The French Revolution: Origins, Key Events, and Impact
The French Revolution
In 1789, France experienced a series of events that led to the destruction of the Old Regime:
- The convocation of the Estates General.
- Urban riots that culminated in the storming of the Bastille.
- Peasant revolts, which resulted in the abolition of all privileges.
The Estates General opened in Versailles, composed of representatives of each estate: nobility, clergy, and the Third Estate. The representatives of the Third Estate (the bourgeoisie) called for joint deliberation and voting by head, rather than by estate.
The people of Paris supported the bourgeois representatives; on July 14, they stormed the Bastille fortress, a prison and symbol of royal absolutism, and prepared to defend the revolutionary process by force. The National Assembly, attempting to restore social order without an army, held a session in which it decreed the abolition of feudal privileges and promulgated the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
The Bourgeois Revolution
By 1789, the king and nobility seemed to accept the situation, and the country was pacified after the National Assembly began to legislate to make France a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy.
In 1791, a Constitution was promulgated that exemplified the ideals of political liberalism:
- National Sovereignty
- Legal Equality
- Separation of Powers
In April 1792, the Austrians invaded France and reached the gates of Paris. A new, more radical political group, the Jacobins, stormed the royal palace, sent the king to prison, and proclaimed the Republic.
The Democratic Revolution
The Revolution entered its radical and democratic stage, enacting a new constitution that recognized universal suffrage.
The government of this stage was characterized by its radicalism; counter-revolutionary suspects were punished with prison or death. Through a coup, the main Jacobin leaders were overthrown and executed.
The American Revolution
- 1776: Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
- 1783: The War of Independence ended with the recognition of independence by England.
- 1787: The Magna Carta was written, establishing the U.S. Constitution.