Wiki- French Revolution. To say it was savages, precursors of Nazis, is ignorant RW malarky, "Liberal Fascism" territory, hater dupe.
The
French Revolution (
French:
Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) was an influential period of social and political upheaval in
France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by
Napoleon during the later expansion of the
French Empire. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship by Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the course of
modern history, triggering the global decline of
absolute monarchies while replacing them with
republics. Through the
Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the
Caribbean to the
Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in
human history.
[1][2][3]
The
causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the
Seven Years' War and the
American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt and attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes. Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of
Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the
Estates-General in May 1789. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the
Third Estate taking control, the
assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and a
women's march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. A central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the
abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the
Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various
liberal assemblies and
right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms. The
Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French
victory at Valmy. In a momentous event that led to international condemnation,
Louis XVI was
executed in January 1793.
External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution. The Revolutionary Wars beginning in 1792 ultimately featured
French victories that facilitated the conquest of the
Italian Peninsula, the
Low Countries and most territories west of the
Rhine – achievements that had eluded previous French governments for centuries. Internally, popular agitation radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of
Maximilien Robespierre and the
Jacobins. The dictatorship imposed by the
Committee of Public Safety during the
Reign of Terror, from 1793 until 1794, established
price controls on food and other items, abolished slavery in French colonies abroad,
dechristianized society through the creation of a
new calendar and the expulsion of religious figures, and secured the borders of the new republic from its enemies. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, with estimates ranging from 16,000 to 40,000.
[4] After the
Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the
Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterized by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, and significant military conquests abroad.
[5] Dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory
collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. Napoleon, who became the hero of the Revolution through his popular military campaigns, went on to establish the
Consulate and later the First Empire, setting the stage for a wider array of global conflicts in the
Napoleonic Wars.
The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. Almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor.
[6] Its central phrases and cultural symbols, such as
La Marseillaise and
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, became the clarion call for other major upheavals in modern history, including the
Russian Revolution over a century later.
[7] The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day. French historian
François Aulard comments that:
the Revolution consisted in the suppression of what was called the feudal system, in the emancipation of the individual, in greater division of landed property, the abolition of the privileges of noble birth, the establishment of equality, the simplification of life.... The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity."
[8]
Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies. It became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of
liberalism,
radicalism,
nationalism,
socialism,
feminism, and
secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of
total war by organizing the resources of France and the lives of its citizens towards the objective of military conquest.
[9] Some of its central documents, like the Declaration of the Rights of Man, expanded the arena of
human rights to include women and slaves, leading to movements for
abolitionism and
universal suffrage in the next century.
[10]
