250-300 years ago...

"The more things change, the more they are the same." Voltaire

"The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man,..." first line of the Declaration of the Rights of Man

Both these quotes are from the time of the French Revolution. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 26, 1789, is seen as one of the most important documents of modern history (and yes, girls should ask where these 'rights of man' leave women). For many, it is seen as the beginning of the modern era we now live in. The declaration consists of 17 points, but the main ideas are that all people are born equal and have the same rights to freedom and safety. But Voltaire's cynical statement forces us to look at what had really changed. The French people, after much bloodshed and turmoil, had in the end only exchanged one monarch, King Louis, for another, the Emperor Napoleon.

Although the French Revolution brought in many changes in the way people lived, these changes had their roots in the distant past. Influence from the American Revolution, less than a generation before, is the most obvious example, but trends in political and social thought can be traced back to the Dutch revolt in 1568, and even farther back in time. And these ideas were not just European in origin. French philosophers like Voltaire were influenced by Chinese writings, translated and brought back to Europe by Jesuit missionaries. The constitution of the United States of America, a document important for French Revolutionaries, was modelled on that of the Six Nations, so a traditional society from North America had an indirect influence on political and social thought in Europe.

In fact, the way people lived did not change as radically as the way people saw themselves. Think of young children. Ask them where they live, and they will probably answer, "at home" or with "mommy and daddy". Only as they grow older do they learn about their home country, that they are a citizen of a country like Canada or India. These ideas of "citizenship" and "nation" were just developing in the late 1700s. Ask someone before 1789 where they came from, and chances are they would give you their home town or village. But a generation later, people were more likely to say they were German, or Dutch or French. This growth of nationalism is, maybe, the most important--and dangerous--thing to come out of the French Revolution.

The year is 1788. Louis XVI, king of France, has a problem. Almost the entire reign of Louis XIV was spent in warfare. Major wars took place from 1672-78, 1689-98 and 1701-1714. Under Louis XV (Louis XVI's grandfather), France was involved in global wars in the 1740s, 1750s and 1760s. Finally, Louis XVI himself, to keep France a world power, joined in the American Revolution between 1778 and 1783. All of the costs of these wars, combined with bad management, meant that by 1788, the king was bankrupt, and he had to seek new sources of tax money. The poor were already taxed to the maximum they could pay. The smaller middle class, those people involved in trade, saw their livelihood crippled by sales taxes, export duties and transportation tolls. Only the wealthy, land-owning nobility were free from taxation, one of the privileges of their status as nobility, and they refused to pay taxes.

Louis, to break the financial deadlock, called a parliament, the Estates General, in May 1789. Only by calling a parliament could the king change the tax system. A king of France had not called a parliament in 175 years. The Estates General was really made up of three parliaments called "estates". The First Estate consisted of the church clergy, the Second Estate was made up of the nobles, while the Third Estate represented everybody else (although the middle class merchants really controlled the Third Estate--the average peasant or the poor city workers usually had little money and little formal schooling to allow them to go into politics). One concession or advantage given to the Third Estate, was that it was allowed to have twice as many members as either the First or Second Estate alone. With a few votes from the nobles and clergy who also wanted to see changes in the way France was ruled, this would give the Third Estate a majority of the votes.

But this did not happen. According to tradition, votes could also be made by estate, where each section had one vote each, instead of counting the vote of each member. In this case, both the First and Second Estates voted to stay with the traditional method of voting, and their two votes outnumbered the single vote of the Third Estate. The Third Estate refused to give up. The leaders declared the Third Estate, under the new name of the National Assembly, the only real government in France. The king, a generally peaceful man not given to cruelty, was surprised, and hesitated to use force against the National Assembly. A period of chaos resulted where no one is really sure who is in charge. In Paris the old fortress called the Bastille, used for many years as a political prison, was stormed and captured on July 14 by a mob who feared the king was moving troops against them. The day is still celebrated as France's national holiday, but the prison was in fact almost empty at that time. More violence breaks out, and much of army now joined the revolutionaries. The peasants in the country, most of whom can't read anyway, do not care much about Rousseau or Voltaire. They just want a better standard of life, and peasant rebellions break out across the country.

The real revolution now begins. The privileges of the nobles are eliminated--this officially ends the feudal era in France. The slogan of the revolutionaries is "liberty, equality and brotherhood", but democracy does not last long. After elections, Robespierre becomes leader of the new government. King Louis himself is executed by guillotine in 1793, along with more than a thousand nobles in what is called The Terror. Robespierre, who rules as a virtual dictator, is himself finally executed by rivals. The chaos is finally ended by one of the generals of the revolutionary army, Napoleon Bonaparte. But instead of restoring democracy, he sets himself up as emperor. In a little more than ten years, the French remove one king only to replace him with another.

Chronology of Revolution:

1786-1789: extremely cold winters, crop failures lead to starvation, growing unemployment of workers due to imports of cheap British goods

May 5, 1789: Estates General meets in Paris

June 17: Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly

July 14: Royal troops are moved to Paris, a mob of supporters of the National Assembly fear a Royal attack and storm the Bastille which is captured

5 August: the feudal order is abolished

August 26: Declaration of the Rights of Man is proclaimed

October 5: the National Assembly is moved from the Royal Palace of Versailles to downtown Paris (King Louis still reigns, but his power is limited by the National Assembly)

June 1791: Louis attempts to escape from France but is captured

September 3: a new constitution (which became the model for all other liberal constitutions in the 19th century) is made which takes all powers away from the king, although he remains as a figurehead

April 1792: war with Austria begins

August 10: the Girondist or republican party takes power

September 2-7: first massacre of nobles, France declared a republic (Louis is no longer considered king)

January 17, 1793: execution of Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette

July 1793: the more extreme Jacobins take power from the Girondists, the beginning of "The Terror"--summary arrest and execution of enemies of the new government

27-28 July 1794: the fall and execution of Robespierre

1799: Napoleon stages a military coup and becomes dictator

1804: Napoleon has himself crowned emperor