The main result of the French Revolution. French revolution

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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 by many historians this revolution is considered one of the most important 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, primarily 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 did not end at all, although in historiography there was a long discussion regarding 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 this measure was announced, 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 in military service the best way to personally distinguish themselves and rise up. 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 of the 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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Among non-Marxist historians, two views prevail on the nature of the Great French Revolution, which do not contradict each other. The traditional view that arose at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th 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 that was 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 is shared by a large number of modern historians (including V. Tomsinov, I. Wallerstein, P. Huber, A. Cobbo, D. Guerin, E. Leroy Ladurie, B. Moore, Huneke, etc.), the revolution was anti-capitalist in nature and represented an explosion of mass protest against capitalism or against those methods of its spread 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 largely 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 - Liberty, equality, brotherhood. However, there is evidence that at the time of the revolution the vast majority of the French peasantry were personally free, and state taxes and feudal duties were not at all high. The reasons for the revolution are seen to be that it was a peasant revolution caused by the last filling of the reservoir. From this point of view, the French Revolution was systemic in nature and belonged to the same type of revolution as the Dutch Revolution, the English Revolution or the Russian Revolution. .

Convocation of the Estates General

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to get out of a difficult financial situation, Louis XVI announced in December 1787 that he would convene French government officials for a meeting of the States General in five years. When Jacques Necker became a parliamentarian for the second time, he insisted that the Estates General be convened as early as 1789; the government, however, had no specific program.

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”.

Abolition of class privileges

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.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Activities of the Constituent Assembly

Was held administrative reform: The provinces were united into 83 departments with a single judicial system.

Following the principle of civil equality, the assembly abolished class privileges and abolished the institution of hereditary nobility, noble titles and coats of arms.

The policy began to take hold economic liberalism: it was announced that all trade restrictions would be lifted; Medieval guilds and state regulation of entrepreneurship were liquidated, but at the same time, according to Le Chapelier's law, strikes and workers' organizations - companionships - were prohibited.

In July 1790, the Constituent Assembly completed church reform: bishops were appointed to all 83 departments of the country; all church ministers began to receive salaries from the state. The Constituent Assembly demanded that the clergy swear allegiance not to the Pope, but to the French state. Only half of the priests and only 7 bishops decided to take this step. The Pope responded by condemning the French Revolution, all the reforms of the Constituent Assembly, and especially the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.”

Adoption of the constitution

Arrest of Louis XVI

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

On September 3, 1791, the National Assembly proclaimed the fourth constitution in European history (after the Constitution of Pylyp Orlik, the Constitution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of May 3, and the Constitution of San Marino) and the fifth constitution in the world (the US Constitution of 1787). It proposed to convene a Legislative Assembly - a unicameral parliament based on a high property qualification. 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 could not be elected to the new parliament. The Legislative Assembly opened on October 1, 1791. This fact indicated the establishment of a limited monarchy in the country.

At meetings of the Legislative Assembly, the question of starting a war in Europe was raised, primarily as a means of solving internal problems. On April 20, 1792, the King of France, under pressure from the Legislative Assembly, declared war on the Holy Roman Empire. On April 28, 1792, the National Guard launched attacks on the Belgian positions, which ended in complete failure.

From the storming of the Tuileries to the execution of the king

On August 10, 1792, about 20 thousand rebels (the so-called sans-culottes) surrounded the royal palace. His assault was short-lived, but bloody. The attackers were resisted by several thousand soldiers of the Swiss Guard, almost all of whom fell at the Tuileries or were killed in prisons during the “September Murders”. One of the results of this assault was the virtual removal of Louis XVI from power and the emigration of Lafayette.

From this point on, for several months, the highest revolutionary bodies - the National Assembly and the Convention - were under strong influence and pressure from the popular masses (sans-culottes) and in a number of cases were forced to fulfill the immediate demands of the crowd of rebels who surrounded the building of the National Assembly. These demands included the rollback of previously implemented trade liberalization, freezing prices, wages and harsh prosecution of speculators. These measures were taken and lasted until the arrest of Robespierre in July 1794. All this occurred against the backdrop of a rise in mass terror, which, although directed mainly against the aristocracy, led to the executions and murders of tens of thousands of people from all walks of life.

At the end of August, the Prussian army launched an attack on Paris and took Verdun on September 2, 1792. The confusion and fear of the return of the old order in society led to the “September murders” of aristocrats and former soldiers of the king’s Swiss guard, prisoners in prisons in Paris and a number of other cities, which occurred in early September, during which more than 5 thousand people were killed.

Accusations and attacks on the Girondins

The trial of Marie Antoinette

The revolution led to enormous casualties. It is estimated that from 1789 to 1815. Only from revolutionary terror in France up to 2 million civilians died, and up to 2 million soldiers and officers died in wars. Thus, 7.5% of the population of France died in revolutionary battles and wars alone (the population in the city was 27,282,000), not counting those who died over the years from hunger and epidemics. By the end of the Napoleonic era, there were almost no adult men left in France capable of fighting.

At the same time, a number of authors point out that the revolution brought liberation from heavy oppression to the people of France, which could not have been achieved in any other way. A “balanced” view of the revolution views it as a great tragedy in the history of France, but at the same time inevitable, resulting from the severity of class contradictions and accumulated economic and political problems.

Most historians believe that the Great French Revolution had enormous international significance, contributed to the spread of progressive ideas throughout the world, influenced a series of revolutions in Latin America, as a result of which the latter was freed from colonial dependence, and a number of other events in the first half of the 19th century.

Songs of revolutionary France

Revolution in philately

Literature

Ado A.V. Peasants and the Great French Revolution. Peasant movements in 1789-94. M.: Publishing house Mosk. University, 2003.
Current problems in studying the history of the Great French Revolution (materials of the “round table” on September 19-20, 1988). M., 1989.
Bachko B.. How to get out of Terror? Thermidor and the Revolution. Per. from fr. and last D. Yu. Bovykina. M.: BALTRUS, 2006.
Bovykin D. Yu. Is the revolution over? Results of Thermidor. M.: Publishing house Mosk. University, 2005.
Gordon A.V. The fall of the Girondins. Popular uprising in Paris May 31 - June 2, 1793. M.: Nauka, 2002.
Dzhivelegov A.K. The army of the Great French Revolution and its leaders: a historical sketch. M., 2006.
Historical sketches about the French Revolution. In memory of V. M. Dalin (on the occasion of his 95th birthday). Institute of General History RAS. M., 1998.
Zacher Ya. M.“Mad Ones,” their activities and historical significance // French Yearbook, 1964. M., 1965
Carlyle T. French Revolution: history. M., 2002.
Koshen O. Small people and revolution. M.: Iris-Press, 2003.
Kropotkin P. A. The French Revolution. 1789-1793. M., 2003.
Levandovsky A. Maximilian Robespierre. M.: Young Guard, 1959. (ZhZL)
Levandovsky A. Danton. M.: Young Guard, 1964. (ZhZL)
Manfred A. Z. Foreign policy of France 1871-1891. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1952.
Manfred A. Z. The French Revolution. M., 1983.
Manfred A. Z. Three portraits of the era of the Great French Revolution (Mirabeau, Rousseau, Robespierre). M., 1989.
Mathiez A. French revolution. Rostov-on-Don, 1995.
Minier F. History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814. M., 2006.
Olar A. Political history of the French Revolution. M., 1938. Part 1, Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
The first explosion of the French Revolution. From the reports of the Russian envoy in Paris I. M. Simolin to Vice-Chancellor A. I. Osterman// Russian archive, 1875. - Book. 2. - Issue. 8. - pp. 410-413.
Popov Yu. V. Publicists of the Great French Revolution. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 2001.
Revunenkov V. G. Essays on the history of the Great French Revolution. L., 1989.
Revunenkov V. G. Parisian sans-culottes of the era of the 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.
Sobul A. The problem of the nation during the social struggle during the French bourgeois revolution of the 18th century. New and Contemporary History, 1963, No. 6. P.43-58.
Tarle E. V. Working class in France during the revolution
Tocqueville A. The old order and revolution. Per. from fr. M. Fedorova. M.: Moscow. Philosophical Foundation, 1997.
Tyrsenko A.V. Feyants: at the origins of French liberalism. M., 1993.
Frikadel G.S. Danton. M. 1965.
Yure F. Understanding the French Revolution. St. Petersburg, 1998.
Hobsbawm E. Echo of the Marseillaise. M., Inter-Verso, 1991.
Chudinov A.V. The French Revolution: History and Myths. M.: Nauka, 2006.
Chudinov A.V. Scientists and the French Revolution

Notes

Wallerstein I. The Modern World-System III. The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840s. San Diego, 1989, pp. 40-49; Palmer R. The World of the French Revolution. New York, 1971, p. 265
See, for example: Goubert P. L’Ancien Regime. Paris, T. 1, 1969, p. 235
The introduction of market relations began in 1763-1771. under Louis XV and continued in subsequent years, until 1789 (see Ancien Regime). The leading role in this was played by liberal economists (physiocrats), who were almost all representatives of the aristocracy (including the head of government, the physiocrat Turgot), and kings Louis XV and Louis XVI were active supporters of these ideas. See Kaplan S. Bread, Politics and Political Economy in the reign of Louis XV. Hague, 1976
See Old Order. One such example is the uprising of October 1795 (shot from cannon by Napoleon), in which 24 thousand armed bourgeois - residents of the central districts of Paris - took part. World History: In 24 volumes. A. Badak, I. Voynich, N. Volchek and others, Minsk, 1997-1999, vol. 16, p. 86-90. Another example is the uprising of the sans-culottes on August 10, 1792, who for the most part represented the petty bourgeoisie (small businesses, artisans, etc.) opposing big business - the aristocracy. Palmer R. The World of the French Revolution. New York, 1971, p. 109
Goubert P. L'Ancien Regime. Paris, T. 2, 1973, p. 247
Palmer R. The World of the French Revolution. New York, 1971, p. 255
Wallerstein I. The Modern World-System III. The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy, 1730-1840s. San Diego, 1989, pp. 40-49
Furet F. et Richet D. La revolution francaise. Paris, 1973, pp. 213, 217
Goubert P. L'Ancien Regime. Paris, T. 1, 1969; Kuzovkov Yu. World history of corruption. M., 2010, chapter XIII
Aleksakha A. G. Introduction to progressology. Moscow, 2004 p. 208-233 alexakha.ucoz.com/vvedenie_v_progressologiju.doc
World History: In 24 volumes. A. Badak, I. Voynich, N. Volchek et al., Minsk, 1998, vol. 16, p. 7-9
World History: In 24 volumes. A. Badak, I. Voynich, N. Volchek et al., Minsk, 1998, vol. 16, p. 14
Palmer R. The World of the French Revolution. New York, 1971, p. 71
Palmer R. The World of the French Revolution. New York, 1971, p. 111, 118
World History: In 24 volumes. A. Badak, I. Voynich, N. Volchek et al., Minsk, 1998, vol. 16, p. 37-38

1789-1804 – The French Revolution .

Stages of the Great French Revolution:

first – 07/14/1789-08/10/1792;

second – 08/10/1792-05/31/1793;

third – 06/02/1793-06/27/1794;

fourth – 06/27/1794-11/09/1799;

fifth – 09.11/1799-18.05/1804.

First stage

Troops loyal to the king gathered in Versailles and Paris. The Parisians spontaneously rose to fight. By the morning of July 14, most of the capital was already in the hands of the insurgent people.

14.07/1789 – storming of the Bastille.

08/26/1789 – adoption by the Constituent Assembly of the Kingdom of France Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. It proclaimed the sacred and inalienable rights of man and citizen: personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, security and resistance to oppression. The right of property was declared just as sacred and inviolable, and a decree was promulgated declaring all church property national.

The Constituent Assembly approved a new administrative division of the kingdom into 83 departments, abolished the class division and abolished all titles of nobility and clergy, feudal duties, class privileges, abolished guilds, and proclaimed freedom of enterprise.

05.10/1789 – women's march to Versailles.

06/21/1791 – attempted escape of Louis XVI and his family abroad.

09/14/1791 – signed by Louis XVI Constitutions of the Kingdom of France, dissolution Constituent Assembly of the Kingdom of France, convocation Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of France.

Austria and Prussia entered into an alliance with each other and announced that they would prevent the spread of everything that threatened the monarchy in France and the security of all European powers.

1791-1797 – I Anti-French Coalition - Austria and Prussia, from 1793 - Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples and Tuscany, in 1795-1796 - Russia.

04/22/1792 – France declares war on Austria.

Second phase

10.08/1792 –uprising of the Paris Commune.

During this period, the Paris Commune became the body of Parisian city self-government. She closed many monarchist newspapers, arrested former ministers, abolished the property qualification, and all men over the age of 21 received voting rights.

Under the leadership of the Paris Commune, preparations began for the assault on the Tuileries Palace, where the king was located. Without waiting for the assault, the king and his family left the palace and came to the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of France. The rebels captured the Tuileries Palace.

08/11/1792 - resolution of the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of France on the removal of the king from power and the convening of a new supreme authority - National Convention of the French Kingdom. For trial "criminals of August 10" (supporters of the king) The Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of France established Extraordinary Tribunal of the Kingdom of France.

09/20/1792 – defeat of the Prussians by the French in Battle of Valmy, opening National Convention of the French Republic.

The political leadership moved to Girondins , representing predominantly the commercial, industrial and agricultural bourgeoisie. They constituted the majority in the Convention. They were opposed Jacobins , which expressed the interests of the revolutionary-democratic bourgeoisie, acting in alliance with the peasantry and plebeians.

A sharp struggle developed between the Jacobins and Girondins. The Girondins were satisfied with the results of the revolution, opposed the execution of the king and opposed the further development of the revolution. The Jacobins considered it necessary to deepen the revolutionary movement.

09/21/1792 – proclamation French Republic.

01/21/1793 – execution of King Louis XVI.

Third stage

31.05-02.06/1793 – Jacobin rebellion– introduction Jacobin dictatorship led by M. Robespierre.

Power passed into the hands of radical strata of the bourgeoisie, which relied on the bulk of the urban population and the peasantry. At this moment, the grassroots had the greatest influence on the government.

The Jacobins recognized the centralization of state power as an indispensable condition. The National Convention of the French Republic remained the highest legislative body. The government was subordinate to him - Committee of Public Safety of the French Republic led by Robespierre. The Committee of Public Safety of the Convention was strengthened to combat counter-revolution, and revolutionary tribunals were activated.

The position of the new government was difficult. The war was raging. In most departments of France, especially the Vendée, there were riots.

1793-1795 – I Vendée mutiny.

1793 – adoption of the new French Republic by the National Convention constitution, - France was declared a single and indivisible republic, the supremacy of the people, equality of people in rights, broad democratic freedoms were consolidated, the property qualification for participation in elections to government bodies was abolished, all men over the age of 21 received voting rights, and wars of conquest were condemned. However, the introduction of the constitution was delayed due to the national emergency.

The Committee of Public Safety carried out a number of important measures to reorganize and strengthen the army, thanks to which in a fairly short time France was able to create a large and well-armed army. By the beginning of 1794, the war was transferred to enemy territory.

07/13/1793 – murder of J.-P. Marata.

10/16/1793 – execution of Queen Marie Antoinette.

1793 – introduction of the French Republic by the National Convention revolutionary calendar . September 22, 1792, the first day of the existence of the Republic, was declared the beginning of a new era. The month was divided into 3 decades, the months were named according to their characteristic weather, vegetation, fruits or agricultural work. Sundays were abolished. Instead of Catholic holidays, revolutionary holidays were introduced.

The Jacobin Union was held together by the need for a joint struggle against the foreign coalition and counter-revolutionary revolts within the country. When victory was won on the fronts and the rebellions were suppressed, the danger of the restoration of the monarchy diminished, and a rollback of the revolutionary movement began. Internal divisions intensified among the Jacobins. 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 counter-revolutionary positions. The leaders Lafayette, Barnave, Lamet, as well as the Girondins, also joined the camp of the counter-revolution. The Jacobin dictatorship increasingly lost popular support.

1793-1794 – Jacobin terror.

1793 - an agreement between Russia and Austria, Great Britain and Prussia, obliging them to help them with troops and money in the fight against France.

1794 - conspiracy in the National Convention of the French Republic against the Jacobins.

Fourth stage

27.07/1794 – Thermidorian coup (Coup of 9 Thermidor).

Thermidorians Now they used terror at their own discretion. They released their supporters from prison and imprisoned Robespierre's supporters. The Paris Commune was immediately abolished.

1795 – adoption by the National Convention of the French Republic of the new constitution- power passed to Directories of the French Republic And Council of Five Hundred of the French Republic And Council of Elders of the French Republic.

1795-1800 – II Vendée Mutiny.

1795-1796 – Triple Alliance between Austria, Great Britain and Russia.

1796-1815 – Napoleonic Wars .

1796-1797 – Italian campaign French.

1797 – French capture of Malta.

1798-1799 – Egyptian expedition French.

1798-1802 – II Anti-French Coalition – Austria, Great Britain, the Kingdom of Naples, the Ottoman Empire and, until 1799, Russia.

1798 - defeat of the French by the British in a naval battle under Abukir.

1799 – Russians capture the Ionian Islands, Corfu, Brindisi.

1799 – Italian and Swiss campaigns.

1799 – Russia’s alliance with France and severance of relations with Great Britain.

1799 - the existence of the Roman and Parthenopean Republic - on the site of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples.

Fifth stage

09.11/1799 – Brumerian coup (Coup of 18 Brumaire)- appointment by the Council of Elders of the French Republic of Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte as commander of the army.

11/10/1799 – dissolution of the Directory of the French Republic, creation Consulates of the French Republic led by N. Bonaparte - regime Thermidorian reaction .

The consulate pursued policies in the interests of the big bourgeoisie. Laws were passed that assigned to the new owners the property they acquired during the revolution, and codes were drawn up to support the development of capitalist industry. Unions and strikes of workers were prohibited; in legal proceedings, the employer's testimony against workers was taken on faith.

1800 – French defeat of the Austrians in Battle of Marengo.

1800 – Convention on Armed Neutrality between Denmark, Prussia, Russia and Sweden.

1801 – preparation in Russia for Indian campaign.

1801 – Peace of Luneville between France and Austria - the south of the Benelux went to France, Austria recognized the Batavian, Helvenian, Ligurian and Cisalpine republics dependent on France, the transformation of the Tuscan Duchy into the Kingdom of Etruria.

1801 – Russia’s peace treaty with Great Britain and Russia’s peace treaty with France.

05/18/1804 – proclamation of N. Bonaparte Emperor of France Napoleon I.

The 18th century is considered to be the century of the Great French Revolution. The overthrow of the monarchy, revolutionary movements and vivid examples of terror eclipsed in their cruelty even the bloody events of the October Revolution of 1917. The French prefer to bashfully remain silent and in every possible way romanticize this period in their history. The French Revolution is difficult to overestimate. A striking example of how the most bloodthirsty and terrible beast, dressed in the robes of Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood, is ready to sink its fangs into anyone, and its name is Revolution.

Prerequisites for the start of the revolution: socio-economic and political crisis

Upon ascending the throne in 1774, he appointed Robert Turgot as Comptroller General of Finance, but a wide range of reforms proposed by this politician were rejected. The aristocracy strenuously clung to its privileges, and all extortions and duties fell heavily on the shoulders of the third estate, whose representatives in France numbered 90%.

In 1778, Turgot was replaced by Necker. He abolishes serfdom in the royal domains, torture during interrogations, and limits court expenses, but these measures were only a drop in the ocean. Absolutism did not allow capitalist relations to develop in society. Therefore, a change in economic formations was only a matter of time. There was a deepening economic crisis, expressed in rising prices in the absence of production growth. Inflation, which hit the poorest segments of the population hard, was one of the catalysts that spurred the growth of revolutionary sentiment in society.

The US War of Independence also set an excellent example, inspiring hope in the revolutionary-minded French. If we talk briefly about the Great French Revolution (and about the preconditions that were ripe), then we should also note the political crisis in France. The aristocracy considered itself located between a rock and a hard place - the king and the people. Therefore, she fiercely blocked all innovations that, in her opinion, threatened liberties and preferences. The king understood that at least something had to be done: France could no longer live in the old way.

Convocation of the Estates General on May 5, 1789

All three classes pursued their own goals and objectives. The king hoped to avoid economic collapse by reforming the tax system. The aristocracy wanted to maintain its position; it clearly did not need reforms. The common people, or the third estate, hoped that they would become the platform where their demands would finally be heard. Swan, crayfish and pike...

Fierce disputes and discussions, thanks to the enormous support of the people, were successfully resolved in favor of the third estate. Of the 1,200 parliamentary seats, 610, or the majority, went to representatives of the broad masses. And soon they had the opportunity to show their political strength. On June 17, at the ball arena, representatives of the people, taking advantage of the confusion and vacillation among the clergy and aristocracy, announced the creation of the National Assembly, vowing not to disperse until a Constitution was developed. The clergy and part of the nobles supported them. The Third Estate showed that it must be taken into account.

Storming of the Bastille

The beginning of the Great French Revolution was marked by a significant event - the storming of the Bastille. The French celebrate this day as a national holiday. As for historians, their opinions are divided: there are skeptics who believe that there was no capture: the garrison itself voluntarily surrendered, and everything happened because of the frivolity of the crowd. We need to clarify some points right away. There was a capture, and there were victims. Several people tried to lower the bridge, and it crushed these unfortunate people. The garrison could resist, it had guns and experience. There was not enough food, but history knows examples of heroic defenses of fortresses.

Based on the documents, we have the following: from the Minister of Finance Necker to the deputy commandant of the Pujot fortress, everyone spoke out about the abolition of the Bastille, expressing the general opinion. The fate of the famous fortress-prison was predetermined - it would have been demolished anyway. But history does not know the subjunctive mood: on July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed, and this marked the beginning of the Great French Revolution.

A constitutional monarchy

The determination of the people of France forced the government to make concessions. City municipalities were transformed into a commune - an independent revolutionary government. A new state flag was adopted - the famous French tricolor. The National Guard was led by de Lafayette, who became famous in the American War of Independence. The National Assembly began forming a new government and drafting a Constitution. On August 26, 1789, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” was adopted - the most important document in the history of the French Revolution. It declared the fundamental rights and freedoms of the new France. Now everyone had the right to freedom of conscience and resistance to oppression. He could openly express his opinion and be protected from attacks on private property. Now everyone was equal before the law and had equal obligations to taxation. the French Revolution was expressed in every line of this progressive document. While most European countries continued to suffer from social inequality generated by the remnants of the Middle Ages.

And although the reforms of 1789-1791 many things changed radically, the adoption of a law to suppress any uprising was directed against the poor. It was also forbidden to form unions and conduct strikes. The workers have been deceived again.

On September 3, 1891, a new Constitution was adopted. It gave the right to vote only to a limited number of representatives of the middle strata. A new Legislative Assembly was convened, whose members could not be re-elected. All this contributed to the radicalization of the population and the possibility of the emergence of terror and despotism.

Threat of external invasion and fall of the monarchy

England was afraid that with the adoption of advanced economic reforms, the influence of France would increase, so all efforts were thrown into preparing the invasion of Austria and Prussia. Patriotic French people supported the call to defend the Motherland. The French National Guard advocated the removal of the king's power, the creation of a republic and the election of a new national convention. The Duke of Brunswick issued a manifesto outlining his intentions: to invade France and destroy the revolution. After they learned about him in Paris, the events of the Great French Revolution began to develop rapidly. On August 10, the rebels went to the Tuileries and, having defeated the Swiss Guards, arrested the king's family. The illustrious persons were placed in the Temple fortress.

War and its impact on the revolution

If we briefly characterize the Great French Revolution, it should be noted that the mood in French society was an explosive mixture of suspicion, fear, mistrust and bitterness. Lafayette fled, the border fortress of Longwy surrendered without a fight. Purges, arrests and mass executions began on the initiative of the Jacobins. The majority in the Convention were Girondins - they organized the defense and even won victories at first. Their plans were extensive: from the liquidation of the Paris Commune to the capture of Holland. By that time, France was at war with almost all of Europe.

Personal disputes and squabbles, a drop in living standards and an economic blockade - under the influence of these factors, the influence of the Girondins began to fade, which the Jacobins took advantage of. The betrayal of General Dumouriez served as an excellent reason to accuse the government of aiding its enemies and remove him from power. Danton headed the Committee of Public Safety - executive power was concentrated in the hands of the Jacobins. The significance of the Great French Revolution and the ideals that it stood for have lost all meaning. Terror and violence swept through France.

Apogee of terror

France was going through one of the most difficult periods in its history. Her army was retreating, the southwest, under the influence of the Girondins, rebelled. In addition, supporters of the monarchy became more active. The death of Marat shocked Robespierre so much that he only thirsted for blood.

The functions of the government were transferred to the Committee of Public Safety - a wave of terror swept through France. After the adoption of the decree of June 10, 1794, the accused were deprived of the right to defense. The results of the Great French Revolution during the Jacobin dictatorship - approximately 35 thousand died and over 120 thousand fled into exile.

The policy of terror so consumed its creators that the republic, having become hated, perished.

Napoleon Bonaparte

France had been drained of blood by civil war, and the revolution had lost its momentum and grip. Everything changed: now the Jacobins themselves were persecuted and persecuted. Their club was closed, and the Committee of Public Safety gradually lost power. The Convention, defending the interests of those who enriched themselves during the years of the revolution, on the contrary, strengthened its positions, but its position remained precarious. Taking advantage of this, the Jacobins staged a rebellion in May 1795, which, although it was harshly suppressed, it accelerated the dissolution of the Convention.

Moderate Republicans and Girondins created the Directory. France is mired in corruption, debauchery and a complete breakdown of morals. One of the most prominent figures in the Directory was Count Barras. He noticed Napoleon Bonaparte and promoted him through the ranks, sending him on military campaigns.

The people finally lost faith in the Directory and its political leaders, which Napoleon took advantage of. On November 9, 1799, the consular regime was proclaimed. All executive power was concentrated in the hands of the first consul - Napoleon Bonaparte. The functions of the other two consuls were only advisory in nature. The revolution is over.

Fruits of the revolution

The results of the Great French Revolution were expressed in a change in economic formations and changes in socio-economic relations. The church and aristocracy finally lost their former power and influence. France embarked on the economic path of capitalism and progress. Its people, seasoned in battle and adversity, possessed the most powerful combat-ready army of that time. The significance of the Great French Revolution is great: the ideals of equality and dreams of freedom were formed in the minds of many European peoples. But at the same time, there was also a fear of new revolutionary upheavals.

By the time of the reign of Louis XVI (1774), the social atmosphere was increasingly tense, and an increasing number of signs foreshadowed the proximity of a revolutionary explosion. There was famine in the country, and the protests of the masses, the so-called « flour war » 1775 assumed formidable proportions. Louis XV, to whom rumor attributed the words: « After us - even a flood! » - left a sad legacy for his successor. In the 70s In the 18th century, as the French historian E. Labrousse showed, in France there was a fall in prices for agricultural products, which led to a reduction in the income of feudal lords. Since the 80s begins in the French village « feudal reaction » , as Chére called this process, and after him the Feudal Aristocracy, trying to get out of this situation, began to restore the old medieval duties for the peasants.

Louis XVI began his reign with reforms. In 1774 he appointed Turgot, a supporter of the « enlightened absolutism » and reforms in the spirit of the teachings of the physiocrats, who made attempts to allow free trade in grain, limit the wastefulness of the court and eliminate the guild system with its conservative traditions, routine technology and organization of labor. However, all the reforms of the royal minister encountered decisive resistance from the nobility, who achieved the resignation of Turgot in 1776. The decisive Turgot was replaced by the more cautious Necker, but in 1781 he too suffered the same fate as his predecessor.

In 1787 - 1789 A revolutionary situation arose in France. A crisis occurred in industry and trade, caused by the penetration of English cheap goods into the market. State comptrollers Calonne and Loménie de Brienne tried to cover the costs with loans. By 1789, France's national debt had reached 4.5 billion livres, and the annual budget deficit was 80 million livres.

On the advice of Calonne, in 1787, Louis XVI convened an assembly of notables, consisting of representatives of the three estates, appointed by the king himself. To overcome the financial crisis that struck the country, Calonne proposed a change in the tax system, providing for the payment of part of the taxes by the privileged classes. Having rejected the proposals of the royal minister, the assembly of notables was dissolved. Remaining under the threat of financial collapse and growing unrest, Louis XVI returned Necker to power in August 1788, on whose advice he agreed to convene the Estates General. The convening of representatives of the three estates was scheduled for May 1789. The Estates General was entrusted with the task of finding ways and means to overcome the financial crisis. Forced to reckon with the growing discontent of the Third Estate, the king agreed to give its representatives a double advantage in the Estates General. However, the important question of how to vote - by class or by the number of votes - was left open.

On May 5, 1789, in one of the palaces of Versailles, the grand opening of the meeting of the Estates General, which had not been convened in France since the time of Louis XIII (1610 - 1643), took place. In front of the king's throne, 300 representatives of the clergy, dressed in purple and white cassocks, took their places on one side. On the other side were 300 representatives of the nobility, dressed in lush camisoles and expensive hats. At the back of the hall at the Palace of Versailles, behind the nobility and clergy, were the deputies from the third estate, numbering 600 people, dressed in modest and inexpensive black suits. These external differences in clothing and positions indicated the privileged position of deputies from the first and second estates, one of which protected the peace of the feudal-absolutist monarchy, serving the king and government « prayers » , and the other « sword » . Even united together, they made up just under 1% of France's 25 million population in the 18th century.

Opening the meetings of representatives of the three estates, Louis XVI delivered a message to the deputies of the Estates General. The king's speech, although it was met with unanimous greetings, still could not justify the hopes placed on it. Louis XVI said nothing about the need for reform and expressed disapproval of « immoderate desire for innovation » . Following the monarch, Minister Necker, very popular in the third estate, spoke on behalf of the government and demanded that the estates submit a loan to the crown in the amount of 80 million livres. In his report, he avoided all the most pressing issues and did not express an opinion either on the state of affairs in the state or on the tasks of the Estates General.

The next day, the Estates General was to begin checking the powers of the deputies. The question arose about the procedure for conducting verification of credentials, closely related to another issue - about class-by-class or universal voting. The problem that arose, how to vote - by class or by majority vote, was not so much practical as it was fundamental. The nobility and clergy insisted on maintaining the former estate division of the Estates General, which allowed them to vote separately and have a double advantage over the third estate.

On May 6, 1789, deputies from the first and second estates organized themselves in separate halls into chambers independent from each other and began separately to verify their powers. For representatives of the third estate, a serious danger arose of the preservation in the Estates General of the old principle of estate division and the transformation of deputies who did not belong to the first two privileged estates and constituted a significant majority of the French people into a third of the assembly. Count Gabriel Honore Mirabeau, a deputy of the third estate, pointed out this danger; he called on his colleagues from the third estate to fight this, seeking a joint verification of the powers of all deputies.

Long negotiations began. The lower clergy was ready to compromise with the deputies of the third estate, proposing to elect commissars from each estate in order to reach an agreement. However, the nobility was irreconcilable and categorically refused any concessions.

The political crisis that arose within the Estates General and lasted for more than a month attracted the attention of the French people. Masses of people began to gather at Versailles, filling the palace galleries in dense rows. « little fun » , in which the meeting of the third estate, named in the English manner, met « House of Commons » . Having received widespread support from the people, the deputies of the third estate decided to take bold and decisive actions.

On June 10, at the suggestion of Abbot E.-J. The Sieyes Assembly of the Third Estate began to verify the powers of the deputies from the three estates elected to the Estates General. Rejecting the principle of estate division, the French « House of Commons » invited the first and second estates to join this verification on the basis of a universal vote on the principle of a majority vote. Deputies who did not appear for inspection were deprived of their powers and were to be considered expelled from the assembly.

These bold political steps, backed by strong statements, quickly yielded results. On June 13, part of the lower clergy joined the meeting of the third estate, and it also became known about unrest and hesitation among the rest of the clergy and some of the nobility. The entirety of the political initiative now passed into the hands of the deputies of the third estate, who, taking upon themselves full responsibility in organizing the verification of the powers of deputies of all classes, emphasized that only the third estate is the authorized representative of the entire nation. In addition to E.-J. Sieyes this idea was repeatedly expressed by Mirabeau, Barnave and the Breton lawyer Le Chapelier.

Transformation of the Estates General on June 17, 1789 into a National Assembly. Proclamation of the National Assembly on July 9, 1789 as a Constituent Assembly.

After the Third Estate assumed responsibility for checking the powers of all deputies of the Estates General, when it was divided into 20 departments for this purpose, elected its chairman - Bailly, elected a bureau, when it identified its rights with the rights of all France, this new the state of affairs required a new legal expression.

On June 17, the meeting of the Third Estate proclaimed the Estates General as the National Assembly, thereby becoming the highest legislative and representative body of the entire French people. Alarmed by these events, the king, as well as the highest nobility and clergy, hastened to take all necessary measures. On June 20, the government, under the pretext of convening a royal meeting, ordered

In response to this, deputies of the National Assembly gathered in the hall that had previously served as a ball game. A proposal was made that the members of the assembly should take an oath not to disperse until a constitution was developed and adopted. The meeting solemnly accepted the text of the drawn up oath.

On June 23, at a meeting of the three estates convened by the king, Louis XVI declared all resolutions of the National Assembly invalid, and the Assembly itself non-existent and proposed that the estates again be divided into chambers, maintaining the previous class isolation. After which Louis XVI and the first two estates left the meeting room. However, the astronomer Bailly, who was elected chairman of the National Assembly in early June, declared its meeting open. The royal master of ceremonies, the Marquis de Breze, demanded that the deputies obey the order of the monarch, for which he heard Mirabeau’s angry response: « Go and tell yours Mr. that we are here by the will of the people and will leave our places only yielding to the force of bayonets » .

At Mirabeau's proposal, the Assembly proclaimed the inviolability of the personalities of deputies, and decided to consider attempts to attack these rights as a state crime. Thus, on June 23, the absolutist monarchy suffered a serious defeat, after the members of the National Assembly refused to disperse at the will of the monarch. Already on June 24, a significant part of the clergy and nobility hastened to join the National Assembly. The king was forced, against his will, to sanction this union of the three classes in the National Assembly.

On July 9, the National Assembly proclaimed itself the Constituent Assembly. By this, it emphasized its responsibility to develop the constitutional foundations on the basis of which it was supposed to establish a new social system in France. In those distant July days, Count Mirabeau indulged in illusions: « This great revolution will happen without atrocities and without tears » . However, this time Mirabeau's insight changed. The Great French Bourgeois Revolution was just beginning, and the French people were just entering its threshold.

The king and his entourage followed the developments at Versailles with alarm and irritation. The government was gathering troops to disperse the Assembly, which dared to declare itself Constituent. Troops were gathered in Paris and Versailles. Unreliable parts were replaced with new ones. Public speakers before a huge crowd of people explained the threat that hung over the Constituent Assembly. A rumor spread among the bourgeoisie about the impending declaration of state bankruptcy, that is, the government's intention to cancel its debt obligations. The stock exchange, shops and theaters were closed.

On July 12, news reached Paris of the resignation of Minister Necker, whom the king ordered to leave France. This news caused a storm of indignation among the people, who the day before carried busts of Necker and the Duke of Orleans through the streets of Paris. Necker's resignation was perceived as counter-revolutionary forces going on the offensive. Already on the evening of July 12, the first clashes between the people and government troops took place.

On the morning of July 13, the alarm sounded over Paris, calling on Parisians to revolt. People seized several tens of thousands of guns from gun stores and the Invalides Home. Under the onslaught of the armed people, government troops were forced to retreat, leaving block after block. By evening, most of the capital was in the hands of the rebels.

On July 13, Parisian electors organized a Permanent Committee, which was later transformed into a commune - the Paris Municipality. On the same day, the Standing Committee decided to form the National Guard - the armed force of the bourgeois revolution, designed to defend revolutionary gains and protect bourgeois property.

However, the outcome of the confrontation between the king and the deputies of the Constituent Assembly was not yet decided. The muzzles of the cannons of the 8-tower fortress-prison of the Bastille still continued to look towards the Saint-Antoine Faubourg. The Standing Committee tried to reach an agreement with the commandant of the Bastille, de Launay. Historians attribute the call to storm the Bastille to the young journalist Camille Desmoulins. The crowd noticed how a detachment of dragoons proceeded to the fortress. The people rushed to the gates of the fortress. The Bastille garrison opened fire on the crowd that stormed the fortress. Once again blood was shed. However, it was no longer possible to stop the people. An angry crowd burst into the fortress and killed Commandant de Donay. People of various professions took part in the storming of the Bastille: carpenters, jewelers, cabinetmakers, shoemakers, tailors, marble craftsmen, etc. The capture of the stronghold of tyranny meant the victory of the popular uprising. Having formally admitted his defeat, the king, together with the deputation of the Constituent Assembly, arrived in Paris on July 17, and on July 29, Louis XVI returned the popular Necker to power.

The news of the success of the popular uprising quickly spread throughout France. Vox Dei swept like a punishing hand over many royal officials who despised the people and saw in them only stupid « black » . The royal official Foulon was hanged from a lamppost. The same fate befell the mayor of Paris, Flessel, who slipped boxes of rags instead of weapons. In cities big and small, people took to the streets and replaced appointed the king of power, personifying the old order with the new elected bodies of city self-government - municipalities. Unrest began in Troyes, Strasbourg, Amiens, Cherbourg, Rouen, etc. This widespread movement, which swept the cities of France in July - August, was called « municipal revolution » .

Peasant protests began at the beginning of 1789 before the convening of the Estates General. Under the impression made by the storming of the Bastille in July - September, peasant protests began, which received a new revolutionary scope. Everywhere, peasants stopped paying feudal duties, destroyed noble estates, castles and burned documents that confirmed the rights of feudal lords to the identity of the peasants. The owners of the estates were gripped by horror, which went down in history as « Great fear » .

The Constituent Assembly, which finally united all three classes, became the most important step towards the establishment of a monarchy limited by law in the kingdom. However, after the victory won on July 14, power and political leadership actually passed into the hands of the big bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisified liberal nobility united with it. Jean Bailly became the head of the Paris municipality, and Lafayette became the head of the formed National Guard. The provinces and most municipalities were also dominated by the big bourgeoisie, which, in alliance with the liberal nobility, formed the constitutionalist party. Divided between rights and left

Already in July, the Assembly created a commission to prepare a declaration and constitution for France. However, due to the growth of peasant uprisings, the Assembly urgently begins to resolve the agrarian question. At the meeting of the Constituent Assembly on August 4, 1789, which lasted until late at night, the noble deputies and the bourgeois who owned land rent were more susceptible to « Great fear » , make a proposal to solve the problems affecting the village. The Duke d'Aiguillon, painting a frightening picture of a raging village, proposed a ready-made bill consisting of 8 sections. Calling on the rest of the nobility « sacrifice one's rights in the interests of justice » and make sacrifices « on the altar of the fatherland » On August 11, the Constituent Assembly adopted decrees on the agrarian question.

All feudal duties were divided into « personal » And « real » . TO « personal » included: servage, seigneurial courts, the right of the dead hand, the exclusive right of hunting, etc. « Real » payments were considered: church tithes, chinsh, one-time duties to the lord on the sale and inheritance, censives, champar, etc. The difference between them was that « personal » duties as opposed to « real » canceled without any ransom and were not associated with land ownership. Thus, without resolving the essence of the agrarian question, the Constituent Assembly, in decrees of August 4 - 11, announced that « completely destroys the feudal regime » .

After the adoption of the agrarian decrees, the assembly returned to constitutional issues. On August 26, the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights was adopted, consisting of 17 articles, which were based on the anti-feudal educational ideas of J.-J. Rousseau. In contrast to royal absolutism, the Declaration proclaimed the principle of the supremacy of the nation. The nation is the only source of all power. This formulation allowed for the preservation of the monarchy. The Declaration formulated precise definitions « natural, inalienable and inalienable rights » .The first article of the declaration began: « People are born and remain free and equal in rights » . True, a vague clause was included in the first article, allowing « social differences » if they lead to « common benefit » . « Natural and inalienable rights » personal freedom, freedom of speech and press, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, security and resistance to oppression, and choice of any occupation were recognized. In the 17th article of the Declaration, the right of property was declared to be the same inviolable right. Its removal from the hands of the owner was allowed only in the event « social need » , on the basis of law and subject to « advance and fair compensation » .

Rejecting class privileges, the Declaration provided for the right of all citizens to participate themselves or through their representatives in the legislative process.

In the very title of the Declaration, man comes first after the citizen. This also expressed the ideas of the enlighteners, who sought to focus all their attention on human individuality. Following the humanists of the 16th century. and the rationalists of the 17th century, the enlighteners placed man at the center of all their historical and philosophical constructions. They wanted to snatch him from the clutches of feudal corporations (class, guild, guild), considering him as an individual equal to every other. Universal equality was necessary to eliminate those class barriers that feudal society had built. Therefore, the highlighting of the human personality as opposed to feudal corporatism was the main idea of the bourgeois worldview, which the enlighteners of the 18th century. brought to extraordinary sharpness. The famous triune formula « liberty, equality and fraternity » , extracted from the Declaration, subsequently echoed like thunder throughout Europe.

After the approval of the Declaration and the provision of fundamental rights and freedoms to citizens, the question of suffrage arose. Already on August 31, the majority of the deputies of the Assembly reacted with understanding to the proposal of deputy Mounier to establish a property qualification for voters and to divide citizens into « active » And « passive » . This idea was expressed by Sieyes back in July.

In September, the government was preparing a new counter-revolutionary coup. Louis XVI refused to sign the August decrees and the Declaration. Reliable units were assembled in Versailles and Paris. October 5 from the pages of Marat's newspaper « Friend of the people » there was a call for a march on Versailles. About 6 thousand women took part in the campaign, demanding bread. Later, the National Guard led by Lafayette approached Versailles. On October 6, an armed clash broke out with the royal guards, during which people broke into the palace. The frightened king twice went out onto the balcony with Lafayette and tried to calm the armed crowd. Fearing the worst possible development of the situation, Louis XVI signed the declaration and agrarian laws, after which he hastily left Versailles and went to Paris. Following the king, the Constituent Assembly moved to the capital.

On October 21, the Constituent Assembly passed a law authorizing the use of military force to suppress popular uprisings.

Administrative reform.

Having abolished the old privileges of the provinces in August, the Assembly then destroyed the entire medieval system of dividing France into provinces, generalites, seneschalships, baillages, etc. By the law of January 15, 1790, the Constituent Assembly established a new administrative structure for the kingdom. The whole country was divided into 83 departments, which in turn were divided into communes, cantons and discretes. This new administrative structure, which destroyed the old feudal fragmentation with internal customs, patrimonial courts, and the like, ensured the national unity of the state. As a result of the reform, 44 thousand municipalities were formed in France.

Church reform

Attempts by Louis XVI and his ministers in 1787 and 1789 to resolve the socio-political and economic crisis hanging over the kingdom ended in vain. The new revolutionary government inherited a significant amount of debt from the feudal-absolutist monarchy and a growing financial crisis in the country. To avoid dangerous precedents of violation « inviolable and sacred » rights of private property protected by the last article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the Constituent Assembly, at the proposal of Bishop Talleyrand of Autun, supported by G. O. Mirabeau, decided to sequester church property, based on the explanation proposed by Talleyrand that this measure « is entirely compatible with strict respect for property rights » , since the duties imposed on priests by the ecclesiastical rank do not allow the clergy to be the same owners as the nobility or the bourgeoisie. Despite the protest of the clergy, outraged by the outburst of their brother, and appealing to the 17th article of the August Declaration, deputies of the Constituent Assembly, by decree of November 2, 1789, decided to transfer all church property to the disposal of the nation. Church reform affected not only the Gallican Church, which remained faithful to Catholicism, but also those churches that were influenced by the Reformation.

After the property of the church was declared the property of the state, the deputies of the Assembly decided to eliminate the political autonomy of the church, and began, in fact, the reform of the church itself. By the decrees of July - November 1790, the Assembly sought to change the internal structure of the church and determine its future sphere of activity in the state. A number of powers administered by the church administration were transferred to the jurisdiction of local civil authorities (registration of marriage, registration of deaths and registration of newborns). In an effort to place the clergy at the service of the interests of the emerging bourgeois order, the deputies of the Assembly decided to withdraw the Gallican Church from the influence of the French king and the Pope. The king was deprived of the prerogative of appointing persons to episcopal sees, and the pope was deprived of the right to approve them. All church positions became elected, based on the property qualification established by law. Regardless of confessional affiliation, the highest clergy were elected by departmental electors, the lowest by parish electors.

The government took upon itself the obligation to pay salaries to the clergy. Between the state and the clergy, ties were finally formalized along the state-church vector, expressed, among other things, through monetary compensation established by law in the form of wages received by clergy for their work. Thus, everyone rightfully wearing a cassock turned into a spiritual official, a minister, but not in the theological, but in the secular meaning of this word.

The old division of France into 18 archbishoprics and 116 bishoprics was replaced by a division into 83 dioceses, which corresponded to the 83 departments created during the administrative reform.

By decree of November 27, 1790, the Constituent Assembly decided to swear allegiance to the drafted articles of the constitution. Each bishop was obliged to take the oath in the presence of municipal authorities. However, most clergy refused to take the oath. Of the 83 bishops, only 7 swore allegiance to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, as well as to the articles of the constitution. From the end of November 1790 until 1801, i.e., at the time Napoleon I signed the concordat with Rome, the clergy in France was divided into constitutional (sworn) and unconstitutional (refusal to take the oath).

A further attempt to resolve the peasant issue by the Constituent Assembly.

The peasantry perceived the decrees of August 4-11 as the complete abolition of all feudal duties. The peasants stopped paying not only « personal » duties, which was allowed by law, but also « real » , which were supposed to be redeemed. Since the authorities tried to force the peasants to bear the required duties until they ransomed them, an uprising broke out again in February 1790.

In resolving the agrarian question, the Constituent Assembly used two methods: the method of persuasion and the method of coercion. By a decree of March 15, 1790, landowners were deprived of the right of triage. By decrees of February and July 1790, the Assembly confirmed the obligation of peasants to pay « real payments » and gave local authorities the right to introduce « martial law » . In the event of a pogrom of the owner's property by peasants, the government imposed on the communities the obligation to compensate for the damage caused in the amount of 2/3 of the cost of the loss incurred by the owner.

In May 1790, the Assembly established a redemption procedure that was unfavorable for the peasants « real payments » , which led to a new wave of peasant movement. In the departments of Quercy, Périgord, and Rouergue, the peasantry again rose up to fight in the winter of 1790. The meeting sent to « rebellious » departments of troops and commissars. But it was not possible to quickly extinguish the source of the uprising.

Back on May 15, 1790, the Assembly issued a decree according to which it authorized the sale of national property at auction in small plots with payment in installments of up to 12 years. In June, the payment period was reduced from 12 to 4 years. Instead of selling land in small plots, they now began to sell it as whole plots. At first, the peasantry showed interest in the sale of church lands and the number of unrest decreased noticeably. However, land prices were set high, and the sale of large plots at auction raised them even higher.

Having begun the sale of national property, the Constituent Assembly issued special state monetary obligations to pay for them - assignats, initially in the amount of 400 million livres. This amount was equal to the price intended for the sale of part of the national property. The assignats were initially issued with a nominal value of one thousand livres and were quoted as securities. However, they were soon given the functions of paper money: they began to be issued in small bills, and they began to circulate on a par with specie.

Municipal elections in January - February 1790. Le Chapelier's Law. Abolition of estates.

In January - February 1790, on the basis of new constitutional articles on property qualifications, elections to municipal bodies were held. Access to them, like the National Guard, was open only to wealthy people.

In the field of trade and industrial legislation, the Constituent Assembly proceeded from the principles of economic liberalism of the physiocratic school. In an effort to ensure the greatest scope for economic initiative, it abolished all previous restrictions. Interfering with freedom of industrial and commercial activities. On February 16, 1791, a decree was issued on the abolition of workshops and their privileges; even earlier, government regulation in industrial production was abolished. March 2 The Assembly adopts a law on freedom of enterprise.

In the spring of 1790, workers' strikes began in Paris and other cities, demanding higher wages and a shorter working day. A Fraternal Union was formed, uniting thousands of carpenter workers. Even earlier, the printers of Paris created their own special organization.

On June 14, 1791, deputy Le Chapelier, a lawyer from Rennes, introduced a draft against the workers, which was adopted almost unanimously by the deputies of the Constituent Assembly. This decree, according to its creator, became known as the Le Chapelier Law. The law prohibited the union of workers into unions or other associations, prohibited strikes, and took action against violators. Violators of the law were punished with fines and imprisonment. Meetings of strikers were equivalent to « rebels » and military force could be used against participants. Le Chapelier himself motivated the need for the adoption of this law by the fact that trade unions and workers' strikes restrict the personal freedom of the entrepreneur and thereby contradict the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

The Constituent Assembly eliminated the division of the country into classes, however, it retained the title of nobility itself. In order to ensure the further equality of all citizens in rights, the Assembly on June 19, 1790 abolished the institution of nobility and all titles associated with it. The wearing of titles: marquis, count, duke, etc., as well as the use of family coats of arms was prohibited. Citizens could only have the surname of the head of the family.

The first political circles in France

It is generally accepted that the first political club in France arose in June 1789 in Versailles, before the revolutionary uprisings of the masses and the fall of the Bastille. This became the Breton Club, which united a group of bourgeois deputies from Brittany, who were soon joined by prominent members of the National Assembly. By the end of June, the number of club members exceeded 150 people. After the events of October 5-6, following the king and the Constituent Assembly, leaders of the Breton Club moved to Paris. Here in the capital of France the club was transformed into « Society of Friends of the Constitution » , or the Jacobin Club, named after the library of the monastery of St. James, in which meetings of its members were held. All members of the club paid an annual entrance fee of 12 to 24 livres, which did not allow the poor to take part in its work. Unlike the Beton Club, which accepted into its ranks only deputies of the Constituent Assembly in « Society of Friends of the Constitution » included supporters of bourgeois-democratic reforms and moderate liberal constitutionalists. In the first years of the revolution, the role of the Jacobin Club, which united almost all the major figures of the third estate, both on the right (from Sieyès, Lafayette and Mirabeau) and on the left (to Robespierre), was great. Most of the issues considered by the deputies of the Constituent Assembly were discussed at the club. The Jacobin Club had many branches. In June 1790 their number reached 100, at the beginning of 1791 it reached 227, and at the time of the Varennes crisis there were 406 branches of the club in 83 departments of France.

In 1790, representatives of the constitutionalist party, represented by an alliance of the big bourgeoisie with the liberal-minded nobility, while remaining mostly members of the Jacobin Club, formed « Society of 1789 » , which included: the leader of the constitutionalists Mirabeau, the head of the National Guard Lafayette, the mayor of the Paris municipality of Bailly, the Breton lawyer from Rennes Le Chapelier and others. Chairman « Society of 1789 » Abbot Sieyes was elected. All of them adhered to right-wing views, and in the Constituent Assembly their representation was called moderate liberal constitutionalists. IN « Society of 1789 » high membership fees were set, and its meetings were held behind doors closed from prying eyes.

With the growth of the peasant-plebeian movement, new ideological and political circles arose that absorbed the views of the French enlighteners. Among them, a special place was occupied « Social circle » , founded in January 1790 by Abbot Claude Faucher and an ardent admirer of the educational ideas of J.-J. Rousseau and the writer Nicolas de Bonville, who united the democratically minded intelligentsia in his ranks. Huge political influence « Social circle » acquired in November 1790, after a wider organization was founded by its leaders - « » , which included about 3 thousand people. Meetings « » took place in the premises of the Palais Royal circus and attracted an audience of 4 - 5 thousand people, consisting of artisans, workers and other representatives of the Parisian poor. In speeches at federation meetings, as well as in published « Social circle » newspapers « Iron mouth » , Faucher and Bonville put forward demands for the allocation of land to all poor people, the equalization of property and the abolition of the right of inheritance. Despite the fact that neither Faucher nor Bonville took an exclusively left-wing position on pressing political issues, K. Marx and F. Engels argued that in « Social circle » that revolutionary movement began, which then « gave birth to communist idea » , put forward by Babeuf and his followers.

In April 1790 it was founded « Society of Friends of Human and Civil Rights » or the Cordeliers Club, which took its name from the monastery belonging to the Franciscan Cordeliers order, in which the club members met. The Cordeliers Club in its composition represented a more democratic organization that fought against the restriction of qualifications for deputies of the Assembly of suffrage. Small membership fees were established for those wishing to join the club. Unlike the Jacobin Club, the Cordeliers Club had few deputies to the Constituent Assembly. It consisted mainly of revolutionary-minded public figures, bearers of republican ideas: lawyer Danton, journalist Camille Desmoulins, newspaper publisher « Friend of the people » Jean Paul Marat, journalist and lawyer Francois Robbert, typographer Momoro and others. The emblem of the Club was the all-seeing eye, symbolizing the vigilance of the people.

"Varenna Crisis" on June 21, 1791 and the first split within the Jacobin Club on July 16, 1791.

After the march on Versailles on October 5-6, 1789 and the move of the king and the Assembly to Paris, the palace in the Tuileries became the residence of the monarchy. On the morning of June 21, 1791, Parisians were awakened by the sound of the alarm bell and cannon shots, signaling the escape of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette together with their children from the Tuileries Palace. It became obvious that the carriage containing the highest-born of all aristocrats was rapidly moving towards the eastern border of France, where the forces of the counter-revolution were gathering to begin their crusade against « rebel rabble » .

On the same day, at a meeting of the Cordeliers Club, a proclamation was drawn up to the French people, published in the form of a poster: with paraphrased verses from « Brutus » Voltaire followed with a call for the punishment of tyrants by death. Immediately, the members of the Club unanimously approved a petition personally drawn up by François Robert to the Constituent Assembly, demanding the final destruction of the monarchy after the flight of the king and queen from Paris. On June 21, all the forces of supporters of republican rule became more active. Journalist Brissot and the press called for the deposition of Louis XVI and the proclamation of France as a republic « World Federation of Friends of Truth » - « Iron mouth » . Press organ « Society of Friends of Human and Civil Rights » - « Friend of the people » called for a revolutionary struggle against tyrants.

After the escape of the royals, all measures were urgently taken to detain them. Not even a day had passed before the fugitives were captured near the border in the town of Varennes and taken to Paris under the escort of the National Guard. The capture was helped by the son of a postal employee, Drouet, who recognized Louis XVI from the profile minted on the coins and raised the alarm. Already on June 25, the residents of Paris greeted the king and queen with hostile silence.

Cordeliers Club and « World Federation of Friends of Truth » led the movement to establish a republic in France. Danton, Chaumette, Condorcet were its ardent advocates at section meetings. Local branches of the Jacobin Club sent petitions to Paris demanding the immediate abdication of the king and queen. At the time of the proceedings, deputies of the Constituent Assembly temporarily removed the king from power. Without losing hope, after so many transformations, to come to an agreement with Louis XVI and establish a constitutional monarchy in the kingdom, and also trying to give the most decisive rebuff to the supporters of the republic, the deputies of the Assembly made every effort to save the greatly damaged reputation of the French king. Through their diligence, on July 15, Louis XVI was rehabilitated before France, which was enshrined in the form of a resolution by deputies of the right-wing Constituent Assembly, adhering to the version of « kidnapping of the king » for the purpose of compromising it.

The restoration of the power of Louis XVI by decision of the Constituent Assembly infuriated the democrats. The Cordeliers Club refused to recognize the legitimacy of this decree and drew up another petition calling for not to submit to the illegal power of the traitor king. The next day, members of the Cordeliers Club went to the Jacobin Club, calling for support for the anti-royal petition.

The process of political division in the chamber of the third estate into supporters and opponents of the revolution began in June 1789. Outwardly, it was noticeable that supporters of the revolution took seats to the left of the chairman's table, which stood in the center of the hall, and opponents of the revolution always sat on the right. After Louis XVI signed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen along with individual articles of the constitution and left Versailles, ardent supporters of absolutism left the Constituent Assembly on October 13, 1789. Thus, in the created political « Society of Friends of the Constitution » formed on the basis of the Breton Club, included moderate liberal constitutionalists and revolutionary democrats. However, the division into supporters and opponents of the revolution continued. During « municipal revolutions » July - August 1789 and the two-stage elections established by law for local bodies of city government held at the beginning of 1790, supporters of a constitutional monarchy came to power. Having achieved their goals, the big bourgeoisie and liberal nobility sought to strengthen their position and stop the growing movement for rights and freedoms coming from the urban and rural poor. The outward expression of the separation of moderate liberal constitutionalists from the democratic bourgeoisie was the separation of the right part of the Jacobin Club into a new political organization - « Society of 1789 » , who had not yet broken with the Jacobins. At the time the Cordeliers submitted a petition to the Jacobin Club, an intense political struggle was already underway in the latter. On July 16, 1791, the left side of the Jacobin Club supported the petition. This caused the first split within the Jacobins. The right part of the Jacobins, consisting of « Society of 1789 » , defiantly left the meeting and soon resigned from the Jacobin Club. Most members « Society of 1789 » , who broke with the left-wing Jacobins, founded a new political Club of Feuillants, named after the former monastery that previously belonged to the Feuillants order. Its leaders were Lafayette, Bailly and formed after the death of Mirabeau « triumvirate » represented by Barnave, Duport and Lamet. The Feuillants established high membership fees, providing their organization with reliable protection from penetration of the Club by democratically minded citizens. The split of the Jacobin Club in Paris led to a split in all branches belonging to the club. The same thing happened in all departments of France. Representatives of the big bourgeoisie left local branches of the Jacobin Club.

So, supporters of a limited monarchy set out to complete it at all costs. On July 15, Barnave speaks in the Constituent Assembly, demanding an end to the revolutionary impulses of the masses. The day before the tragedy on the Champ de Mars, opponents of the republic left the Jacobin Club. Democratic clubs and newspapers demanded the overthrow of the monarchy. At the call of the Cordeliers Club, crowds of people gathered on the Champ de Mars for several days to accept a petition for the abolition of the monarchy in France, the abolition of property qualifications and the re-election of deputies of the Constituent Assembly.

By order of the Constituent Assembly, troops of the National Guard were assembled on the Champs de Mars. The meeting of the people passed calmly, but the ruling power, seeking to establish a constitutional monarchy, decided to act. The mayor of Paris, Bailly, ordered the demonstration to be dispersed by force. On July 17, the guardsmen under the command of Lafayette opened fire on the unarmed people. About 50 people were killed and hundreds wounded. For the first time, one part of the third estate took up arms against another part of it. After the dispersal of the peaceful demonstration, punitive measures by the government followed. On July 18, the Constituent Assembly issued a decree on severe punishment « rebels » , deciding to begin prosecution of the demonstrators.

Having a significant advantage in the Assembly over supporters of the republic, the constitutionalists decided to increase the property qualification for all categories « active » citizens. Under the pretext of codifying the articles of the constitution previously adopted by the Constituent Assembly, deputies from the majority achieved a revision of the articles relating to the electoral qualifications. In August, by majority vote « right » a decision was made to significantly increase the property qualification.

The victory of the French Revolution caused excitement among the European aristocracy. On July 14, 1789, a dangerous precedent was set. In the autumn of 1789, the national liberation movement flared up in Belgium against the rule of the Austrians and soon grew into a bourgeois revolution. By December of the same year, the Austrians were expelled from Belgian territory. Not wanting the revolutionary fire to spread throughout Europe, on July 27, 1790, by agreement in Reichenbach between Austria and Prussia, the main controversial issues were resolved, followed by the conclusion of an alliance to suppress the revolution in Belgium. By November 1790, the Belgian revolution was defeated. The motives that prompted the governments of European monarchies to rush into intervention against revolutionary France were clearly formulated by Catherine II: « We must not sacrifice a virtuous king to the barbarians; the weakening of monarchical power in France endangers all other monarchies » .

After the victory in Belgium, the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, Leopold II, turned to the European powers with a proposal to convene, in view of the impending threat, a pan-European congress in Aachen or Spa to organize a joint intervention against the revolution in France. Due to the fact that Russia and England chose to avoid participating in the congress, Emperor Leopold's initiative ended in failure.

Due to the suppression of the Belgian revolution, points of contact emerged between Prussia and Austria. On August 27, 1791, at Pillnitz Castle in Saxony, Emperor Leopold II and the Prussian King Frederick William II signed a declaration of joint action to help the French monarch. The Austro-Prussian Treaty of Alliance concluded on the basis of the Pillnitz Declaration and the preliminary treaty of 1791 on February 7, 1792 marked the beginning of the first anti-French coalition.

Back in July 1789, the Constituent Assembly decided to form a commission to prepare the Declaration and develop the main articles of the French constitution. However, the growth of peasant uprisings forced the deputies of the Constituent Assembly to address the agrarian question. At the end of August, the Constituent Assembly returned to the discussion of the constitution, the prologue to which was the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Under the influence of the events of October 5-6, 1789, deputies of the Assembly accelerated work on editing the articles of the Basic Law. This difficult work was completed by the deputies already in October, and by the end of December it was completed, and the corresponding decrees acquired legal force.

By legislation of October - December 1789, citizens were divided into « active » And « passive » . « Passive » those who did not have the established property qualifications were considered and therefore were deprived of the right to be elected and to be elected. « Active » Citizens who had property qualifications and voting rights were divided into three categories:

1. The right to elect electors was granted to men who had reached the age of 25 and paid a direct tax in an amount equal to the local three-day wages of a day laborer.

2. The right to be elected as an elector and to elect deputies was granted to persons who paid a direct tax in the amount of ten days' wages.

3. The right to be elected as deputy was granted only to persons who paid a direct tax in the amount of a silver mark (about 54 livres) and who owned land property.

Of the 25 - 26 million population of France, the constitution granted voting rights to only 4 million 300 thousand people.

Developing the constitution in parts and putting it into effect as individual articles were approved, by September 1791 the Constituent Assembly completed this work. Having fully restored the power of Louis XVI, the deputies of the Assembly submitted to him for approval the articles of the first bourgeois constitution in France. The Basic Law, signed by the king on September 3, proclaimed the principle of the supremacy of the nation: « All powers come from the nation » .

In accordance with the articles of the constitution, France was declared a monarchy limited by the Basic Law. The head of the highest executive power was « by God's grace and the power of constitutional laws » the king of the French, who was given the legitimate right to appoint persons to the positions of ministers and senior military leaders, as well as the right of suspensive (delaying) veto. The entirety of supreme legislative power was concentrated in the hands of deputies of the Legislative Assembly, which consisted of one chamber and was elected in two-stage elections « active » citizens for a period of 2 years. Ministers appointed by the king, at the request of the Legislative Assembly, had to report to the deputies of the Assembly on the state of the budget and could be held accountable by a majority vote of the Assembly in the manner prescribed by law. The declaration of war and the conclusion of peace were made by the Legislative Assembly on the basis of the proposal of the king.

The constitution equalized the rights of all faiths professing themselves on the territory of the kingdom, and also preserved slavery in the French colonies.

Without finally resolving the agrarian question, the constitution of 1791 did not ensure the elimination of feudalism. By preserving slavery as the most severe form of exploitation of man by man, the constitutional system contradicted the articles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Instead of the equality of citizens proclaimed in the first article of the Declaration in the rights given to them by the Creator from birth and subsequently preserved, the Basic Law established property inequality between citizens, granting political rights only « active » citizens who can express their civic position in the elections of representatives to local authorities and municipalities.

Nevertheless, the French bourgeois constitution had great progressive significance at that time.

Completion of the work of the Constituent Assembly on September 30, 1791. The end of the first stage of the Great French Bourgeois Revolution.

After the proclamation of bourgeois rights and freedoms in France, as well as the development of the constitutional foundations of the kingdom, approved by the head of the executive branch - the monarch, the Constituent Assembly, which worked for more than two years, considered its mission completed. The manifesto of Louis XVI, which approved the completion of the work of the deputies of the Constituent Assembly, stated that « the end of the revolution has come » .

The Constitution of 1791 delimited the powers of power between the monarch and the representative office. Having vested the king with executive power, the bourgeoisie limited his legislative activity, granting, however, the right to veto decisions of the Assembly. Before passing a resolution to terminate the meeting of the Constituent Assembly, deputies announced the start of elections to the Legislative Assembly. Only after they were held, the king signed a manifesto according to which the Constituent Assembly ceased its activities, giving way to deputies elected to the Legislative Assembly.

On October 1, 1791, the Legislative Assembly began its work in Paris. It consisted overwhelmingly of representatives of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois-minded intelligentsia. Since the Constituent Assembly decreed that its members could not be elected to the Legislative Assembly, the latter's deputies were elected from local municipalities and the local elected administration. Although the Jacobins were better represented in these elected local civil authorities, they constituted a significant minority in the Assembly. The reason for this was the property qualification, which few were able to overcome.

The right wing of the Legislative Assembly consisted of the Feyians, who received more than 250 seats. The Left Assembly consisted mainly of Jacobins and numbered 136 deputies. The numerous center, formed by about 350 deputies, formally did not belong to either the right or left bloc of the Assembly. However, the majority of center deputies supported right-wing ideas. The Feyants could always count on their votes in case of active opposition from the Jacobins, which arose during the discussion of the most pressing political issues.

By the end of 1791 - beginning of 1792. France's economic situation worsened. The sale of national property, initiated by the previous Assembly, was successful. But with the accepted sale of land, mainly in large plots, most of the land fell into the hands of the bourgeoisie, and not the peasantry. The peasantry, who were also forced to carry out uncanceled duties, openly expressed their dissatisfaction. The increasing issue of assignants led to the beginning of the depreciation of paper money. The immediate consequence of the depreciation of money was an increase in prices for essential goods.

Due to the uprising of black slaves in the French colonies (Saint-Domingue), by the beginning of 1792, goods such as coffee, sugar, and tea almost disappeared from sale. Sugar, which cost 25 sous per pound, rose in price to 3 livres. Already in November, unrest among workers and artisans arose in Paris. The Legislative Assembly received complaints and petitions demanding the establishment of fixed prices for products and curbing the arbitrariness of large wholesale traders. In February 1792, the Legislative Assembly issued a decree prohibiting the export of various raw materials from France. Then armed peasants in the Noyon area detained barges with grain on the Oise River and partly distributed among themselves, partly sold at stable prices. This movement was supported by Babeuf, the future leader of the conspiracy « in the name of equality » . Similar cases occurred in other areas of France. Priest Jacques Roux, future leader « mad » , the Jacobin priest Dolivier already at the beginning of 1792 demanded the establishment of fixed prices for food and the protection of the poor from the tyranny of the rich.

On November 9, 1791, a decree was adopted against emigrants, declaring all those who did not return to France before January 1, 1792, traitors to the Fatherland, and on November 29, a decree was adopted against priests who did not take the oath of the constitution, establishing penalties for them.

Quite a lot of time passed after the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, however, the situation in France still remained tense. The king's brother, Count d'Artois, who fled from Paris on the night of July 16-17, emigrated abroad. In Turin, counter-revolutionary forces soon began to form around his brother Louis XVI. At the end of 1789, Count d'Artois sent his numerous emissaries to the monarchs of Europe with a call to join the campaign of the French nobility against the revolution. Since 1791, Koblenz became the center of counter-revolutionary forces, where Count d'Artois began to form an army. At the same time, Queen Marie Antoinette, through secret agents, sent letters to her brother, Emperor Leopold II of Austria, in which she begged him to come to the rescue as soon as possible and suppress the rebellion.

In this situation, on October 20, 1791, the Girondin Brissot made an excited speech at the Assembly, calling for a rebuff to European despotism, which was preparing an intervention against France. Robespierre and other representatives of revolutionary democracy were categorically against war with the thrones of Europe. The leader of the left-wing Jacobin-Montagnards, Robespierre, believed that the main forces of counter-revolution threatening France were located within the country, and not in London, Vienna, St. Petersburg or Koblenz: « To Koblenz, you say, to Koblenz!.. Is there danger in Koblenz? No! Koblenz is by no means a second Carthage, the center of evil is not in Koblenz, it is among us, it is in our bosom » .

In March 1792, the king formed a ministry of Girondins. Roland, led by his wife, was appointed Minister of the Interior, and Dumouriez, who was one of the most ardent supporters of the war, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The political center of the Girondins became the salon of Madame Roland, who knew how to bring up for discussion the most important policy issues of the Girondin party over evening tea in a casual conversation.

On April 20, 1792, France declared war on the King of Bohemia and Hungary - the Austrian Emperor. Declaring war « reactionary monarchies » in the person of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Legislative Assembly wanted to emphasize that the French Revolution was not at war with the peoples of the German Empire, but with a tyrant.

From the very first days of the war, France suffered setbacks. General Rochambeau resigned shortly after the outbreak of hostilities. The officers, most of them nobles, went over to the enemy's side. Marat, who resumed publication of his newspaper, spoke openly about treason. Robespierre accused the traitor generals and Girondins of betraying the interests of France. The Girondins, in turn, resumed their persecution of Marat and began to persecute Robespierre, declaring that he served Austria.

At the end of May and beginning of June, the Legislative Assembly issued three decrees: on the expulsion of the clergy who had not sworn allegiance to the French constitution, on the dissolution of the royal guard and on the creation of a federal camp of 20 thousand people near Paris. However, the king agreed only with the dissolution of his guard. Using the right given to him by the constitution, Louis XVI vetoed the remaining two decrees.

On June 13, the king, being the head of the executive power according to the constitution, dismissed the Girondist ministers and summoned the Feyants. After such a demarche, troubles for the monarchy were to be expected. And they were not long in coming. On June 20, several thousand Parisians took part in the anti-royal demonstration. Having burst into the Tuileries Palace, they forced the king to put a red cap on his head and demanded that the Girondin ministers be returned to power.

Meanwhile, the situation at the fronts was becoming critical. The French army under the command of Luckner began to retreat towards Lille. Lafayette left the army and came to Paris. Demanding the Legislative Assembly to disperse revolutionary clubs. Without relying on their generals, the people themselves began to prepare to defend the capital. On July 11, 1789, the Legislative Assembly adopted a decree proclaiming « The Fatherland is in danger » . All men capable of bearing arms were subject to conscription.

After the Varenna crisis, the betrayal of the king and the aristocracy became obvious. Already at the beginning of June 1792, Marat proposed taking Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as hostages. In your newspaper « Defender of the Constitution » , and also, speaking at the Jacobin Club, Robespierre put forward another demand - the convening of a democratically elected National Convention on the basis of universal suffrage, the tasks of which the Jacobin set as the establishment of a democratic republic in France and the revision of the constitution of 1791, which divided the country's population into « active » And « passive » . At the end of June, Danton manages to achieve the abolition of such division in one of the sections of Paris - the section of the French Theater.

From mid-June, new revolutionary bodies began to take shape in Paris. Supporters of the federation who arrived in the capital formed their own central committee, which met in taverns « golden sun » And « Blue dial » . However, an even more important role was played by the meeting of the commissioners of the 48 sections of Paris. From June 23, it officially met in the city municipality, explicitly establishing another new revolutionary body of Paris - the Commune, in which the leading role belonged to the Montagnards and Cordeliers. The future prosecutor of the Commune, Chaumette, wrote: « How much greatness there was in this Assembly! What high impulses of patriotism I saw when the question of deposing the king was discussed! What was the National Assembly with its petty passions... petty measures, with its decrees stopped halfway... in comparison with this meeting of the Parisian sections » .

As the forces of the revolution grew, demands for the overthrow of the French monarchy began to sound louder. On June 25, the provincial actress Claire Lacombe rose to the podium of the Legislative Assembly, demanding the abdication of Louis XVI and the resignation of Lafayette. The confused Assembly, consisting mainly of Feyants, was still trying to delay the inevitable denouement.

On July 24, at a time of growing popular unrest, a manifesto of the Prussian Army General Duke of Brunswick, commander of the interventionist forces, was published and on August 3 became known in Paris. The manifesto on behalf of the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia declared that « the united armies intend to put an end to anarchy in France: restore the legitimate power of the king » . The document legally warned that in the event of the slightest insult to the majesty and his family, Paris would be subjected to terrible military execution and complete destruction. However, the threats of European monarchs were received with irritation by the French people. In an address to the Legislative Assembly, the commissioners of 47 of the 48 sections of Paris demanded the abdication of Louis XVI and the immediate convening of the National Constituent Convention. Without relying on representatives of the Legislative Assembly, the commissioners of the Paris sections on August 5 began to openly prepare for an armed uprising.

On the night of August 9-10, the alarm sounded over Paris. In the morning, the commissars of the Commune moved the armed people towards the Tuileries Palace, which served as the residence of Louis XVI. On the approaches to the Tuileries, a hot battle ensued between the rebels and the royalist forces supported by Swiss mercenaries. During the general assault on the palace, about 500 Parisians were killed and wounded. The king placed himself under the protection of the Legislative Assembly. Thus began the second stage of the Great French Bourgeois Revolution.

After the popular uprising, all power was in the hands of the Paris Commune. Appearing at the Legislative Assembly, the leaders of the Commune from August 10 to 12 dictated the will of the insurgent people to the Assembly. Under pressure from the Commune, the decision of the Legislative Assembly was the deposition of Louis XVI. The Assembly designated the Luxembourg Palace for the former monarch as his further residence. However, the revolutionary sections of Paris, taking advantage of the full power they had in the city, arrested Louis XVI, bypassing the decision of the Legislative Assembly, and imprisoned him in the Temple. The Assembly decreed the convening of a Convention, elected by two-stage elections by all men over 25 years of age. But two days later the age limit was lowered to 21 years. The king's ministers resigned. Instead, the Assembly elected a Provisional Executive Council, which formed a new revolutionary government, predominantly consisting of Girondins. Montagnard Danton received the post of Minister of Justice in the Council. Camille Desmoulins wrote: « My friend Danton, by the grace of the guns, became Minister of Justice; this bloody day should have ended for both of us with our rise to power or to the gallows » .

The uprising of August 10 actually overthrew the monarchy in France, ended the political dominance in the Legislative Assembly of representatives of the big bourgeoisie who belonged to the Feuillant party, and also eliminated the anti-democratic qualification system established by the constitution of 1791.

Etienne Charles Laurent de Lomeny de Brienne (1727 - 1794) - French politician. From 1763 - Archbishop of Toulouse, in 1787 - 1788. - Comptroller General of Finance, from August 1787 - Chief Minister, from 1788 - Archbishop of Sansa. In 1793 he was arrested by the revolutionary authorities and died in prison the following spring.

The Assembly of Notables is a class advisory body convened by the kings of France to discuss state, mainly financial and administrative issues. Notables were appointed by the king from among the most prominent representatives of the nobility, the highest clergy and the highest city leaders. Under Louis XVI, they convened twice: February 22 - May 25, 1787 and November 6 - December 12, 1788.

Alexandre Charles de Calonne (1734 - 1802) - French politician. He was intendant of Metz and Lille from 1783 to 1787. - Comptroller General (Minister) of Finance of France. To solve the financial crisis, he proposed a reform program, mainly in the field of taxation. The decision of the Paris Parliament to put him on trial prompted Calonne to flee to England. At the end of 1790 he joined the camp of royalist emigration, being, as it were, the head of the government in exile. After the Peace of Amiens he returned to France.

The last time the Estates General was convened in France was in 1614 at the request of the feudal nobility, who sought a change of government and the transfer of government into their own hands. However, representatives of the third estate were in the minority. The States General, assembled in 1614, declared the French monarchy divine and the power of the king sacred. By the king's edict, parliament was obliged to register all the monarch's ordinances. The rights of the Parisian and other local parliaments of the kingdom were limited. Thus, by the time of the reign of King Louis XVI (1774 - 1792), the Estates General had not been convened by the French monarchs for more than a hundred years.

An old French formula said: “The clergy serves the king with prayers, the nobility with the sword, the third estate with property.” That is, representatives of the third estate had to pay all the expenses of the monarchy and the ruling feudal aristocracy in the person of the secular and spiritual nobility, who were the support of French absolutism.

In France, everyone who did not belong to the clergy and nobility was part of the third estate. The most numerous social stratum in the third estate was the peasantry, the smallest was the bourgeoisie. Having concentrated enormous capital in its hands, the bourgeoisie represented an economically strong stratum of society, however, it was the same politically powerless class as the entire third estate, which made up the overwhelming majority of the population of the French kingdom.

Emmanuel Joseph Abbe Sieyes (1748 - 1836) - French pamphleteer, prominent political figure of the Great French Revolution. Deputy of the States General, the National Assembly and the National Convention, member of the Council of Five Hundred (1795 - 1798), in 1798 - 1799. - Ambassador to Prussia. He assisted in the coup of the 18th Brumaire X of Liberty 7th of the Republic (November 9 - 10, 1799), was one of the three temporary consuls (together with Bonaparte and Count Ducos), president of the Senate, and from 1808 - Count of the Empire. After the Hundred Days, Napoleon emigrated and returned to France only after the revolution of 1830, during which the French bourgeoisie came to power.

Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave (1761 - 1792) - French politician. Member of the States General, the National Assembly and the Constitutional Assembly, supporter of the constitutional monarchy. In August 1792 he was arrested, convicted by a revolutionary court and guillotined in November 1792.

Henri Evrard Marquis de Dreux-Breze (1762 - 1829) - French courtier. From 1781 he held the hereditary post of chief ceremonies of the court. At the beginning of the revolution he emigrated, after the Restoration he became a peer of France.

Honore Gabriel Rocket de Mirabeau (1749 - 1791) - a prominent figure in the Great French Revolution at its initial stage, a famous pamphleteer and orator. Member of the States General and the National Assembly. Playing a prominent role in the development of revolutionary events, Mirabeau became, however, a secret agent of the royal court. Died in the middle of it; conspiracy, the shadow side of his activities became known only after his death.

Louis Philippe Joseph Duke of Orléans (1747 - 1793) - prince of the blood, cousin of Louis XVI; in September 1792 he took the name “Citizen Philippe Egalité.” As a deputy of the Estates General, together with a group of representatives of the liberal nobility, he joined the Third Estate and was a member of the National Assembly and the National Convention. He supported the Jacobins and voted for the execution of Louis XVI. however, in April 1793 he was arrested and seven months later was guillotined by the verdict of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Faubourg Saint-Antoine is a district of Paris in which representatives of the third estate lived, mainly artisans and workers. The Bastille's cannons, by order of the authorities, were always to face in this direction. Here an interesting analogy can be drawn with England in the 17th century. In London, the guns of the Tower fortress-prison were aimed at the City, where the English Parliament was then sitting, opposing absolutism. From such actions and others like them, it is immediately clear who the authorities consider their enemies, but one is ashamed to say so. It is impossible not to agree with the opinion of Thomas Beard, who became famous thanks to his book “The Theater of Divine Retribution,” written in 1597: “Good princes have been very rare in all times.”

Jacques Necker (1732 - 1804) - a prominent French scientist and statesman of Swiss origin. After Turgot's resignation, he was appointed three times to the position of director general of finance: 1776 - 1781, then August 25, 1788 - July 11, 1789 and July 29, 1789 - September 8, 1790. Despite his talent and knowledge of the matter, he was not appointed general controller of finance, as he was a Protestant. In 1790 he left France and returned to his native Switzerland.

Vox populi vox Dei (lat.) - “The voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Joseph François Foulon (1717 - 1789) - French royal official. During the Seven Years' War - General Quartermaster of the Army, from 1771 - Quartermaster of Finance, from 1789 - State Councilor. Rumor attributed to Foulon the words: “If I were a minister, I would force the French to eat hay.” Executed by the people on July 22, 1789

Jacques de Flesselles (1721 - 1789) - French royal official. Since April 1789, “prevot des marchands” was the merchant foreman (mayor) of Paris, who headed the city magistrate. He persuaded the Standing Committee, consisting of Parisian bourgeois electors, to come to an agreement with the commandant of the Bastille de Launay. Executed by the people in the evening after the storming of the Bastille.

On July 18, an uprising began in Troyes, supported by peasants. On July 20, the peasants entered the city, but were dispersed by the local militia created by the bourgeoisie - the National Guard. However, on August 19, the people managed to break into the town hall, seize weapons, and form a local municipality. At the same time, a salt warehouse was seized and put on sale at fixed prices. On September 9, the people executed the mayor of Troyes.

On July 19, there was an uprising in Strasbourg, where the mayor's house and tax collection offices were destroyed.

Behind the castle the feudal lord felt safe. The destruction of castles was an important step towards the centralization of the state and the unification of the nation, the elimination of seigneurial tyranny.

Jean Sylvain de Bailly (1736 - 1793) - French astronomer and politician. Member of the Estates General. On June 20, 1789, the President of the National Assembly was elected. After the execution of the royal official Jacques de Flesselles, the acting mayor of Paris, on July 15, Bailly was elected merchant foreman (mayor) - “prevot des marchands” and held it until November 12, 1791. In 1793, he was executed by the verdict of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

In order to block the way to the National Guard for representatives of the people and peasantry, a special uniform was installed for the guards, which cost at least 4 livres. This was a kind of qualification for recruitment into the guard. Because only wealthy people could purchase such a luxurious uniform. In the battle against the Gironde, which followed the events of May 31 - June 2, the Mountain relied on the people's army - the sans-culottes. The words of Robespierre: “Whoever wears gold-embroidered trousers is the enemy of all sans-culottes” - pointed to the external difference between the fighters of the opposing sides and revealed the social meaning of this struggle.

Marie Paul Joseph Yves Roque Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette (1757 - 1834) - French military leader and politician. During the war of independence of 13 American states against Great Britain (1775 - 1783) in the period 1777 - 1782. took part in military operations in North America on the side of the Americans with a group of French noble volunteers, receiving the rank of major general. Later in France he was a member of the Assembly of Notables, the Estates General, the National Assembly, and the Constitutional Assembly. In July he became commander of the Paris National Guard. From December 1791, during the war with Austria, he was the commander of one of the three armies; in August 1792 he was removed from command and was forced to flee, fearing revolutionary terror. Returned to France after the second counter-revolutionary coup of the 18th Brumaire of the VI of Liberty of the III of the Republic (November 9, 1795) of Napoleon Bonaparte. Recognized Napoleon, but refused positions offered to him, including the post of French ambassador to the United States.

Marat described the love of the nobility for the Fatherland in the following way on the pages of his newspaper “Friend of the People”: “Even if all these sacrifices were caused by a feeling of charity, one cannot help but admit that it waited too long before manifesting itself. What can I say! After all, only in the reflections of the flames that were devouring the set fire to the castles of the nobles did they show greatness of soul, sufficient to refuse the privilege of keeping in chains people who managed to regain their freedom with arms in hand!

Joseph Jean Mounier (1758 - 1806) - French politician, one of the leaders of the moderate royalists. Member of the Estates General. National Assembly, active member of the Constitutional Committee. In May 1790 he emigrated, returned in 1801 with the permission of the consul and was appointed prefect of one of the departments, and from 1805 - a member of the State Council.

That is, those who had the right to express their civic position in elections and those who were deprived of such a right.

A prohibition or restriction imposed by government authorities on the use or disposal of any property.

Triage- the most common form of seizure of communal peasant lands by the feudal-absolutist aristocracy in France before the revolutionary events of 1789. It was expressed in the allocation of 1/3 of the lord's allotment from the communal lands. Sometimes the allotment reached 1/2, and in some cases 2/3.

In messages from the local authorities of Cahors to the Constituent Assembly at the end of September 1790, it was reported: “In some places the people are again beginning to plant “May trees”, which is a general signal for uprisings... in other places gallows are being erected for those who will pay rents, and for those who will collect them."

At that time, a worker in France worked 13 to 14 hours a day.

Operated unchanged for 70 years.

A province located in northwestern France.

In November 1790, Faucher wrote: “Every person has the right to land and should have his own plot to ensure his existence. He gets the right to own it through his labor, and his part must therefore draw lines (between the plots) so that everyone has something and no one has anything extra.”

Bonville wrote: “As long as exclusive and hereditary privileges continue to exist, granting to one what belongs to all, the forms of tyranny may vary according to circumstances, but tyranny will always exist.”

Belted with cord (rope).

Marat was negatively disposed towards the legislative activity of the Constituent Assembly and sharply criticized the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights approved by the deputies of the Assembly, in which he saw privileges granted only to the big bourgeoisie: “Your famous declaration of rights is, therefore, only a temporary bait for the amusement of fools, until you feared their wrath, since it ultimately comes down to nothing more than transferring to the rich all the advantages and all the honors of the new order.”

It said: “The free French who form the Club of the Cordeliers declare to their fellow citizens that the number of tyrannicides in this club is equal to the number of its members and that each of them has taken an oath to pierce with a dagger the tyrants who dare to attack our borders or in any way whatsoever.” will encroach on our constitution."

The republican views of François Robert, a member of the Society of Friends of Human Rights and Citizens, are well known. Back in the fall of 1790, he expressed his attitude towards the limited monarchical power of the constitution: “Let us erase the very word “king” from our concept and our constitution.”

Republic (Res publica) in the lane. from Latin, - a public matter.

Future head of the Gironde.

Speaking on July 15, 1791 at the Constituent Assembly, Antoine Barnave very precisely defined the position of the big bourgeoisie and the liberal nobility after the Varennes crisis: “We are being caused great harm when the revolutionary movement is continued ad infinitum... At the present moment, gentlemen, everyone should feel that the common interest is that the revolution stops.”

Thus, the conventional concepts of “right” and “left” entered politics, defining their ideological and political views in achieving the ultimate goal, as well as dividing socio-political movements into opponents and supporters of changes through revolution.

Membership fees, established at the request of the leaders of the Feuillants Club, reached 250 francs.

This decision was supposed to come into force in two years. During this time, a republic was already proclaimed in France, all property qualifications were abolished, the Jacobin coup was carried out, and the Jacobin dictatorship was established.

“For my part, I am ready to resist with all my might. It’s time to act and take up arms to intimidate these raging people.”

However, the words remained just words. Russia under Catherine II did not join the ranks of the anti-French coalition of European powers. The Russian monarchy limited itself to moral support, sending curses at the revolutionaries. The fears of European sovereigns are understandable. In France, the aristocracy and monarchy perished under the pressure of the revolution. The very idea of a divine monarchy also perished completely. The mob, which does not have divine sanction, dictates its will to the Lord’s anointed. Who, if not the monarch, is the most important aristocrat? Whose origin can compare with his? In 1815, the aristocracy would win the last major victory throughout Europe, restoring the Bourbon dynasty in France, which arrived in the train of the invaders. The aristocracy itself understood this perfectly well, that its success would not be repeated in the future. All the more terrible will be the ensuing reaction dictated by the Holy Alliance. Herzen A.I. wrote about that time: “The revolution turned out to be untenable... People escaped from the present in the Middle Ages, into mysticism - they read Eckartshausen, studied magnetism and the miracles of Prince Hohenlohe.”

The first article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” This article of the Declaration reflected the views of the enlighteners expressed in natural law. Man is free from birth and has equal political rights. According to the theory of social contract, only people equal to each other could create societies and states.

Having burst into the Tuileries Palace, the rebels allegedly put forward an ultimatum to the king: “Choose between Koblenz and Paris.”

Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Duke of Brunswick (1735 - 1806). He took part in the Seven Years' War, becoming a field marshal of Prussia. In 1787 he commanded the Prussian army, which suppressed the patriotic movement in the Netherlands. In 1792, the commander-in-chief of the Austro-Prussian troops against revolutionary France was defeated in September at the Battle of Valmy. In 1806 - commander-in-chief of the Prussian army, mortally wounded at the Battle of Auerstedt.

The main result of the French Revolution. French revolution

Causes

General course of events in 1789-1799

Background

National Convention

Thermidorian Convention and Directory (-)

Religion in revolutionary France

Notes

Literature

Links

Convocation of the Estates General

Abolition of class privileges

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen

Activities of the Constituent Assembly

Adoption of the constitution

From the storming of the Tuileries to the execution of the king

Accusations and attacks on the Girondins

The trial of Marie Antoinette

Songs of revolutionary France

Revolution in philately

Literature

see also

Notes

Prerequisites for the start of the revolution: socio-economic and political crisis

Convocation of the Estates General on May 5, 1789

Storming of the Bastille

A constitutional monarchy

Threat of external invasion and fall of the monarchy

War and its impact on the revolution

Apogee of terror

Napoleon Bonaparte

Fruits of the revolution