Revolutions: a concept that has been known throughout the history. For every revolution, there has been a reason for the action, such as political-social or economic beliefs. In this article, I’d like to dive into a well-known one: the French Revolution. But what exactly is the French Revolution and what characteristics made it unique? Let’s talk about the French Revolution.
What is the French Revolution?
The French Revolution is, as the name suggests, a revolution. It started on the 5th of May in 1789 (Columnist, 2024) that ended in 1799 due to the coup d’état on November 9 (18 Brumaire in the year VIII of the French republican calendar) carried out by Napoleon Bonaparte. Though, traditional histories state that it actually ends on December 24th, 1799 (Columnist, 2024a).
There are multiple reasons as to why the French Revolution started. The main reason is due to political and social beliefs. French had an absolute monarchy which meant that the king held most power, leading to the fact that the citizens were highly dependent on the king and his personality (Roller, z.d.). The Enlightenment (a movement in the eighteenth century where rationalism, optimism and empiricism were central: you could know everything with a thinking mind (De Verlichting: Wat Moet Je Weten? (Uitleg), z.d.)) stimulated the desire for freedom and equality by the people. Even the nobility was dissatisfied with how King Lodewijk XV stripped noble privileges from them and even tried to balance the taxation better (Koops, 2024). So, it can be concluded that the nobility and the civilians both fought against the king, but for different reasons. The civilians wanted more freedom and the nobilities didn’t want their privileges stripped away.
Furthermore, there was a financial reason. In this time period, unfortunately, most of the harvest had failed due to weather conditions, such as hailstorms. The payments got too expensive. This led to famines and food shortages. This paired with multiple wars that were going on in France, the budget got very low. The king was forced to bring the parliament together, because the noble tried everything to stop any tax reforms (Koops, 2024).
What happened during the French Revolution?
A lot happened during the French Revolution, but I will name two memorable moments. Firstly, on July 14th, 1789, the fort the Bastille got attacked. This is the start of the revolution and seen as the most important symbol of the French Revolution. Even to this day, France still celebrates 14th of July (De Franse Revolutie: Hoe Kwam het Tot Stand? – Mr. Chadd Academy, z.d.).
Secondly, on August 26th, 1789, the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ got accepted. This declaration speaks of how the social privileges of the noble and the clergy were gone. Instead the people got the power. The constitution changed September 3th, 1791 (De Franse Revolutie: Hoe Kwam het Tot Stand? – Mr. Chadd Academy, z.d.). This meant that the king had less power that was now given to the legislative assembly. On September 21 in 1792, the monarchy got abolished. From that moment on, France was a republic with the national convention leading (De Franse Revolutie in Vogelvlucht: Een Overzicht, 2022).
The influence of the French Revolution
By the end of the revolution, the monarchy had fallen. This encouraged the ideals of independency and political change. This has resulted in many executions, for example the execution of King Louis XVI (Historian, 2023). But not only had the status of the royal family changed, the French Revolution also led to the development of nationalism. This ideology stands for the fact that the king is not the basis of a state, but rather the civilians (De Eeuw van het Nationalisme, 2024).
Another impact was the influence internationally. Worldwide, more revolutions started to rise with the purpose of getting more independency and (human) rights. The movement in France was seen as hope that a lot of people in the world longed for. It even shaped the modern France, for revolutionary ideals got more popular. For example the art, music and literature (Historian, 2023).
Guillotine
On April 29th, the guillotine was used on a living being for the first time. Before that, it was used for animals and dead bodies. The guillotine was made for the purpose of having a mechanical method of executing those who did not follow the rules and got punished with death penalty (Vandaag 1792: Eerste Gebruik van de Guillotine in Parijs, z.d.).
The guillotine was seen as an effective way of doing these executions as it was described to be ‘as fast as lightning’. And over the years, the machine got used more often (Vandaag 1792: Eerste Gebruik van de Guillotine in Parijs, z.d.).
The French Revolution has played a huge part of the ‘advertisement’ of the guillotine due to the ‘La Terreur’ where dozens of enemies and betrayers got executed with this method. This caused an uprising in different states. Mostly due to the execution of Lodewijk XVI (De Terreur Tijdens de Franse Revolutie, 2022).
The royal family
Looking at the monarchy before the French Revolution, the royal family played a big part into why the revolution started. The royal family consisted of King Louis Lodewijk XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette and their four children called Marie Thérèse Charlotte (born in 1778), Louis Joseph Xavier François (born in 1781), Louis XVII (born in 1785) and Sophie Hélène Béatrix (born in 1786) (Lesso, 2023).
As I’ve already stated, King Louis Lodewijk had been executed on January 21st, 1793 (History, 2023). Louis was seen as weak-willed man that could not hold the reigns over France and create peace with the revolutionaries. On the other hand, Queen Marie Antoinette was accused for helping the enemy and multiple rumors had spread around her such as her being an Austrian spy. So she followed the same faith as her husband on October 16th, 1793. (Mark & Hamilton, 2024). Furthermore, her popularity after the ‘affair of the diamond necklace’ in 1784-86 went downwards quickly. The affair of the diamond necklace was a moment in history when Marie Antoinette refused an expensive diamond necklace even though she had a taste in good fashion. After the refusal, a man named Cardinal Louis de Rohan that had an affair with a woman named Jeanne de la Motte, got tricked into buying the necklace on the ‘queen’s’ orders – though it was not the queen, but a Parisian prostitute named Nicole d’Olivia. The confused Marie Antoinette had to pay for something she had never received. Rohan and the queen were both tricked. But again, rumors spread widely and Marie Antoinette got blamed for this unfortunate situation (Mark & Jebulon, 2025).
The children of Louis and Marie Antoinette have gone through a rough time on their own. Louis Joseph Xavier François, the first heir to the throne, died of tuberculosis in 1789. The other son, Louis XVII, was captured by the revolutionaries and got thrown away in a prison. He also died of tuberculosis in 1795, while he has never been released. Sophie Hélène Béatrix, the youngest sibling, also died of tuberculosis at the age of 11 months. The eldest sibling, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, escaped the revolutionaries and her own execution. She got away with a permanent exile. In 1824, she married her cousin Louis Antoine. With that, she was the only survivor of the French Revolution that got to tell the tale of her family (Lesso, 2023b).
Conclusion
All with all, the French Revolution was a period of change with an influence worldwide. The monarchy got to an end. The royal family at that time had to deal with the consequences of the revolutionaries in a time of sickness and horrific actions. Most of them found their way to the guillotine where their lives ended. During the French Revolution, so many things happened in such a short time. Do you think it was all worth it?
Sources
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