French Revolution, 1789–1799

Abstract

Birthed from national bankruptcy, the French Revolution was a painful political and social transformation that delivered some liberty and fraternity, if less equality, to its participants. While most would agree that our modern political world originated here, there is less consensus in understanding the causes or evolution of what political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville described as “a virus of a new and unknown kind.” The complexity of events, and subsequent layers of interpretation, make studying the French Revolution a daunting prospect for any historian; and its role as a key reference point for those either inspired or horrified by its outcomes continues to make it a focus of controversy and debate. A broad consensus concerning its nature—one of class-based conflict—most clearly expressed by French (Marxist) historians, briefly appeared toward the middle of the 20th century; however, this agreement has now been fatally undermined by an onslaught of diversified research findings that dissent from the old orthodoxies, most notably in emphasizing political over social or economic factors. What can be agreed is that the French Revolution was a transformative event. After the fall of the Bastille in July 1789, French revolutionaries suppressed feudal obligations, abolished the nobility (including titles), reorganized the Catholic Church, introduced (limited franchise) elections and a republican government, executed the king, and possibly most significantly, started a war that would draw in most of Europe and reach as far as the Caribbean. Over a quarter of a million people died in civil wars fought within France, hundreds of thousands more in wars with foreign powers, and 40,000 were executed for political crimes as alleged counterrevolutionaries. By 1799, France had tried out four different constitutions at home, imposed new ones on conquered territories in Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and appeared set on revolutionizing most of Europe, with some countries proudly proclaiming their emancipation by adopting the tricolor flag of republican France. After a decade of revolutionary upheaval, fifteen years of rule by France’s new leader, the military dictator and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte restored a degree of stability (and authoritarianism) to France while continuing to impose revolutionary reforms on the rest of Europe.