Revolutionary Paris in 1792 - Essay Example

? Paris in 1789 The year 1792, was for a historic one for Paris and in many ways, for the world. It inaugurated a kind of violent political protest that had never before been unleashed on structures of political authority. Apart from providing citizens of a state a method to protest, the events that occurred in Paris in the year of 1792 also proved the power of the emergent bourgeoisie in Europe. The rise of the bourgeoisie as the dominant class for ages to come was signaled by the events that occurred in Paris in 1792. These events formed a part of the greater movement that we know as the French Revolution. This movement and the events of the first year of the revolution also gave to mankind a slogan that has been used since then for the championing of equality among people- Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The events of this year thus, also heralded a new form of governance, complete democracy as the major form of governance. Even though democracy was followed in varying degrees in many parts of Europe, it was the French Revolution that gave the impetus for its establishment as the sole form of government acceptable to the people of a nation. As is the case with any historic event, the actual event is preceded by a build up consisting of mounting tensions, resentment and dissatisfaction on the part of certain communities. The involvement of the French government in the American Revolution and the huge expenditure that this interference had cost had created widespread dissatisfaction among the middle classes of France, who felt that this expenditure was needless and could have been avoided, had the government been more astute in the evaluation of the situation. The refusal of the nobility to have helped out the government had meant that an unfair share of the taxes required for the expenses were extorted out of the bourgeoisie. This bred a lot of resentment amongst them, not only against the monarch, Louis XVI, but also against the nobility of France. France’s unsuccessful attempts to defeat England in war had also placed a heavy burden upon the exchequer that fell largely upon the French bourgeoisie whose standards of living dipped drastically. The constitution of the National assembly, a body of people who were picked out of the middle classes was an important development during the year of 1792. This led to an understanding on the part of both the king and the bourgeoisie of the power of a collective. Michael David Sibalis remarks upon this understanding of the power of the collective as an outcome of the class-consciousness that had seeped into the minds of the middle classes of France, as is seen in the emergence of “mutual aid societies” in Paris before 1789. These societies enabled the mobilization of the masses during the constitution of middle class citizens during the creation of the National Assembly that was created for the purpose of the creation of a national constitution for France that would invest the bourgeoisie with more powers that it had till then. This constitution of the National Assembly represents, for Sibalis, an attempt on the part of the Parisian middle classes to “provide themselves with some minimal economic security through their own efforts” (http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/1/1.extract). Many of these efforts were frustrated by later events of the Revolution but the events of 1789 displayed a passion and fervor on the part of the Parisian middle classes to rise above their petty divisions and fight for the causes of equality that the French Revolution stands for, even today. The fight was also against what Barry M. Shapiro refers to as an “irrational and inhumane judicial system” (Barry M. Shapiro, Revolutionary Justice in Paris, 1789-1790, ix) that refused to treat every subject of the state equally. The embodiment of this passion and fervor and one of the turning points of the revolution, according to historians like Eric Hobsbawm, was the storming of the Bastille on the morning of the fourteenth of July in 1789 (Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848). Members of the disgruntled regiments of the army joined in along with the other rioters who sought to storm the Bastille for the ammunition that was stored in it, rather than for any other cause. An increase in the protection offered to the Bastille only enraged the people who sought to enter it as a symbol of their protest and as an effective method of voicing their strength. It was also intended as a warning to the higher powers of Paris. The demand for a constitutional monarchy that would lead to the formation of a republic had gained momentum in Paris and the middle classes saw in this idea the promise of a better future. The storming of the Bastille assumes greater implications once one takes these factors of the storming into regard. The storming of the battle, the, becomes a symbolic attack on the tyranny that the nobles and the king practised upon the citizens of France. As Richard E. Burton puts it, the Bastille formed a “nexus of fears and phobias whose hold over the eighteenth century Parisian mind is not to be doubted” (D.E. Richard Burton, Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945, 27). It is this tenacious hold that the act of the storming of the Bastille sought to loosen, consciously or unconsciously. Paris being the capital of the country, not only was aware of the nature of the exploitation that was happening, but Parisians were also the first to be affected by the mismanagement of the economy. They possessed the ability, due to their proximity to the centres of power, to analyse and understand the causes of the miserable conditions of their existence, as they existed in 1789. These conditions reached a peak when the Bastille was stormed. This action in itself, shorn of it symbolic significance, appears a trivial one since there weren’t any important people in the Bastille who could have been harmed. As a prison of the French government, however, the Bastille had turned into a symbol of the tyranny that caused great misery to the lives of the French people. The storming of the Bastille thus reinforced in the minds of the French middle classes the idea that the monarchy and its institutions were not invincible. It reiterated to the monarch and his nobles the seriousness of the situation which escalated and then went out of their control. The storming of the Bastille and the constitution of the National Assembly finally led to a change in the way in which the country was run. The adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was crucial to the continuation of the movement. The last article of the Declaration was adopted by August 1789. This declaration, apart from providing an ideological framework to the later years of revolutionary activity, also strengthened the hold that the bourgeoisie had over Paris. The adoption of the articles of the Declaration also meant that the status of the different classes of people of France was being brought to a level. This was, if nothing, an attempt to establish an egalitarian society. It also enabled in the strengthening of views that gave more rights to women and enabled them to take a more active part in the later years of the revolution. The partial success of the revolution owed greatly to the contributions of the women of Paris, who in the first year of the Revolution itself, proved their worth. Proof of this contribution lies in the Women’s March on Versailles. This march began on the fifth of October in 1789. The main reason that was attributed to taking out the march was the high and soaring prices of bread in France. This was a great impediment to the smooth conduct of life for the women of Paris. While problems regarding the management of the kitchen were directly involved in the fluctuations of the prices of bread, it does not take away from the significance of the march that helped to rally different sections of the society against the tyrannical rule of the monarchy. It also points to the awareness that women had regarding the issues of politics that they were considered to not have much knowledge of, in the eighteenth century. The march thus, also was significant in breaking conventional stereotypes regarding women that prevailed during the eighteenth century. As Darline Gay Levy, remarks, the political assertion of women occurred in a significant context-“economic problems threatening their security dovetailed with power struggles and radical changes in authority” (Darline Gay Levy, Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795, 4). The economic and the political combined in 1789 for the women of Paris who then took to the streets to voice their rage, leading to the revolution gaining further momentum. The situation in Paris in 1789 was nothing short of explosive. Even though there were a lot of social forces responsible for the events that took place in that year, the year in itself is significant for the large number of historic events that took place in a single year. The events that took place in Paris in that year changed the politics of the world forever. Works Cited Eric Hobsbawm. The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848. New York: Abacus, 2003. D.E. Richard Burton. Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945. New York: Cornell UP, 2001. p 27 Darline Gay Levy. Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795. Illinois: Illini, 1980. p 4 Barry M. Shapiro. Revolutionary Justice in Paris, 1789-1790. New York: Cambridge UP. 1993. p ix Michael David Sibalis. “The Mutual Aid Societies of Paris, 1789–1848”. Oxford Journals. http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/1/1.extract (accessed on 14th November, 2011) Endnotes Eric Hobsbawm. The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848. New York: Abacus, 2003. Print. D.E. Richard Burton. Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945. New York: Cornell UP, 2001. Print. p 27 Darline Gay Levy. Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795. Illinois: Illini, 1980. Print. p 4 Barry M. Shapiro. Revolutionary Justice in Paris, 1789-1790. New York: Cambridge UP. 1993. Print. p ix Michael David Sibalis. “The Mutual Aid Societies of Paris, 1789–1848”. Oxford Journals. http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/1/1.extract (accessed on 14th November, 2011) Bibliography Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848. New York: Abacus, 2003. Levy, Darline Gay. Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795. Illinois: Illini, 1980. Shapiro, Barry M. Revolutionary Justice in Paris, 1789-1790. New York: Cambridge UP. 1993. Sibalis, Michael David. “The Mutual Aid Societies of Paris, 1789–1848”. Oxford Journals. (accessed on 14th November, 2011) Read More