The French Revolution - A Complete Guide (Part 2)

A month later, on 21st September, the monarchy was abolished and the First French Republic was proclaimed. On 21st January 1793, King Louis XVI met his definitive fate by execution, with Robespierre declaring that “the King must die so that France may live”. A day before the founding of the Republic, the Legislative Assembly was replaced with the National Convention, composed of newly elected members from the three established political parties: ‘la Montagne’ (The Mountain), ‘la Gironde’ (Girondins) and ‘la Plaine’ (The Plain). Whilst initially part of the Jacobin Club, having common interests in establishing a constitutional monarchy, political factionalism soon arose.

Due to their monarchist sympathies and refusal to accept the government’s duress and brutality – combined with their unpopularity among the ‘sans-culottes’ – the Girondins’ authority in the National Convention remained tenuous. After the Insurrection of 31 May-2 June involving the removal of several Girondin deputies, they were definitively purged from government, resulting in the consolidation of power under the Montagnards. Thereafter, until mid-1794, politics would be dominated by the Committee of Public Safety – a political body acting as a police force to ‘secure the revolutionary ideals’ – rendering France a dictatorship.

Robespierre was devoted to “maintain[ing] equality and encourage[ing] virtue”, but his methods of enforcing egalitarianism and liberty were excessive and contradictory to the virtues themselves. Firstly, he involved the government more in the economy – against the previous administrations’ commitment to economic liberalism – by implementing the General Maximum to control food prices, fundamentally causing mass famines throughout the country. Additionally, many churches were shut down and Christianity was essentially abrogated, replaced by the Cult of Reason. A mass emigration of the clergy ensued, compounded by that of the aristocracy, fearing they would be executed under the Law of Suspects.

The Law of Suspects ordered that any purported ‘enemies of the revolution’ – not abiding by revolutionary principles – be tried and executed, culminating in the demise of innocent civilians and political opponents to Robespierre, such as Georges Danton and Marie Antoinette. Extended by the Priarial Law – eliminating the right to a fair trial and prevention from arbitrary arrest – mass paranoia flared, culminating in the execution of approximately 50,000 civilians, many of whom were not guilty and simply deprived of the right to defend themselves, mandated in the Constitution of 1791.

With such government overreach, Robespierre became scorned for ruling as a dictator and disregarding the French citizens’ liberties, such that a coup (the Coup of 9 Thermidor) was initiated on 27th July, resulting in the removal of several Montagnard deputies and the execution of Robespierre, leading to the end of the Reign of Terror. After this radical fervour, the Thermidorian Reaction tempered French politics, seeing a return of moderate deputies and a reversal of most of Robespierre’s measures. Nonetheless, hostile action persisted as former Montagnards (more broadly, Jacobins) and associates of the Committee of Public Safety were purged throughout the Thermidorian Reaction – the White Terror.

Besides the dire economic situation, many were dismayed at the new administration's endorsement of the White Terror; belligerence in politics became regarded as absolutely unjustifiable and barbarous. The citizens’ discontentment was manifested in the unsuccessful Prairial Uprising in May 1795, demanding a fixed price of bread and the adoption of the Constitution of 1793. Royalists were also unsatisfied with the moderate government and organised a coup to overthrow the National Convention that same year – 13 Vendémiaire. The uprising was quelled, especially by Napoleon, who had acquired a favourable reputation among French citizens. Following these protests, a new constitution would be drafted, establishing a new government.

Due to this, Jacobins launched a coup in 1797 (Coup of 18 Fructidor), ousting elected monarchists from the legislature and appointing Montagnards in their stead. This insurrection encapsulates the debased state of French politics during the Directory – a return to the prerevolutionary conservative order seemed apparent. However, following the Montagnards’ return to government after the Coup of 18 Fructidor, many royalists, aristocrats and émigrés were unjustly imprisoned or barred from voting.

Worse yet, the economy was extremely weak – inflation remained soaring since the Thermidorian Reaction, and bread became virtually unaffordable, leaving most of France impoverished. Combined with France’s limited success in the Revolutionary Wars, many wanted an efficacious administration to effect the liberal ideals promised a decade prior. The now-beloved general Napoleon was widely regarded as the optimal figure to lead France; this would be actuated in 1799.

In 1798, Napoleon spearheaded a campaign to seize Egypt and Syria from the Ottoman Empire, which ultimately failed but further contributed to his favourable reputation. While in Egypt, he learned of in-fighting in the Directory between the two legislative chambers: the Council of Ancient and the Council of Five Hundred. Knowing that citizens would not protest the outcome, he returned to France in 1799, and on 9th November, he launched a coup d’état (the Coup of 18 Brumaire) to take over the Directory.

The next day, the Consulate was established in place of the then government, with Napoleon as First Consul. The Constitution of the Year VIII granted Napoleon dictatorial powers, and for the first time since 1789, did not declare the existence of human rights. This marked the end of the French Revolution – starting with a king and ending with an autocrat. Three years later, he became Consul for Life and, in 1804, crowned himself Emperor of France.

Arguably the magnum opus of his domestic transformations was chartering the Napoleonic Code (1804) – standardising laws throughout France, acknowledging the principles of civil liberty (not fully applicable to women), family duties and processes, and property management. These legal principles were disseminated throughout the Empire.

Furthermore, Napoleon overhauled the education system by instituting the University of France and restructuring primary and secondary schools. On the foreign front – being his most significant contribution to world history – Napoleon established the First French Empire dominating continental Europe, propagating nationalistic and liberal ideals and stimulating the creation of new nations.

From the War of the Third Coalition to that of the Fifth Coalition, the Napoleonic Wars leaned heavily in France’s favour; by 1809, the French Empire was either allied with or controlled most of continental Europe. Arguably Napoleon’s most consummate military victory was at the Battle of Austerlitz against Austria and Russia in December 1805, bringing the War of the Third Coalition to an end with the Treaty of Pressburg.

He defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt during the War of the Fourth Coalition in October 1806, and later Russia at the Battle of Friedland in June 1807. Napoleon then imposed the Treaty of Tilsit on Russia, terminating the war. The War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) also resulted in a French victory over Austria, but France’s military and economic resources were being exhausted by the Peninsular War with Spain (1808-14) and the Continental System. Still, Napoleon’s success in the Battle of Wagram (1809) against Austria led to the Treaty of Vienna, mostly leaving French dominance over continental Europe uncontested.

After the Allies advanced and captured Paris, the Treaty of Fontainebleau enacted on 13th April 1814 forced him to abdicate and exiled him to Elba. The Charter of 1814 restored the Bourbon monarchy – with Louis XVIII as King of France – and established a bicameral parliamentary system. Hoping to rekindle France’s glory as a continental empire, Napoleon returned to France in March 1815 and embarked on another European conquest – the Hundred Days. The Seventh Coalition conclusively defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo; the First French Empire was permanently dissolved, and Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.

Whilst mandated in the Constitution of 1791, these liberal ideals would not be enforced due to the autocratic regimes of Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and finally, Louis Philippe. The Orléanist regime led by Louis Philippe – only latently populist – was overthrown in the French Revolution of 1848, with citizens demanding workers’ rights, price stability, and, above all, a democratic government.

In fact, the 1848 Revolutions spread throughout Europe, with the prevalent aims being an acknowledgement of popular sovereignty, nationalism, constitutionalism, and socialism (more broadly, protection of workers) – ideas emanating from the French Revolution of 1789. Although the Springtime of the Peoples failed, the French Revolution of 1848 partially succeeded, with the first presidential election with universal male suffrage held that year, as well as slavery being abolished.

1821 saw the first display of nationalistic sentiment, as Greeks revolted against the Ottoman Empire and fully gained independence in 1830. Greece’s success in pursuing nationalism encouraged ethnic Germans to demand the creation of a united Germany (same for Italians), and ethnic Austrians, Hungarians, Croats, Slovenes, et cetera to splinter from the Austrian Empire.

Eventually, Italian and German Unification occurred in 1871, and Austria-Hungary was dissolved in 1919, fostering the creation of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Furthermore, the Great Eastern Crisis – a series of Balkan uprisings within the Ottoman Empire – stimulated the independence of Romania (1877), Bulgaria (1878, partially) Serbia (1878, fully), and later other nations during the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. These independence movements stemmed from the proliferation of nationalism during the French Revolution.

Popular sovereignty became predominant, such that the monarchy, seen as despotic, was abolished on 21st September 1792. The Constitution of Year III, establishing the Directory in 1795, also implemented many checks and balances and division of powers, mindful of eliminating any potential autocracy. Due to the dictatorial regimes in the Napoleonic Era and following the Bourbon Restoration, it would take until 1848 for their first direct election for a leader with universal male suffrage; free presidential elections (which were ‘indirect’ until 1965) were held from 1873.

The Revolution also encouraged other European peoples to protest their absolute monarchies, replaced with democracy. France would not abandon autocracy until 1870 – when Emperor Napoleon III was deposed following its poor performance in the Franco-German War, and the Third Republic was proclaimed – with Adolphe Thiers as its first ‘true’ president.