French bourgeois revolution

The French bourgeois revolution broke out not from scratch. Spark for its ignition was the following events.

In the late eighties of the 18th century France suffered the consequences of natural disasters that lasted from 1785 to 1789: hail, which destroyed crops, droughts, and cold winters. The prices for the most necessary foodstuffs have sharply increased. In addition, France signed a trade agreement with England in 1786, which was unprofitable for national producers of wool and cotton, to reduce the import tax on this type of goods. Unemployment has begun to flourish.

The government, being careful of bankruptcy, found a way out in imposing a tax on nobles and clergy. Naturally, notables - representatives of high society - were outraged by this decision and for the first time showed disobedience to the king. The king, in turn, was compelled to collect the highest organ - the General States. But the traditional vote on the camps did not take place, as representatives of the third camp refused to vote on the old model and proclaimed themselves and the indignant part of the clergy and nobles the National Assembly. Guardsmen of the King tried to disperse the deputies, but they said that they would disperse only after they complied with their demands. The king told them to leave them alone, however, a few days later, on his orders, troops entered Paris.

The National Assembly, considering its goal to establish a new political regime in the country , on July 9, 1789, declared itself to be the Constituent Assembly. Three days later, anxiety in the capital grew into an armed uprising. It began with an attempt by the insurgents to seize a warehouse with weapons, which was in the old, long-standing fortress of the Bastille. Negotiations to no avail, so the fortress was stormed on July 14. This is the day when the French Revolution of 1789 began.

The events in Paris have become an example for other cities in the country. Revolutionaries have completely taken power into their own hands. They formed their own bodies, issued their laws and decrees. The armed forces, the National Guard, also appeared in the new government. The peasants also joined the insurrection, which took the letter to annihilate the feudal lords too literally and stopped paying anything. However, the Constituent Assembly, personifying the new power, was supposed to give answers to all the questions that the French bourgeois revolution set before the people.

In the early years of the government, it carried out some reforms concerning many aspects of public life.

First of all, the French bourgeois revolution led to economic changes in the state and society:

- the confiscation of church lands and the proclamation of their property by the nation, as well as the sale of this property. This was done to counter the financial crisis and weaken the authority of the church;

- the elimination of shops, the abolition of the regulation of production by the government;

- the abolition of domestic taxes and other restrictions, which in fact only hindered the development of trade and industry.

The administrative and social transformations that led to the French bourgeois revolution are :

- the abolition of inheritance of noble titles and division into camps;

- establishment of state control over the church;

- the abolition of the old administrative system and the division of the country into 83 departments.

But perhaps the main result brought about by the great French bourgeois revolution is the adoption by the Constituent Assembly of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen", proclaiming people free and having the same rights from birth, and agrarian decrees. They were the beginning of the creation of a new constitution, completely changing the social and political system of France.