French Revolution
Type Lecture
Date @February 21, 2024
Reviewed
# what is the main characteristic of each stage of the
comments revolution
July 14, 1789 → The beginning of the Revolution with the storming of the
Bastille (Paris)
CONTEXT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1815)
Context of the revolution:
1. Not the 1st revolution of its kind:
a. 1688-1689 → the Glorious Revolution (England)
i. the abdication of Catholic king and replacement by Protestant
King
ii. bloodless revolution ⇒ the name “Glorious”
b. 1775-1783 → the American Revolution
i. American Independence from Great Britain
2. The impact of these revolutions:
a. England: breach with tradition of divine right to rule
i. the parliament can decide to replace the king → a revolution
about the way of thinking about democracy and power
ii. If no Roman Catholic could be king, then no kingship could be
unconditional
b. USA: rights of representation and revolt against “unjust” rule
i. 1st example of uprising against the coloniser
French Revolution 1
, Ideas come first → John Locke (1689) Two
Treaties of Government:
Two main premises:
No government can be justified by
one’s appeal to the divine right of Kings
Legitimate government needs to be
founded on the consent of the
governed → it should be people who
conceptually decide to have a king
Social Contract theorist → justification for the
“state”:
John Locke
we need a new social contract
the State of Nature - rational man
Civil government founded on popular
sovereignty → ideas of popular
sovereignty → a king is only a king if
we let him
RUN-UP TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION:
1. Economics - Financial Bankruptcy:
a. Louis XIV (”Sun King”) mass expenditures - Palace of Versailles → the
jaw-dropping inequality in the living of the royalty and the peasants
b. The French campaign in support of the American Revolution → a
weakened of Great Britain was in the interest of France, that’s why the
french helped the american, but it came with great costs, especially to
the tax payers (aka the peasants)
c. Seven Year War (England/France): loss of many colonies (North-
America, Louisiana, Caribbean Islands, trading posts Indian
subcontinent, Senegal)
French Revolution 2
, 📖 *Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762, the Napoleon
regained it in 1800 in exchange for Tuscany as an attempt to
reestablish the French colonies in North America (as the
french lost most of them in the Seven Year War) and sold it in
1803 to America (Thomas Jefferson)
d. Poor harvests, famine, and already harsh taxes and income inequalities
→ low income, but the king needs to be happy ⇒ increasing taxes and
burden on the people
2. Politics: struggle with provincial “parlements”
a. ”parlements” <> modern parliaments, but provincial courts who had the
right to appeal the decisions of the king
b. Louis XVI: inherited struggle with the provincial courts who help the
right to appeal to the King’s edicts
3. The Dismissal of Jaques Necker, controller-general of Finance (aka the
Minister of Finance):
a. Necker was critical of tax exemptions for nobility and clergy → while the
ordinary men were paying the heavy taxes and living in poverty, the
royalty and clergy would be exempted of taxes and would live
comfortably
b. Published King’s finances → important moment for mass mobilisation
c. Favoured borrowing money abroad, rather than increasing (already
high) taxes on commoners → the king was strongly against it
4. The gamble of Louis XVI (1787-1788):
1. he made a huge gamble by not listening to the french minister of
finance and dismissing him
2. proposes a land tax on all land-holders (including nobility)
3. “Assembly of Notables” rejects the King’s proposals
French Revolution 3
, 4. King attempts to bypass them, by calling for a meeting of the Estates-
General:
Instigates discussions on institutional design ⇒ leading to the
French revolution (aka instigates the masses for the revolution)
ANCIENT REGIME SYSTEM
Demographic growth:
1700: 20 million —→ 1780: approaching 25~28 million
An agricultural nation:
80% of the French people live on the countryside → the agriculture is in
the hands of the masses
20% live in urban areas, only eight cities with a population of over
500.000 (Paris: 650.000 people)
Non-industrialised:
agriculture → 75% of all production
low productivity (labour intensive, outdated methods)
small estates (because of the inheritance laws)
the only large-scale farms where around Paris
failed to keep up with the demographic growth
Geography:
France was a jigsaw of land as a result of previous conquests
1664 → Saint-Domingue (today’s Haiti)
1770 → Corsica
Famine:
1780s: poor harvests
1788: harsh winter, followed by floods (floods destroy crops of the
current year and 3 years ahead so bad bad for France)
all of this lead to food shortages in cities
French Revolution 4
Type Lecture
Date @February 21, 2024
Reviewed
# what is the main characteristic of each stage of the
comments revolution
July 14, 1789 → The beginning of the Revolution with the storming of the
Bastille (Paris)
CONTEXT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789-1815)
Context of the revolution:
1. Not the 1st revolution of its kind:
a. 1688-1689 → the Glorious Revolution (England)
i. the abdication of Catholic king and replacement by Protestant
King
ii. bloodless revolution ⇒ the name “Glorious”
b. 1775-1783 → the American Revolution
i. American Independence from Great Britain
2. The impact of these revolutions:
a. England: breach with tradition of divine right to rule
i. the parliament can decide to replace the king → a revolution
about the way of thinking about democracy and power
ii. If no Roman Catholic could be king, then no kingship could be
unconditional
b. USA: rights of representation and revolt against “unjust” rule
i. 1st example of uprising against the coloniser
French Revolution 1
, Ideas come first → John Locke (1689) Two
Treaties of Government:
Two main premises:
No government can be justified by
one’s appeal to the divine right of Kings
Legitimate government needs to be
founded on the consent of the
governed → it should be people who
conceptually decide to have a king
Social Contract theorist → justification for the
“state”:
John Locke
we need a new social contract
the State of Nature - rational man
Civil government founded on popular
sovereignty → ideas of popular
sovereignty → a king is only a king if
we let him
RUN-UP TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION:
1. Economics - Financial Bankruptcy:
a. Louis XIV (”Sun King”) mass expenditures - Palace of Versailles → the
jaw-dropping inequality in the living of the royalty and the peasants
b. The French campaign in support of the American Revolution → a
weakened of Great Britain was in the interest of France, that’s why the
french helped the american, but it came with great costs, especially to
the tax payers (aka the peasants)
c. Seven Year War (England/France): loss of many colonies (North-
America, Louisiana, Caribbean Islands, trading posts Indian
subcontinent, Senegal)
French Revolution 2
, 📖 *Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762, the Napoleon
regained it in 1800 in exchange for Tuscany as an attempt to
reestablish the French colonies in North America (as the
french lost most of them in the Seven Year War) and sold it in
1803 to America (Thomas Jefferson)
d. Poor harvests, famine, and already harsh taxes and income inequalities
→ low income, but the king needs to be happy ⇒ increasing taxes and
burden on the people
2. Politics: struggle with provincial “parlements”
a. ”parlements” <> modern parliaments, but provincial courts who had the
right to appeal the decisions of the king
b. Louis XVI: inherited struggle with the provincial courts who help the
right to appeal to the King’s edicts
3. The Dismissal of Jaques Necker, controller-general of Finance (aka the
Minister of Finance):
a. Necker was critical of tax exemptions for nobility and clergy → while the
ordinary men were paying the heavy taxes and living in poverty, the
royalty and clergy would be exempted of taxes and would live
comfortably
b. Published King’s finances → important moment for mass mobilisation
c. Favoured borrowing money abroad, rather than increasing (already
high) taxes on commoners → the king was strongly against it
4. The gamble of Louis XVI (1787-1788):
1. he made a huge gamble by not listening to the french minister of
finance and dismissing him
2. proposes a land tax on all land-holders (including nobility)
3. “Assembly of Notables” rejects the King’s proposals
French Revolution 3
, 4. King attempts to bypass them, by calling for a meeting of the Estates-
General:
Instigates discussions on institutional design ⇒ leading to the
French revolution (aka instigates the masses for the revolution)
ANCIENT REGIME SYSTEM
Demographic growth:
1700: 20 million —→ 1780: approaching 25~28 million
An agricultural nation:
80% of the French people live on the countryside → the agriculture is in
the hands of the masses
20% live in urban areas, only eight cities with a population of over
500.000 (Paris: 650.000 people)
Non-industrialised:
agriculture → 75% of all production
low productivity (labour intensive, outdated methods)
small estates (because of the inheritance laws)
the only large-scale farms where around Paris
failed to keep up with the demographic growth
Geography:
France was a jigsaw of land as a result of previous conquests
1664 → Saint-Domingue (today’s Haiti)
1770 → Corsica
Famine:
1780s: poor harvests
1788: harsh winter, followed by floods (floods destroy crops of the
current year and 3 years ahead so bad bad for France)
all of this lead to food shortages in cities
French Revolution 4
