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By 1789, the peasantry was enraged, with many questioning the authority of their monarch, Louis XVI. Several other factors contributed to the start of the French Revolution. The Age of Enlightenment, for example, was transforming Europe in the decades preceding the French Revolution. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in which famous thinkers and philosophers challenged some of society’s basic foundations, such as the role of the government, basic human nature, sources of authority, and ideas centred on liberty. These new ideas cause people in France to question Louis XVI’s role and authority, and inspire French commoners to work to depose their absolute monarch.
The revolution itself unfolded as a series of significant events that demonstrated the rise of the peasant class and the fall of the French monarchy. The revolution began in 1789, when Louis XVI convened the Estates-General of 1789, a meeting of representatives from each of the three estates. Louis XVI convened the meeting in an attempt to resolve the country’s economic crisis at the time. Unfortunately, the three estates could not agree on how to vote during the Estates-General meeting, and the meeting was called off.
Angered by the Estates-inaction General’s and dissatisfied with their position in French society, many third estate representatives left and met to take the Tennis Court Oath. The third estate established the National Assembly, the new revolutionary government, and pledged “not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established.”
French Revolution
The French Revolution then took a violent turn when Parisians stormed the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison fortress in Paris used by the French monarchy to store weapons and imprison enemies of the state. Many saw the Bastille as a symbol of the king’s absolute power. On July 14, 1789, a Paris mob stormed the Bastille and demolished it with their hands, brick by brick. Many historians consider the storming of the Bastille to be the “spark” of the French Revolution because it saw the third estate citizens successfully challenge the authority of Louis XVI. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was then adopted by the National Assembly on August 26th, 1789. The Declaration was written by Marquis de Lafeyette, a French military officer who fought in the American Revolution and was inspired by the ideals of liberty expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was critical to the French Revolution because it directly challenged Louis XVI’s authority. For example, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen outlines a number of individual rights that are legally protected. Many historians today regard the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen as an important document in both the history of the French Revolution and the history of democracy and individual rights throughout the world. The next major event of the French Revolution saw a mob of Parisian women march to the Palace of Versailles in order to force the royal family to return to Paris. Louis XVI and his family had fled Paris for Versailles earlier in the revolution. On October 5, 1789, a group of working-class women marched from Paris to Versailles to confront King Louis XVI. When the women arrived, they killed several of the king’s guards and forced the royal family to return to Paris with them. From this point forward, the revolutionaries and citizens of France effectively held Louis XVI and his family as prisoners.
The Legacy of the French Revolution
People who had been colonised reinvented the concept of liberation from servitude.
These concepts began to spread from France to the rest of Europe in the nineteenth century.
Feudal systems were eliminated.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy & Tippu Sultan in India responded to the ideals arising from the French Revolution.
The French Revolution laid the foundation for some of the most significant democratic rights that we now take for granted, including:
We take advantage of the right to vote, which was established during this revolution.
Another significant right that we have is the right to our property, which is a result of this revolution.
Idea of Liberty
Libertarians defined liberty in the 18th century as being free from oppression, especially oppression by the government.
Letters of cachet, or the sealed orders which was signed by the king, were the most obvious tools of oppression in the Ancien Régime. These letters served a variety of purposes, but their most popular application was to hold and imprison someone without a trial or other due process rights.
Equality
Equal rights were another principle that guided the French Revolution. Especially in terms of taxation and political participation, the Ancient Régime’s social structure was unequal and unfair.
The Third Estate’s residents want equality. However, some people preferred a more constrained version of equality than others. The Second Estate nobles and the emerging bourgeoisie sought political and social equality. They supported a meritocracy, a society in which rank and prestige were determined by aptitude and success rather than privilege and birthright.
Fraternity
Fraternity implied that the people of the country were united in a common cause. It integrated patriotism with compassion and care for one’s fellow citizens.
Conclusion
When Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette returned to Paris, they were imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace while revolutionaries transformed the country. The National Assembly had passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which had limited Louis XVI’s authority. Louis XVI and his family attempted to flee the country as their power dwindled and they feared the revolutionaries’ continued growth.
