“Vive
La Revolution!” is the cry that accompanied the French Revolution as the ideas
brought from the Enlightenment began to plant themselves deeply into the French
mind caused them to rise up in arms against the King. Now the events of 1789-1799
may have been quite spectacular but what would define it as an actual
revolution. We are going to take a closer look at what identifies it as a
revolution and how it compares to the definition of a revolution.
The events of the French Revolution was a
culmination of pressures from living under an absolute monarchy, rising bread
prices, inability of the Esates-General to make any headway in the financial
crisis, and the ideas of philosophers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu becoming
the center of parlor talk (it was a real pain
according to Christopher Hibbert in his book called The Days of the French Revolution ). These frictions culminated
into the hostilities that ensued as the Third Estate (common people) rose up,
took the Tennis Court oath (on oath to never give up till a constitution was
assured, according to Marshall Thompson), and stormed the Bastille, considered
the symbol of everything the people hated(Schama,Citizens). Don’t think for a
moment that the men were the only ones who had part, the woman took the streets
and forced the King to move to Paris from Versailles (Doyle, Oxford History of
the French Revolution). Out of the turmoil, eventually arose the Republic of
France and a constitution which stayed the same until Napoleon Bonaparte staged
his coup and installed the Consulate(David Nichols, Napoleon).
Now that we have a good gist of what
happened in the French Revolution, and see what defines it as a revolution.
David J. Samuels in his book Comparative
Politics defines a revolution as “an armed conflict within a sovereign
state between insurgents and the state, in which both the insurgents and the
state claim allegiance of a significant proportion of the population; authority
over the state is forcibly transferred from the state to the insurgents, and
the insurgents subsequently bring about wholesale political change.” Now the insurgents
were the Third Estate and, of course, the home team with the King and all His
men who couldn’t put the country back together. So we have two groups of people
with plenty of support both fighting for dominance. Throughout this time we see
the people at large looking for great social change, which resulted in more
power to the people and the king being diminished from his absolute monarchy. Eventually
resulting in a republic, which is a great shift from where it was before.
Samuels also mentions that the insurgents win in a revolution, which is true in
this instance since obviously the king didn’t stay in power. King Louis XVI was
in fact beheaded before all was said and done. The French Revolution was more
than a civil war because the insurgents became increasingly popular, whereas
civil wars have groups who aren’t as popular as the Vox populi that rose to
power.
In conclusion, when the question,
qui vive (Long Live Who?), was asked,
the response was Vive La Revolution! The French Revolution was a
fundamental change that brought about the France we have today. They still remember
the storming of Bastille and the success it had brought, and they remember it
with Bastille Day on the 14th of July every year. The people rose up to claim their rights as
equals and a civilized nation. In the words of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, “If
you wish to understand what Revolution is, call it Progress; and if you wish to
understand what Progress is, call it Tomorrow.”
WORKS
CITED:
Hibbert,
Christopher, “The Days of The French Revolution”. New York Quill
Thompson,
Marshall Putnam (1914). "The Fifth Musketeer: The Marquis de la
Fayette". Proceedings of the Bunker Hill Monument Association at the
annual meeting. p. 50
Schama,
Simon (2004) [1989]. “Citizens”. Penguin.
Doyle,
William (1990). “The Oxford history of the French Revolution (3rd ed.)”.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
David
Nicholls, Napoleon: a biographical
companion (1999) p.
David J
Samuels. “Comparative Politics”, Pearson
The French Revolution is really interesting to learn about in my opinion. You say it becomes a republic which simply means a government without a monarch. I don't know a lot about French history but I know that what followed was aptly called the reign of terror. It would be interesting to analyze this specifically and see how it ranks on the political violence scale.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection in intro and conclusion, I love Les Mes, and good topic. I felt you could analyze the definition of a revolution more and focus less on the French history.
ReplyDeleteSounds pretty complicated to me. Yet again, the French are kind of complicated. But great job. Interesting to see how political violence affected France.
ReplyDelete