Summary Of The Radical Phase

The French Revolution began with the Moderate Phase, which occurred from 1789-1792. This phase got its name because it was considered a more moderate time compared to what came later. The members from the Third Estate were barred from the hotel in Versailles where talks were taking place. This led to the members meeting on the tennis court where they took an oath to stay until they got a new constitution. This group eventually formed themselves into the National Constitution Assembly. They capitalized on the unrest that was taking place in Paris (the storming of the Bastille) to obtain a new constitution, limit the monarchy, and create the Declaration of the Rights of Man. This was modeled after the American Declaration of Independence. It stated all men were born and remain free and equal in rights, all men equal before law, men have natural rights to liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression, and freedom of religion and taxes. The Assembly still could not solve the country’s economic problems, and conditions continued to get worse. An elected Legislative Assembly took over in 1791. This group couldn’t do any better than the group before it. The situation was about to get worse.
The Radical Phase took place 1792-1794.
In 1792 radicals took control of the Assembly and created a second constitution. This extends voting rights to all male citizens, not just property owners. In 1793 King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette are both put and trial and executed by guillotine. The National Convention puts a 12 person called committee called The Committee of Public Safety in control of the republic. Through this group Maximilien Robespierre rises to power. He decided to start executing people that disagree with the war. This ended up being called the The Reign of Terror as over 17,000 people were killed by guillotine during a one year period. In July of 1794 Robespierre is executed because of
this.
The Directory Phase lasted from 1795 to 1799. During this time a new form of government is set up and another new constitution is put in place. Through this constitution a five man government, which consisted of two houses was put in place. The dominant political force was the bourgeoisie (middle class). These new leaders failed to change anything in France. They kept money to themselves and bread prices rose once again. In the election of 1797 the Constitutional Monarchy supporters win, this leads the way for the politicians to turn to military hero Napoleon Bonaparte.

Violence and chaos were two of main characteristics of the French Revolution. The Revolution failed to establish a representative government or constitutional monarchy. It started with King Louis XVI in power in 1789 and ended in 1799 with Napoleon Bonaparte, a military dictator, seizing power. The question persists on why France went through this terrible period just to go back to the way things were before the beginning of the war? My thought is that France realized that they needed a single ruler. A decade of turmoil and war had left the government bankrupt, and inflation, taxation, and unemployment were soaring. Additionally, much of the country was out of the control of the regime and many groups were fighting with each other. Lastly, there were fears among some of a royalist restoration. Meanwhile, Napoleon had shown himself to be a strong leader and war hero. This in itself, along with the state of France, created enough support for him among soldiers and other leaders to bring about his rise to power.

The causes and effects of the French Revolution included a divided society, national debt, the storming of the Bastille, the Moderate Phase, the Radical Phase and Directory. In summary, France was in economic crisis