Revolutionary Events of 1789

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Revolutionary Events of 1789

Revolutionary Events of 1789

Timeline of Key Events

5 May Estates-General opened at Versailles

17 June National Assembly proclaimed

20 June Tennis Court Oath

23 June Louis ordered Three Estates to separate

27 June Union of three estates

11 July Necker dismissed

12 – 14 July National Guard formed; Storming of Bastille

July – August Revolt in the Provinces / Great Fear

4 August August Decrees – feudalism ‘abolished’

26 August Declaration of Rights of Man

5 October Women march to Versailles – ‘October Days’

2 November Church lands confiscated

Why did violence breakout in 1789?

Observers such as the Englishman Arthur Young declared the revolution to be complete once Louis had agreed to the 1st & 2nd Estates joining the Third Estate as the National Assembly on 27th June. There were celebrations in Paris and Versailles - the king and queen were even cheered. The National Assembly’s deputies now hoped to get on and construct a constitution. However, France’s economic situation was still disastrous, Parisians were ripe for violence due to their frustrations (unemployment, bread etc) and the king’s own actions inflamed the situation.

Economic Conditions

Dire economic conditions had become increasingly desperate in the spring & summer of 1789 with workers spending 88% of their wages on bread.

Paris had endured the coldest winter in living memory. There was no spare money for heating and lighting because of high bread prices. There was also a manufacturing slump bringing more unemployment.
The premises of a wealthy wallpaper manufacturer, Réveillon, were set on fire as a result of a rumour that wages were to be cut in April.
Bread prices reached their highest level since 1715 on the 14 July 1789!

Louis XVI’s Build up of troops in & around Paris

Although Louis appeared to have accepted France’s changing political scene he began to build up troop numbers in and around Paris, increasing rumours that the King wanted to arrest members of the National Assembly by force. Louis appeared to be looking for an alternative solution to his problems.

By late June – approx. 4,000 troops (including 2,600 foreign troops)

By end June – approx. 20,000 troops were in or around Paris

On 2nd July the English Ambassador reported that artillery batteries had been placed on high ground commanding the city & that the new commander in the area was believed to be totally loyal to the king.

The Revolt in Paris

Establishment of a headquarters for the popular movement

In late June radical journalists & politicians had begun to meet at the Palais Royal – home of the Duc d’Orleans. Large crowds of Parisians came each evening to hear these revolutionary speakers. The members of this crowd were known as Sans Culottes (name applied from 1792 onwards because they wore long trousers rather than the breeches of the nobility). They were mostly craftsmen, shopkeepers, traders, clerks, journeymen and labourers but they were also joined by some middle class factory owners, wine merchants and professionals. All of them were dissatisfied with France’s government and social structure. These people were ready to act when the revolutionary speakers encouraged them to take up arms when Louis dismissed Necker.

Louis’ dismissal of Necker

Under the influence of Marie-Antoinette & his brother, Comte d’Artois, Louis dismissed the popular Necker on 11th July even though the majority of people were convinced he was the only person capable of solving France’s finance crisis. Louis had become tired of Necker’s lectures and advice and appointed a conservative, the Baron de Breteuil in his place. Ordinary people now believed that Louis was determined to stop the reform process. Louis now had German cavalry troops in evidence on the streets of Paris to control disorder but people believed he would use these against the National Assembly.

Popular Unrest / Siege of the Bastille

Sans-culottes, encouraged by radical speakers at the Palais Royal, now took to the streets to search for weapons to defend the reform process from Louis who they believed intended to resort to military force. They raided gun shops for weapons and barricades were put up to stop troops acting against them.

Troops Abandonment of the King

The king lost control of the capital as previously loyal troops sympathised with the rebels & deserted to join them. The Gardes-français (French Guards) listened to the speakers at the Palais Royal and other royal troops were forced from the streets. Others were withdrawn from the centre of Paris for fear they would be disloyal. Previously loyal troops now stood by and took no action in the face of increasing public disorder.

Attacks on Customs Posts

Whilst some Parisians took to the streets and armed themselves ready to defend the revolution others attacked the customs posts which surrounded the city. These were places where duties (taxes) were collected on foodstuffs and other goods which entered Paris and thus were seen to be a large reason for the high prices now causing misery. 40 of the 54 posts were destroyed. Parisians now also attacked food stores and prisons.

Establishment of the National Guard (initially known as the Citizens’ Militia)

The electors of Paris (those who had been wealthy enough to qualify for voting for the Estates-General) now held an emergency meeting at the town hall (Hôtel de Ville). They were worried by the increasing violence as most of them were property owners. They now voted to set up a committee – the commune – to run the city and their own Citizens’ Militia / National Guard to defend the commune. This new group would now be able to both defend the city as a whole, if need be, from the king but also protect their own personal property from the rampaging poor. Lafayette (hero of the American War of Independence) was appointed as the Guard’s first commander.

The fall of the Bastille

Having seized additional weapons at Les Invalides (the old soldiers’ home and arsenal) the sans-culottes now found that they had weapons but not enough gunpowder or cartridges to go with them. Rumours spread that the hated Bastille prison (where political prisoners were kept) would provide the ammunition. The crowds, accompanied by some members of the new Citizens’ Militia and some soldiers, headed to the Bastille to negotiate for gunpowder etc. Events started peacefully with two members of the commune going to see the governor, Marquis de Launay, to negotiate but the crowd grew impatient at their wait and a full-scale assault on the prison developed once some Parisians had decided to push their way into the inner courtyard. The governor, de Launay, surrendered and was decapitated, his head paraded on a pole round the streets of Paris. Only 7 political prisoners were released (though much more was made of this later). The real significance of this was that a symbol of royal power (at its most arbitrary) had been destroyed. Troops now seen to be potentially untrustworthy were pulled out of Paris. The National Assembly was now re-named the Constituent Assembly to mark its new purpose – to create a constitution for France.

How did Louis respond?

Louis made an appearance in Paris and tried to show he had accepted the changes that had taken place by wearing the revolutionary cockade in his hat. (Revolutionary cockade = a red / white / blue rosette that now came to symbolise the revolution. The red and blue were the colours of Paris and the white was the colour of the Bourbon family. The cockade was supposed to show the king and Paris working together). In front of an armed crowd in front of the Hôtel de Ville Louis now accepted the new Paris Commune, the National Guard and the National/Constituent Assembly and re-instated Necker. Louis received a hostile reception – any last vestiges of support for the king were fast disappearing.

Influence of Events in Paris - The Revolt in the Provinces

News spread to provincial towns from their deputies at Versailles. The king’s representatives how lost all authority. Royal intendants were forced to flee, National Guards were set up in towns and cities all over France, old-style town councils were either overthrown or reformed. Orders were now only to be obeyed if backed by the Constituent Assembly.

The peasants in the countryside had done little until now aside from take part in food riots which were nothing new. They had been largely unaffected by events in Paris and were more concerned with survival from day-to-day but the appalling 1788 harvest and continuing rises in bread prices, increased unemployment due to the slump in the textiles industry, the drawing up of the cahiers and news from Paris now led to violence in the countryside. The preparation of the cahiers had led the peasants to believe that Louis would do something for them and the violence in Paris now encouraged them to riot too.

The Great Fear

Peasant risings were growing in number and in intensity by the summer of 1789. Peasants attacked tithe barns to release the Church’s grain stores and chateaux were pillaged or destroyed whilst peasants went in search of terriers to destroy them. These terriers were legal documents which laid out each lord’s rights over his local peasants. Rumours spread like wildfire. Vagabonds (hordes of paupers) were rumoured to be roaming the countryside on the orders (and under the pay) of the nobility intending to destroy crops and crush the rebellious peasantry. The peasants’ response was the ‘Great Fear’ in which attacks on the nobility escalated.

Why did the National Assembly dismantle the Ancien Régime?

The August Decrees

The Assembly were understandably frightened by this violence from the lower orders in society. They were mostly wealthier individuals (even the Third Estate deputies came from better backgrounds – lawyers etc) and feared for their property’s safety. There was no question of using the armed forces whose loyalty could not be guaranteed. Instead the deputies discussed removing the peasants’ grievances and so they discussed dismantling the old regime. They went far further than the original cahiers had done.

Equal taxation was introduced, the feudal system was abolished, tithes paid to the church the purchase of offices (venality) and special privileges were all swept away. All Frenchmen were now to be guaranteed the same rights under the law – all professions were now to be open to all Frenchmen. The drawback for the peasants was that nobles were to be compensated (by the peasants themselves) for the loss of feudal dues. The peasants were understandably displeased at this element but their debts were subsequently cancelled in 1793.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen - 26 August

Members of the Assembly were now gripped by a reforming fervour and now draw up the principles on which the new constitution of France was to be based. Mostly drawn up by Lafayette, the new system declared ‘Men are born free and remain free and equal in their rights.’ This declaration now guaranteed freedom of expression, opinion, religion, fair trial, consent to taxation and the right to own property. France was now to be a meritocracy – careers and offices were to be allocated by talent – not by birth! An elected assembly was to express the ‘general will’ of the people. Such ideas reflected the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers and marked a total break from the old regime.

What happened to Louis?

Louis hesitated in sanctioning the new decrees. He saw the August Decrees as a direct challenge to his powers. There was no talk of abolishing the monarchy at this stage though. The Assembly now began to work on the idea of a constitutional monarchy whereby Louis would rule but with restrictions on his power and that of his ministers’. The debate centred round what position Louis was to have within the new Constitution. The result of the discussions was that Louis was to retain the right to appoint ministers but the Assembly could dismiss them. The Assembly would determine laws and taxation but the king would ensure they were carried out. Louis would have a ‘suspensive veto’ = he could suspend or delay legislation for up to 4 year but he could not dismiss new legislation. Louis refused to approve these actions. He knew he could not use force as the army were no longer loyal to him – his only option at this stage was non-cooperation.

October Days – Louis at the mercy of Paris

The October Days changed the king’s position for ever and was to lead to him and his family being at the mercy of the people of Paris.

The guard at Versailles was re-inforced by the return of a regiment of the King’s Guard who had been stationed in Flanders. A banquet was held on their return which Louis and Marie-Antoinette attended and rumours soon spread to Paris that the revolutionary cockade had been both mocked and trampled under foot. Food shortages were still acute in Paris and people were still desperate. This insult to the symbol of the revolution was too much for the women of Paris to bear and they marched to Versailles to complain to the king and the assembly. Approx. 6,000 women (and approx. 20,000 National Guard) arrived at Versailles and sent a deputation to the king. After a lengthy wait the crowd grew restless and some of the crowd broke into the palace upon which they tried to find Marie-Antoinette who they had fixed upon as the main object of their hatred. (Bear in mind the rumours of her and her ‘let them eat cake’). Although she escaped their wrath they did kill several members of the royal bodyguard and decapitated them.

Louis was now forced to give in. He approved the August Decrees, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, promised to return to Paris with his family and to supply grain. The grain stores at Versailles were opened up and food transported to Paris. The crowd, the royal family and the Assembly now all moved to Paris – accompanied by the decapitated heads of royal bodyguards on their now customary spikes. The royal family now took up residence at the Tuileries palace – a former royal palace right in the centre of the city.

Nationalization of Church Land – 2nd November

The Assembly was still faced with the appalling economic situation that Louis had faced. Their discussions on how to solve this problem now centred round where they could acquire additional money. The peasants were in such dire straits that further taxation was impossible. They now focused their attentions on the wealthy Church which was one of France’s largest landowners. It was decided to nationalise Church lands to give the Assembly the money it needed. The system was to be put into operation using assignats which were to become France’s new economy. These were backed by church land and were now to pay off debts and pay for goods and services. Louis was understandably angry at what he described as the ‘despoiling’ of his church but was in no position to argue or act.

The Assembly was now to embark on creating a constitution which would lay the foundations for modern government.

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