DESTROYING THE ANCIEN REGIME: THE FRENCY REVOLUTION / Edhem Eldem - March, 28 Friday

— A long process that lasts for about ten years (1789-1799) and can be broken into three major phases.

— The first phase, the bourgeois revolution, starts with the frustration of the bourgeoisie who is denied admission into the political elite of the time (Estates General). The ensuing rupture leads to the Tennis Court Oath and the Constituent Assembly, a promise to set up a parliamentary system.

— Meanwhile, the urban masses are caught in the excitement of a revolution that is claiming to bring them freedom and equality. The threat of popular violence is partly manipulated by the bourgeoisie to obtain its demands.

— The storming of the Bastille—mostly symbolic—is followed by the abolition of feudalism and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The revolution is moving towards an English model of an oligarchic parliamentary monarchy.

— However, the process is faced with several causes for radicalization. The internal momentum of the revolution, combined with the threat of military coalitions against France contributes to this process. The Jacobins gain control over the system

— The flight of Louis XVI puts an end to the compromise with the monarchy. He is deposed (1792) and executed (1793), and France becomes a Republic.

— 1792-1795 is the second phase, the most radical one, violent but based on democratic references to Rousseau. This is the time of the highest point in the destruction of religion, with the change of calendar and the invention of the Cult of the Supreme Being. It is also the time of great military victories against the enemy, thanks to a poor and disorganized army that finds its force in the capacity of the regime to mobilize the masses for the defense of the Republic. The French Revolution has invented modern, ‘total,’ war.

— The radicalization of the revolution causes exhaustion throughout the country. The ‘Terror’ creates a feeling of insecurity where every citizen becomes suspect, and where the Revolution is gradually devouring its children. Robespierre is the embodiment of this heartless, idealist, and somewhat paranoid phase.

— 1795, and the end of Robespierre signals a return to normalcy, i.e. to a more oligarchic and stable system where certain older values make a comeback, especially religion. This third phase (1795-1799) is a prelude to the final quest for stability in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte.

— A young and successful general, he represents a new idea of France, victorious abroad and anxious to reestablish order in the country. Bonaparte will answer this desire, establishing stability at the price of a growing power for the executive, which will eventually lead to the constitution of the Empire under his rule.