The French revolution collapse of the feudal systems and monarchies of 18th century Europe - Essay Example

?THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: COLLAPSE OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEMS AND MONARCHIES OF 18th CENTURY EUROPE Introduction The French Revolution which took place between 1789 to 1794, “marked the advent of modern society”1, both bourgeois and capitalist, in the history of France. The revolution brought about the national unity of the country through destruction of the privileged feudal orders considered as remnants of the Middle Ages. It is historically significant because the revolution successfully established a liberal democracy. Due to these double outcomes, in the perspective of world history, it can be considered as a classical model of a bourgeois revolution. However, the history of the French revolution is an integral part of European history. Earlier revolutions in other European countries such as Holland in the 16th century, and two revolutions in England in the 17th century, as well as the 18th century revolution in America paved the way for the French revolution. In all the European countries, the evolution ultimately resulted in the formation of modern society. With the different revolutions opposing the old economic and social system with its feudalism, the bourgeoise could benefit to varying degrees. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for the French Revolution and the collapse of the ancient monarchies and feudal systems of eighteenth century Europe. The Revolution began an era of change from the nineteenth century onwards, with the evolution of a democratic and equitable modern society. The Bourgeoisie Uprising: Cause of the French Revolution Lefebvre2 was a lifelong socialist, under the increasing influence of Marxism which assigns the bourgeoisie with the key role of representatives and beneficiaries of capitalism. According to this scholar, the rise of the bourgeoisie was the main cause of the French Revolution. After several centuries of increasing in numbers and wealth, the bourgeoisie class took control of power in France in 1789. Medieval society had been ruled over by a landed aristocracy, because the only form of wealth was land. However, by the eighteenth century, “economic power, personal abilities and confidence in the future had passed largely to the bourgeoisie”3 who were supported by a new form of wealth and a new ideology that was clearly defined. In 1789, the bourgeoisie overthrew the remaining aristocratic, feudal lords who had retained their dominance despite their economic decline. It was possible for the bourgeoisie to overthrow the aristocracy because the monarchy’s political authority had collapsed due to the lack of adequate funds. The reason for their inability to pay was that the aristocracy or privileged classes of nobility and clergy clung to their age-old privileges and immunity from paying. Moreover, they used their political power to prevent the king fom undertaking necessary reforms4. Following their ousting, the bourgeoisie established a regime based on the new distribution of economic power. Significantly, Lefebvre5 refers to four revolutionary movements in France between 1787 to 1789. First came the revolt of the aristocracy, which destroyed the monarchy. It was the culmination of an aristocratic resurgence which took place for over a century, in which the nobility had struggled to regain their pre-eminence in the social order, which Louis XIV had removed. In order to carrry out their revolution, the nobility had sought the support of the bourgeoisie; however the successful implementation of the movement provided the bourgeoisie with ideas to resolve their own problems. In the September of 1788, the parliament of Paris which formed the driving force behind the aristocratic reaction, required that the Estates-General promised by the government for 1789 should be constituted as they had been in 1614 at their last meeting. For the bourgeoisie this was not acceptable, since the forms of 1614 underscored aristocratic predominance. Under these circumstances the revolution of the bourgeoisie began; it was a class struggle opposing the aristocracy, and it continued until June 1789 when the bourgeois-dominated National Assembly was created. The goal the bourgeoisie sought was civil equality. Thus, they aimed to destroy the privileges of the nobility and the clergy and establish a regime where all men were equal, complying with the same laws, paying taxes on the same basis, provided with the same career opportunities, and owning property on the same terms6. These ideal emerged from the Englightement, the intellectual outcome of the rise of the bourgeoisie. The collapse of the monarchy in 1788 gave the bourgeoisie an opportunity that they had long been waiting for. But, similar to the aristocracy having marshalled bourgeoisie support to defeat the monarchy, the bourgeoisie needed other elements to achieve their own goals successfully. In July 1789, their precarious victory was threatened by nobles’ and the monarchy’s attempt to dissole the National Assembly. However, the coup was defeated “by an uprising of the Parisian populace, whose most spectacular achievement was the storming of the Bastille”7. This third revolution, the popular revolution, developed from hope that the new order would resolve the growing economic problems of urban workers. The same workers again took action when the Estates-General again appeared to be threatened by a royal - aristocratic counter coup. However, prior to that, the economic crisis of 1788-1789 had produced a fourth revolution, termed the peasant revolution, which was a nation-wide uprising. This was fuelled by panic regarding the safety of ripening crops, against the exacting of dues and labour services by aristocratic landlords. This movement was curtailed by the abolition in 1789, of the entire sytem of feudalism, which was the last bastion of the old aristocratic order8. Role of the Ordinary Working Folk of France in the Revolution Before 1789, there had been great occurrences of civil strife in Europe such as the Dutch Revolt of the sixteenth century, the English Civil War and the French Frondes of the 1640s and the 1650s, but the French Revolution was unprecedented in the social grievances that it was rooted in. Previous strifes had developed either from the distresses and protestations of the elite sections of society, or were based on religious grounds. The first social revolution in human history that involved mainly the masses was the French revolution9. Thus, in 1789, the ordinary working folk in urban and rural areas, joined forces to create a revolutionary upheaval. “Amidst the massive processes of change that had been unleashed”10 the working classes of France continued to struggle towards their own goals, becoming both participants and victims of the partitions, tensions, and explosive conflicts of revolutionary France. Real social grievances of every town and village in the kingdom fuelled the attempts to turn society upside down. The French Revolution heralded an era of social upheaval in the same way as the Protestant Reformation had initiated an age of religious wars that continued for over a century. In the long term, the greatest achievement of the Revolution was that it put a permanent end to the ruling classes and elites dismissing the common people of France or any other country, as mere subjects. This Revolution staked the demand that everyone should be a citizen in their own rights. However, in relation to the immediate political situation, the Revolution was a failure. A decade of external and internecine conflict costing Europe over a million casualties, ended with a downward slide into military dictatorship. This prolonged the external war for a further fifteen years, after which the throne was returned to the brother of the king who had been the ruler in 1789. During that time, the military expansionism of republican and imperial France created the greatest alarm, “but it was the engagement of the common people in revolutionary politics, and especially the sanguinary politics of the Terror”11 that caused the Revolution in the longer term to be perceived by many as one of the most disquieting periods of European history, particularly prior to the far greater excesses of the twentieth century. Through most of the past two hundred years has endured the stigmatization of the French Revolution, especially the involvement in it of the common people including peasants, artisans, domestic servants or wage-labourers. Eighteenth century politicians, and nineteenth century eminent historians and scholars among others strongly and contemptuously condemned the poorer classes for their uprising and revolt. Those who did not adopt this trend, idealised popular action as that of “the people”, viewing it from an abstract distance. This was reflected in the twentieth century Marxist approach which also idealised the Revolution by the common people in its own way. This perspective viewed the common people who rose in protest in 1789 not as demeanable people, but as a cross-section of diverse and politically informed people which included modern social classes such as wage-earners and property-owning peasants, and not only ‘artisans, sharecroppers or migrant labourers”12. Impacts of the French Revolution of 1789 on France’s Foreign Trade During much of the nineteenth century, the French Revolution of 1789 had given the republican idea a powerful impetus. Its notions of individualism, constitutionalism, patriotism, citizenship, and the nation-in-arms was immensely appealing to the European imagination during that time13. However, for republicans in “continental Europe fighting against the Holy Empire in the early nineteenth century, the cases of Corsica, Poland, and America as well as some of the more classical republican images”14 were inspiring images that were more practical and appealing. With other world powers dropping out of the campaign against revolutionary France, by the end of 1795 Austria was left almost alone on the Continent to face the increasing power of revolutionary France. The possibility of the geostrategic and sociopolitical threat to Europe by a French Revolution was a realistic one, and was not based on Austria’s specific strategic interests. The change in geopolitic fortunes in 1794 and 1795 left the Austrians as well a the British determined to stay in the conflict against the French, for different reasons. England, by using its supremacy at sea to dislocate continental commerce, could consequently destroy key continental industries as well. “Significantly, French industrial output collapsed during these years”15, and by 1800 could reach only sixty percent of its production before 1789. The foundations of this disaster were complex, but the key factor was French foreign trade being interrupted, not only due to British blockade, but also due to the closing of continental markets hostile to France. CONCLUSION This paper has highlighted the reasons for the French Revolution and the collapse of the ancient monarchies, feudal systems and clergies of 18th century Europe. The changes brought about by the revolution are defined by the evolution of modern society with an equitable social order. The bourgeoisie uprising as the cause of the French revolution, and the role of the ordinary working classes in France have been closely examined. The impacts of the French Revolution of 1789 on France’s trade with other countries has also been discussed. It is concluded that on the whole, the revolution brought about changes that lifted France from the Middle Ages into a more democratic world. REFERENCES Andress, David. French Revolution and the People. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. Best, Geoffrey. The Permanent Revolution: The French Revolution and its Legacy, 1789-1989. London: Fontana, 1988. Doyle, William. Origins of the French Revolution. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. Kates, Gary (Ed.). The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies. London: Routledge, 1998. Kennedy, Paul. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Chapter 3. New York: Vintage, 1987. Lefebvre, Georges. The Coming of the French Revolution. Translated and with a preface by R.R. Palmer. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005. Read More