • Grain supply lags; bread prices soar while wages stagnate → widening rich–poor gap.
  • Droughts/hail ⇒ repeated subsistence crises.
• Intellectual Ferment
  • John Locke – \textit{Two Treatises of Government} refutes divine right.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau – \textit{Social Contract} ⇒ sovereignty resides in people.
  • Montesquieu – \textit{Spirit of the Laws} advocates separation of powers (legislative, executive, judiciary).
  • American Revolution (1776) supplies concrete republican model.
• Middle-class Aspirations
  • Believe in merit, not birth.
  • Salons, coffee-houses, pamphlets spread Enlightenment ideas; illiterate masses hear public readings.

Spark of Revolution (1789)

• Estates-General Convenes
  • 5 May 1789 – first meeting since 1614; Louis XVI seeks tax approval.
  • Voting tradition = one vote per estate → Third Estate (600 reps) demands one man, one vote; king refuses.
  • Third Estate walks out, forms National Assembly (20 June – Tennis Court Oath) led by Mirabeau & Abbé Sieyès.
• Storming of the Bastille
  • 14 July 1789 – Parisian crowd storms fortress-prison searching for ammunition; symbolically destroys absolutism.
  • Sparks urban riots (bread price) & rural Great Fear – peasants burn châteaux, manorial records; nobles flee (émigrés).
• Abolition of Feudalism
  • Night of 4 Aug 1789 – Assembly abolishes feudal dues, tithes; confiscates Church lands (≈2 \text{ billion livres}) → state assets.

France as a Constitutional Monarchy (1791)

• Constitution of 1791
  • Establishes separation of powers; king → executive veto; National Assembly (indirectly elected) → legislature; independent judiciary.
  • Voting tiers:
  • Active citizens – men \ge 25, tax ≥ 3 days’ wages (≈4 million).
  • Passive citizens – rest of men + all women (no vote).
  • Electors (50 000 wealthiest) choose 745-member Assembly.
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
  • Proclaims natural, inalienable rights: life, liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression.
  • Sovereignty rests in nation; law is general will; equality before law; freedom of speech/press; fair taxation.
  • Political symbolism: broken chains (liberty), fasces (unity/strength), Phrygian cap (freedom), eye in triangle (reason), tricolour flag.
• Critiques
  • Jean-Paul Marat warns laws serve rich; predicts further upheaval.

Radicalisation: Republic & Reign of Terror (1792-1794)

• External War & Internal Mobilisation
  • April 1792 – Assembly declares war on Austria & Prussia; volunteers sing La Marseillaise (now anthem).
  • Economic strain; food shortages; political clubs proliferate.
• Jacobins & Sans-Culottes
  • Jacobin Club – artisans, shopkeepers, wage-earners; leader Maximilien Robespierre.
  • Adopt long trousers + red cap → break with aristocratic knee-breeches (sans-culottes = “without culottes”).
• Overthrow of Monarchy
  • 10 Aug 1792 – Tuileries Palace stormed; king imprisoned.
  • Universal male suffrage (age ≥ 21); National Convention elected.
  • 21 Sep 1792 – monarchy abolished; France declared Republic.
  • 21 Jan 1793 – Louis XVI executed for treason; Marie Antoinette follows.
• Reign of Terror
  • Sept 1793 – July 1794; Robespierre’s Committee of Public Safety acts against “enemies”.
  • Guillotine (Dr Guillotin’s device) used widely.
  • Economic controls: price ceilings, grain requisition, rationing; compulsory whole-wheat pain d’égalité.
  • Civil religion: churches shut, “Citoyen/Citoyenne” replace titles.
  • July 1794 – Robespierre executed; Terror ends.

The Directory & Rise of Napoleon (1795-1815)

• Directory (1795-1799)
  • New constitution: two legislative councils + five-man executive (Directory) to prevent one-man rule.
  • Restricted franchise to property-owners; corruption, economic misery, wars persist.
  • Instability enables General Napoleon Bonaparte to stage coup (1799) → Consulate, then Emperor (1804).
• Napoleonic Impact
  • Centralised administration; Civil Code/Code Napoléon – legal equality, property rights, secular education, metric/decimal system.
  • Initially hailed as liberator; later viewed as occupier; defeated at Waterloo (1815).
  • Nonetheless, spread revolutionary ideals across Europe.

Women in the Revolution

• Everyday Reality
  • Third-estate women: seamstresses, laundresses, street vendors, domestic servants; lower wages than men; limited education.
  • Responsibilities: work + household chores + queuing for bread.
• Political Participation
  • 5 Oct 1789 – Women’s March to Versailles → bring royal family to Paris.
  • \approx 60 women’s clubs; most notable Society of Revolutionary & Republican Women.
  • Demanded suffrage, eligibility for office, equal pay.
• Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793)
  • Wrote Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen (1791); asserted equality, shared sovereignty, equal access to office.
  • Criticised Jacobins; guillotined for “treason”.
• Backlash & Long-Term Outcomes
  • 1793 – Women’s clubs banned; public life masculinised.
  • French women gain vote only in 1946; French example fuels global suffrage movements.

Abolition of Slavery in French Colonies

• Triangular Trade
  • French ports (Bordeaux, Nantes) → African coast (buy slaves) → Caribbean plantations (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Domingue) → sugar/coffee/indigo to Europe.
  • Voyage \approx 3 months; slaves branded & shackled; economic boom for port cities.
• Revolutionary Debate
  • 1794 – Convention abolishes slavery; framed as logical extension of “rights of man”.
  • 1802 – Napoleon reinstates slavery; economic interests prevail.
  • 1848 – Second Republic permanently abolishes slavery.
• Iconography
  • 1794 print shows tricolour banner “Rights of Man” & French woman “civilising” African and Amerindian figures—reveals paternalistic, Eurocentric attitude.

Revolution & Everyday Culture

• End of Censorship (1789)
  • Freedom of press ↔ rapid spread of newspapers, pamphlets, political cartoons; competing viewpoints vie for public opinion.
  • Plays, songs, festivals translate abstract ideals (liberty, justice) into popular language.
• Festivals & Symbols
  • Classical Greek/Roman imagery (columns, togas) evoke revered past.
  • Public festivals cultivate loyalty to republic through mass participation.

Chronology of Key Dates

• 1774 – Accession of Louis XVI.
• 1789 – Estates-General; National Assembly; Bastille stormed; rural revolts.
• 1791 – Constitution adopted; constitutional monarchy.
• 1792 – War with Austria/Prussia; monarchy suspended; republic declared.
• 1793 – Execution of king; start of Reign of Terror; slavery abolished in colonies.
• 1794 – Fall of Robespierre; end of Terror.
• 1795 – Directory established.
• 1799 – Napoleon’s coup d’état.
• 1804 – Napoleon crowns himself Emperor.
• 1815 – Defeat at Waterloo.

Legacy & Global Resonance

• Democratic Rights
  • Popular sovereignty, legal equality, secular citizenship, free press, abolition of feudalism, metric standardisation.
• Contradictions
  • Universal rights proclaimed yet limited by class, gender, race (slavery, women’s suffrage, colonised peoples).
• Inspiration Beyond Europe
  • Anti-colonial leaders (e.g., Tipu Sultan, Raja Rammohan Roy) adapt French ideas to struggles against imperial rule.
  • 19^{\text{th}} & 20^{\text{th}} century revolutions and constitutions worldwide trace lineage to 1789.

Key Terms & Definitions

• Livre – pre-1794 French currency.
• Tithe – 10\% tax to Church.
• Taille – direct state tax on Third Estate.
• Subsistence Crisis – extreme threat to basic livelihood.
• Sans-Culottes – urban radicals wearing long trousers.
• Guillotine – execution device; symbol of equality in death.
• Directory – five-member executive (1795-99).
• Emancipation – act of freeing (e.g., slaves).
• Suffrage – right to vote.

Ethical & Philosophical Reflections

• State Violence vs. Liberty
  • Desmoulins criticises Terror, warns of cyclical revenge.
  • Robespierre defends “swift, severe, inflexible” justice to preserve republic.
  • Ongoing debate: can freedom be safeguarded through coercion?
• Gender & Natural Order
  • Chaumette claims nature assigns domestic sphere to women; revolutionary women rebut using egalitarian logic.
• Universalism vs. Particular Interests
  • Slave trade, property qualifications, colonial expansion expose limits of universal rights rhetoric.

Formulae / Numerical Facts in LaTeX

• National debt after American war: > 2 \text{ billion livres}.
• Interest rate charged by lenders: 10\%.
• Population growth: 23 \text{ million} \rightarrow 28 \text{ million} (1715-1789).
• Bread price ↑ while wages stagnant ⇒ real wage ↓ (no precise number given but conceptual link).