INTRODUCTION
For the last several elections, the winning theme in American politics is change. Let's make changes now. Lets make wonderful improvements in things. Bill Clinton was elected on the promise of change--that he would make wonderful improvements in America. Two years later Republicans took congress on promise of change--that they would make wonderful improvements in American. Both Barack Obama and John McCain campaigned on the promise of "change." But the actual changes made in American government are generally pretty small--and maybe this is not such a bad thing.
Now if you want real changes in government, the place to look
is France. For more than two hundred years, the French have been
tinkering
with their government, constantly making changes, making wonderful
improvements
in their form of government. Unfortunately, quite often these
"wonderful
improvements" turn out not to be so wonderful after all. The
greatest
example of this: the French Revolution.
[The "wonderful improvements"
phrase I borrow from Oscar's Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
At one point in the play, John says to Algernon, "But a common cold
isn't hereditary. You said so yourself," to which Algy
replies, "It usen't to be I know, but I dare say it is now.
Modern science is always making wonderful improvements in
things." I love the line: modern society (not just modern
science), does constantly make "wonderful improvements" that turn out
not to be so wonderful.]
The French have had many Revolution in the last couple of centuries,
but The French Revolution, the big one, is the revolution that began in
1789. And ended? In 1795 perhaps? Or 1799?? Or 1804??? How
about 1815?? Or is it over even yet?
For this class, we'll treat the French Revolution as the entire period
between 1789 and 1815, a period of enormous change in French
government.
I will highlight four phases of the revolution. You should know
the
changes made in each phase and why these changes might not have been so
wonderful after all.
II. REASONS FOR CHANGE
It's easy to see why French would want to make some changes in 1789:
1. There was much poverty and suffering in France.
Intense poverty afflicted perhaps a third of the population, with many
so poor they couldn't even afford a pair of shoes. Largely
because of poverty, there were 25,000 prostitutes
in the city of Paris alone (a city of 350,000 people at the
time). This tells you all sorts of negative things about
France. Women generally don't resort to prostitution if there is
a viable opportunity, and such a high rate of prostitution points to a
situation where many women are in a truly desperate financial
situation. Further, a high prostitution rate indicates that, for
many of the French (men as well as women) the dream of a stable
marriage was an impossible dream. Many men couldn't afford to marry and
support a wife and children. And this was a problem. For
most people in most of human history, the single factor most important
in determining whether or not they will be satisfied with life is their
ability to form a a stable marriage. When men don't have this
hope, they become angry--and potential canon fodder for a revolutionary
movement. [The
contrast between rich and poor was a real grievance as well. Had
France been a poor country, poor people might have better accepted
their lot. But France was relatively rich, probably the richest
country in Europe.] But such conditions generally won't produce
a revolution unless more privileged people are unhappy as well.
And there were in France many relatively privileged people who were
unhappy with France as it was..
2. Taxation was a real problem in France. While
rulers like Henry IV and Louis XIV had to a certain extent fixed the
"tax farmer" problem, they hadn't fixed the tax fairness problem.
Nobles and clergy, the most privileged people in France, were exempt
from taxes. For the "commons" (everyone from the wealthiest merchant to
the poorest peasant) this seemed obviously unfair. Perceived
unfairness in taxation is one of the things that make people angry
enough to demand change--perhaps even revolutionary change. Look
at the American Revolution!
3. Another reason for change was the fact that the
French military was not doing so well. France lost the Seven
Years War/French and Indian War, and this meant the loss of French
Canada. But it also meant that the French had to worry about the
possibility at least of invasion and all the horrible things that might
mean.
4. Another problem was that the French church was filled
with corruption. The church was incredibly rich, and that should
have been good, since much of what we today associate with government
was then the responsibility of the church. Education, medical
care, and relief for the poor were primarily church
responsibilities. but the vast wealth of the church wasn't
devoted to this kind of thing. Instead, high church officials
(bishops, abbots, etc.) pocketed much of the money and lived like the
nobles--which, in fact, many of them were. This left the actual
work
of the church in the hands of poorly paid parish clergy who did their
best, but seldom had the resources they needed.
5. Even then, France probably would have had no
revolution had there been a body to bring about peaceful change, the
equivalent of the English parliament. France had no such
representative body. Well, theoretically, they did. There was
the Estates
General,
a group comprised of representatives of the three "estates" in
France: clergy, nobles, and commons. The problem was that the
estates general hadn't met in over 100 years! Absolute monarchs
like Louis XIV hadn't felt they needed its advice.
6. And, even then, there might not have been a revolution in france had there not been a weak, indecisive king on the throne, Louis XVI. Louis wasn't the type of man who make absolute monarchy work, the decisive type of person Louis XIV had been. One example: the idea of taxing nobles. At one point, Louis decided he was in fact going to start asking nobles to pay their fair share of taxes. But he was soon talked out doing so. Naturally enough, this kind of back-and-forth policy made people mad. Louis' indecisiveness was really costly when it came to the events that actual touched off the Revolution.
III. START OF REVOLUTION
In 1789, Louis, not knowing how else to address French problems,
called for a meeting of the Estates General. Since this group
hadn't met in 100 years, no one really was sure how it was supposed to
operate, or even how the votes were to be distributed. Some said:
1/3 of the votes for clergy, 1/3 for nobles, 1/3 for the commons.
The commons, however, wanted what they called a doubling of the third:
1/3 for the clergy, 1/3 for the nobles and 2/3 for the commons.
Of course, that doesn't add up. What they meant was 1/4 for
clergy, 1/4 for nobles, and 1/2 of the votes for the commons.
.
Would the third get doubled or not? If Louis had decided
either way, the Estates General might have had a chance of
success. Instead, the estates general went nowhere.
Finally, many of the commons (joined by some nobles and some
clergy) broke away from the Estates General and started meeting on
their own, calling themselves the National Assembly. They began
to act as if they were the legitimate representatives of the people of
France, and debated ideas for improving the country.
However, it looked like Louis might send in troops to
disperse the NA. What to do? Well, leaders of the NA
stirred up the Paris mob and led that mob to the Bastille, and old
French fortress at the time used as an armory and as a prison.
The mob eventually takes the Bastille, slaughters its garrison, and
turns itself into a fairly heavily armed mob. Time for Louis to
call out the troops and restore order! But not Louis: he starts
treating the NA as if it really were the legitimate legislative body of
France!
IV. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (1789-92)
[Note: many texts divide the
National Assembly period into two phases, the "Constituent Assembly"
and the "Legislative Assembly."]
With Louis' reluctant support, the NA begins to make many wonderful improvements:
--The NA abolishes many noble/clergy privileges
--The NA issues the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and the Citizen, sort of like a combination of our Dec. of Independence
and our Bill of Rights
--The NA gives France a new constitution, creating a limited
monarchy rather than the earlier absolute monarchy
--The NA holds first elections for France
--The NA confiscates church land
and makes the clergy employees of French state
--The NA imprisons opponents of the regime, hoping this will help
expedited the changes they want to make
While some of these changes seem good, no one in France was
really happy.
--There was a division among French clergy, some declaring
their loyalty to the new government church, others sticking with the
Roman Catholic Church
--Nobles began fleeing France, fearing worse things to
come. They stirred up worries about France in places like
Austria and Prussia and soon...
--France is at war with its neighbors
--The king changes his mind again, decides to escape France and
create a force to end the revolution, but he's caught and becomes
almost a prisoner of the revolutionary government
--Inflation goes out of control, food prices skyrocket, and poor people
launch a new round of bread riots
--Instability is so great that a far more radical group can take
control--the Convention.
V. THE CONVENTION (1792-1795)
The National Convention also made many wonderful improvements in
France--or at least what radicals
thought
were wonderful improvements. The goal of these people was to set
up
a "Republic of Virtue," a society like that dreamed of by Jean Jacques
Rousseau, a society which would express the general will of the
people.
Remember that Rousseau said we create the perfect society, not by
changing
ourselves, but by changing the laws, by changing society itself.
And this is what the radicals set out to do.
Their dominant figure of the convention was a man named Robespierre,
a very persuasive speaker whom some regarded as something like the
"lawgiver" described by Rousseau, a man who knew exactly how things
should go.
Robespierre told the assembled members of the convention that they had an immense task before them: "French republicans, it is your task to purify the earth, which the tyrants have defiled."
For Cromwell's Puritans, purification had meant getting rid of all
traces of Catholicism. For Robespierre's Convention, purification
meant getting rid of every trace of monarchy. Here's what they
did:
--They eliminated monarchy altogether and established the first
French republic, a government with no king at all
--They executed Louis and many of his family so the Bourbons would not
be in a position to return to the throne
--They purified the arts and the theater, making sure the power of the
arts supported their revolutionary ideas
--They purified entertainment, eliminating, for instance, the
standard playing card deck and replacing it with a deck without kings
and queens.
--They purified religion, beginning is some instances a program
of dechristianization. They dressed donkey's
put in bishops' robes, forced priests and nuns to go through mock
marriage
ceremonies, and burned hymnals, Bibles and prayer books. They took over
churches and called them "temples of reason," establishing what's
called The Cult of the Supreme Being. This religion affirmed
belief in a supreme being, but, it many ways, its practices amounted to
nature worship--or even a return to the old paganism. In place of
veneration of the saints, the services now focused on venerating the
rose, hops, sorghum, etc. The bread and wine of communion were
now said to represent the flesh and blood of kings, so that even the
"sacraments" supported republican ideas.
Not surprisingly, many didn't like these changes, particularly in the Bordeaux and Lyon regions of France. In these regions, some were loyal to the Bourbon monarchs. Others liked the constitution of National Assembly. Most were loyal to the Catholic church. As a result, they resisted the Convention's changes, and this led to civil war in France. This civil war, as most civil wars, was filled with atrocities. It was particularly horrible because the Convention forces believed they were fighting to create a Republic of Virtue, that they had that chance that comes along once in a thousand years to create a good government, and that they were justified in doing anything necessary to create that government.
In some regions of France, they wiped out as much as 1/3 the
population.
At least 200,000 Frenchmen were killed in these civil wars.
Treatment
of non-combatants was horrible. Children were routinely killed,
women
were raped and killed. The victims bodies were frequently
mutilated
in horrible ways. This was a deliberate use of terror. The
Convention forces performed "Republican marriages," they loaded
barges
with people and sunk them. Women, children, and old people were
forced
to kneel by pits, shot, and shoved into the pits.
[The behavior of the Convention forces was not
as bad as I make it sound in class. No, it was far, far
worse. If you have a strong stomach, you might take a look at
this description of Convention
atrocities.]
All in name of general will of people!
But you see, task of purification not complete if France alone purified. The radicals of the Convention supposed it necessary to purify the earth, to spread their views to rest of Europe. They created a new, improved army, introducing universal conscription. The army was told it was fighting for "liberty, equality, and fraternity"--even they were even more fanatical than Cromwell's Puritans.
The radicals were fighting on two kinds of war: civil war within, foreign wars on the borders. But even in Paris itself, the city that first supported the wonderful improvements of the radicals--all was not well. There were (amazingly enough) people in Paris who did not support the values of the revolution. And this was dangerous: these malcontents could sabotage a movement that was destined to change the world. So, one more wonderful improvement.
The Convention established a "Committee of Public Safety," a committee whose job it was to seek out and destroy the enemies of the revolution. But, unfortunately, there were enemies everywhere: hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them. And so you needed a way of dealing with all of these enemies. How about...the guillotine.
Surely here was a very wonderful improvement. The guillotine was humane: people could be killed without as little pain as possible. The guillotine was efficient: one could kill people more quickly than one could haul the bodies away. And the guillotine was frightening. This period in French history is rightly called the "Reign of Terror," because of the deliberate use of frightful punishments for those who dared oppose the revolution. Within a year, twenty thousand people had gone to the guillotine.
"Yes, but they were nobles and clergy. They had it coming."
Nope. Only around 15% of those executed were nobles or clergyman. The vast majority of those executed were ordinary people. Ordinary people who supported the Bourbon monarchs. Ordinary people who criticized the Convention. Ordinary people who refuse to compromise their religious beliefs. Or ordinary people who were simply unlucky, for while the guillotine's victims were given trials, the trials were summary at best, and the charges which seemed to merit execution, trivial in the extreme. One person was executed for "thoughtless indifference to the Revolution." Another was executed for "not losing much sleep over the Revolution."
Stupid? No: diabolically clever. This forced people to go out of their way to prove that they were not thoughtlessly indifferent. How did you do that? You wore the clothes of the revolution, shouted the slogans of the Revolution, sang the songs of the Revolution, and went to every event proclaiming the glories of the Revolution. The strategy adopted by the Convention created the illusion of overwhelming public support for the Revolution, making resistance seem futile.
But now there was a problem. It was clear that, under the new conditions people might look, and sound like supporters of the Revolution, but (secretly) they might be its enemies. Even people who looked like revolutionaries might by plotting to undermine the glorious changes taking place. Why, even in the Convention and even on the Committee of Public Safety itself there might be enemies of the Revolution. Why, yes. There was Danton: a tiny bit more conservative than Robespierre: clearly an enemy of the Revolution. And there was Hebert, a tiny bit more radical than Robespierre: clearly an enemy of the Revolution. Robespierre denounced these traitors: and to the guillotine they went. But now, who is safe? A little to the right of Robespierre and you're dead. A little to the left of Robespierre, and you're dead. And so the logical thing to do is get rid of Robespierre. Almost overnight, the Convention goes from idolizing Robespierre to condemning him to death.
And now, without the guiding voice of Robespierre, the Convention is at a loss. What to do? Why, one more wonderful improvement. The Convention votes itself out of existence, making way for a new phase of the Revolution, an phase dominated by what is called the Directory.
The Directory made many improvements. They gave France a new constitution: an elected legislature would work with a five-man board of directors. They gave the French people a new bill of rights. They negotiated treaties with Austria, Prussia, and Britain, giving France a temporary peace. They ended the reign of terror.
However, the peace treaties broke down. Inflation ran out of control. Government officials were either corrupt or incompetent, and the work of government was carried out effectively. Civil war and riots in the provinces continued. And so the Directory made one more wonderful improvement. They appointed three men as "consuls," giving these three men special authority to deal with all the problems France faced. This improvement worked: too well!
One of the three consuls was Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon used his emergency powers quite effectively, helping to end the civil war within France and securing some impressive military successes against France's enemies. Napoleon's status as a war hero put him in a position to ask for more. He proposed a new constitution, a constitution that would give him even more power as "First Consul."
Napoleon's constitution won a massive vote of confidence. Fewer than 2,000 Frenchman voted against the constitution. Over 3,000,000 voted for it. And with this popular mandate, Napoleon proceeded to make some wonderful improvements in France.
He reformed government, cleaning up some of the corruption and incompetence. He reformed education, creating military and technical schools and (I think) the lycee system. He reformed the legal system, creating the Code Napoleon: a comprehensive but concise set of laws for all of France.
And now that France was organized, it was time for the rest of the world to watch out.
Napoleon used the old watchwords: liberty, equality, fraternity. But now the fanatical French troops were led by one of the greatest minds in military history. In short order, liberty, equality, and fraternity had been spread to Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland.... Everywhere his troops went, Napoleon set up representative governments and promised people certain fundamental rights.
An all around good guy making truly wonderful improvements? Not quite.
Napoleon wanted more. In 1804 (with the support of the French people, by the way), he crowned himself emperor of France. He began installing his family members on the various thrones of Europe, turning the Bonaparts into a dynasty like the Hapsburgs.
But Napoleon was worried. Although he and his family dominated Europe, their were potential threats from both Britain and Russia. If either could be disposed of, Napoleon felt confident of lasting success. Britain proved too tough a nut: the defeat of the French navy at Trafalger ended any hope Napoleon might have had of dominating Britain. But the Russian threat might be dealt with.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russian with an army of 600,000 men.
The Russians adopted a clever strategy. Instead of meeting
Napoleon
head-on, they retreated--but while they retreated, they destroyed the
lands
through which the French
marched. Napoleon got all the way to Moscow--but the Russian
burned the city, and Napoleon found himself in an impossible
position.
Winter set in, and Napoleon's troops were forced to try to make it back
to France. The Russian armies attacked the retreating
French.
By the time he got back home, Napoleon had only 100,000 men left.
He had lost half-a-million men killed, captured or wounded.
It didn't stop him, though. He formed a new army, an army soon defeated at the Battle of Nations. He went into exile, but then returned to France and formed a new army. This army was eventually destroyed at the famous battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was forced into exile again.
The allies that defeated Napoleon had had enough of French
aggression,
and they blamed the 26 years of European war primarily on the French
experiments
in government. At their insistence, the French in 1815 turned
back
to the Bourbon monarchs. Louis the XVIII took the throne.
And
so, after 26 years of "wonderful improvements," where were the
French?
Almost right back where they started. Pretty impressive.