Slogans of the revolution in France. French Revolution

Almost all nations have had revolutions in history. But today we will talk about the French Revolution, which began to be called the Great.

The largest transformation of the social and political system of France, which led to the destruction of the absolute monarchy and the proclamation of the First French Republic.

We will tell you about the Great French Revolution from various sources.

Source I – Wikipedia

Reasons for the revolution

The beginning of the revolution was the capture of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and historians consider the end to be November 9, 1799 (the coup of the 18th Brumaire).

France in the 18th century was an absolute monarchy, based on bureaucratic centralization and regular army. The socio-economic and political regime that existed in the country was formed as a result of complex compromises developed during a long political confrontation and civil wars XIV-XVI centuries One of these compromises existed between royal power and privileged classes - for the renunciation of political rights, state power protected the social privileges of these two classes with all the means at its disposal.

Another compromise existed in relation to the peasantry - during a long series of peasant wars in the 14th-16th centuries. peasants achieved the abolition of the overwhelming majority of cash taxes and the transition to natural relations in agriculture. The third compromise existed in relation to the bourgeoisie (which at that time was the middle class, in whose interests the government also did a lot, maintaining a number of privileges of the bourgeoisie in relation to the bulk of the population (the peasantry) and supporting the existence of tens of thousands of small enterprises, the owners of which constituted a layer of French bourgeois). However, the regime that emerged as a result of these complex compromises did not ensure the normal development of France, which in the 18th century. began to lag behind its neighbors, primarily from England. In addition, excessive exploitation increasingly armed the masses against the monarchy, whose vital interests were completely ignored by the state.

Gradually during the 18th century. At the top of French society, there was a mature understanding that the old order, with its underdeveloped market relations, chaos in the management system, corrupt system for selling government positions, lack of clear legislation, confusing taxation system and archaic system of class privileges, needed to be reformed. In addition, royal power was losing credibility in the eyes of the clergy, nobility and bourgeoisie, among whom the idea was asserted that the power of the king was a usurpation in relation to the rights of estates and corporations (Montesquieu's point of view) or in relation to the rights of the people (Rousseau's point of view). Thanks to the activities of educators, of whom the physiocrats and encyclopedists were especially important, a revolution took place in the minds of the educated part of French society. Finally, under Louis XV and even more so under Louis XVI, liberal reforms were begun in the political and economic fields. The granting of some political rights to the third estate, along with a significant deterioration in its economic position as a result of reforms, inevitably led to the collapse of the Old Order.

The meaning of the Great French Revolution

Accelerated the development of capitalism and the collapse of feudalism
Influenced the entire subsequent struggle of peoples for the principles of democracy
Became a lesson, example and warning to life transformers in other countries
Contributed to the development of national self-awareness of European peoples

Source II – catastrofe.ru

Characteristic look

The Great French Revolution is the largest transformation of the social and political systems of France, which occurred at the end of the 18th century, as a result of which the Old Order was destroyed, and France from a monarchy became a de jure republic of free and equal citizens. Motto: Freedom, equality, brotherhood.
The beginning of the revolution was the capture of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and various historians consider its end to be July 27, 1794 (Thermidorian coup) or November 9, 1799 (Coup of the 18th Brumaire).

Marxist historians argue that the Great French Revolution was “bourgeois” in nature, consisted of replacing the feudal system with a capitalist one, and the leading role in this process was played by the “bourgeois class”, which overthrew the “feudal aristocracy” during the revolution. Most other historians disagree with this, pointing out that feudalism in France disappeared several centuries before the revolution; the French aristocracy actually included not only large landowners, but also large capitalists) it was the French aristocracy that imposed capitalist (market) relations for 25 years. 30 years preceding 1789, the revolution began with mass uprisings of peasants and townspeople, which were anti-capitalist in nature, and they continued throughout its entire course, and Active participation the bourgeoisie, which represented the French middle class) Those who found themselves in power after the first stage of the revolution, especially in the provinces, for the most part did not come from the bourgeoisie, but were nobles who were at the helm of power even before the revolution - collecting taxes, rent from the population, etc.

Among non-Marxist historians, two views prevail on the nature of the Great French Revolution, which do not contradict each other. The traditional view, which arose at the end of the 18th - early XIX centuries (Sieyès, Barnave, Guizot), considers the revolution as a nationwide uprising against the aristocracy, its privileges and its methods of oppressing the masses, hence the revolutionary terror against the privileged classes, the desire of the revolutionaries to destroy everything associated with the Old Order and build a new free and democratic society . From these aspirations flowed the main slogans of the revolution - freedom, equality, brotherhood.

According to the second view, which shares big number modern historians (including I. Wallerstein, P. Guber, A. Cobbo, D. Guerin, E. Leroy Ladurie, B. Moore, Huneke and others) the revolution was anti-capitalist in nature and represented an explosion of mass protest against capitalism or against those methods of its distribution that were used by the ruling elite.

There are other opinions about the nature of the revolution. For example, historians F. Furet and D. Richet view the revolution to a large extent as a struggle for power between various factions that replaced each other several times during 1789-1799. There is a view of the revolution as the liberation of the bulk of the population (peasants) from a monstrous system of oppression or some kind of slavery, hence the main slogan of the revolution - freedom, equality, brotherhood.

From the storming of the Bastille to the march on Versailles

When the royal court's preparations for the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly became obvious, this was enough to cause an even greater outburst of discontent among the Parisians, who linked the prospects for improving their position with the work of the National Assembly. On July 12, 1789, new clashes occurred between the people and the troops in Paris; Camille Desmoulins called the people to arms by attaching a green ribbon to his hat. On July 13, the alarm sounded over Paris.
On the morning of July 14, 12 cannons, 32 thousand rifles and gunpowder for them were captured in the Invalides. Countless crowds of people, armed partly with guns, but also with pikes, hammers, axes and clubs, flooded the streets adjacent to the Bastille, a military fortress and the main political prison of Paris. The officers of the regiments stationed in Paris no longer counted on their soldiers. Communication with Versailles was interrupted. At about one o'clock in the afternoon the fortress's cannons began firing at the people.

However, the people continued the siege, and the cannons captured in the morning were prepared to bombard the fortress. The garrison realized that resistance was pointless, and surrendered at about five o'clock.
The king was forced to acknowledge the existence of the Constituent Assembly. In the following weeks, the revolution spread throughout the country. On July 18, an uprising took place in Troyes, on July 19 in Strasbourg, on July 21 in Cherbourg, and on July 24 in Rouen. In a number of cities, uprisings took place under the slogans “Bread! Death to the buyers! The rebels seized grain, took possession of local town halls, and burned documents stored there.

Subsequently, new elected authorities - municipalities - were formed in the cities, and a new armed force was created - the National Guard.
The rebel peasants burned the castles of the lords, seizing their lands. In some provinces, about half of the landowners' estates were burned or destroyed. (these events of 1789 were called the “Great Fear” - Grande Peur).

By decrees of August 4-11, the Constituent Assembly abolished personal feudal duties, seigneurial courts, church tithes, privileges of individual provinces, cities and corporations and declared the equality of all before the law in the payment of state taxes and the right to occupy civil, military and church positions. But at the same time it announced the elimination of only “indirect” duties (the so-called banalities): the “real” duties of the peasants, in particular, land and poll taxes, were retained.

On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” - one of the first documents of democratic constitutionalism. The “old regime”, based on class privileges and the arbitrariness of the authorities, was opposed to the equality of all before the law, the inalienability of “natural” human rights, popular sovereignty, freedom of opinion, the principle “everything is permitted that is not prohibited by law” and other democratic principles of revolutionary enlightenment, which have now become requirements of law and current legislation. The Declaration also affirmed the right of private property as a natural right.

On October 5, a march took place on Versailles to the king's residence in order to force Louis XVI to authorize the decrees and Declaration, which the monarch had previously refused to approve. At the same time, the National Assembly ordered Lafayette, commander of the National Guard, to lead the guards to Versailles. As a result of this campaign, the king was forced to leave Versailles and move to Paris, to the Tuileries Palace.

Source III – studopedia.ru

I am the Kobe dictatorship

On September 21, the Republic (First Republic) was proclaimed in France. The motto of the Republic was the slogan “Liberty, equality and fraternity.”

The question that worried everyone then was the fate of the arrested King Louis XVI. The convention decided to try him. On January 14, 1793, 387 deputies of the Convention out of 749 voted in favor of imposing the death penalty on the king. One of the deputies of the Convention explained his participation in the vote this way: “This process is an act of public salvation or a measure of public safety...” On January 21, Louis XVI was executed, and in October 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette was executed.

The execution of Louis XVI served as a reason for the expansion of the anti-French coalition, which included England and Spain. Failures on the external front, deepening economic difficulties within the country, rising taxes - all this shook the position of the Girondins. Unrest intensified in the country, pogroms and murders began, and on May 31 - June 2, 1793, a popular uprising took place. The third stage of the Revolution begins with this event.

Power passed into the hands of radical strata of the bourgeoisie, which relied on the bulk of the urban population and the peasantry. The Montagnards' national victory was preceded by their victory over their opponents in the Jacobin Club; therefore, the regime they established was called the Jacobin dictatorship. To save the revolution, the Jacobins considered it necessary to introduce an emergency regime. The Jacobins recognized the centralization of state power as an indispensable condition. The Convention remained the highest legislative body. Subordinate to him was a government of 11 people - the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Robespierre. The Committee of Public Safety of the Convention for the fight against and counter-revolution was strengthened, and revolutionary tribunals were activated.

The position of the new government was difficult. The war was raging. There were riots in most departments of France, especially the Vendée. In the summer of 1793, Marat was killed by a young noblewoman, Charlotte Corday, which had a serious impact on the course of further political events.

The Jacobins continued their attack on the Catholic Church and introduced a republican calendar. In June 1793, the Convention adopted a new constitution, according to which France was declared a single and indivisible Republic; the supremacy of the people, equality of people in rights, and broad democratic freedoms were consolidated. The property qualification was abolished when participating in elections in government bodies; all men over the age of 21 received voting rights. Wars of conquest were condemned. This constitution was the most democratic of all French constitutions, but its introduction was delayed due to state of emergency in the country.

The Jacobin dictatorship, which successfully used the initiative of the social lower classes, demonstrated a complete denial of liberal principles. Industrial production and agriculture, finance and trade, public celebrations and the private life of citizens - everything was subject to strict regulation. However, this did not stop the further deepening of the economic and social crisis. In September 1793 the Convention "put terror on the agenda."

The Committee of Public Safety carried out a number of important measures to reorganize and strengthen the army, thanks to which a fairly short time The republic managed to create not only a large but also a well-armed army. And by the beginning of 1794, the war was transferred to enemy territory. The decisive victory of General J. B. Jourdan on June 26, 1794 at Fleurus (Belgium) over the Austrians guaranteed the inviolability of the new property, the tasks of the Jacobin dictatorship were exhausted, and the need for it disappeared.

Internal divisions intensified among the Jacobins. Thus, since the autumn of 1793, Danton demanded the weakening of the revolutionary dictatorship, a return to constitutional order, and a renunciation of the policy of terror. He was executed. The lower classes demanded deeper reforms. Most of the bourgeoisie, dissatisfied with the policies of the Jacobins, who pursued a restrictive regime and dictatorial methods, switched to positions of counter-revolution, dragging along significant masses of peasants.

On Thermidor 9 (July 27), 1794, the conspirators managed to carry out a coup, arrest Robespierre, and overthrow the revolutionary government. “The Republic is lost, the kingdom of robbers has come,” these were the last words of Robespierre at the Convention. On the 10th of Thermidor, Robespierre, Saint-Just, and their closest associates were guillotined.

Thermidorian coup and the Directory. In September 1794, for the first time in the history of France, a decree was adopted on the separation of church and state. Confiscations and sales of emigrant property did not stop.

In 1795, a new constitution was adopted, according to which power transferred to the Directory and two councils - the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders. Universal suffrage was abolished, and the property qualification (albeit a small one) was restored. In the summer of 1795, the republican army of General L. Ghosh defeated the forces of the rebels - the Chouans and royalists, who landed from English ships on the Quiberon Peninsula (Brittany). On October 5 (13 Vendemier), 1795, the republican troops of Napoleon Bonaparte suppressed the royalist rebellion in Paris. However, in the politics of the changing groups in power (Thermidorians, the Directory), the struggle with the masses of the people became increasingly widespread. Popular uprisings in Paris on April 1 and May 20-23, 1795 (12-13 Germinal and 1-4 Prairial) were suppressed. On November 9, 1799, the Council of Elders appointed Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) as commander of the army. Large-scale external aggression - the Napoleonic wars in Italy, Egypt, etc. - protected Thermidorian France both from the threat of the restoration of the old order and from a new rise in the revolutionary movement.

The revolution ended on November 9 (18 Brumaire), 1799, when the Directory regime was “legally” liquidated and a new state order was established - the Consulate, which lasted from 1799 to 1804. “Solid power” was established - the dictatorship of Napoleon.

The main results of the Great French Revolution

1. It consolidated and simplified the complex variety of pre-revolutionary forms of ownership.

2. The lands of many (but not all) nobles were sold to peasants in small plots (parcels) in installments over 10 years.

3. Abolished the privileges of the nobility and clergy and introduced equal social opportunities for all citizens. All this contributed to the expansion of civil rights in all European countries and the introduction of constitutions.

4. The revolution took place under the auspices of representative elected bodies: National constituent Assembly(1789–1791), Legislative Assembly (1791–1792), Convention (1792–1794) This contributed to the development of parliamentary democracy, despite subsequent setbacks.

5. The resolution gave birth to something new government structure- parliamentary republic.

6. The state was now the guarantor of equal rights for all citizens.

7. The financial system was transformed: the class nature of taxes was abolished, the principle of their universality and proportionality to income or property was introduced. The budget was declared open.

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French revolution(fr. Revolution franchise), often referred to as the "Great", is a major transformation of the social and political systems of France that occurred in the late 18th century, resulting in the demolition of the Ancien Régime. It began with the capture of the Bastille in 1789, and various historians consider its end to be the coup of 9 Thermidor, 1794, or the coup of 18 Brumaire, 1799. During this period, France for the first time became a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens from an absolute monarchy. The events of the French Revolution had a significant impact on both France itself and its neighbors, and many historians consider this revolution to be one of the major events in the history of Europe.

Causes

In terms of its socio-political structure in the 18th century, it was an absolute monarchy, based on bureaucratic centralization and a standing army. However, between the royal power, which was completely independent of the ruling classes, and the privileged classes, there was a kind of alliance - for the renunciation of political rights by the clergy and nobility, state power, with all its force and all the means at its disposal, protected the social privileges of these two classes .

Until some time, the industrial bourgeoisie put up with royal absolutism, in whose interests the government also did a lot, taking great care of “national wealth,” that is, the development of manufacturing and trade. However, it turned out to be increasingly difficult to satisfy the desires and demands of both the nobility and the bourgeoisie, who in their mutual struggle sought support from the royal power.

On the other hand, feudal exploitation increasingly armed the popular masses against itself, whose most legitimate interests were completely ignored by the state. In the end, the position of royal power in France became extremely difficult: every time it defended old privileges, it met with liberal opposition, which grew stronger - and every time new interests were satisfied, conservative opposition arose, which became more and more sharp.

Royal absolutism was losing credibility in the eyes of the clergy, nobility and bourgeoisie, among whom the idea was asserted that absolute royal power was a usurpation in relation to the rights of estates and corporations (Montesquieu's point of view) or in relation to the rights of the people (Rousseau's point of view). The Queen's Necklace scandal played some role in the isolation of the royal family.

Thanks to the activities of educators, of which the groups of physiocrats and encyclopedists are especially important, a revolution took place even in the minds of the educated part of French society. A mass passion for the democratic philosophy of Rousseau, Mably, Diderot and others appeared. The North American War of Independence, in which both French volunteers and the government itself took part, seemed to suggest to society that the implementation of new ideas was possible in France.

General course of events in 1789-1799

Background

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to get out of a difficult financial situation, Louis XVI announced in December that in five years he would convene the French government officials. When Necker became minister for the second time, he insisted that the Estates General be convened in 1789. The government, however, did not have any specific program. At court they thought least of all about this, at the same time considering it necessary to make a concession to public opinion.

On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” - one of the first documents of bourgeois-democratic constitutionalism, which appeared in the very center of feudal Europe, in the “classical” country of absolutism. The “old regime”, based on class privileges and the arbitrariness of those in power, was opposed to the equality of all before the law, the inalienability of “natural” human rights, popular sovereignty, freedom of opinion, the principle “everything is permitted that is not prohibited by law” and other democratic principles of revolutionary enlightenment, which have now become requirements of law and current legislation. The Declaration also affirmed the right of private property as a natural right.

-October 6, a March on Versailles took place to the residence of the king in order to force Louis XVI to authorize the decrees and Declaration, the approval of which the monarch had previously refused.

Meanwhile, the legislative activities of the Constituent National Assembly continued and were aimed at solving the country's complex problems (financial, political, administrative). One of the first to be carried out administrative reform: seneschalships and generalities were liquidated; The provinces were united into 83 departments with a single legal procedure. The policy of economic liberalism began to take hold: it was announced that all restrictions on trade would be lifted; Medieval guilds and state regulation of entrepreneurship were eliminated, but at the same time, workers' organizations - companionships - were prohibited (according to Le Chapelier's law). This law in France, having survived more than one revolution in the country, was in force until 1864. Following the principle of civil equality, the Assembly abolished class privileges, abolished the institution of hereditary nobility, noble titles and coats of arms. In July 1790 the National Assembly completed church reform: bishops were appointed to all 83 departments of the country; all church ministers began to receive salaries from the state. In other words, Catholicism was declared the state religion. The National Assembly demanded that the clergy swear allegiance not to the Pope, but to the French state. Only half of the priests decided to take this step and only 7 bishops. The Pope responded by condemning the French Revolution, all the reforms of the National Assembly, and especially the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.”

In 1791, the National Assembly proclaimed the first written constitution in European history, approved by the national parliament. It proposed to convene the Legislative Assembly - a unicameral parliamentary body based on a high property qualification for elections. There were only 4.3 million “active” citizens who received the right to vote under the constitution, and only 50 thousand electors who elected deputies. Deputies of the National Assembly also could not be elected to the new parliament.

The king, meanwhile, was inactive. On June 20, 1791, he, however, tried to escape from the country, but was recognized at the border (Varenne) by a postal employee and returned to Paris, where he actually found himself in custody in his own palace (the so-called “Varenne crisis”).

On October 1, 1791, according to the constitution, the Legislative Assembly opened. This fact indicated the establishment of a limited monarchy in the country. For the first time at its meetings, the question of starting a war in Europe was raised, first of all, as a means of solving internal problems. The Legislative Assembly confirmed the existence of a state church in the country. But in general, his activities turned out to be ineffective, which, in turn, provoked French radicals to continue the revolution.

In conditions when the demands of the majority of the population were not met, society was experiencing a split, and the threat of foreign intervention loomed over France, the state-political system based on a monarchical constitution was doomed to failure.

National Convention

On August 10, about 20 thousand rebels surrounded the royal palace. His assault was short-lived, but bloody. The heroes of the assault were several thousand soldiers of the Swiss Guard, who, despite the betrayal of the king and the flight of the majority of the French officers, remained faithful to their oath and crown, they gave a worthy rebuff to the revolutionaries and all fell at the Tuileries. Napoleon Bonaparte, who was in Paris at that time, said that if the Swiss had had an intelligent commander, they would have destroyed the revolutionary crowd that attacked them. In Lucerne, Switzerland, stands the famous stone lion - a monument to the courage and loyalty of the last defenders of the French throne. One of the results of this assault was the abdication of Louis XVI from power and the immigration of Lafayette.
In Paris, on September 21, the national convention opened its meetings; Dumouriez repelled the Prussian attack at Valmy (September 20). The French went on the offensive and even began to make conquests (Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine and Savoy with Nice at the end of 1792). The National Convention was divided into three factions: the left-wing Jacobin-Montagnards, the right-wing Girondins and the amorphous centrists. There were no longer any monarchists in it. The Girondins argued with the Jacobins only on the issue of the scale of revolutionary terror.
By decision of the Convention, citizen Louis Capet (Louis XVI) was executed for treason and usurpation of power on January 21.
Vendée rebellion. To save the revolution, a Committee of Public Safety is created.
June 10, arrest of the Girondins by the National Guard: establishment of the Jacobin dictatorship.
On July 13, the Girondist Charlotte Corday stabs Marat with a dagger. The beginning of the Terror.

During the siege of Toulon, which surrendered to the British, the young artillery lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte especially distinguished himself. After the liquidation of the Girondins, Robespierre's contradictions with Danton and the extreme terrorist Hébert came to the fore.
In the spring of the year, first Hébert and his followers, and then Danton, were arrested, tried by a revolutionary court and executed. After these executions, Robespierre no longer had rivals. One of his first measures was the establishment in France, by decree of the convention, of the veneration of the Supreme Being, according to the idea of “civil religion” by Rousseau. The new cult was solemnly announced during a ceremony arranged by Robespierre, who played the role of high priest of the “civil religion.”
The intensification of terror plunged the country into bloody chaos, which was opposed by units of the National Guard who launched the Thermidorian coup. Jacobin leaders, including Robespierre and Saint-Just, were guillotined and power passed to the Directory.

Thermidorian Convention and Directory (-)

After the 9th Thermidor, the revolution was by no means over, although in historiography long time There was a discussion as to what should be considered the Thermidorian coup: the beginning of the “descending” line of the revolution or its logical continuation? The Jacobin Club was closed, and the surviving Girondins returned to the Convention. The Thermidorians abolished the Jacobin measures of government intervention in the economy and eliminated the “maximum” in December 1794. The result was a huge increase in prices, inflation, and disruption of food supplies. The misfortunes of the lower classes were countered by the wealth of the nouveau riche: they feverishly profited, greedily used their wealth, unceremoniously flaunting it. In 1795, the surviving supporters of the Terror twice raised the population of Paris (12 Germinal and 1 Prairial) to the convention, demanding “bread and the constitution of 1793,” but the Convention pacified both uprisings with the help of military force and ordered the execution of several “last Montagnards.” In the summer of that year, the Convention drew up a new constitution, known as the Constitution of the Year III. Legislative power was no longer entrusted to one, but to two chambers - the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders, and a significant electoral qualification was introduced. Executive power was placed in the hands of the Directory - five directors elected by the Council of Elders from candidates nominated by the Council of Five Hundred. Fearing that the elections to the new legislative councils would give a majority to the opponents of the republic, the convention decided that two-thirds of the “five hundred” and “elders” would be taken from the members of the convention for the first time.

When was it announced specified measure, the royalists in Paris itself organized an uprising, in which the main participation belonged to sections that believed that the Convention had violated the “sovereignty of the people.” There was a rebellion on the 13th of Vendémière (October 5); the convention was saved thanks to the management of Bonaparte, who met the insurgents with grapeshot. On October 26, 1795, the Convention dissolved itself, giving way to councils of five hundred and elders And directories.

In a short time, Carnot organized several armies, into which the most active, most energetic people from all classes of society rushed. Those who wanted to defend their homeland, and those who dreamed of spreading republican institutions and democratic orders throughout Europe, and people who wanted military glory and conquests for France, and people who saw military service the best means of personal distinction and elevation. Access to the highest positions in the new democratic army was open to every able person; Many famous commanders emerged from the ranks of ordinary soldiers at this time.

Gradually, the revolutionary army began to be used to seize territories. The Directory saw the war as a means of distracting society's attention from internal turmoil and as a way of raising money. To improve finances, the Directory imposed large monetary indemnities on the population of the conquered countries. The victories of the French were greatly facilitated by the fact that in neighboring regions they were greeted as liberators from absolutism and feudalism. At the head of the Italian army, the directory placed the young General Bonaparte, who in 1796-97. forced Sardinia to abandon Savoy, occupied Lombardy, took indemnities from Parma, Modena, the Papal States, Venice and Genoa and annexed part of the papal possessions to Lombardy, which was transformed into the Cisalpine Republic. Austria asked for peace. Around this time, a democratic revolution took place in aristocratic Genoa, turning it into the Ligurian Republic. Having finished with Austria, Bonaparte gave the directory advice to strike England in Egypt, where a military expedition was sent under his command. Thus, by the end of the revolutionary wars, France controlled Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine, Savoy and some part of Italy and was surrounded by a number of “daughter republics”.

But then a new coalition was formed against it from Austria, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey. Emperor Paul I sent Suvorov to Italy, who won a number of victories over the French and by the fall of 1799 had cleared all of Italy of them. When the external failures of 1799 added to the internal turmoil, the directory began to be reproached for having sent the most skillful commander of the republic to Egypt. Having learned about what was happening in Europe, Bonaparte hurried to France. On the 18th of Brumaire (November 9) a coup took place, as a result of which a provisional government was created of three consuls - Bonaparte, Roger-Ducos, Sieyès. This coup d'état is known as the 18th Brumaire and is generally considered the end of the French Revolution.

Religion in revolutionary France

The periods of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation were an era of upheaval for the Roman Catholic Church, but the revolutionary era that followed was even more tragic. This was due in large part to the fact that, despite the polemical rancor of Reformation theology, the opponents of the conflict of the 16th and 17th centuries still for the most part had much in common with the Catholic tradition. From a political point of view, the assumption on both sides was that the rulers, even if they opposed each other or the church, adhered to Catholic traditions. However, the 18th century saw the emergence of a political system and philosophical worldview that no longer took Christianity for granted, but in fact explicitly opposed it, forcing the Church to redefine its position more radically than it had done since the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century.

Notes

Literature

General histories of the revolution- Thiers, Minier, Buchet and Roux (see below), Louis Blanc, Michelet, Quinet, Tocqueville, Chassin, Taine, Cheret, Sorel, Aulard, Jaurès, Laurent (much has been translated into Russian);

Manfred A. The Great French Revolution M., 1983.
Mathiez A. French revolution. Rostov-on-Don, 1995.
Olar A. Political history French Revolution. M., 1938.
Revunenkov V. G. Essays on the history of the Great French Revolution. 2nd ed. L., 1989.
Revunenkov V. G. Parisian sans-culottes of the era of the Great French Revolution. L., 1971.
Sobul A. From the history of the Great Bourgeois Revolution of 1789-1794. and the revolution of 1848 in France. M., 1960.
Kropotkin P. A. The Great French Revolution
New History A. Ya. Yudovskaya, P. A. Baranov, L. M. Vanyushkina
Tocqueville A. de. The old order and revolution Translated from French. M. Fedorova.

M.: Moscow Philosophical Foundation, 1997

Furet F. Comprehension of the French Revolution., St. Petersburg, 1998.
popular books by Carnot, Rambaud, Champion (“Esprit de la révolution fr.”, 1887), etc.;
Carlyle T., “The French Revolution” (1837);
Stephens, "History of fr. rev.";
Wachsmuth, "Gesch. Frankreichs im Revolutionszeitalter" (1833-45);
Dahlmann, "Gesch. der fr. Rev." (1845); Arnd, idem (1851-52);
Sybel, "Gesch. der Revolutionszeit" (1853 et seq.);
Häusser, “Gesch. der fr. Rev." (1868);
L. Stein, "Geschichte der socialen Bewegung in Frankreich" (1850);
Blos, "Gesch. der fr. Rev."; in Russian - op. Lyubimov and M. Kovalevsky.
Current problems in studying the history of the Great French Revolution (materials of the “round table” on September 19-20, 1988). Moscow, 1989.
Albert Soboul “The problem of the nation during the social struggle during the French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century”
Eric Hobsbawm Echo of the Marseillaise
Tarasov A. N. Necessity of Robespierre
Cochin, Augustin. Small people and revolution. M.: Iris-Press, 2003

Links

“French Revolution” original text of the article from ESBE in wiki format, (293kb)
The French Revolution. Articles from encyclopedias, chronicles of the revolution, articles and publications. Biographies of political figures. Cards.
The Age of Enlightenment and the Great French Revolution. Monographs, articles, memoirs, documents, discussions.
The French Revolution. Links to personalities of figures of the Great French Revolution, counter-figures, historians, fiction writers, etc. in scientific works, novels, essays and poems.
Mona Ozuf. History of the revolutionary holiday
Materials on the French Revolution on the official website of the French Yearbook

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One of the main causes of the French Revolution of 1789 was the financial crisis. In the middle of the 18th century, France was involved in a series of devastating wars, so that there was almost no money left in the state treasury.

The only one in an effective way The replenishment of the treasury could come from taxation of the aristocracy, clergy and nobility, who were traditionally exempt from taxes.

But they, naturally, resisted with all their might a change in their financial situation. Although King Louis XVI had absolute power, he still did not dare to use this power in relation to upper classes, because he was afraid of being accused of despotism. In an effort to find a way out of this extremely difficult situation and gain the approval of the people, the monarch decided to convene the States General of France for the first time since 1614.

The Estates General was the highest body of class representation in the country. They consisted of three "states" or estates: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate) and the rest of the population, which included the majority of the French, namely the middle classes and peasantry (Third Estate). A meeting of the Estates General took place in May 1789, with each estate presenting its own grievances.

What the government did not expect at all was a huge number of complaints from the (Third Estate), which mainly consisted of representatives of the already formed bourgeois class; the new bourgeoisie were dissatisfied with the fact that they did not have the political rights that they could count on in the strength of their financial and social situation.

The tension increased further due to the fact that there were many disagreements over the voting procedure: whether to grant the right to vote to each estate, as tradition prescribed (in this case, there would be more privileged estates, and the Third Estate would remain in the minority), or to vote each representative can separately (in this case, the majority would receive the Third Estate).

Under pressure from the people, Louis XVI was inclined to allow individual representatives to vote, but at the same time he began to gather troops to Versailles and Paris, as if he had already repented of having yielded to the Third Estate and was preparing to repel a possible blow.

The threat of an attack by the royal army on Paris led to the fact that the townspeople found themselves in the thick of things. A group of electors, who constituted the final deputies from Paris for the Estates General, occupied the Town Hall and proclaimed themselves the city government, or Commune.

The Commune organized a people's militia, which later became known as the National Guard. The National Guard was supposed to maintain order in the city, which had by this time become restless, and prepare the capital for defense against attacks by royal troops. However, the Guard had to intervene much earlier, since on July 14 a crowd of angry Parisians headed to the arsenal of the Bastille prison in order to obtain weapons for the city detachments, and this campaign was crowned with success.

The taking of the Bastille played a major role in the development of the revolutionary process and became a symbol of victory over the oppressive forces of the monarchy. Although the consequences of the revolution had implications for the whole of France and even for Europe, the most significant events took place mainly in Paris.

Finding themselves at the epicenter of the revolution, ordinary residents of the capital, the so-called sans-culottes (literally “people without short pants,” that is, men who, unlike aristocrats and other rich people, wore long pants) became the main protagonists of the revolution. They formed revolutionary units, which became the main driving force at critical moments of the Revolution.

While the bourgeois deputies were mainly concerned political reforms, the sans-culottes put forward clear economic demands: control over pricing, providing the city with food, and so on. With these demands they took to the streets and thereby founded a tradition of street revolutionary protests that has survived to this day.

Creation of the National Assembly

While the king was gathering troops to Versailles, representatives of the Third Estate proclaimed themselves the National Assembly and invited the clergy and nobility to join them (which some nobles and part of the lower clergy did).

Most of the Assembly would probably agree to constitutional reform limiting the power of the monarchy in the English manner. But the real power of the deputies was determined mainly by their ability to prevent the threat of a popular uprising in Paris. The king was forced to recognize the National Assembly, which in August 1789 adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, abolishing the feudal privileges of the old regime.

There were rumors in the city about counter-revolutionary sentiments at the court at Versailles, so in October special squad Parisians went to Versailles and obliged the king to return to Paris, after which the monarch was placed in the Tuileries Palace, where he actually lived as a prisoner. In 1791, the monarch secretly left the city in the hope of fleeing abroad, but he was caught in Varennes and brought back to Paris in disgrace.

Unlike the king, many nobles managed to leave the country, and they began to persuade foreign countries to oppose the revolutionary government. Some members of the National Assembly believed that in order to unite the nation and for the cause of the revolution, a war should be started, which would help spread the ideals of the revolution outside the country.

Following the initiative of the Girondin faction (a group of deputies from the Gironde region around Bordeaux), the Assembly decided to declare war on certain states in order to protect the Revolution. In 1792, France declared war on Austria, and a series of French Revolutionary Wars began. Since things were going pretty badly at the front, moderate sentiments gradually gave way to more radical ones.

Calls began to be heard to overthrow the king and establish a republic. The National Assembly split, and the Parisians had to take power into their own hands. In August 1792, the sans-culottes marched to the Town Hall, established their rebel Commune and imprisoned the king. Under pressure from the new Commune, the National Assembly agreed to dissolve, and to adopt a new, already republican constitution, announced elections for a new Convention.

There is no doubt that the people's militia played an important role in the establishment of the republic, but at the same time they were responsible for one of the most brutal atrocities of the Revolution - the September massacres of 1792, during which about 1,200 people were brutally killed, prisoners of Parisian prisons ( Conciergerie, La Force and others).

Among those killed were rebellious priests and political prisoners, as well as Marie Antoinette's closest friend, Princess Lamballe. Later that month, the first meeting of the Convention was held, at which the monarchy was abolished, a republic was established, and the king was put on trial for treason.

Louis XVI was sentenced to death and in January 1793 he was guillotined at the Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde). The execution of the king forced the royalists to unite both within France itself and beyond its borders, and a vast military coalition was formed against revolutionary France. The Convention at this time was torn apart by internal contradictions; two main factions emerged in it: the Girondins and the more radical Jacobins.

The moderate Girondins gradually gave way, and as a result, in June 1793, this faction ceased to exist. The Convention established a military dictatorship and carried out its policies through various bodies, including the Committee national security, headed by Maximilian Robespierre.

Justifying its actions on grounds of public necessity, the National Security Committee began the physical destruction of “enemies of the people”; This period went down in the history of the Revolution under the name “Great Terror”. Among the first victims of the Terror was Queen Marie Antoinette, who calmly and with dignity ascended the guillotine in October 1793.

Over the next few months, about 2,600 more people were executed, including many moderate revolutionaries, such as Danton, who, going to his death, remained true to himself and uttered these proud words: “First of all, do not forget to show the people my head , because she deserves to be looked at.” Together with him, the romantic-idealist Camille Desmoulins ascended the scaffold, who on July 12, 1789, having climbed onto a table in a cafe in the Palais Royal, called on people to take up arms.

The Age of Terror ended in July 1794, when Robespierre, who had already proved himself a tyrant, was arrested by members of the Convention, who feared, not without reason, that the weapons of Terror might be directed against themselves, and then shared the fate of those people whom he condemned to death .?

After the end of the Terror, the country returned to a more moderate policy, and power was placed in the hands of a five-member Directory, which, unfortunately, showed weakness and a tendency to corruption. A period of instability ensued, during which there was constant fighting between royalists and revolutionaries. The ruling class needed a strong leader who would pass a constitution that would give more power to the executive branch.

And such a leader was found, he became General Napoleon Bonaparte, who had already proven himself to be outstanding commander on the battlefields of Italy and Austria and easily crushed the royalist rebellion in Paris in October 1795. In November 1799 Napoleon overthrew the Directory and thereby carried out a coup d'état. In 1802, Napoleon appointed himself First Consul for life, and in 1804 he proclaimed himself Emperor of France.

More photos of the French Revolution here: Photo gallery

The last decade of the 18th century was marked by an event that not only changed the existing order in a single European country, but also influenced the entire course of world history. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 became the preacher of class struggle for several subsequent generations. Its dramatic events brought the heroes out of the shadows and exposed the antiheroes, destroying the usual worldview of millions of residents of monarchical states. The main premises and the French Revolution of 1789 itself are briefly described below.

What led to the coup?

The reasons for the French Revolution of 1789-1799 have been rewritten many times from one history textbook to another and come down to the thesis that the patience of that large part of the French population, which, in conditions of hard daily work and extreme poverty, was forced to provide a luxurious existence for representatives of the privileged classes.

Reasons for revolution in France at the end of the 18th century:

the country's huge external debt;
unlimited power of the monarch;
bureaucracy of officials and lawlessness of high-ranking officials;
heavy tax burden;
harsh exploitation of peasants;
exorbitant demands of the ruling elite.

More about the causes of the revolution

The French monarchy was headed at the end of the 18th century by Louis XVI of the Bourbon dynasty. The power of his crowned greatness was limitless. It was believed that she was given to him by God through confirmation during his coronation. In making his decision, the monarch relied on the support of the smallest, but most high-ranking and wealthy residents of the country - the nobles and representatives of the clergy. The external debts of the state by this time had grown to monstrous proportions and became an unbearable burden not only for the mercilessly exploited peasants, but also for the bourgeoisie, industrial and trading activity which was subject to exorbitant taxes.

The main reasons for the French Revolution of 1789 were the discontent and gradual impoverishment of the bourgeoisie, which until recently had put up with absolutism, which patronized development industrial production in the interests of national welfare. However, it became increasingly difficult to satisfy the demands of the upper classes and big bourgeoisie. There was a growing need to reform the archaic system of government and National economy, choking on bureaucracy and corruption of government officials. At the same time, the enlightened part of French society was infected with the ideas of the philosophical writers of that time - Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Montesquieu, who insisted that an absolute monarchy infringed on the rights of the main population of the country.

Also, the causes of the French bourgeois revolution of 1789-1799 can be attributed to the natural disasters that preceded it, which worsened the already difficult living conditions of peasants and reduced the income of a few industrial productions.

The first stage of the French Revolution 1789-1799

Let us consider in detail all stages of the French Revolution of 1789-1799.

The first stage began on January 24, 1789 with the convening of the Estates General at the behest of the French monarch. This event was out of the ordinary, since last time The meeting of the highest estate-representative body of France took place at the beginning of the 16th century. However, the situation when the government had to be dismissed and a new one urgently elected general director finance in the person of Jacques Necker, was extraordinary and required drastic measures. Representatives of the upper classes set the goal of the meeting to find funds to replenish the state treasury, while the whole country was expecting total reforms. Disagreements began between the classes, leading to the formation of the National Assembly on June 17, 1789. It consisted of delegates from the third estate and two dozen deputies from the clergy who joined them.

Formation of the Constituent National Assembly

Soon after the meeting, the king made a unilateral decision to abolish all the decisions adopted at it, and already at the next meeting the deputies were seated according to class. A few days later, 47 more deputies joined the majority, and Louis XVI, forced to take a compromise step, ordered the remaining representatives to join the ranks of the assembly. Later, on July 9, 1789, the abolished Estates General were transformed into the Constituent National Assembly.

The position of the newly formed representative body was extremely precarious due to the unwillingness of the royal court to accept defeat. News that the royal troops have been brought to combat readiness to disperse the Constituent Assembly, stirred up a wave of popular discontent, leading to dramatic events that decided the fate of the French Revolution of 1789-1799. Necker was removed from office, and it seemed that the short life of the Constituent Assembly was nearing its end.

Storming of the Bastille

In response to the events in Parliament, a rebellion broke out in Paris, beginning on July 12, reaching its climax the next day and marked by the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. The capture of this fortress, which was in the minds of the people a symbol of absolutism and the despotic power of the state, forever went down in the history of France as the first victory of the insurgent people, forcing the king to admit that the French Revolution of 1789 had begun.

Declaration of Human Rights

Riots and unrest swept the entire country. Large-scale protests by peasants consolidated the victory of the Great French Revolution. In August of the same year, the Constituent Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a landmark document that marked the beginning of the construction of democracy throughout the world. However, not all representatives of the lower class had a chance to taste the fruits of the revolution. The Assembly abolished only indirect taxes, leaving direct ones in force, and as time passed, when the fog of romantic illusions dissipated, numerous townspeople and peasants realized that the big bourgeoisie had removed them from government decisions, ensuring their financial well-being and legal protection.

A trip to Versailles. Reforms

The food crisis that broke out in Paris in early October 1789 provoked another wave of discontent, culminating in a march on Versailles. Under pressure from the crowd that broke into the palace, the king agreed to sanction the Declaration and other decrees adopted in August 1789.

The state set a course towards establishing a constitutional monarchy. This meant that the king governed within the framework of existing legislation. Changes affected the structure of the government, which lost royal councils and secretaries of state. Administrative division France was significantly simplified, and instead of a multi-stage complex structure, 83 departments of equal size appeared.

The reforms affected the judicial system, which lost corrupt positions and acquired a new structure.

The clergy, some of whom did not recognize the new civil status of France, found themselves in the grip of a schism.

Next stage

The Great French Revolution of 1789 was only the beginning in a chain of events, including the escape attempt of Louis XVI and the subsequent fall of the monarchy, military conflicts with leading European powers that did not recognize the new state structure of France and the subsequent proclamation of the French Republic. In December 1792, the king was tried and found guilty. Louis XVI was beheaded on January 21, 1793.

Thus began the second stage of the French Revolution of 1789-1799, marked by the struggle between the moderate Girondin party trying to stop further development revolution, and the more radical Jacobins, who insisted on expanding its activities.

Final stage

The deterioration of the economic situation in the country due to the political crisis and hostilities intensified the class struggle. Peasant uprisings broke out again, leading to the unauthorized division of communal lands. The Girondists, who entered into an agreement with counter-revolutionary forces, were expelled from the Convention, the highest legislative body of the First French Republic, and the Jacobins came to power alone.

In subsequent years, the Jacobin dictatorship resulted in a rebellion of the National Guard, ending with the transfer of power to the Directory at the end of 1795. Its further actions were aimed at suppressing pockets of extremist resistance. Thus ended the ten-year French bourgeois revolution 1789 was a period of socio-economic upheaval, which was marked by a coup d'état that occurred on November 9, 1799.

In the interests of which the government also did a lot, taking great care of the “national wealth”, that is, the development of the manufacturing industry and trade. However, it turned out to be increasingly difficult to satisfy the desires and demands of both the nobility and the bourgeoisie, who in their mutual struggle sought support from the royal power.

On the other hand, both feudal and capitalist exploitation increasingly armed the masses against themselves, whose most legitimate interests were completely ignored by the state. In the end, the position of royal power in France became extremely difficult: every time it defended old privileges, it met with liberal opposition, which grew stronger - and every time new interests were satisfied, conservative opposition arose, which became more and more sharp.

Royal absolutism was losing credit in the eyes of the clergy, nobility and bourgeoisie, among whom the idea was asserted that absolute royal power was a usurpation in relation to the rights of estates and corporations (point of view) or in relation to the rights of the people (point of view).

General course of events from 1789 to 1799

Background

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to get out of a difficult financial situation, he announced in December that in five years he would convene the government officials of France. When he became a minister for the second time, he insisted that they be convened in 1789. The government, however, did not have any specific program. At court they thought least of all about this, at the same time considering it necessary to make a concession to public opinion.

Estates General

National Assembly

The National Assembly was saved, and Louis XVI again conceded: he even went to Paris, where he appeared to the people, wearing a tricolor national cockade on his hat (red and blue are the colors of the Parisian coat of arms, white is the color of the royal banner).

In France itself, the storming of the Bastille served as a signal for a number of uprisings in the provinces. Peasants were especially worried, refusing to pay feudal duties, church tithes and state taxes. They attacked castles, destroyed them and burned them, and several nobles or their stewards were killed. When alarming news began to arrive at Versailles about what was happening in the provinces, two liberal nobles introduced a proposal to the assembly to abolish feudal rights, some free of charge, others by ransom. Then the famous night meeting took place (q.v.), in which deputies of the upper classes began vying to renounce their privileges, and the meeting adopted decrees that abolished class advantages, feudal rights, serfdom, church tithes, privileges of individual provinces, cities and corporations and declaring the equality of all before the law in the payment of state taxes and the right to occupy civil, military and ecclesiastical positions.

Noble emigration began. The emigrants’ threats to the “rebels” and their alliance with foreigners supported and intensified the anxiety among the people; The court and all the nobles remaining in France began to suspect of complicity with the emigrants. Responsibility for much of what subsequently happened in France therefore falls on the emigrants.

Meanwhile, the national assembly took up the new structure of France. A few days before the destruction of the Bastille, it adopted the name of constituent, officially recognizing for itself the right to give the state new institutions. The first task of the meeting was to draw up a declaration of human and civil rights, which was demanded by many. The court still did not want to make concessions and did not lose hope for a military coup. Although Louis XVI, after July 14, promised not to gather troops to Paris, nevertheless, new regiments began to arrive at Versailles. At one officers' banquet, in the presence of the king and his family, the military tore off their tricolor cockades and trampled them under their feet, and the ladies of the court handed them cockades made of white ribbons. This caused the second Parisian uprising and a march of a crowd of one hundred thousand, in which there were especially many women, to Versailles: they broke into the palace, demanding the king move to Paris (-). Louis XVI was forced to fulfill this demand, and after the king and the national assembly moved to Paris, they moved their meetings there, which, as it later turned out, limited his freedom: the extremely excited population more than once dictated its will to representatives of the entire nation.

Political clubs were formed in Paris, which also discussed the issue of the future structure of France. One of these clubs, called the Jacobin club, began to play a particularly influential role, because it had many very popular deputies and many of its members enjoyed authority among the population of Paris. Subsequently, he began to open his branches in all the main cities of France. Extreme opinions began to dominate in the clubs, and they also took over the political press.

In the national assembly itself, not only were there no organized parties, but it even seemed shameful to belong to any “faction.” Nevertheless, several different political directions emerged in the assembly: some (the higher clergy and nobility) still dreamed of preserving the old order; others (Mounier, Lalli-Tollendal, Clermont-Tonnerre) considered it necessary to provide the king with only executive power and, preserving the primacy of the clergy and nobility, to divide the national assembly into an upper and lower house; still others imagined the future constitution with nothing other than one chamber (, Bailly, ); further, there were figures who wanted to give greater influence to the Parisian population and clubs (Duport, Barnave, the Lamet brothers), and future figures of the republic were already emerging (Gregoire, Pétion, Buzot), who, however, remained monarchists at that time.

Legislative Assembly

Immediately after the constituent assembly ceased to function, its place was taken by a legislative assembly, to which new and inexperienced people were elected. The right side of the meeting room was occupied by constitutional monarchists ( Feuillants); people without sharply defined views took middle places; the left side consisted of two parties - Girondins And Montagnards. The first of these two parties consisted of very capable people and included several brilliant speakers; its most prominent representatives were Vergniaud, and. The Girondins were challenged for influence over the assembly and the people by the Montagnards, whose main strength was in the Jacobin and other clubs. The most influential members of this party were people who were not part of the assembly: , . The rivalry between the Girondins and the Jacobins began in the very first months of the legislative assembly and became one of the main facts of the history of the revolution.

The Legislative Assembly decided to confiscate the property of emigrants, and punish disobedient priests with deprivation of civil rights, deportation, and even prison. Louis XVI did not want to approve the decrees of the assembly on emigrants and unsworn clergy, but this only aroused extreme discontent among the people against himself. The king was increasingly suspected of secret relations with foreign courts. The Girondins, in the assembly, in clubs, and in the press, argued for the need to respond to the defiant behavior of foreign governments with a “war of peoples against kings” and accused ministers of treason. Louis XVI resigned the ministry and appointed a new one from like-minded people of the Gironde. In the spring of the year, the new ministry insisted on declaring war on Austria, where at that time Francis II already reigned; Prussia also entered into an alliance with Austria. This was the beginning that had a great influence on the history of all of Europe.

Soon, however, Louis XVI resigned from the ministry, which caused a popular uprising in Paris (); Crowds of insurgents took possession of the royal palace and, surrounding Louis XVI, demanded that he approve the decrees on emigrants and priests and the return of the Girondin ministers. When the commander-in-chief of the allied Austro-Prussian army, the Duke of Brunswick, issued a manifesto in which he threatened the French with executions, the burning of houses, and the destruction of Paris, a new uprising broke out in the capital (), accompanied by the beating of the guards who guarded the royal palace. Louis XVI and his family found a safe haven in the legislative assembly, but the latter, in his presence, decided to remove him from power and take him into custody, and to convene an emergency meeting called national convention.

National Convention

The system of intimidation, or terror, received more and more development; the Girondins wanted to put an end to it, but sought to strengthen it, relying on the Jacobin club and the lower strata of the Parisian population (the so-called sans-culottes). The Montagnards were only looking for a reason to reprisal the Girondins. In the spring of the year, he fled abroad with the son of the Duke of Orleans (“Philippe Egalité”), whom he wanted, with the help of troops, to place on the French throne (he became king of France only as a result). This was blamed on the Girondins, since Dumouriez was considered their general. The external danger was complicated by internal strife: that same spring, a large popular uprising, led by priests and nobles, broke out in I (northwestern corner of France) against the convention. To save the fatherland, the convention ordered the recruitment of three hundred thousand people and gave the system of terror an entire organization. Executive power, with the most unlimited powers, was entrusted to the Committee of Public Safety, which sent its commissioners from among the members of the convention to the provinces. The main instrument of terror became the revolutionary court, which decided cases quickly and without formalities and sentenced people to death by guillotine, often on the basis of suspicion alone. At the instigation of the Montagnard party, at the end of May and beginning of June, crowds of people twice broke into the convention and demanded that the Girondins be expelled as traitors and brought before a revolutionary court. The Convention yielded to this demand and expelled the most prominent Girondins.

Some of them fled from Paris, others were arrested and tried by the revolutionary court. The terror intensified even more when a fan of the Girondins, a young girl, killed with a dagger, who was distinguished by the greatest bloodthirstiness, and uprisings broke out in Normandy and some large cities (in,), in which the fleeing Girondins also took part. This gave reason to accuse the Girondins of federalism, that is, in an effort to fragment France into several union republics, which would be especially dangerous in view of foreign invasion. The Jacobins, therefore, vigorously advocated a tightly centralized "one and indivisible republic." After the fall of the Girondins, many of whom were executed and some committed suicide, the Jacobin terrorists, led by Robespierre, became masters of the situation. France was governed by the Committee of Public Safety, which controlled the state police (committee of general security) and the convention commissioners in the provinces, who everywhere organized revolutionary committees from the Jacobins. Shortly before their fall, the Girondins drafted a new constitution; the Jacobins reworked it into the constitution of 1793, which was adopted by popular vote. The dominant party decided, however, not to introduce it until all enemies of the republic were eliminated.

After the liquidation of the Girondins, Robespierre's contradictions with Danton and the extreme terrorist came to the fore. In the spring of the year, first Hébert and him, and then Danton, were arrested, tried by a revolutionary court and executed. After these executions, Robespierre no longer had rivals.

One of his first measures was the establishment in France, by decree of the convention, of the veneration of the Supreme Being, according to the idea of “civil religion” by Rousseau. The new cult was solemnly announced during a ceremony arranged by Robespierre, who played the role of high priest of the “civil religion.”

The terror was intensifying: the revolutionary court received the right to try members of the convention itself without the latter’s permission. However, when Robespierre demanded new executions, without naming the names of those against whom he was preparing to act as an accuser, the majority of the terrorists themselves, frightened by this, overthrew Robespierre and his closest assistants. This event is known as the 9th Thermidor (). The next day, Robespierre was executed, and with him his main followers (, etc.).

Bibliographic index

popular books by Carnot, Rambaud, Champion (“Esprit de la révolution fr.”, 1887), etc.;
Carlyle, "French revolution" (1837);
Stephens, "History of fr. rev.";
Wachsmuth, "Gesch. Frankreichs im Revolutionszeitalter" (1833-45);
Dahlmann, "Gesch. der fr. Rev." (1845); Arnd, idem (1851-52);
Sybel, "Gesch. der Revolutionszeit" (1853 et seq.);
Häusser, “Gesch. der fr. Rev." (1868);
L. Stein, "Geschichte der socialen Bewegung in Frankreich" (1850);
Blos, "Gesch. der fr. Rev."; in Russian - op. Lyubimov and M. Kovalevsky.
Historical sketches about the French Revolution. In memory of V.M. Dalina (on her 95th birthday) / Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. M., 1998.

Periodicals, specially dedicated to the history of the French Revolution:

"Revue de la révolution", ed. Ch. d'Héricault et G. Bord (published 1883-87);
"La Révolution franç aise" (from 1881, and edited by Aulard from 1887).

Essays on the convening of the States General and about the orders of 1789. In addition to the works of Tocqueville, Chassin, Poncins, Cherest, Guerrier, Kareev and M. Kovalevsky, indicated in respectively. article, see

A. Brette, “Recueil de documents relatifs à la convocation des états généraux de 1789”;
Edme Champion, "La France d'après les cahiers de 1789";
N. Lyubimov, “The Collapse of the Monarchy in France” (cahiers’ demands regarding public education);
A. Onou, “Orders of the Third Estate in France in 1789” (“Journal of the Ministry of Public Education”, 1898-1902);
his, “La comparution des paroisses en 1789”;
Richard, “La bibliographie des cahiers de doléances de 1789”;
V. Khoroshun, “Noble orders in France in 1789.”

Essays about individual episodes French Revolution.

E. et J. de Goncourt, “Histoire de la société française sous la révolution”;
Brette, “Le serment du Jeu de paume”;
Bord, "La prise de la Bastille";
Tournel, "Les hommes du 14 juillet";
Lecocq, "La prise de la Bastille; Flammermont, "Relations inédites sur la prise de la Bastille";
Pitra, "La journée du juillet de 1789"; N. Lyubimov, “The first days of Φ. revolutions according to unpublished sources";
Lambert, “Les fédérations et la fête du 14 juillet 1790”;
J. Pollio et A. Marcel, “Le bataillon du 10 août”;
Dubost, "Danton et les massacres de septembre";
Beaucourt, “Captivité et derniers moments de Louis XVI”;
Ch. Vatel, "Charlotte Corday et les girondins";
Robinet, "Le procès des dantonistes";
Wallon, "Le fédéralisme";
Gaulot, “Un complot sous la terreur”;
Aulard, “Le culte de la raison et le culte de l’Etre Suprème” (presentation in volume VI of the “Historical Review”);
Claretie, "Les derniers montagnards"
D'Héricault, "La révolution de thermidor";
Thurau-Dangin, “Royalistes et républicains”;
Victor Pierre, “La terreur sous le Directoire”;
his, “Le rétablissement du culte catholique en France en 1795 et 1802”;
H. Welschinger, “Le directoire et le concile national de 1797”;
Victor Advielles, "Histoire de Baboeuf et du babouvisme";
B. Lavigue, “Histoire de l’insurrection royaliste de l’an VII”;
Félix Rocquain, “L"état de la France au 18 brumaire";
Paschal Grousset, “Les origines d'une dynastie; le coup d"état de brumaire de l'an VIII".

Social significance of the French Revolution.

Lorenz Stein, “Geschichte der socialen Bewegung in Frankreich”;
Eugen Jäger, “Die francösische Revolution und die sociale Bewegung”;
Lichtenberger, “Le socialisme et la révol. fr.";
Kautsky, “Die Klassengegensätze von 1789” and others.

Essays on the history of legislation and institutions of the French Revolution.

Chalamel, “Histoire de la liberté de la presse en France depuis 1789”;
Doniol, “La féodalité et la révolution française”;
Ferneuil, “Les principes de 1789 et la science sociale”;
Gomel, “Histoire financière de la constituante”;
A. Desjardins, “Les cahiers de 1789 et la législation criminelle”;
Gazier, “Etudes sur l’histoire religieuse de la révolution française”;
Laferrière, “Histoire des principles, des institutions et des lois pendant la révolution française”; Lavergne, "Economie rurale en France depuis 1789";
Lavasseur, “Histoire de classes ouvrières en France depuis 1789”;
B. Minzes, “Die Nationalgüterveräusserung der franz. Revolution";
Rambaud, "Histoire de la civilization contemporaine";
Richter, “Staats- und Gesellschaftsrecht der francösischen Revolution”;
Sciout, “Histoire de la constitution civile du clergé”;
Valette, “De la durée persistante de l’ensemble du droit civil française pendant et après la révolution”;
Vuitry, “Etudes sur le régime financier de la France sous la révolution”;
Sagnac, “Législation civile de la révol. franc."

Slogans of the revolution in France. French Revolution

Reasons for the revolution

The meaning of the Great French Revolution

Characteristic look

I am the Kobe dictatorship

The main results of the Great French Revolution

Causes

General course of events in 1789-1799

Background

National Convention

Thermidorian Convention and Directory (-)

Religion in revolutionary France

Notes

Literature

Links

Creation of the National Assembly

What led to the coup?

More about the causes of the revolution

The first stage of the French Revolution 1789-1799

Formation of the Constituent National Assembly

Storming of the Bastille

Declaration of Human Rights

A trip to Versailles. Reforms

Next stage

Final stage

General course of events from 1789 to 1799

Background

Estates General

National Assembly

Legislative Assembly

National Convention

Directory

Bibliographic index

Links

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