The time of the French Revolution

Mondo History Updated on 2024-01-31

The outbreak of the French Revolution is included in its national day: July 14.

The French Revolution, which broke out on July 14, 1789, was a grand and complex bourgeois revolution that lasted a long time. The usual end point is July 24, 1794, when the "Thermidorian Coup" took place, and the Jacobins**, the Thermidorian faction established the big bourgeois regime.

The French Revolution is of great significance to the history of France, as it was a historical event that ended feudal rule and began the development of capitalism.

Before the French Revolution, the Bourbons had ruled France for centuries. By the time of Louis XVI, the monarchy was brutal and hierarchical.

The inhabitants of the country were divided into three classes, with the clergy being the first;The feudal aristocracy was second-class;The bourgeoisie, the workers, the peasants, and the ordinary inhabitants of the cities are the third class.

The third class of people supports the above two classes and plays the role of the country's tax source. At this time, French capitalist industry and commerce were at the leading level compared with the rest of Europe, so the contradiction between the advanced productive forces and the backward social system first occurred in France.

The economic crisis that began in 1787 was the social environment in which the revolution was about to break out. Louis XVI, short of money, convened a ** meeting. This meeting became the trigger for the outbreak of the Revolution. The desire of the Third Estate, represented by the bourgeoisie, to carry out political reforms and share political power, while the king only wanted to solve the financial problems, led to a qualitative change and conflict in the conference - the deputies of the Third Estate and the liberal aristocracy pointed the spearhead of the struggle against the monarchy.

The council opened on May 5, 1789, and lasted until July, when the delegates of the Third Estate announced their withdrawal and a separate Constituent Assembly was formed, which angered Louis XVI and he mobilized his army to arrest the representatives of the Third Estate.

When the people of Paris learned of the king's actions, they were indignant and began a street uprising. On 14 July, the Bastille was stormed by the rebels, marking the beginning of the French Revolution.

Why is this Bastille so important?Because it represents the authority of the royal family. This fortress-like structure was built in 1382 to ward off the British, on the outskirts of Paris. Over the centuries, as the city expanded, it became an urban building and played an important role: the prison.

This fortress was tall and terrifying, and it imprisoned many people who opposed the king, the nobility and their ruling system, and became a symbol of feudalism. After a day of fierce fighting, the rebels stormed the Bastille. As soon as the news spread, people all over France revolted and challenged the feudal regime.

This day was later designated as a national day in France.

After the outbreak of the Revolution, France did not immediately abolish the monarchy, and the political situation was full of twists and turns. One of the most famous events was the promulgation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man on August 26, 1789, which continues to have an impact on the world today.

From 1791 to 1794, the political forces in France were divided into several factions, the monarch and the aristocracy, the constitutional monarchy, the Jacobins, the Girondists, and the feudal monarchs of various European countries. In August 1792, the Paris Volunteers defeated the 100,000 Austro-Prussian forces that had come to intervene in the French Revolution and launched a second armed uprising that overthrew the monarchy. The French Republic, established on September 22 of that year, is historically known as the First Republic.

On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was guillotined, ending more than a thousand years of feudal rule in France.

Subsequently, the course of the French Revolution went through a series of twists and turns, such as the Girondists coming to power, the invasion of the anti-French coalition, the Jacobins coming to power, the Thermidorian coming to power, and the birth of Napoleon. These details, if spread out, can be written into a thick book. But on the whole, by the time of the Thermidorian coup, the climax of the revolution had basically passed, so it was usually regarded as a turning point in the French bourgeois revolution.

The "Thermidorian Coup" took place in 1794. After the overthrow of the Girondins, the Jacobins in power began to implement the Reign of Terror, and there were three factions within themselves, represented by Ebel, Danton, and Robespierre, each with different ideas of domination. These three factions fought each other and were eventually overthrown by the Thermidorian party, the representatives of the big bourgeoisie. In the course of the struggle, all the main figures of the above-mentioned factions were guillotined.

The Girondists and Jacobins were born out of the Jacobin Club, which was founded in the early days of the Revolution. They all ended up on the road of the French Revolution, which also reflected the chaotic nature of the early bourgeois revolution: without a clear revolutionary theory to guide them, they could only claim their claims through the guillotine.

The French Revolution, which began in July 1789, was a bourgeois-democratic revolution. One of its major features is that the masses of the people have played an irreplaceable role in the revolutionary process.

Its greatest revolutionary achievement was the end of feudal rule in France and the direct shaking of the feudal system in Europe. This gave a strong impetus to the bourgeois revolutions in Europe and to the national liberation movements in Latin America.

French Revolution Network**.

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