The French Revolution - Essay Example

The French Revolution Introduction The French Revolution that occurred between the years 1789 and 1799 was first thought as a struggle amongst classes in line with Marxist thinking, but there were other underlying issues that led to its emergence. Key amongst them is the fact that there was popular antipathy against the privileges and opulence exhibited by the aristocrats and the church amidst the biting economic crisis occasioned by wars and poor harvest of crops. During the French Revolution, there was a marked decline of the monarchies that had exercised political power as well as the powerful church mostly the Catholic Church and the uptake of democracy and nationalism. However, there is much agreement that the causes of the French Revolution was partly because the middle class ascended within the society during the Ancien Regime and became more entrenched in 1789 when the bourgeoisie attained political power. For instance, Furret disputes the fact that the French Revolution was caused by Marxist ideologies but argues that it was driven by political aims and the dissatisfaction of the populace on their social conditions. While tracing the Terror to the fall of Bastille, Furret argues that the French Revolution marked the beginning of liberal democracy in France as opposed to socialism and failed to deliver the objectives of the war ruling class. The terror that had been meted on the citizens of France and the places it controlled or administered is what eventually ended the French Revolution.1 The French Revolution Successive French governments from that of the Ancien Regime of the 1780s to the Bourbon Restoration carried out between the periods 1815 to 1830 endeavored to promote domestic industry especially the textile industry. However, this industry was affected in one way or the other through trade policy and the fight to have total control of the work place and the workers who provided the labor.2 By the 1830s, the means of production in the textile industry in France had become mechanized just as in Britain though there was a slight delay in the mechanization of the industries. This shows that despite the adverse effects of the French Revolution, the citizens still devised ways of promoting industrialization through the worker power. Therefore, it can be concluded that the industrialization of France was based mainly on the power of the workers and the fear of a rebellion considering the effects of the French Revolution as opposed to Britain, which industrialized because of liberal industrial policies. The implication of this is that while the British industrialists counted on the government to reign in on the workers, the French industrialists never relied on the government to do so as their only motivation was the fear of a rebellion styled on the French Revolution. The wars that France had fought also depicted the struggle of nations against nations and give an insight of how the resources in France and its satellite states were used for the purposes of war. The French Revolution introduced a universal draft that made it possible to raise personnel for an army that would be involved in wars.3 Napoleon made better use of his troops and the resources within their disposal as well as strategy and tactics as compared to his opponents. He also made few mistakes and took advantage of the errors committed by the opposing armies through a proper analysis of the position and movement of the adversary to strategize on attacks. From this work, we can conclude that the period of the French Revolution led to innovations in mobilizing people, the national resources and support that would help in the warfare such as the First World War. The year 1789 had experienced enhanced participation of the French citizens in politics as opposed to the initial case where citizens only participated in societal affairs and this caused a revolution in the political culture of the nation. This could be seen through the increased participation of the citizens especially the men in the political affairs of cities and towns such as Paris and other provincial towns and municipalities.4 Women also participated to a smaller extent in sectional assemblies or through political clubs as well as the insurrectionary committees motivated by their desire to protect their livelihoods and way of life. The justification for this was that the contemporaries saw that the declarations of sovereignty and arbitrary authority by the deputies stationed at Versailles would not achieve anything without the participation of workers throughout the country. They therefore formed a political assembly that was more radical in nature as opposed to the cohesion that had hitherto been experienced in the paternal societies. This led to democratic elections during the French Revolution that also involved adult males to participate in the elections notwithstanding their income-giving rise to municipalities consisting of junior professionals, merchants and artisans that exercised political responsibility in the nation. Stone while writing in Adkins’s "Reconsidering Political Experience: New Trends in Interpretations of the French Revolution" argues that the French Revolution started as a result of the geopolitical pressures of the eighteenth century states and warfare by European nations as well as the changing interaction between the domestic and foreign affairs.5 To him, the Revolution was part of a structural process meant to redefine and perfect the state power of the French government to assert itself within Europe. This means that according to Stone, the Revolution and the accompanying terror was caused by the pressures of the state and the vagaries of war which prompted the state to try to wield its power. On the other hand Hanson while also writing in Adkins’s "Reconsidering Political Experience: New Trends in Interpretations of the French Revolution" believes that the cause of the French Revolution at the national level was due to the political struggles over sovereignty as fought at the lower levels of government that showed the differences in political ideologies in the society. He therefore argues that the rebellion that brought together the politics of the local levels and the national levels was about the struggle for political power amongst the radicals and the moderates. Both therefore agree that the experiences in the social and political circles are the drivers of decisions and act as historical agents.6 Hanson therefore argues that rhetoric and ideology are important in the articulation of political positions as shown in the language of disease that was used by the Jacobins as a rationale for the terror and oppression used to fight federalism. After the loss of face in European geopolitics occasioned by defeat in the Seven Years’ War, the French state political elite attempted to restore their prestige and power to participate in continental matters. Nygaard argues that the French Revolution of 1789 was simply not a bourgeois revolution as there were other underlying issues that affected the French society as it was also affected by matters of international relations rather than the national opposition to the capitalist society.7 The inability of the French monarchy to effect these much needed reforms for change in the political, social and economic matters meant that it had failed the desires of the political elite and it would therefore fall. Stone therefore states that the major cause for the commencement of the French Revolution was due to the failure by the monarchy to put in effort that would make France reclaim its position in the geopolitics of Europe. Further, the reversal of the victories that the French military had achieved in 1793 made the Revolution become more radical. The clash between the Montagnards and the Girondins, the Terror and the revolt involving the federalists revolt came about due to the fact that the ruling Jacobins centralized the administrative authority to go to war and other instruments of power. Further, there was a larger impact of the violence experienced during the French Revolution and the inherent fear amongst the institutions that were created as a result of the liberal struggle for democracy. The regimes that came after 1795 attempted to restore peace in the nation, which had undergone problems associated with Catholicism, war, royalism and Jacobinism through measures that had mixed fortunes of successes and failures.8 These serious challenges made it difficult to end the conflicts ravaging the nation and therefore a strategy had to be devised in order to make end the violence and repression as well as get justice. After the violence and Terror of 1793-1794, the regime that took office under the Constitution of the Year III went down partly due to its ideals that did not find favor with the citizens. This regime failed to appreciate the fact that the political class that owned the property that was its own creation had began associating with violent sentiments while at the same time overlooking the violence perpetrated by others who participated in the politics of the time. Similarly, the courts that had been created under the regime that allowed trials by juries and protections for the defenses could not help in the repression of the political violence that was experienced. Further, violence became the key resort whenever factions or individuals disagreed and this led to the destruction of the ties that had brought together the society. In such a scenario, it was therefore impossible to come up with a liberal constitution that had checks and balances or even an assembly of elected officials to carry out administration and judicial duties. Therefore, this regime failed to achieve its desire to democratize as it became authoritarian in that it considered the security of the military and internal order higher than other values that should hold a particular society. Through this liberal authoritarianism, these forces that were majorly repressive brought a larger population of the French citizens to support the rule of law and support the state in whatever it undertakes. The need to police the community made the people think about the safety of their communities and this could only be guaranteed effectively by the state. In summary, Keefe argues that between the years 1795 and 1802, the need to protect the principles that underpinned democracy in the constitution was least important as compared to the need to ensure the safety of the public in France. The regime christened Directory had intended that the rule of law and its acceptance by the citizens would guarantee an end to violence but this was not to be as the violence continued. However, there is still debate as to when the Revolution actually ended as scholars differ on whether it is when Napoleon was made the First Consul. Brown argues that revolutions can only end when the regime that comes after the revolution is structurally secure and does not face the threat of being replaces. According to Brown, the war therefore ended in 1802 when the new government was recognized by the political elite which was deemed stable and under control at the time. On 22 August of the year 1795, a National Convention made up of mostly the Girondins who approved a new constitution that had a legislature composed of two houses while a Directory made up of five members appointed by the parliament exercised the executive power. Later in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup and abolished the Directory appointing himself as the absolute leader and marking the end of the French Revolution and the dominance of France in European continental affairs. Conclusion The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was majorly about the suppression of the feudal system that had existed in France at that time and the empowerment of individual citizens within France and the surrounding areas. This is because the French government under the leadership of Louis XVI as well as other European powers has prepared for the aftermath of the Revolution which did away with the monarchy in France and most parts of Europe. After the war, there were marked changes in France, which were either accepted or rejected or contested, but it agrees that it greatly liberated the citizens who could now participate in the democratic process of the nation. It also abolished the privileges that had been enjoyed by the monarchy and the aristocrats and established a simple and life of equality. Bibliography Adkins, G. Matthew. "Reconsidering Political Experience: New Trends in Interpretations of the French Revolution". Canadian Journal of History. 2004. 39 (2): 325-330. P. 325 Furet, François. Interpreting the French Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1981. Gallaher, John G. "The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792-1815 (review)". The Journal of Military History. 2007.71 (2): 525-526. Hanson, Paul R. Contesting the French Revolution. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Keefe, T. M. 1976 "Ending the French Revolution: Violence, Justice, and Repression from the Terror to Napoleon." Choice 44.11 (2007): Nygaard, Bertel. 2007. "The Meanings of “Bourgeois Revolution”: Conceptualizing the French Revolution". Science & Society. 71 (2): 146-172. Nygaard, B. "Jeff Horn, The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1830". Science & Society 73.3 (2009): 433-5 Read More