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French Revolution

The French Revolution[a] was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789, and ended with the coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799 and the formation of the French Consulate. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy,[1] while its values and institutions remain central to modern French political discourse.[2]

For other uses, see French Revolution (disambiguation).

Date

5 May 1789 – 9 November 1799
(10 years, 6 months, and 4 days)

Its causes are generally agreed to be a combination of social, political and economic factors, which the Ancien Régime proved unable to manage. A financial crisis and widespread social distress led in May 1789 to the convocation of the Estates General, which was converted into a National Assembly in June. The Storming of the Bastille on 14 July led to a series of radical measures by the Assembly, among them the abolition of feudalism, state control over the Catholic Church in France, and a declaration of rights.


The next three years were dominated by the struggle for political control, exacerbated by economic depression. Military defeats following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in April 1792 resulted in the insurrection of 10 August 1792. The monarchy was abolished and replaced by the French First Republic in September, while Louis XVI was executed in January 1793.


After another revolt in June 1793, the constitution was suspended and effective political power passed from the National Convention to the Committee of Public Safety. About 16,000 people were executed in a Reign of Terror, which ended in July 1794. Weakened by external threats and internal opposition, the Republic was replaced in 1795 by the Directory. Four years later in 1799, the Consulate seized power in a military coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte. This is generally seen as marking the end of the Revolutionary period.

Age of Revolution

Bourgeois revolution

Cordeliers

Democracy in Europe

Glossary of the French Revolution

History of France

List of people associated with the French Revolution

List of political groups in the French Revolution

List of films set during the French Revolution and French Revolutionary Wars

Musée de la Révolution française

Paris in the 18th century

Timeline of the French Revolution

(French)

Museum of the French Revolution

from The Internet Modern History Sourcebook.

Primary source documents

a collaborative site by the Center for History and New Media (George Mason University) and the American Social History Project (City University of New York).

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution

Vancea, S. , Clio History Journal, 2008.

The Cahiers de Doleances of 1789

a collaboration of the Stanford University Libraries and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, containing 12000 digitised images

French Revolution Digital Archive

factsheets of all the sentenced to death of the French Revolution

The guillotined of the French Revolution

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania. Includes a vast number of name lists and secret surveillance records as well as arrest warrants for aristocrats and their sympathisers. Most notable in this part of the collection are letters and documents from the Revolutionary Committee and the Surveillance Committee.

Jean-Baptiste Lingaud papers

Division of Special Collections, University of Alabama Libraries. Over 300 digitised pamphlets, from writers including Robespierre, St. Juste, Desmoulins, and Danton.

French Revolution Pamphlets

BBC Radio 4 discussion with Stefan Collini, Anne Janowitz and Andrew Roberts (In Our Time, 14 June 2001)

"The French Revolution's Legacy"