Find out more about the French Revolution.  Learn about the causes and effects of the French Revolution.  Also discover what resulted from it.

There were numerous contributing factors which led to the occurrence of the French Revolution.  The feudal system which was the dominant societal organizing structure of France was the source of a great deal of oppression and bitterness.  The poor handling of public funds was a great source of resentment as well.  There seemed to be a gathering storm of discontent among the people of French society which could only inevitably lead in a rebellion. 

The late Eighteenth Century saw France fall into a deep economic crisis which King Louis XVI was forced to respond to by entreating a cadre of financial gurus to help him find solutions.  The answer these fiscal wizards all agreed upon was that France was in dire need of profound transformation of it’s tax system.  The tin-eared King would not believe that taxation was the root of the problem and he dismissed each of them when they gave him their opinion.

As the crisis deepened, King Louis XVI was finally forced to admit that tax reform was necessary.  He selected Charles de Callone to become the controller general of finance in 1783.  It was Callone’s idea that France should start to tax the citizens of the noble class.  French nobility had always been free of the burden of taxation and they were of course incensed at the idea that they should be taxed now.  Callone valiantly tried to explain his case to them, but the nobles stood their ground and refused to consider the idea.

By 1789 Louis XVI was at wits end and decreed a that a convention of the Estates-General must take place.  The Estates-General was time tested body of representatives who each represented a portion of the 3 groups which composed the French population.  The king needed them to agree on a plan for taxation which he could put into place immediately.  This was truly a shot in the dark because 2 of the estates represented the nobility and the clergy and they were not about to accept a plan which would impose taxation on their constituencies.

The Estates General was a musty old organization and operated by rules born of another era.  Each state was allowed only one vote. This was patently unfair considering the Third estate represented the general common public and the number of commoners far exceeded the number of nobility or clergy persons.  The convention only resulted in in-fighting and reaching an agreement became impossible.  The meeting broke up and the Third Estate promptly declared itself to be an autonomous body to be called the National Assembly.  This bold move frightened many clergy and nobles who soon changed loyalty and joined sides with the new assembly.

The new National Assembly quickly formed its own tests of allegiances and the members of this new organization swore their loyalty at an even known as the Tennis Court Oath.  At this gathering they solemnly pledged that they would keep up the fight until a new French constitution could be approved by all.  The National Assembly was an electric force whose spirit swept across the country of France.  Paris watched as hordes of citizens marched on the huge Bastille prison in an effort to gather weaponry.  Out in the rural regions the feudal system was being shaken up by farmers and field hands who refused to be bound by their obligations to their wealthy landlords.  A wave of farmer-led attacks swept the countryside in what was called the “Great Fear” until a the “August Decrees” were released which relieved the farmers of their contracts to their feudal masters.  A little bit later the National Assembly issued a document called the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”.  This missive laid out the guidelines for a judicial code and declared autonomy for the French people.

The drafting of a constitution was soon to follow and the period in which the constitution was being hammered out was one of the few calm moments and would not last long.  The National Assembly was experiencing a split between its centrist members and those who wished for a more radical agenda.  Meanwhile the working class and labor members were increasingly aware that they were being largely ignored by their representatives in the Assembly.  King Louis XVI was thwarted in an attempt to escape around this time and the issue of the monarchy bought the rift within the assembly to a head.  The centrist Girondins favored the idea of a constitutional monarchy but the more radical Jacobins were in favor of banishing the king altogether.

All this strife did not go unnoticed throughout the rest of Europe.  Many surrounding nations were plagued by the fear that the revolution would expand beyond France and inspire the citizens of other countries to rise up as well.  The Declaration of Pillnitz was an effort by France’s neighbors to insist that the National Assembly restore the rule of King Louis XVI.  The assembly took this as an affront and promptly issued a declaration of war against Austria and Prussia.

A new body known as the National Convention formed and swiftly abolished the monarchy declared that France was henceforth a Republic.  By January of 1793 the king faced charges of treason and was executed.  Meanwhile the war with Austria and Prussia was not going well for France and foreign troops were making steady incursions onto French soil.  This led the frightened French citizens to oust the anemic Girondin National Convention and allowed the Jacobins under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre take power.

With the new constitution on his side, Robespierre partnered with the Committee of Public Safety to begin to draft French citizens into the army.  He was also successful in establishing new laws aimed at bolstering the economy.  Things would have been looking up for France if not for Robespierre’s intense paranoia about counterrevolutionaries.  This fear prompted him to launch the “Reign of Terror” from 1793-1794.  It was a period in which ordered the execution of at least 15,000 persons.  This extreme behavior was too radical for the times in which France was entering.  The economy was strengthening and the foreign troops had departed.  Things should have been peaceful and Robespierre’s modus operandi was unjustified.  He was therefore soon arrested and executed himself.

The period after the rule of Robespierre was referred to as the Thermodorian Reaction.  It was a time of rebuilding the governmental system and drafting a new constitution enumerating a new way forward for the relatively conservative National Convention.  A body known as the Directory was established to direct delegation of executive powers in this new regime.  The Directory had no law making abilities, but it did manage to increase its power to a point that could match the powers of any of France’s previous tyrannical revolutionaries.

At the same time, the Committee of Public Safety was winning its war campaigns on an unprecedented level.  The army under the direction of General Napoleon Bonaparte was storming through Europe.  Only in Egypt did the army come up against defeat.  At that point the army began to retreat and Napoleon came back to Paris.  The charismatic young general was able to successfully oust the Directory in 1799 and then take the helm of power as “first consul”.  Napoleon’s step into leadership marked the end of the Revolution and the beginning of a 15 year military rule.