revolutions

• FRENCH REVOLUTION
• THE STRUGGLE OF THE FRENCH MIDDLE CLASS AGAINST THE AUTOCRATIC RULE AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY THAT EXISTED IN EUROPE
• MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN FRANCE LIVED A MISERABLE LIFE WHILE THE MINORITY INCLUDING THE RULERS LIVED A LUXURIOUS LIFE

  THIS WAS A RESULT OF THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY THAT EXISTED IN FRANCE . THE FRENCH SOCIETY WAS DIVIDED INTO 3 STRATAS KNOWN AS ESTATES
• FIRST ESTATE - CLERGY , THEY WERE EXEMPTED FROM ALL TAXES AND THEY COLLECTED TAX CALLED 'TITHE' FROM FARMERS , THEY HELD VAST LANDS AND THEY CONTROLLED HIGHER POSITION IN MILITARY AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE
• 2ND ESTATE - NOBILITY - EXEMPTED FROM ALL TAXES, LED A LUXURIOUS LIFE ,ENGAGED IN MILITARY SERVICE , COLLECTED VARIOUS TAX FROM FARMERS, HELD VAST LANDS , MADE FARMERS WORK WITHOUT WAGES
• THIRD ESTATE - MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE , TRADERS, FARMERS, CRAFTSMEN AND WRITERS , LAWYERS- NO ROLE IN ADMINISTRATION ,LOW SOCIAL STATUS, PAID VARIOUS TAX TO LORDS AND NOBLES , PAID LAND TAX CALLED 'TAILLE' TO THE GOVERNMENT
• VARIOUS THINKERS AND STREAMS OF THOUGHT IN FRANCE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN MAKING THE PEOPLE AWARE OF THE SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND EXPLOITATION

  VOLTAIRE - PROMOTED RATIONAL THINKING AND IDEALS OF EQUALITY AND HUMANISM

  ROUSSEAU - SPELLED OUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FREEDOM THROUGH THE STATEMENT " A MAN IS BORN FREE BUT EVERYWHERE HE IS IN CHAINS"

  MONTESQUIEU - ENCOURAGED DEMOCRACY AND THE REPUBLIC
• The luxurious life and squanders of the Bourbon kings and lords and clergy and the frequent wars they waged and the frequent spells of drought and crop failure brought France to the brick of bankruptcy
• The financial and military assistance given to America in the American War of Independence also aggravated the financial crisis in France
• To levy new tax upon commoners, Louis XVI summoned the States General, the legislative assembly with the representatives from all 3 estates in 1789
• Similar to the French society the States General also had 3 estates, traditionally each estate would vote as a group and had one vote, as a result the clergy and nobility would always over rule the third estate
• The first two estates argued for estate wise single voting system while the third estate argued for individual vote to each member of the 3 estates
• WHILE these arguments went on the MEMBERS OF THE third ESTATE DECLARED THEMSELVES AS THE 'NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE' AND ASSEMBLED IN THE TENNIS COURT NERARBY AND SWORE NOT TO LEAVE UNTIL THEY FRAMED THE CONSTITUITION OF FRANCE THIS EVENT IS KNOWN AS THE TENNIS COURT OATH
• 14TH JULY 1789- REVOLUTIONARIES STORMED WITH THE SLOGAN 'LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY' DEMOLISHED THE BASTILLE PRISON THE SYMBOL OF THE BOURBON MONARCHY THIS EVENT IS KNOWN AS THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
• 12TH AUG 1789 - THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSED THE DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND OF THE CITIZEN
• OCTOBER 1789 - THOUSANDS OF WOMEN MARCHED FROM PARIS TO THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES WITH THE SLOGAN "GIVE US BREAD'
• SEPTEMBER 1792 - THE NATIONAL CONVENTION FORMED AS PER THE NEW CONSITUITION PROCLAIMED FRANCE AS A REPUBLIC
• INFLUENCE OF FRENCH REVOLUTION :

  HELPED IN THE GROWTH OF MIDDLE CLASS

  LED TO THE EMERGENCE OF NATIONALISM

  SPREAD THE IDEAS OF LIBERTY EQALITY AND FRATERNITY

  PROMOTED THE CONCEPT OF PEOPLES SOVEREIGHTY