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The French Revolution was a wild ride of rolling heads, tax reform, and did I mention like…
so many rolling heads.
So, hello, welcome to nerdyandquirky!
Here’s some Cool History!
Just a warning, the French Revolution was this really massive web of events so I’m
going to split this exploration into 2 videos.
This video is part 1: the road to republic.
Our story opens in France in the 1700s.
This was back when the king ruled by divine right, which means they got to make all the
rules because Jesus said so!
Jesus also said turn the other cheek, but the French weren’t about that.
They had invested deeply in the Seven Years War and the American Revolution, which meant
that France was broke.
And this was not the first time, despite France being a great power, they had really terrible
banking.
And I know.
You’re watching a video about the French Revolution because you want public executions
not… financial institutions.
But it’s really important to know that France was broke, corrupt, and taxed all the poor
people and none of the nobles.
So in 1738, this dude Charles De Calonne was made the controller of General French Finances.
He went up to European banks and was like, “Can France borrow some money?”
But because France was so sketchy with their finances, everyone said no.
Then in 1787, the Assembly of Notables began.
Calonne and King Louis the 16th partnered up to convince the nobles to pay taxes, and
in a surprising turn of events…
it didn’t work.
So, Calonne published this information…
and got fired.
But it was now the late 1780s, enlightenment and secularism were on the rise, meaning more
people focused on science and wanted religion out of their state.
And with Calonne’s reveal, the people had someone to blame for their suffering.
You could say they were… les miserables.
Does it count as a pun if that’s literally where the title comes from?
Anyway, in 1789, the 3 estates of France got together to settle this.
The 3 estates being the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else.
Each estate got one vote which sucked if you remember that the clergy and nobility were
super tight.
So needless to say, the third estate never got what they wanted.
And an interesting thing about the third estate was that it wasn’t just peasants or the
lower class.
There was this huge range of members from the poorest poor to the actual literal bad
and boujee, Bourgeoisie - educated Frenchmen rich with new money.
Nonetheless, the third estate decided to work together and on June 17th, 1789, they formed
the National Assembly.
Now I think it’s important to note that they still weren’t looking for a revolution.
They just wanted some semblance of equality.
But the clergy and nobility were so far up their own butts!
Then 3 days later, the Assembly members took the Tennis Court Oath, in an actual tennis
court, where they pledged to create a new constitution.
Louis XVI tried to intimidate them to stop, but it was already too late.
The movement had begun.
It inspired Parisians to riot against taxes and on July 14th, they stormed the Bastille
prison and confiscated weapons.
This showed that the revolutionaries meant business.
The national assembly took control of the capital, and Louis XVI was pressed to voice
support for the revolution.
Briefly, it looked like changes could come to pass with minimal bloodshed…
But would it?
Well, we’ll find out but FIRST!
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Okay back to the video!
So it looked like the revolution was going to end fast and peacefully…
But then the Great Fear broke out, and just by the name, you can probably guess that it
wasn't too great.
It was this panic in rural communities that aristocrats were trying to starve out the
population to quell the rebellion.
So peasant farmers started burning country manors and estates in protest.
It was the purge.
That’s what this was.
This whole thing is basically just the purge.
To make matters worse, France was going through a food crisis.
Grain crops had failed 2 years in a row meaning bread, the main part of the average Frenchman’s
diet, took up 88% of their wages.
IMAGINE SPENDING ALL OF YOUR MONEY ON BREAD!!!
People marched on Versailles.
And it’s at this point when people say that Louis XVI's wife, Marie Antoinette was like,
“Let them eat cake!” but in French.
Except she didn’t.
Nobody at the time even thought she did.
It’s just that the phrase kind of became a metaphor for the nobility’s mentality
leading up to the revolution.
Speaking of which, Louis the 16th didn’t actually know how to deal with the revolution.
He was the king but he still sanctioned a few declarations and decrees from the national
assembly.
Overall, he kind of just decided to go with the flow for a bit.
This led to him being “imprisoned” in the Tuileries Palace on October 6th.
But like… imprisoned is a bit harsh.
He was house arrest… but like palace arrest.
Either way, his plan was working.
The people hated the nobility but the didn’t mind the king so much, the Assembly actually
wanted a Constitutional Monarchy.
But that didn’t last long because on June 20th 1791, after 2 years under house arrest,
Louis the 16th and his family fled Paris in an event known as the Flight to Varennes.
They tried to escape to the Austrian border and begin a counter-revolution, but were caught
in Varennes, a small town in France.
This totally killed the king’s good will with the French people.
No longer was he the king for the people, he was just another noble douche.
The Assembly didn’t even want a constitutional monarchy anymore.
They wanted ‘MURCIA levels of freedom.
And the other European nations, specifically Austria and Prussia were like: “Too far.
Restore the monarchy and release the king or we’ll have to fight you” in the Declaration
of Pillnitz.
So, Louis kept his life and his title, but his power was sapped.
By September 14th, 1791, he was forced to approve the National Assembly’s new constitution
which limited the monarch’s power.
It even went on to change his title from “King of France” to “King of the French”.
He was subject to his subjects.
But this constitution was not great or egalitarian.
It struck out the nobility for obvious reasons but also the entire serving class.
So basically, only the middle class ran the country.
And by now it should be obvious that the revolution was getting bigger than itself.
There were too many different people with too many different goals.
Remember, the third estate was made of peasant farmers and boujee elites.
Plus, it had a fair few religious members but extremely secular goals.
So it wasn’t just the people versus the nobility anymore.
And to represent these different views, a few new political faces arrived at the party:
the Jacobins - a hyper-liberal group pushing to turn France into a republic,
the Brissotins, later to be known as the Girondins - a conservative group pushing for a constitutional
monarchy, and the sans-culottes - a militant group composed
of the lower classes, and when I say militant, I mean MILITANT.
Now do you remember the Declaration of Pillnitz in which Austria and Prussia passive aggressively
told France to chill out.
Well Jacque Pierre Brissot, the leader of the legislative assembly, did not want to
chill out.
He pushed France to declare war on Austria… and they lost like SO FAST.
Louis removed Brissot from command which upset so many people, especially the Brissotins.
But Louis didn't care.
Then on August 10th, 1792, the Jacobins and the Sans-Culottes stormed Louis’ palace,
deposing and arresting him for treason.
And that's when things REALLY went downhill!
In about a month, the monarchy was abolished and France was declared a republic.
And, as you can guess, being a king in a revolutionary republic kind of only has one ending.
Louis was put on trial and found guilty of treason.
He was executed on January 21st, 1793, and within the year, his wife Marie Antoinette
was executed as well.
But that wasn’t the end of the revolution.
Far from it.
But with the monarchy gone, the fight was no longer about liberty, so… why keep fighting?
Find out in part 2 of this Cool History on the French Revolution.
And make sure to subscribe to NerdyAndQuirky and ring the bell to be notified as soon as
it comes out.
Now what about you guys?
What should I cover next?
The invention of the printing press or the life and times of William Shakespeare?
Tell me down below.
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