The French Revolution - May 5, 1789

The king of France, Louis XVI (1754 - 1793), had been having enormous money problems for years. On the one hand, he was financing his luxurious lifestyle at the Palace of Versailles, and on the other hand, France's military involvement in the American War of Independence (1775 - 1783) had created large debts. On May 5, 1789, he invited the three "estates" (the clergy, the nobility, and the famers and commoners) to Paris to ask them to approve a tax increase. But the king had misjudged the sentiment among the delegates: they wanted to turn the assembly into a "National Constituent Assembly" in order to address the economic crisis that was affecting large parts of the country.

Declaration of civil rights

The king tried to bring the delegates back on his side, but did not succeed. It quickly became clear that the citizens of Paris supported the beginning revolution. They were hoping to improve their quality of life, which had been declining for decades until it stood in stark contrast to the sumptuous lifestyle at the royal court in Versailles.

In a matter of days, it emerged that the revolt was much more than the resistance of a few delegates - it was a protest of the people. In quick succession, the delegates of the National Assembly" abolished the privileges of the nobility, cut the tithes due to the church, and confiscated church property. On August 26, 1789, they published a "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen." With this document, the National Assembly created a level playing field for all the people of France. This new equality was sealed on September 3, 1791 in the new French Constitution.

Other royal courts in Europe watched the revolution in France with horror. Monarchs feared that it would spread to their lands and cause civil unrest. When the new Duke of Brunswick, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (1735 - 1806) threatened to invade France and bury Paris in soot and ashes, he provoked the people of Paris to storm the Tuileries palace on August 10, 1792. A group of workers from Marseilles were involved in the siege. On their way to Paris, they'd had a bloodthirsty song on their lips. The people of Paris dubbed the song the "Marseillaise" and made it their revolutionary song. Today, the "Marseillaise" - in a considerably less bloody version - is the French national anthem.

Reign of terror

After the first revolutionary phase ran out of steam, the French Revolution was left to fight its inner demons. In the name of freedom and practicality, executioners set up guillotines in order to behead thousands of so-called counter-revolutionaries. Soon, the revolution was even directing itself against those who'd created it. The start of 1793 marked the beginning of the "reign of terror." In the National Assembly, delegate Jean Paul Marat (1743 - 1793) gave the following "reason" for restrictions on civil liberty:

"It is by violence that one must establish liberty and the moment has come where we must temporarily organize a despotism of liberty to crush the despotism of kings."

When Marat died three months later at the hand of loyal monarchist Charlotte Corday (1768 - 1793), the revolution had its first martyr, as well as a reason to put the device invented by Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738 - 1794) to its bloody use. Heading the terror was Maximilian Robespierre (1758 - 1794). When the reign of terror was declared in mid-1794, the worst phase began. Each day, between 50 and 100 people were killed in the name of the revolution. At the same time though, resentment at the terror campaign was growing. On July 27, 1794, the tyrants got a taste of their own medicine. Robespierre and several of his cronies were arrested following a decree by the National Assembly, and were sent to the guillotine in front of a large crowd the next day. The national celebration that followed signaled the end of the reign of terror.

The insurgents in Paris made sure that the French Revolution didn't falter in the face of resistance from other European powers, nor in the face of the shortcomings of those within their own ranks. In doing so, they left their stamp on Europe.


Author: Matthias von Hellfeld (dc)

Editor: Andreas Illmer