Though it may seem that the French Revolution was won at a price too high with a seeminglyshattered France being weaker and morally bankrupt, France was actually already heading in thisdirection due to its monarchy, politics, and crop failures. This seemed liked an excellent time to startthe revolution. And since France was going to end up in this situation anyway, the revolution came,and, in actuality, it cost them very little.
During the Old Regime it might be thought that Louis XVI and the people of France had amaster and servant relationship. This was not true. A master should treat his servants as he would hischildren, providing for material, educational and spiritual needs.(1) However, this was not the casebetween Louis and the French people. He was slow of thought, and slow of decision,(2) making himquite an ineffective ruler. In addition to that, the social elites (nobles) were ready to rule themselvesand felt that the king was not being responsive to their needs. They demanded that the State shouldbe reformed, that the ruler should be their agent, not their master.(3) This goes back to the idea thatdivine right is inaccurate and the laws should come from the people and the king should only be anexecuter of these laws. Separation of branches of government, thought relatively new, could alreadybe seen and working in the Americas. Therefore the nobles wanted to command this power forthemselves, they had no intention of involving the majority of the nation. However, this is just wherethe rest of France got the idea from.
Whether through action or inaction, the monarchy directly caused the French Revolution.Probably the most basic source of the revolution was bread prices. Peasants, which constitutedaround seventy to eighty percent of the population, mainly ate bread, and naturally became unhappywhen bread prices rose, and more likely to revolt if bread prices rose. This was due to the fact thatif the peasants are already hungry and may starve they are more likely to put their life on the line dueto the fact that they have less to lose.(4) Bad harvests in the years of 1787 and 1788 brought about foodshortages, raising food prices and unemployment. Poverty was also on the rise. The reason being thata new train of thought came into people's heads before they gave money to beggars, this being thatthey were encouraging them to be lazy and possibly to turn to crime.(5) These and other social realitiesand problems were just not being dealt with by the crown.
Money was also a large concern for the government. Despite the ever rising income, nearlyhalf of all money collected was used to pay the interest on debts. So even though the king did ask fornew taxes, it was not strictly greed but also from necessity. Parliament denied all of the king'sattempts to create new taxes because they felt that the money the king was already getting was beingwasted. The king's finance minister and controller general, Chalesde Calonne, wanted a new systemof government and called for the Assembly of Notables in 1787.(6) Unfortunately for him it collapsedand the government nearly did too. As a last resort, they had to call in the Estates-General. This wasthe first time they had been called to a session since 1614. The Estates-General consisted of threeestates. The first estate was the clergy, numbering three hundred. The second estate was the nobilitywhich numbered another three hundred. The final estate was the commons, which numbered sixhundred, they were given double as many seats because they represented a majority of the population.It was also unclear as to how they were going to vote, the old way of one vote per estate or by head.As bad as the former sounds, it may not have been quite so bad if the third estate had asked for anadditional vote, since normally any reform would be struck down by a two to one vote against theThird Estate. The latter would have worked wonders for a reform movement because a hand full ofnobles and clergy were indeed liberal, possibly even averting a bloody revolution. Nevertheless, noneof that happened, but the Estates-General were looking for a partial reform. All this practicallyadmitted that the king needed the permission of the nation to run the country.
The third estate was looking for a reform. The problems they wanted solved were in thecahiefs de doleances, or, state grievances. They eventually evolved the document into a constitutionof their own. This was the basis for the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the(7) Butthis was not the only group of patriots, "Lovers of Liberty," as liberal nobles and bourgeoisie calledthemselves, were part of the Society of Thirty(8) which met in Parisian salons.(9) They were alsoinfluenced by the revolution but mainly the enlightment.(10) The third estate therein voted itself theNational Assembly, though not without reason. Abbe Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, an obscure priest,offered an explanation saying, "First, What is the Third Estate? Everything. Second, What has it beenheretofore in the political order? Nothing. Third, What does it demand? To become somethingtherein."(11) Having done this, on June twentieth, the Third Estate found its meeting place locked. Theythen reconvened in a nearby tennis court and took the Tennis Court Oath, "We solemnly swear neverto separate, and to assemble wherever circumstances shall require, until the constitution of thekingdom is established, and founded on a solemn basis."(12) It was clear that this was not going to belet go of easily.
The king, of course, sided with the first estate (clergy) and threatened to dissolve the Estates-General, and therefore the National Assembly, by force. The king's threats were quickly nullified bymany peasant uprisings. The most famous of these is the storming of the Bastille. The Bastille notonly overshadowed the capital, but it darkened the hearts of men, for it was a symbol of tyranny.What was important, about this building, was the history behind it, with the thousands of dishonoredgraves and its voice of destruction. Nobles and commons alike demand that it should be leveled withthe ground as a sign that would be understood by all.(13) After getting weapons and continuouslystorming the Bastille about one hundred and thirty-seven men from the rebellion had fallen while onlyone man was hurt on the inside of the Bastille. Ironically, the Bastille had to surrender for numerousreasons. They were not supplied well, the king was not sending reenforcements and the killing of onehundred or one thousand rioters would not make a difference. If anything, they would get more angryat the loss of their comrades.(14) This and a few other small victories were considered to have savedthe National Assembly. In response to this atrocity to the monarchy, the king established the Marquisde Lafayette, which could be compared to a national guard. In response to that action, more citizens'militias were made. Despite this, France was now open to attack by other European countries.(15)
The destruction of the Old Regime was now inevitable. The National Assembly drew up a newconstitution completely abolishing relics of feudalism and revoking all aristocratic privileges. Theyeven removed all fiscal privileges of nobles, clergy, towns, and provinces.(16) On August 26th theyadapted the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen," which was mainly based off theEnlightment ideals and the American Constitution. The most important aspects were: having thefreedom of press, freedom of speech, and outlawing away with arbitrary arrests. Many thousands ofwomen ended up marching on Versailles, though the women were unarmed, the king's armies refusedto fire upon women wanting bread.(17) This group forced the king and his family back to Paris,(18) ineffect making the king accept the constitution and move to Paris. Had this not happened, surely,France would have been in a worse state than it was after the revolution.
The church was considered part of the Old Regime and therefore had to be taken care of.Much of its land was repossessed by the state and a new civil constitution for the clergy took effect.This was one of the few real mistakes that the New Regime made. This action alienated more peoplethan it gained. The clergy and bishops were now elected by the people and were paid by the state.They were also required to take an oath of allegiance to the civil constitution. The Pope fearing thathis power was being challenged forbade it. Despite this, about fifty four percent of the clergy tookthe oath.(19) Unfortunately for the revolution, the church now became a base for the counterrevolution.This in turn made the National Assembly consider a limited constitutional monarchy, makingeverything that the king did subject to review by the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assemblyconsisted of 745 people serving two year terms through an indirect national election. Granted therewere restrictions as to who could vote and who could run, but it was a step in the right directiontoward democracy. Consequently, France was divided into eighty-three departments all roughly equalin size and population.
The monarchy started to collapse when the king and his family tried to leave the county. Theywere caught at the boarder in Varennes by a guardsman who recognized the king from the pictureson French currency.(20) The National Assembly completely ignored this and started to take steps so thatthey could soon declare themselves a republic. The newly formed Legislative Assembly met for thefirst time in October of 1791. The National Assembly immediately passed a provision thatrepresentatives could not be reelected in the hopes that fresh blood would keep things moving. Thelife blood of this assembly was mainly lawyers and wealthy land owners.
With this overthrow of the government, other monarchies in Europe started to get worriedthat France would become an example and not an exception. Emperor Leopold II of Austria and KingFrederick William II of Prussia issued the Declaration of Pillnitz to help the French monarchy, bywhich France was threatened with the combined action of all Europe nations unless the king wasrestored to a position worthy of kings.(21) This was sure to fail for many reasons though. First, it reliedon the unanimous effort of the European nations, Britain was sure not to accept because there wasa large opportunity for profit from the French troubles.(22) Second, the various rulers did not trust eachother, no armies would be combined because most rulers would fear of an attack from a "friendly"country. Third, France felt threatened by this and declared war on Austria. Not only this, but for fearthe monarchy would return to power, the king was taken captive by a mob. The Legislative Assemblywas forced to call a Nation Convention. Here universal male suffrage was granted and power waspassed from the assembly to the Paris Commune.(23) Their members were known as the Sans-Culottes.
Lead by Georges Danton, the Sans-Culottes wanted to incur revenge on those who hadhelped the king. This lead to mass arrests and massacres, the beginning of the Reign of terror, butmore importantly, because of the death of their friends and citizens alike, blood was called for fromthe king.(24) Even though the call for punishment was nearly unanimous, the call for death was not.Only by a narrow margin, in the Nation Convention, was the king voted to be executed, and onJanuary 21, 1793, Louis XVI, the last king of France, was executed. The commune, the centralgovernment in Paris, invaded the National Convention, and killed all who voted for the king to live.To prevent the complete fall of the National Convention, The Committee of Public Safety, led byDanton, who was quickly killed by Robespierre who succeeded him, was created. Thus continuingthe Reign of Terror, where anyone that the Committee of Public Safety did not like was executed byguillotine. When that proved too slow, they started using cannons to execute the accused. The Reignof Terror was justified by saying that it was the general will and that agents of enemies of the statemust be eliminated.(25)
1..
[8]ページ先頭
©2009-2026 Movatter.jp
