The Great French Revolution changed the world, overthrowing the absolute monarchy and making possible the transition to the capitalist system of social order. Thanks to it, the ways were opened for building a new state, spreading education and science, and creating new laws. Her motto "Freedom, Equality, Fraternity" did not become a reality for everyone, but it was already impossible to forget it. The beginning of the revolution was the capture by the people of the Bastille - the main prison of Paris. It happened on July 14, 1789. Later, power in the country was in the hands of the Girondins, then the Jacobins and Thermidorians. After this came the period of the Directory. The revolution ended on November 9, 1799 with a coup carried out by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Causes of the French Revolution.

France in the 18th century was dominated by an absolutist monarchy - in the hands of King Louis XVI there was power over the life and death of any inhabitant of the country. However, France had significant financial problems, it was no longer as strong as in the past. The ideas of enlightenment developed, proclaiming equality, humanism and the rule of law, arousing in the people hostility towards the rich who stood above the laws, in whose hands was all the power. It was primarily the educated townspeople (bourgeoisie), who were deprived of influence on public life, who rebelled, the peasants who worked for the owners and from year to year fought against crop failures, and the plebs, starving in the cities. Public outrage eventually grew into a revolution that changed the face of the world.

Do you know that: 1. One of the bloodiest episodes of the French Revolution was the execution of Louis XVI on the guillotine on January 21, 1793. 2. Maximilian Robespierre (1758-1794) was a lawyer by profession and one of the main, radical leaders of the French Revolution. When his friends in the Jacobin club seized power, imposed a dictatorship and launched a reign of terror in order - they claimed - to save the gains of the revolution, Robespierre was in effect directing the politics of his country. After the overthrow of the Jacobins, he was executed.

Prerequisites revolution. In 1788-1789. France was in the midst of a social and political crisis. And the crisis in industry and trade, and the crop failure of 1788, and the bankruptcy of the state treasury, ruined by the wasteful spending of the court Louis XVI(1754-1793), were not the main causes of the revolutionary crisis. The main reason that caused widespread dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs that swept the whole country was that the dominant feudal-absolutist system did not correspond to the tasks of the country's economic, social and political development.

Approximately 99 percent of the population of France was the so-called third estate and only one percent privileged estates - the clergy and nobility.

The third estate was class-wise heterogeneous. It included both the bourgeoisie, and the peasantry, and urban workers, artisans, and the poor. All representatives of the third estate were united by the complete absence of political rights and the desire to change the existing order. All of them did not want and could no longer put up with the feudal-absolutist monarchy.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts, the king had to announce the convocation of the Estates General - a meeting of representatives of the three estates that had not met for 175 years. The king and his associates hoped, with the help of the Estates General, to calm public opinion and obtain the necessary funds to replenish the treasury. The third estate connected with their convocation hopes for political changes in the country. From the very first days of the work of the Estates General, a conflict arose between the third estate and the first two because of the order of meetings and voting. On June 17, the assembly of the third estate proclaimed itself the National Assembly, and on July 9, the Constituent Assembly, thus emphasizing its determination to establish a new social order and its constitutional foundations in the country. The king refused to recognize this act.

Troops loyal to the king were drawn to Versailles and Paris. The Parisians spontaneously rose to fight. By the morning of July 14, most of the capital was already in the hands of the insurgent people. On July 14, 1789, an armed mob liberated the prisoners of the Bastille, a fortress-prison. This day was the start Great French Revolution. In two weeks, the old order was destroyed throughout the country. The royal power was replaced by a revolutionary bourgeois administration, and the National Guard began to take shape.

Despite the difference in class interests, the bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the urban plebeians united in the struggle against the feudal-absolutist system. The bourgeoisie led the movement. The general impulse was reflected in the adoption by the Constituent Assembly on August 26 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. AT It proclaimed the sacred and inalienable rights of man and citizen - freedom of the individual, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, security and resistance to oppression. The right to property was declared just as sacred and indestructible, and a decree was promulgated declaring all church property national. The Constituent Assembly approved a new administrative division of the kingdom into 83 departments, abolished the old division of estates and abolished all titles of nobility and clergy, feudal duties, class privileges, and abolished workshops. Proclaimed freedom of enterprise. The adoption of these documents meant that the reign of the feudal-absolutist monarchy was coming to an end.

Stages of the Revolution. However, in the course of the Revolution, the alignment of political forces in the struggle for a new state structure changed.

There are three stages in the history of the French Revolution; the first - July 14, 1779 - August 10, 1792; the second - August 10, 1772 - June 2, 1793; the third, highest stage of the revolution - June 2, 1793 - July 27/28, 1794.

At the first stage of the revolution, the big bourgeoisie and the liberal nobility seized power. They advocated a constitutional monarchy. Among them, the leading role was played by M. Lafayette (1757-1834), A. Barnav (1761-1793), A. Lamet.

In September 1791, Louis XVI signed the constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly, after which a constitutional monarchy was established in the country; The Constituent Assembly dispersed, and the Legislative Assembly began to work.

The deep social upheavals that took place in the country intensified the friction between revolutionary France and the monarchist powers of Europe. England recalled its ambassador from Paris. The Russian Empress Catherine II (1729-1796) expelled the French attorney Genet. The Spanish ambassador in Paris, Iriarte, demanded his credentials back, and the Spanish government began military maneuvers along the Pyrenees. The Dutch ambassador was recalled from Paris.

Austria and Prussia entered into an alliance between themselves and announced that they would prevent the spread of everything that threatened the monarchy in France and the security of all European powers. The threat of intervention forced France to be the first to declare war against them.

The war began with setbacks for the French troops. In connection with the difficult situation at the front, the Legislative Assembly proclaimed: "The Fatherland is in danger." In the spring of 1792, a young sapper captain, poet and composer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle(1760-1836) in a burst of inspiration wrote the famous "Marseillaise" which later became the French national anthem.

On August 10, 1792, a popular uprising took place, led by the Paris Commune. The second stage of the revolution began. During this period, the Paris Commune became an organ of Parisian city self-government, and in 1793-1794. was an important organ of revolutionary power. It was headed P.G. Chaumette (1763-1794), J.R. heber(1757-1794) and others. The Commune closed many monarchist newspapers. She arrested former ministers, abolished the property qualification; all men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote.

Under the leadership of the Commune, crowds of Parisians began to prepare to storm the Tuileries Palace, in which the king was. Without waiting for the assault, the king and his family left the palace and came to the Legislative Assembly.

The armed people captured the Tuileries Palace. The Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution on the removal of the king from power and the convening of a new supreme authority - the National Convention (assembly). On August 11, 1792, the monarchy was actually liquidated in France.

To try the "criminals of August 10" (supporters of the king), the Legislative Assembly established an Extraordinary Tribunal.

On September 20, two major events took place. The French troops inflicted the first defeat on the enemy troops at the Battle of Valmy. On the same day, a new, revolutionary Assembly, the Convention, opened in Paris.

At this stage of the revolution, political leadership shifted to the Girondins representing predominantly the republican commercial, industrial and agricultural bourgeoisie. The leaders of the Girondins were J.P. Brissot (1754-1793), P.V. Vergniaud (1753-1793), J.A. Condorcet(1743-1794). They constituted the majority in the Convention and were the right wing in the Assembly. They were opposed Jacobins, made up the left wing. Among them were M. Robespierre (1758-1794), J.J. Danton (1759-1794), J.P. Marat(1743-1793). The Jacobins expressed the interests of the revolutionary-democratic bourgeoisie, which acted in alliance with the peasantry and the plebeians.

A sharp struggle unfolded between the Jacobins and the Girondins. The Girondins were satisfied with the results of the revolution, opposed the execution of the king and opposed the further development of the revolution.

The Jacobins considered it necessary to deepen the revolutionary movement.

But two decrees in the Convention were adopted unanimously: on the inviolability of property, on the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic.

On September 21, the Republic (First Republic) was proclaimed in France. The motto of the Republic was the slogan "Freedom, equality and brotherhood.

The question that worried everyone at that time was the fate of the arrested King Louis XVI. The convention decided to try him. On January 14, 1793, 387 out of 749 deputies of the Convention voted in favor of giving the king the death penalty. One of the deputies of the Convention, Barère, explained his participation in the vote in the following way: “This process is an act of public salvation or a measure of public security ...” On January 21, Louis XVI was executed, in October 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette was executed.

The execution of Louis XVI served as a pretext for expanding the anti-French coalition, which included England and Spain. Failures on the external front, the deepening of economic difficulties within the country, the growth of taxes, all this shook the position of the Girondins. Unrest intensified in the country, pogroms and murders began, and on May 31 - June 2, 1793, a popular uprising took place.

From this event begins the third, highest stage of the Revolution. Power passed into the hands of the radical bourgeoisie, which relied on the bulk of the urban population and the peasantry. At this moment, the lower ranks of the people had the greatest influence on the authorities. To save the revolution, the Jacobins considered it necessary to introduce an emergency regime - a Jacobin dictatorship took shape in the country.

The Jacobins recognized the centralization of state power as an indispensable condition. The convention remained the supreme legislative body. In his submission was a government of 11 people - the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Robespierre. The Committee of Public Safety of the Convention was strengthened to combat the counter-revolution, revolutionary tribunals became more active.

The position of the new government was difficult. The war was raging. In most departments of France, especially the Vendée, there were riots.

In the summer of 1793, Marat was killed by a young noblewoman, Charlotte Corday, which had a serious impact on the course of further political events.

The most important events of the Jacobins. In June 1793, the Convention adopted a new constitution, according to which France was declared a single and indivisible Republic; the rule of the people, the equality of people in rights, broad democratic freedoms were consolidated. The property qualification was canceled when participating in elections to state bodies; all men over the age of 21 were given the right to vote. Wars of conquest were condemned. This constitution was the most democratic of all French constitutions, but its introduction was delayed due to the state of emergency in the country.

The Committee of Public Safety carried out a number of important measures to reorganize and strengthen the army, thanks to which, in a fairly short time, the Republic managed to create not only a large, but also a well-armed army. And by the beginning of 1794 the war was transferred to the territory of the enemy. The revolutionary government of the Jacobins, having led and mobilized the people, ensured victory over the external enemy - the troops of the European monarchical states - Prussia, Austria, etc.

In October 1793, the Convention introduced a revolutionary calendar. September 22, 1792, the first day of the existence of the Republic, was announced as the beginning of a new era. The month was divided into 3 decades, the months were named according to their characteristic weather, vegetation, fruits or agricultural work. Sundays were abolished. Revolutionary holidays were introduced instead of Catholic holidays.

However, the Jacobin alliance was held together by the necessity of a joint struggle against the foreign coalition and the counter-revolutionary uprisings at home. When victory was won on the fronts and rebellions were suppressed, the danger of the restoration of the monarchy decreased, and the revolutionary movement began to roll back. Among the Jacobins, internal divisions escalated. Thus, from the autumn of 1793, Danton demanded the weakening of the revolutionary dictatorship, a return to the constitutional order, and the abandonment of the policy of terror. He was executed. The lower classes demanded deepening reforms. Most of the bourgeoisie, dissatisfied with the policy of the Jacobins, who pursued a restrictive regime and dictatorial methods, went over to counter-revolutionary positions, dragging along significant masses of peasants.

Not only the rank-and-file bourgeois acted in this way; the leaders Lafayette, Barnave, Lamet, as well as the Girondins, joined the counter-revolutionary camp. The Jacobin dictatorship was increasingly deprived of popular support.

Using terror as the only method of resolving contradictions, Robespierre prepared his own death and was doomed. The country and the whole people were tired of the horror of the Jacobin terror, and all its opponents united in a single bloc. In the bowels of the Convention, a conspiracy was ripened against Robespierre and his supporters.

9 Thermidor (27 July) 1794 to the conspirators J. Fouche(1759-1820), J.L. Tallien (1767-1820), P. Barraso(1755-1829) managed to make a coup, arrest Robespierre, overthrow the revolutionary government. “The republic has perished, the kingdom of robbers has come,” these were the last words of Robespierre in the Convention. On Thermidor 10, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon and their closest associates were guillotined.

The conspirators who received the name Thermidorians now used terror at their discretion. They released their supporters from prison and imprisoned supporters of Robespierre. The Paris Commune was immediately abolished.

The results of the Revolution and its significance. In 1795, a new constitution was adopted, according to which power was transferred to the Directory and two councils - the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders. November 9, 1799 Council of Elders appointed brigadier general Napoleon Bonaparte(1769-1821) commander of the army. On November 10, the regime of the Directory was legally abolished, a new state order was established - the Consulate, which existed from 1799 to 1804.

The main results of the French Revolution:

It consolidated and simplified the complex variety of pre-revolutionary forms of ownership.

The lands of many (but not all) nobles were sold to the peasants with an installment plan of 10 years in small plots (parcels).

The revolution swept away all class barriers. It abolished the privileges of the nobility and clergy and introduced equal social opportunities for all citizens. All this contributed to the expansion of civil rights in all European countries, the introduction of constitutions in countries that did not have them before.

The revolution took place under the auspices of representative elected bodies: the National Constituent Assembly (1789-1791), the Legislative Assembly (1791-1792), the Convention (1792-1794). This contributed to the development of parliamentary democracy, despite subsequent setbacks.

The revolution gave rise to a new state structure - a parliamentary republic.

The state was now the guarantor of equal rights for all citizens.

The financial system was transformed: the class character of taxes was abolished, the principle of their universality and proportionality to income or property was introduced. The publicity of the budget was proclaimed.

If in France the process of capitalist development proceeded, although more slowly than in England, then in Eastern Europe the feudal mode of production and the feudal state were still strong and the ideas of the French Revolution found a weak echo there. In contrast to the epochal events taking place in France, the process of feudal reaction began in the East of Europe.

However, the most important for Western civilization was Great French bourgeois revolution. She dealt a powerful blow to the feudal foundations, crushing them not only in France, but throughout Europe. French absolutism has been going through a serious crisis since the middle of the 18th century: constant financial difficulties, failures in foreign policy, growing social tension - all this undermines the foundations of the state. Tax oppression, along with the preservation of the old feudal duties, made the position of the French peasantry unbearable. The situation was aggravated by objective factors: in the second half of the 1980s, crop failures hit France, the country was gripped by famine. The government was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the context of growing dissatisfaction with the royal power, the King of France, Louis XVI, convenes the States General (a medieval class-representative body that has not met in France since 1614). The States General, consisting of representatives of the clergy, the nobility and the third estate (bourgeoisie and peasants), began their work 5 May 1780 d. Events began to take on a character unexpected for the authorities from the moment when the deputies from the third estate achieved a joint discussion of issues and the adoption of decisions based on the real number of votes instead of voting by estate. All these yavlenia marked the beginning of the revolution in France. After the States General proclaimed themselves the National Assembly, that is, the body representing the interests of the entire nation, the king began to gather troops to Paris. In response to this, a spontaneous uprising broke out in the city, during which on July 14 the fortress - the Bastille prison - was captured. This event became a symbol of the beginning of the revolution, was the transition to an open struggle against the ruling regime. Historians, as a rule, distinguish several stages in the course of the French bourgeois revolution: the early stage (summer 1789 - September 1794) - the constitutional stage; the second (September 1792 - June 1793) - the period of struggle between the Jacobins and the Girondins; the third (June 1793 - July 1794) - the Jacobin dictatorship and the fourth (July 1794 - November 1799) - the decline of the revolution.

The first stage is characterized by the vigorous activity of the National Assembly, which adopted in August 1789 a number of important resolutions that destroy the foundations of feudal society in France. According to the acts of parliament, the church tithe was canceled free of charge, the remaining duties of the peasants were subject to redemption, and the traditional privileges of the nobility were also eliminated. August 26, 1789 jr. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was adopted, within the framework of which the general principles of building a new society were proclaimed - natural human rights, equality of all before the law, the principle of popular sovereignty. Later, laws were issued that met the interests of the bourgeoisie and aimed at the elimination of the guild system, internal customs barriers, the confiscation and sale of church lands. By the autumn of 1791, the preparation of the first French Constitution was completed, which proclaimed a constitutional monarchy in the country. The executive power remained in the hands of the king and the ministers appointed by him, while the legislative power was transferred to the unicameral Legislative Assembly, the elections to which were two-stage and limited by the property qualification. However, in general, the loyalty to the monarch, demonstrated by the Constitution, was significantly shaken after his failed flight abroad.,

An important feature of the revolution in France was that the counter-revolution acted mainly from outside. The French nobility, who fled the country, formed an "invading army" in the German city of Koblenz, preparing to return the "old regime" by force. In April 1792, the French war against Austria and Prussia began. The defeat of the French troops in the spring and summer of 1792 put the country under the threat of foreign occupation. Under these conditions, the positions of the radical circles of French society strengthened, not without reason accusing the king of relations with Austria and Prussia and demanding the overthrow of the monarchy. On August 10, 1792, an uprising took place in Paris; Louis XVI and his entourage were arrested. The Legislative Assembly changed the electoral law (elections became direct and universal) and convened the National Convention - on September 22, 1792, France was proclaimed a republic. The first stage of the revolution is over.

The events in France at the second stage of the revolutionary struggle were largely of a transitional nature. In conditions of the most acute domestic and foreign political crisis, the activation of counter-revolutionary forces, economic difficulties associated with inflation and the growth of speculation, the most radical grouping of the Jacobins occupies the leading positions in the Convention. Unlike their opponents, the Girondins, the Jacobins, led by M. Robespierre, placed the principle of revolutionary necessity above the principles of freedom and tolerance proclaimed in 1789. There is a struggle between these groups on all major issues. To eliminate the threat of monarchist conspiracies within the country, the Jacobins seek the condemnation and execution of Louis XVI, which shocked the entire monarchist Europe. On April 6, 1793, the Committee of Public Safety was created to fight against the counter-revolution and wage war, which later became the main body of the new revolutionary power. The radicalization of French society, along with the unresolved economic problems, leads to a further deepening of the revolution. On June 2, 1793, the Jacobins, who had broad support from the social lower classes of Paris, managed to organize an uprising against the Girondins, during which the latter were destroyed. More than a year-long Jacobin dictatorship began. The revised Constitution (June 24, 1793) completely abolished all feudal obligations, turning the peasants into free owners. Although formally all power was concentrated in the Convention, in reality it belonged to the Committee of Public Safety, which had virtually unlimited powers. With the coming to power of the Jacobins, France was swept by a wave of large-scale terror: thousands of people, declared "suspicious", were thrown into prison and executed. This category included not only the nobles and supporters of the opposition, but also the Jacobins themselves, who deviated from the main course determined by the leadership of the Committee of Public Salvation in the person of Robespierre. In particular, when one of the most prominent Jacobins, J. Danton, in the spring of 1794, declared the need to stop the revolutionary terror and consolidate the results achieved by the revolutions, he was recognized as an “enemy of the Revolution and the people” and executed. In an effort, on the one hand, to solve economic problems, and on the other hand, to expand their social base, the Jacobins by emergency decrees introduce a firm maximum in food prices and the death penalty for speculation in the country. Largely due to these measures, the French revolutionary army, recruited on the basis of universal military service, in 1793-1794. was able to win a series of brilliant victories, repelling the offensive of the English, Prussian and Austrian interventionists and localizing a dangerous royalist uprising in the Vendée (in northwestern France). However, the radicalism of the Jacobins, the incessant terror, all sorts of restrictions in the sphere of business and trade caused growing dissatisfaction among wide sections of the bourgeoisie. The peasantry, ruined by constant "extraordinary" requisitions and suffering losses as a result of state control over prices, also ceased to support the Jacobins. The party's social base was steadily shrinking. The deputies of the Convention, who were not satisfied and frightened by the cruelty of Robespierre, organized an anti-Jacobin conspiracy. On July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor according to the revolutionary calendar), he was arrested and executed. The Jacobin dictatorship fell.

The Thermidorian coup did not mean the end of the revolution and the restoration of the "old order". It only symbolized the rejection of the most radical version of the reorganization of society and the transfer of power into the hands of more moderate circles, whose goal was to protect the interests of the new elite that had already formed during the years of the revolution. In 1795 a new constitution was drafted. The Legislative Assembly was re-created; executive power passed into the hands of the Directory, consisting of five members. In the interests of the big bourgeoisie, all emergency economic decrees of the Jacobins were cancelled.

In the revolution, more and more conservative tendencies are felt, aimed at consolidating the status quo that had developed by 1794. During the years of the Directory, France continues to wage successful wars, which gradually turn from revolutionary to predatory. Grandiose Italian and Egyptian campaigns (1796 - 1799) are being undertaken, during which the young talented general Napoleon Bonaparte is gaining immense popularity. The role of the army, on which the Directory regime relied, is constantly growing. In turn, the authority of the government, which had discredited itself by wavering between monarchists and Jacobins, as well as open acquisitiveness and corruption, was steadily declining. On November 9 (18 Brumaire), 1799, a coup d'état took place, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. The regime established during the coup acquired the character of a military dictatorship. The French bourgeois revolution is over.

In general, the bourgeois revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries put an end to the feudal system in Europe. The political, economic, social image of the world civilization has undergone cardinal changes. Western society has been transformed from feudal to bourgeois.

1. Describe the historical conditions in France that prevailed by the end of the 18th century. Fill the table.

The historical conditions in France on the eve of the revolution were difficult. The convocation of the Estates General of the king was driven by both social and economic, as well as political reasons. Although France's ally won in North America, France lost the war as a whole. Most importantly, France failed to seize significant possessions in the Caribbean region, and it was through them that the government hoped to cover military expenses thanks to the sugar trade that was very profitable at that time. Largely due to this, a revolutionary situation has developed in the kingdom, caused primarily by economic reasons. They were, of course, not the only ones.

2. For what purpose did the king convene the Estates General? How did the conflict develop between the king and the deputies?

The King summoned the Estates General to approve the introduction of new taxes. Perhaps he wanted to propose the abolition of pensions and other payments to aristocrats, relying in this decision on the authority of all classes. But he did not have time to make such a proposal. The Estates General showed disobedience even when the question of the voting procedure was clarified: whether the decision would be made by the number of votes of the chambers (then the III estate was the loser in front of the two highest ones), or by the number of deputy votes (representatives of the III estate made up half of the States General). In response to the king's order to disperse, the deputies refused to do so. Representatives of the III estate, together with some deputies from the two higher ones, formed the National Assembly on June 17, and the Constituent Assembly on July 9.

3. Highlight and describe the main stages of the French Revolution.

stages of the revolution.

The first period is characterized by the active struggle of the court and the Constituent Assembly with the victory of the latter. Marked by numerous conquests of the revolution. It ended with the storming of the royal palace of the Tuileries and the overthrow of the monarchy. At the same time, disagreements in the revolutionary camp were also revealed, which most clearly manifested themselves in the course of the next period.

It is characterized by the struggle of radical and moderate forces in the revolutionary camp. At the same time, the methods of struggle became more and more bloody, it was then that the death sentence became the usual means of political struggle. At the same time, wars with interventionists and immigrants intensified on the external borders, which aggravated the situation inside the country.

Jacobin dictatorship. The period of the most radical transformations and at the same time the most massive terror.

Directory board. In many ways, a return to pre-revolutionary luxury and part of the pre-revolutionary order, but the masters of this new celebration of life were those who got rich during the previous stages. Nearly the end of the revolution.

4. What was the significance of the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen? What ideas formed its basis?

The main ideas of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen were:

Universal equality in rights;

State guarantees of natural rights;

Classless society;

Reliance of power only on the will of the people;

Freedom of personality and will, freedom of expression.

The Declaration was the first practical implementation of many of the ideas of the Enlightenment. It laid the foundation for almost all subsequent reforms during the revolution. To this day, the Declaration is one of the foundations of French law.

5. Why did the reforms of the first stage of the revolution not remove the contradictions in French society?

Many, especially the economic demands of the poorest strata of the population were not satisfied. At the same time, the solution of these issues caused opposition from the propertied layers of the revolutionary camp. Thus, essential contradictions emerged in the revolutionary movement itself, without the resolution of which the further program of action seemed vague. This conflict also reflected the contradiction in society as a whole, no longer between the privileged and the unprivileged, but between the haves and the have-nots.

6. Specify the internal and external factors that contributed to the deepening of the revolutionary processes.

External factors include the war of France with a number of European anti-French coalitions, the next offensive of their armies.

Internal factors are much more diverse:

Unsuccessful attempt of Louis XVI with his family to flee abroad;

Public debates in political clubs that fueled passions;

Frequent changes of governments by the king;

7. Give an assessment of the policy of the Jacobin dictatorship. How did the Jacobins deal with economic and political difficulties?

Of course, the most gloomy page of the Jacobin dictatorship is the revolutionary terror, which claimed many lives. But this was not the only mistake on the part of the authorities of the First Republic. In fact, they were unable to offer solutions to the problems facing France: the country's economy was collapsing, its money depreciated incredibly, the poor did not begin to live better, despite executions and confiscations, foreign policy problems were far from resolved. At the same time, it was really possible to solve many problems in the countryside, to suppress counter-revolutionary actions. However, this did not remove the urgent crisis phenomena for the state from the agenda.

8. Describe the internal and external policy of the Directory. Why was the Thermidorian regime losing ground in the country?

In foreign policy, the Directory achieved great success by demonstrating its much less revolutionary nature. In 1795 peace was concluded with Prussia and Spain. Holland, as a result of the victories of the French troops, was turned into a puppet Batavian Republic in the same year. In the following years, the generals of the Directory, including Napoleon Bonaparte, won a number of impressive victories in battles against the rest of the coalition. Therefore, it can be argued that foreign policy was successful: the position of France stabilized and began to noticeably improve.

The internal policy of the Directory was more controversial. On the one hand, it was possible to stabilize the economic situation by abolishing the law on the "maximum" and other directive measures of the Jacobins. On the other hand, it caused a sharp rise in prices, a sharp deterioration in the lives of the poor. It was also important that the leaders of the country openly abandoned revolutionary ideals and publicly demonstrated their wealth. Such a government cannot count on popular love.

9. What was the state structure and government of France according to the constitution of 1799? How did Napoleon gradually consolidate his power? How did he manage to reconcile different sections of French society?

According to the new constitution, the separation of powers, municipal power, independence of the courts, freedom of speech, etc. were actually abolished. The government of the country was subject to a rigid vertical of power headed by three consuls. Initially, General Bonaparte was only the first of these consuls, therefore he became the only one and for life. The rest of the system did not need to be changed because it had already been subordinate to the consuls. Therefore, when in 1804 Napoleon crowned himself as emperor, he only took the title, in fact, the state, and before that it had already been a monarchy.

Different layers of French society were tried on in many ways even before Napoleon, during the stubborn struggle of the times of the revolution - the dissatisfied were simply destroyed or immigrated. As a result of the revolutionary wars, there was no force left in the country that could compete with the army (especially since, under conditions of universal military service, it represented a really large part of the population), and Napoleon had unquestioned authority in the army thanks to his victories.

10. What impact did the French Revolution have on European countries?

Initially, the revolution was greeted with enthusiasm by some of the enlightened circles of Europe. Over time, the ruling circles of the region also spoke out - the radicalness of the revolution frightened them, which is why a number of coalitions of European states were organized with the aim of suppressing the popular movement in France by force of arms. At the same time, Paris actively promoted the expansion of the revolution to other countries, proclaiming the slogan "Peace to huts, war to palaces." Such appeals sometimes met with warm responses in some circles, for example, Holland, Italy, etc. But pro-French sympathies never played a decisive role, this or that territory supported France only after the victory of the French troops on it. Over time, the population considered the occupational nature of these troops. In the course of the Napoleonic Wars, there are already cases of popular hatred and attitude towards the French troops simply as invaders. Such sentiments were especially pronounced in Spain, where a real guerrilla war unfolded. It was under the influence of these anti-occupation sentiments that the national self-consciousness of some peoples clearly manifested itself, while in others it received a powerful impetus.

11. Compare the course, stages of development and results of the English bourgeois revolution and the Great French Revolution. What common features and differences can you highlight?

Both revolutions have many common features. Their stages were different, because they were determined by a specific situation, but the course showed a lot in common. In both cases, the king was opposed by the legislature, and both kings who lost were executed according to court sentences. During both revolutions, republics were established. Both revolutions included the struggle of different parties within the revolutionary camp and the rise to power of a successful commander. But in England and France these events took place in a different order.

However, the differences between the revolutions were more significant. In England, Parliament acted within the framework of a religious Protestant ideology. At the same time, it was originally intended only to consolidate the primordial rights of the parliament; the idea of ​​reorganizing the state arose already in the course of the revolution. The French revolutionaries initially acted within the framework of a secular ideology and immediately sought to rationally reorganize society within the framework of the ideas proposed by the enlighteners. That is why only the Great French Revolution had followers, it was precisely on it that those who sought to transform the state system in their countries were guided throughout the 19th century.

One of the greatest events in modern history is the French Revolution of the 18th century. gave a powerful impetus to social progress throughout the world. In addition, it cleared the ground for the further development of capitalism, which became a new stage in the history of world civilization, an advanced socio-political system for its time. Revolution 1789- -1794 became a completely natural result of a long crisis that became the main obstacle to the further development of France's absolute monarchy.

The commercial and industrial crisis caused by crop failures and famine led to an increase in unemployment, to the impoverishment of the urban lower classes and the peasantry in the late 70s. 18th century Mass peasant unrest began, which soon spread to the cities. The monarchy was forced to make concessions (Table 18).

Table 18

Scholars conditionally divide course of the French Revolution 1789-1794. to the following steps:

1. first stage - - creation of a constitutional monarchy(July 14, 1789 - - August 10, 1792);

2. second stage - - establishment of the Girondin Republic(August 10, 1792 - - June 2, 1793);

3. third stage - - assertion of the Jacobin Republic(June 2, 1793 - - July 27, 1794).

the beginning the first stage of the revolution counts July 14, 1789 when the rebellious people stormed the royal fortress - the Bastille prison, which was destroyed within a year. The people removed the royal administration and replaced it with new elected bodies - - municipalities, which included the most authoritative representatives of the third estate.

In Paris and the provincial towns, the bourgeoisie created its own armed forces- - The National Guard, the territorial militia. Each national guardsman had to purchase weapons and equipment at his own expense - a condition that closed access to the national guards to poor citizens (Table 19).

Table 19

The first stage of the revolution was the period dominance of the big bourgeoisie, since power in France was in the hands of a political group that represented the interests of the wealthy bourgeois and liberal nobles and did not seek to completely eliminate the old system. Their ideal was a constitutional monarchy, so in the Constituent Assembly they were called constitutionalists. At the heart of the political activity of the big bourgeoisie were attempts to come to an agreement with the nobility on the basis of mutual concessions (Table 20, Figures 3, 4).

On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly adopted the program document of the revolution - Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

Art. 1 of the Declaration stated: "People are born and remain free and equal in rights." As natural and inalienable rights in Art. 2 proclaimed: freedom; own; safety; resistance to oppression.

Freedom was defined as "the ability to do anything that does not harm another (Article 4)". Articles 7, 9, 10 and 11 affirmed the freedom of the individual, freedom of conscience, religion, speech and press. Art. 9 proclaimed the principle of the presumption of innocence: the accused, including detainees, are presumed innocent until their guilt is proved in the manner prescribed by law.

Event: the capture by the people of the royal fortress of Bastille

king louis sixteenth

Outcome: start of the French Revolution

Event:"Night of Miracles" Meeting of the first in the history of France, the people's Constituent Assembly.

What political forces were in power: king louis sixteenth

Outcome: declared equality of all citizens before the law. The privileges of the clergy and nobles were abolished. The church tithe, which all citizens had previously paid to the church, was abolished. Later, the nobility was abolished in general and the first ever democratic "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" was adopted.

Event: march of the people to Versailles. The king was forcibly taken out of the Palace of Versailles and settled in Paris.

What political forces were in power: formally - the king, but in fact - the revolutionaries

Outcome: The absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional one. Now it was not the people who did what the king wanted, but the king carried out the will of the Constituent Assembly

Event: Deposition of King Louis by the Paris Commune

What political forces were in power: The Paris Commune of insurgents-revolutionaries. Basically, these are guardsmen, soldiers and ordinary citizens.

Outcome: Prussia, protecting the king, started a war with France. The king is imprisoned.

Event: France proclaimed a republic

What political forces were in power: French National Convention (Girondins).

Outcome: The monarchy in the country has been abolished altogether

Event: execution of Louis XVI in Paris

What political forces were in power: National Convention (Girondins)

Outcome: France is at war with several European powers defending the monarchy: Prussia, England, Spain.

Event: Jacobin uprising

What political forces were in power: Girondins and Montagnards

Outcome: a split among the revolutionaries, the coming to power of the Jacobins and Montagnards. The beginning of the brutal revolutionary terror of the population. The Girondins were executed. All material goods were taken away from citizens in the interests of the revolution and war.

Event: execution of Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI

What political forces were in power: Jacobin National Convention and the Paris Commune

Outcome: destroyed another "enemy of the revolution"

Event: Thermidorian revolution. A split among the leadership of the revolutionaries. The Commune, with arms in hand, took the side of Robespierre against other Jacobins.

What political forces were in power: The Paris Commune and the National Convention.

Outcome: Robespierre was defeated and executed along with his supporters. The Paris Commune has fallen. The revolution weakened, and the Jacobins themselves began to be persecuted.

Event: Coup of 18 Brumaire

What political forces were in power: Directory

Outcome: End of the French Revolution. The victory of the military monarchy in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, who proclaimed the power of the Provisional Government in the person of three consuls, one of whom was himself. Later, he will take power single-handedly into his own hands.