Nature of French Revolution
Was the French Revolution a social upheaval, a political struggle, or something larger still — a wave within a broader Atlantic movement? Historians have long debated its true character, and this article surveys the major interpretive lenses through which the Revolution has been understood — a key theme in the UPSC History Optional syllabus on the historiography of the French Revolution.
Nature of the French Revolution
- The French Revolution, which shook France, was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval lasting from 1789 to 1799, marking the end of the ancien régime in France.
- It was partially carried forward by Napoleon, during the later expansion of the French Empire.
- Several debates persist regarding the true nature and character of the Revolution, discussed below as a series of distinct views.
View I: Social Revolution
- On this view, the French Revolution was a social revolution — one that transformed French society.
- The rising capitalist middle class, the bourgeoisie, overthrew a dying feudal, autocratic ruling class. Under this view, the Revolution is also considered a Bourgeoisie Revolution.
- The Revolution was, accordingly, both anti-feudal and anti-autocratic.
View II: Four Revolutions
- On this view, the French Revolution actually involved four revolutions:
- The Aristocratic Revolution
- The Bourgeoisie Revolution
- The Sans-culottes Revolution
- The Peasant Revolution
The Aristocratic Revolution
- During the period 1787–88, up until 1789 (the Revolution proper began in June 1789), what is called the Aristocratic Revolution occurred.
- With France’s financial situation collapsing and financial reform becoming imperative, a succession of finance ministers — Turgot, Necker, Calonne, Brienne, and then Necker again (from the 1770s to August 1788) — presented proposals for financial reform.
- All these proposals were resisted by the aristocracy/nobility, who did not want to pay tax.
- This produced an embittered struggle between the aristocracy and the monarchy during 1787–88 until April 1789 — the aristocracy revolting against the regime and the monarchy during this period. This is what is termed the Aristocratic Revolution.
- The Aristocratic Revolution is considered a “curtain raiser” — not exactly a revolution in itself, but the prelude to one.
The Bourgeoisie Revolution
- The convening of the Estates-General in May 1789 saw the bourgeoisie pick up the gauntlet (or “banner”) and rise as leader — this is what is called the Bourgeoisie Revolution, i.e., leadership by the bourgeoisie.
The Sans-culottes Revolution and the Peasant Revolution
- The peasants also revolted, and finally the sans-culottes revolted as well.
- Finally, by June 1789, what emerged was a common action by the bourgeoisie (or middle classes) and the lower classes against monarchy and aristocracy alike.
- While each class had its own distinctive character, together they reflected the crisis of the old regime in France, and formed a single social revolution — that is, four classes involved in one social revolution.
- Though each class played its part, the French Revolution is, in this view, only the crowning moment of a long economic and social evolution that made the bourgeoisie “the mistress of the world” — the bourgeoisie gained enormously from the Revolution, becoming a dominant class not only in France, but across the world.
View III: Political Revolution
- On this view, the French Revolution was not a social revolution.
- It did not transform French society by destroying feudalism, since feudalism was already dead; the bourgeoisie, moreover, was not a major social force in pre-1789 France.
- Rather, the French Revolution was a political revolution with social consequences — a struggle against monarchy and aristocracy, itself the product of a financial and political crisis.
- It was a political struggle waged for control of the government of France, and for control over the conditions under which that power was to be exercised.
View IV: Popular Character
- On this view, the French Revolution had a popular character — that is, it was defined by the role of ordinary commoners.
- Tennis Court Oath — 20 June 1789
- Fall of the Bastille — 14 July 1789
- Formation of the National Guard — made up of common citizens, formed under the famous leader Lafayette, who had participated in the American War of Independence.
- Peasants’ Revolt — July/August 1789
Participation of Women
- Women’s March on Versailles — October 1789.
- Soap riots, led by women, arose from a steep rise in the price of soap.
- The Society for Revolutionary Republican Women was created — a society of working-class women.
- Women played an active role in asserting their rights during the Revolution, presenting demands for their own political rights.
Participation of the Sans-culottes in Paris
- The sans-culottes (meaning commoners) in Paris included shopkeepers, labourers, and artisans, among others.
- On 14 July 1789, at the attack on the Bastille, a large part of the Paris crowd was made up of sans-culottes.
- In July 1791, they organised a protest demanding the abolition of monarchy and the establishment of a republic.
- In February 1792, they launched a protest movement against the steep rise in the prices of essential commodities, pressuring the Legislative Assembly to enact laws controlling prices and ensuring adequate supply.
- In August 1792, they organised an insurgency in which a large number of guards were killed.
- In the French Revolution, the sans-culottes were associated with the Jacobins, and played a role in the Jacobins’ rise, gaining certain rights under them — including the right to vote.
- Many of them later participated in the Conspiracy of Equals, during the period of the Directory, under the leadership of Babeuf.
View V: Role of the Intelligentsia
- Some historians have focused on the role of the intelligentsia — thinkers such as Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Voltaire — in the French Revolution, viewing it as, at bottom, a revolution in the realm of ideas.
Part of the Atlantic Revolution
- On this view, the French Revolution was not an isolated phenomenon, but part of a larger phenomenon known as the Atlantic Revolution — that is, part of a larger trans-Atlantic revolutionary wave.
- Revolutionary sentiment first emerged in America, then spread to Geneva, then to the Netherlands, then to Ireland, and then to France.
- It did not stop there: it went on to spread again to the Netherlands, then to the Rhineland, then to Switzerland, then to the Italian states.
Conclusion
- Whatever the true nature of the French Revolution, it remains one of the great watershed moments in history — one that changed the course of history in the decades that followed.
