Influence of the French Revolution

• The French Revolution of 1789 is a significant turning point in European history. It was the first significant popular rebellion against the ruler’s dictatorship.
• It gave rise to concepts of liberty, equality, and fraternity that reached beyond French borders and had an impact on all of Europe.
• The revolution had a profound impact on international history as well as the political, social, and economic lives of the populace.

Causes of French Revolution

Political

• France was a feudal civilization ruled by an absolute monarchy in the 18th century. The royal palace of Versailles was the home of the opulent Bourbon rulers. The state of France’s finances was appalling.
• After the several wars in which France had been engaged, the treasury was essentially empty. The political and financial issues in France could not be resolved by King Louis XVI. Princess of Austria and future queen Marie Antoinette was accused of wasting state funds. The government was despotic and corrupt.

Socio-Economic

• As unpleasant as France’s political system was its social structure. In French society, there were three estates or classes. The first estate and second estate, respectively, were composed of the privileged classes that included the clergy and aristocracy. 
• These two estates received numerous benefits from the government and were exempt from paying taxes.
• All-important offices in the French government were held exclusively by the nobles, who also led luxurious lives. The ordinary people made up the third estate. It was made up of workers, peasants, middle class residents, artisans, and agricultural laborers. 
• Even the wealthy middle class, which included shopkeepers, proprietors of factories, etc., fit into this category. The third estate was entirely responsible for paying the taxes. These taxpayers, however, lacked any political rights.
• The working class, farmers, and artisans all lived in appalling conditions. Long hours of labor and separate levies for the Crown, the clergy, and the nobility were required of the peasants. They hardly had enough money to eat after paying all these taxes. 
• The aristocracy and higher clergy, or the first two estates, enjoyed advantages that the rich middle class, who had to pay enormous taxes, found repugnant. The middle class, the working class, and the peasants who suffered under the social and economic system sought its reform.

Influence of Philosophers

The revolutionary concepts of liberty and equality proposed by French intellectuals like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu inspired the populace. Montesquieu advocated for the division of powers and criticized the idea of the Divine Right of Kings. In his work “Social Contract,” Rousseau declared that popular will was the source of sovereign authority.

Influence of the American Revolution

The American people’s victory in their struggle for independence inspired the French people to rebel against the nobility, the clergy, and the government’s abuse of them.

Immediate Cause of the Revolution

• The Government’s financial difficulties were the direct cause of the Revolution’s start. The country’s coffers had been depleted by the high cost of the troops during the Seven Years’ War.
• The American colonies’ freedom from Britain was also aided by France. The already enormous government debt increased as a result. The state was compelled to increase taxes in order to cover the cost of sustaining numerous government agencies, courts, universities, the army, etc.
• A tax on the aristocracy was suggested by several capable ministers. However, the aristocracy was unwilling to pay taxes. On May 5, 1789, Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General (the French Assembly) in an effort to get the funding he needed. The Estates-General used to conduct voting under the premise that each estate would have one vote.
• The Estates-General must conduct voting, the third estate demanded at this point (with every member having one vote). There were 300 members of the first and second estates and 600 members of the third estate. 
• The third estate left the Estates-General after Louis XVI rejected their proposition. A few weeks later, the National Assembly formally proclaimed itself to be the third estate. The National Assembly’s decision to begin work on a new constitution for France marked the end of absolute monarchy and the inauguration of democracy.

The Course of the French Revolution

• Outside of the National Assembly, the French populace had made the decision to rise up against injustice, motivated by the principles of liberty and equality. On July 14, 1789, a large crowd assembled in Paris’s streets and stormed the Bastille, the city’s main jail. They invaded the facility and freed the inmates. The Bastille, a representation of an oppressive monarchy, was demolished.
• A major turning point in the history of the French Revolution was the collapse of the Bastille. France celebrated Independence Day on July 14, 1789. The “Declaration of the Rights of Man” was adopted by the National Assembly on August 12, 1789. “Men are born and stay free and are equal in rights,” it proclaimed.
• By the end of 1791, the Constitution’s drafting was finished. The French monarchy was abolished in 1792, and France was then transformed into a republic that upheld the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. A temporary administration was established. In 1793, a radical political movement known as the Jacobins gained control of the executive branch.

Conclusion

Take the great French Revolution, Lenin remarked about French revolutions. It is said to be a major revolution for good reason.

In world history, the French Revolution in 1789 AD was a turning point. The French Revolution had an impact on the rest of the world as well as the socioeconomic and political life of France. The principles of the French Revolution—equality, freedom, democracy, sovereignty, secularism, and welfare state—remain influential today.