French Revolution - Episode 4

 

• Overview of entire revolution:
• 1789 : Estate general (सम्पूर्ण समाजिक तहका मानिसहरुको प्रतिनिधित्व भएको एउटा सभा)
• 1789 - 1791 : National Assembly
• 1791 - 1792 : Legislative Assembly
• 1792 - 1795 : National Convention (Reign of Terror - आतंकको शासन) 
• 1795 - 1798 : Directory Rule 
• 1799 - Coup by Nepoleon Bonapart

• Legislative Assembly (1791 - 1792):
• The National Assembly finally declared the constitution of France in September 1791 and the National Assembly started acting as Legislative Assembly.
• Features of the constitution:
• retained the monarchy, King was made "Head of State"
• sovereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly
• the franchise was provided only to "active citizens" of the country 
• The features of active and passive citizens of France are as follows:-
1. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to about three days of work a year were entitled to vote and considered active citizens.
2. Women, children, slaves, and other people were considered passive citizens and had no right to vote.
3. Passive citizens had no property rights.
• This constitution lasted less than a year because demands of political parties like Jacobins and Girondins never stopped though the constitution was in its implementation phase. 
• Jacobins were not ready to accept king at any cost.
• Girondins wanted that the King should have more power than the power given by the constitution. They were demanding that the king should be given veto power by the constitution.
• Looking at growing chaos in the country, Louis XVI secretly asked for help from other countries.
• In response,  the king's in-laws country Austria and another country Prussia declared support for French Monarchy. 
• People were then very angry with the king after getting this news. Even the Legislative Assembly thought that the decision of Austria and Prussia was against independence of France because two foreign countries had decided to help France without asking for permission from Legislative Assembly of France.
• Legislative assembly withdrew its support of king and decided to use national guards to attack Austria and Prussia.
• France attacked Austria and Prussia in 20th April 1792 and this war continued for almost 10 years till 27 March  1802.
• In late 1792, after the begining of war, the King of France, Louis XVI, and his family was attacked by radicals in Paris.
•  King ran away to the Legislative Assembly and asked for help. But Legislative Assembly was already disappointed with King because the Assembly had blamed that the King had done some conspiracy by allying with with Austria and Prussia to take all powers in his hand.
• Legislative Assembly decided to dissolve itself because members of the assembly concluded that their decision to keep constitutional monarchy in country had failed due to conspiracy of the king.
• The constitution of 1791 was rejected and the members of the assembly decided to make a new republican constitution in the country and they announced the next election.

To be continued...

References:

1. Study IQ education. (2017c, May 11). French Revolution - फ्रांस की क्रांति - World History - विश्व इतिहास - UPSC/IAS [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHF0vuj1Dz8

2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020, May 6). Estates-General | Definition, Meeting, & History. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Estates-General

3. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Constitution of 1791". Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 May. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Constitution-of-1791-French-history. Accessed 29 May 2021.

4. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.toppr.com/ask/en-pk/question/highlight-the-features-of-active-and-passive-citizens-of-france/> [Accessed 29 May 2021].

5. En.wikipedia.org. 2021. French Revolutionary Wars - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_Wars> [Accessed 30 May 2021].