The French Revolution Begins 1789

Aristocratic Revolt

Lithography describing the relationship
between the Three French Social States

The Revolution took shape in France when the controller general of finances, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, arranged the summoning of an assembly of “notables” (prelates, great noblemen, and a few representatives of the bourgeoisie) in February 1787 to propose reforms designed to eliminate the budget deficit by increasing the taxation of the privileged classes. The assembly refused to take responsibility for the reforms and suggested the calling of the Estates-General, which represented the clergy, the aristocracy, and the Third Estate (the commoners) and which had not met since 1614. The efforts made by Calonne’s successors to enforce fiscal reforms in spite of resistance by the privileged classes led to the so-called revolt of the “aristocratic bodies,” notably that of the parlements (the most important courts of justice), whose powers were curtailed by the edict of May 1788.

During the spring and summer of 1788, there was unrest among the populace in Paris, Grenoble, Dijon, Toulouse, Pau, and Rennes. The king, Louis XVI, had to yield. He reappointed reform-minded Jacques Necker as the finance minister and promised to convene the Estates-General on May 5, 1789. He also, in practice, granted freedom of the press, and France was flooded with pamphlets addressing the reconstruction of the state. The elections to the Estates-General, held between January and April 1789, coincided with further disturbances, as the harvest of 1788 had been a bad one. There were practically no exclusions from the voting; and the electors drew up cahiers de doléances, which listed their grievances and hopes. They elected 600 deputies for the Third Estate, 300 for the nobility, and 300 for the clergy.

Events of 1789

The Three Estates conformed
The new National Constituent Assembly

The Estates-General met at Versailles on May 5, 1789. They were immediately divided over a fundamental issue: should they vote by head, giving the advantage to the Third Estate, or by estate, in which case the two privileged orders of the realm might outvote the third? On June 17 the bitter struggle over this legal issue finally drove the deputies of the Third Estate to declare themselves the National Assembly; they threatened to proceed, if necessary, without the other two orders. They were supported by many of the parish priests, who outnumbered the aristocratic upper clergy among the church’s deputies. When royal officials locked the deputies out of their regular meeting hall on June 20, they occupied the king’s indoor tennis court (Jeu de Paume) and swore an oath not to disperse until they had given France a new constitution.  The king grudgingly gave in and urged the nobles and the remaining clergy to join the assembly, which took the official title of National Constituent Assembly on July 9; at the same time, however, he began gathering troops to dissolve it.

These two months of prevarication (dishonesty) at a time when the problem of maintaining food supplies had reached its climax infuriated the towns and the provinces. Rumors of an “aristocratic conspiracy” by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate led to the Great Fear of July 1789, when the peasants were nearly panic-stricken. The gathering of troops around Paris and the dismissal of Necker provoked insurrection in the capital. On July 14, 1789, the Parisian crowd seized the Bastille, a symbol of royal tyranny. Again the king had to yield; visiting Paris, he showed his recognition of the sovereignty of the people by wearing the tricolour cockade (a rosette, knot of ribbon, etc., usually worn on the hat as part of a uniform, as a badge of office, or the like).

Storming of La Bastille

Lithography of a Angry mob attacking La Bastille

On July 14^th, 1789, a state prison on the east side of Paris, known as the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. A medieval fortress, the Bastille’s eight 30-metre-high towers, dominated the Parisian skyline. When the prison was attacked it actually held only seven prisoners, but the mob had not gathered for them: it had come to demand the huge ammunition stores held within the prison walls. When the prison governor refused to comply, the mob charged and, after a violent battle, eventually took hold of the building. The governor was seized and killed, his head carried round the streets on a spike. The storming of the Bastille symbolically marked the beginning of the French Revolution, in which the monarchy was overthrown and a republic set up based on the ideas of ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité’ (the French for liberty, equality and brotherhood). In France, the ‘storming of the Bastille’ is still celebrated each year by a national holiday.

In the provinces, the Great Fear of July led the peasants to rise against their lords. The nobles and the bourgeois now took fright. The National Constituent Assembly could see only one way to check the peasants; on the night of August 4, 1789, it decreed the abolition of the feudal regime and of the tithe (Sometimes tithes. the tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like). Then on August 26 it introduced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, proclaiming liberty, equality, the inviolability of property, and the right to resist oppression. The decrees of August 4 and the Declaration were such innovations that the king refused to sanction them. The Parisians rose again and on October 5 marched to Versailles.

Women’s March of 1789

The Women's March on Versailles, which took place in October 1789, is often credited with forcing the royal court and family to move from the traditional seat of government in Versailles to Paris, a major and early turning point in the French Revolution. In May of 1789, the Estates-General began to consider reforms, and in July, the Bastille was stormed. A month later, in August, feudalism and many of the privileges of the nobility and royalty were abolished with the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” modeled on America’s Declaration of Independence and seen as a precursor to forming a new constitution. It was clear that major upheaval was underway in France.

In some ways, this meant that hopes were high among the French for a successful change in government, but there was reason for despair or fear as well. Calls for more radical action were increasing, and many nobles and those who were not French nationals left France, fearing for their fortunes or even their lives. Because of poor harvests for several years, grain was scarce, and the price of bread in Paris had increased beyond the ability of many of the poorer residents to buy bread. Sellers also were anxious about the shrinking market for their goods. These uncertainties added to a general anxiety.

This combination of a bread shortage and high prices angered many French women, who relied on bread sales to make a living. On October 5, one young woman began beating a drum at the market in eastern Paris. More and more women began to gather around her and, before long, a group of them were marching through Paris, gathering a larger crowd as they stormed through the streets. Initially demanding bread, they shortly began, possibly with the involvement of radicals who had joined in the march, to demand arms as well.

By the time the marchers arrived at the city hall in Paris, they numbered somewhere between six thousand and ten thousand. They were armed with kitchen knives and many other simple weapons, with some carrying muskets and swords. They seized more weapons at city hall, and also seized the food that they could find there. But they were not satisfied with some food for the day. They wanted the situation of food scarcity to end.

Attempts to calm the march

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Stanislas-Marie Maillard, who had been a captain and national guardsman and helped attack the Bastille in July, had joined the crowd. He was well known as a leader among the market women, and is credited with discouraging marchers from burning down the city hall or any other buildings. The Marquis de Lafayette, meanwhile, was trying to assemble the National Guardsmen, who were sympathetic to the marchers. He led some 15,000 troops and a few thousand civilians to Versailles, to help guide and protect the women marchers, and, he hoped, keep the crowd from turning into an uncontrollable mob.

March to Versailles

A new goal began to form among marchers: to bring the king, Louis XVI, back to Paris where he would be responsible to the people, and to the reforms that had begun to be passed earlier. Thus, they would march to the Palace of Versailles and demand that the king respond. When the marchers reached Versailles, after a walk in driving rain, they experienced some confusion. Lafayette and Maillard convinced the king to announce his support for the Declaration and the August changes passed in the Assembly. But the crowd did not trust that his queen, Marie Antoinette, would not talk him out of this, as she was known by then to oppose the reforms. Some of the crowd returned to Paris, but most remained in Versailles. Early the next morning, a small group invaded the palace, attempting to find the queen’s rooms. At least two guards were killed, and their heads raised on pikes, before the fighting in the palace calmed.

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France

When the king was finally convinced by Lafayette to appear before the crowd, he was surprised to be greeted by the traditional “Vive le Roi!” The crowd then called for the queen, who emerged with two of her children. Some in the crowd called for the children to be removed, and there was fear that the crowd intended to kill the queen. The queen stayed present, and the crowd was apparently moved by her courage and calm. Some even chanted “Vive la Reine!”. The crowd now numbered around sixty thousand, and they accompanied the royal family back to Paris, where the king and queen and their court took up residence at the Tuileries Palace. They ended the march on October 7. Two weeks later, the National Assembly also moved to Paris.

Importance of the March

The march became a rallying point through the next stages of the Revolution. Lafayette eventually attempted to leave France, as many thought he’d been too soft on the royal family; he was imprisoned and only released by Napoleon in 1797. Maillard remained a hero, but died in 1794, only 31 years old. The king moving to Paris, and being forced to support the reforms, was a major turning point in the French Revolution. The marchers’ invasion of the palace removed all doubt that the monarchy was subject to the will of the people, and was a major defeat for the Ancien Régime. The women who initiated the march were heroines, called “Mothers of the Nation” in the Republican propaganda that followed.

Sources:

https://www.thoughtco.com/womens-march-on-versailles-3529107 consulted October 22, 2018

http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106472.html Consulted October 22, 2018.