'The French Revolution was directed by the middle class.' How valid is this comment on the French Revolution 1789-99?

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India Boddy        Page         16/01/2008

‘The French Revolution was directed by the middle class.’ How valid is this comment on the French Revolution 1789-99?

I believe that indeed the French Revolution was directed by the middle class for the period of 1789-1791 and 1794-1799 but that in the period 1792-1794 this control was rocked by the growing influence of the sans-culottes in Paris. In 1789, it was the bourgeoisie who dominated the Third Estate in the Estates- General and who created the National Assembly, taking the first steps against the King and his method of government, speeding up popular feelings that eventually led to the storming of the Bastille. After this journee, the bourgeois in the Assembly took control of France and created the predominantly bourgeois National Guard to protect France – into which sans-culottes were not allowed. This was supported by the people of France as at the time nobody wanted to overthrow the monarchy – instead they agreed with the bourgeois aims of a limited monarchy, free trade, and equality before the law. The lack of opposition meant that the Assembly could easily impose its demands upon France, which it did throughout the period of 1789-1791. During this time, the Assembly reformed the whole of the nation, taking down the Ancien Regime and replacing it with a Constitution that benefited everyone, especially the middle class. The Assembly reformed the local government, decentralising the country; the taxation and finance systems; the French economy; the legal system and the Church. The Peasant Revolts in 1789 sped up the creation of The August Decrees which got rid of the feudal system, one of the main aims of the middle class (to abolish privileges and exemptions) and the Declaration of Rights created equality before law, another huge aim of the bourgeois. The nationalisation of Church lands also showed that the middle class were directing the Revolution, as the monarchists, nobles, and especially the clergy would never have agreed to such a decision. The decentralisation of the government under the Assembly also meant that the bourgeois controlled France in each province, effectively directing the Revolution to achieve their aims and benefit themselves and others. In this period, lasting changes took place in France.

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Opposition in the period of 1789-1791 was also dealt with quite effectively. An example of this would be the Champ de Mars – it took a year for the popular movement to rise up once more after this massacre on their people. Despite the sans-culottes playing leading parts in the July Days and the October Days, they received few rewards and were kept under control by the Assembly. This could be achieved because the people of France were not extremely radical in this period. Many agreed with the aims of the bourgeois and the Assembly, and many did not ...

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