Sparkling times of a world known French luxury and beauty of bourgeois life failed in a revolution of 1789–1799 years. Different historians argue for various reasons that contributed French people to revolt; however, there is no the only right answer for this question. Years of feudalism, unjustified tax burdens and constant economic decrease definitely boosted revolutionary movements. The situation was worsened by almost twenty years of poor cereal harvests, cattle disease and drought, which had kindled many peasants. Apart of these economic and provision reasons recent political and social movements and new rising ideologies made common people to fight for their rights and liberties. Even a desperate attempt to calm down the increasing riot movements through Calonne’s suggestion to start taxing the previously exempt nobility was not fruitful (French Revolution, n.d.). Thus, one may conclude that it was just a right time to shift the authority and proclaim democracy.
Changing of the French political background was made through the coups led by common people against the monarchy and nobility. Hence the revolution was full of bloody fights with numerous murders. As the Encyclopædia Britannica reports, over 15 thousand people were tried and executed, which made the French revolution to be named the most violent among others, held in that period of time (French Revolution, n.d.). The last French monarch, King Louis XVI was executed at the guillotine, as a sign of the power inherent in the will of the people. His wife, Marie-Antoinette, faced the same destiny few months later. This made a guillotine to be treated as a symbol of the tool of justice during the revolution.
So there is a question, how could Enlightenment ideals, which inspired to storm the Bastille and sing La Marseillaise as an anthem of liberty, cause so many murders? To answer it, we need to look deeper in political movements of that time. Peasants were the main power to push the revolutionary movement, but there were those, who represented their interests in the Estates-General. As any politicians, Girondins and Jacobins sought their own interests prior to the public ones. While Girondins were for a constitutional monarchy, Jacobins were more radical, and wanted to withdraw any monarchy from the power scene. In fact, in June 1793, the Jacobins seized control of the National Convention and implemented their radical policy (French Revolution, n.d.).
Many philosophers of that time argued that reforms are highly required in both social and political areas. Among the most popular theorists were Descartes, Spinoza and Locke, who developed the social contract theory, although suggested different approaches to it. Meanwhile, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau argued that a revolution is a necessity on the way to upheaval of the authority. Taking into account the fact that many peasants were able to get an education, these thoughts spread rapidly among the common people, apart of the privileged classes. Hence, people recognized that they were not obliged to live according to the rules dictated by the nobility, but they were the true owners of the state power; thus were eligible to demand better living conditions and governmental protection. Inspired by these new opportunities, people started the coup and stormed the Bastille, which symbolized the armed force of the monarchy.
Concepts of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights the Estates-General were later turned into the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which began a new époque of Democracy in France. For sure numerous seizures of power, dozens of murders and the overall chaos along with economic recession and poor provision put the country in a difficult situation. However, a new page in the history was started. This democratic tendency made peoples of other nations to seek and fight for the same rights and liberties. Le coup d’etat that started in 1789 seemed to be over with the newly approved Constitution in 1793. However, Robespierre turned the nation into a Reign of Terror until late 1794, and finally the revolution was finalized by Napoleon Bonaparte, who stopped the Royalists and Jacobins protests in 1795 (French Revolution, n.d.). Both, demanding new rights and liberties and seeking for better living standards resulted in a revolution, which changed not only the French history, but boosted new democratic movements in the Western World.