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Frances historical development French historical development during years of 1789 to 1848 could be viewed in the consequence of the following periods: Revolutionary Governments (1789 - 1795), the Directory (1795 - 1799), Consulate (1799 - 1804), First Empire (1804 - 1814), Bourbon Restoration (1814 - 1830), and July Monarchy (18030 - 1848). The majority of historians distinguishes French Revolution among many events as a historical incident, which led to major transformation of the society and political system of France, lasting from 1789 to 1799. During the course of the Revolution, France was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy, where the king monopolized power, to a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens. The effects of the French Revolution were widespread, both inside and outside of France, and the Revolution ranks as one of the most important events in the history of Europe. During the ten years of the Revolution, France first transformed and then dismantled the Old Regime, the political and social system that existed in France before 1789, and replaced it with a series of different governments. Although none of these governments lasted more than four years, the many initiatives they enacted permanently altered Frances political system.
These initiatives included the drafting of several bills of rights and constitutions, the establishment of legal equality among all citizens, experiments with representative democracy, the incorporation of the church into the state, and the reconstruction of state administration and the law code. France experienced the major political crisis during the period of the Directory in 1795 - 1799. During this period French legislative authority was vested in two legislative assemblies, the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred. Executive power was lodged in a five-man Directory to be chosen by the Council of Ancients from a list of candidates presented by the Council of Five Hundred.
Fearing the results of a true referendum, moderate republicans decreed that two-thirds of the first legislature had to be made up of members of the former convention. As it turned out, the constitution, which was ratified by popular vote and took effect in late October 1795, neither protected the government from unfriendly popular forces nor prevented the concentration of power. Historical science still does not have common attitude concerning the failure of the Directory. Some argue that the Directory eventually failed because it could not generate loyalty from either the left or the right. Other historians believe the Directory failed because it distrusted democracy and did not develop a strong centrist party.
Whatever the reason, for the next four years the Directory lurched from making concessions to the right and intimidating the left to making concessions to the left and intimidating the right. In May 1796 the Directory easily crushed a conspiracy of former Jacobins and agrarian radicals who intended to seize power and redistribute property. The right triumphed at the elections in 1797 and was slowly preparing to take power. Then in September, three members of the Directory, the triumvirate, eliminated the two other members who had counter-revolutionary sympathies and purged the legislature of nearly 200 opposition deputies. They did all this with the backing of the army. The triumvirate was then joined by two new associates.
This new Directory proceeded to close down counter-revolutionary publications, exile returning emigres and uncooperative clergy, and execute many political opponents. This coup of Fructidor (the month of the revolutionary calendar in which it occurred) allowed the Directory to consolidate its power. As a result, it was able to take some bold new financial initiatives, such as establishing a new metal-based currency and imposing a new system of taxes on luxury goods and real estate. The coup also destroyed whatever hopes counter-revolutionaries had to gain power through legal means. But Fructidor also unleashed the radical left, which won an important electoral victory in May 1798.
To neutralize this threat, the Directory once again tampered with polling results by eliminating more than 100 elected left-wing deputies in what became known as the coup of Floral. Whatever the short-term gains for the Directory, its continuing rejection of election results stripped it of its last remaining shreds of authority, as few could respect a regime that so routinely violated its own constitution. The end for the Directory came in 1799. Military reverses, a domestic political crisis, and the ambitions of a military hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, combined to give rise to the Revolutions last major coup and the creation of a dictatorship. The majority of historians assert that domestic crisis in France led to dictatorship and some affirm that Bonaparte's military campaign was a method to remove attention of masses from the reality. Abstracting from French imperialistic war, one should admit that dictatorship resolved many necessary questions: returning of emigres under the terms of political amnesty, domestic order and security, religion, reorganization of law and administration.
However, Bonaparte's position regarding foreign politics was the main drawback of the regime, which led to its final failure and restoration of Bourbons monarchy. Nevertheless, even under the reign of Louis VIII France had preserved the principal reforms introduced by the Revolution and Napoleon. Louis reigned as a constitutional monarch, with a legislature that represented the restored nobility and well-to-do members of the business class. Though the limited voting rights displeased the majority of citizens, the arrangement was close to what the moderate bourgeois had sought in 1789. It was threatened in 1824, however, when Louis was succeeded by his brother Charles.
He was an enemy of the revolution, a leader of emigres who had urged other European nobles and princes to attack revolutionary France. After becoming king, he and his reactionary friends moved to turn back the clock. When in 1830 the elective Chamber of Deputies refused to bend Charles law of primogeniture, the king violated the constitution. Charles dissolved the Chamber, censored press, and changed voting rights to strengthen the power of the former nobles. However, Paris responded immediately by throwing barricades in the streets. The July Revolution lasted only a few days, for the troops and the police refused to fire on the populace.
Charles promptly abdicated and left for England. The chief significance of the July Revolution was that it decisively ended the threat of counterrevolution in France and shattered the principles of legitimacy, hallowed at Vienna in 1815; Louis-Philippe became a king upon the invitation of an elected Chamber of Deputies. The French thus struck a blow against the Metternich System, and their success encouraged liberals and patriots elsewhere. However, another series of explosions came in 1948. King Louis-Philippe had become exceedingly unpopular. Voting rights remained limited to a small fractions of citizens, and many of the bourgeois as well as working people, became increasingly disconnected.
The critics of the government fell into two groups: radicals, who wanted to discard the monarchy and establish republic with universal voting rights, and the liberals, who wanted only a limited extension of voting rights. Louis-Philippe rejected any constitutional change, and in February 1948 Paris bristled once again with barricades. The republicans overcame monarchist opposition and forced the proclamation of republic. They arranged for the election, by a universal male vote, of the Constituent Assembly to frame a new basic law of France.
After not continuo's civic conflict, known as June Days, the Assembly drafted a new constitution that provided for a legislature and a president with strong powers. The cycle of revolution and counterrevolution also took place beyond the borders of France. In central Europe liberal demands were mixed with nationalist hopes. Revolutionists rushed into the streets in a dozen capitals, proclaiming political rights and calling for the unity and independence of their national groups. When it became clear that they could be stopped by military action, authorities put down the rebels with troops and police. The main reason for their failure was that movements lacked the internal cohesion and the organized force needed to hold their gains.
Nevertheless, the movements of 1848 had significant consequences. The Austrian Empire felt the greatest shocked, a warning of things to come. In France the revolution became successful and finally, it equalized the bourgeois economic relations with obsolete monarchial political system. During years of 1789 - 1848 France passed through significant changes. Some of them contained serious political drawbacks, which slowed the development of France, and some were had very positive effect on it. There was one main historical event, which gave a boost and right direction for French development, as well as gave example and major trends for many European nations.
It was French Revolution. One of the most important contributions of the French Revolution was to make revolution part of the worlds political tradition. The French Revolution continued to provide instruction for revolutionaries in the 19 th and 20 th centuries, as peoples in Europe and around the world sought to realize their different versions of freedom. Karl Marx would, at least at the outset, pattern his notion of a proletarian revolution on the French Revolution of 1789. And 200 years later Chinese students, who weeks before had fought their government in Tiananmen Square, confirmed the contemporary relevance of the French Revolution when they led the revolutionary bicentennial parade in Paris on July 14, 1989. Along with offering lessons about liberty and democracy, the Revolution also promoted nationalism.
Napoleons occupation provoked nationalist groups to organize in Italy and Germany. Also influential was the revolutionaries belief that a nation was not a group of royal subjects but a society of equal citizens. The fact that most European countries are or are becoming parliamentary democracies, along the lines set out by the French Revolution, suggests its enduring influence. Socially, the Revolution was also important. Clearly, society in France and to a lesser extent in other parts of Europe would never be the same.
Once the ancient structure of privilege was smashed, it could not be pieced together again. The Revolution did not fundamentally alter the distribution of wealth, but that had not been the intention of most of the revolutionaries. Insofar as legal equality gradually became the norm in France and Europe, the revolutionaries succeeded. The cultural impact is harder to assess. The Revolution did not succeed in establishing the national school system it envisioned, but it did found some of Frances elite educational institutions that have produced some of that nations greatest leaders.
Its attack on the church had profound repercussions, making the status of the church a central political issue, which even today divides France politically and culturally
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