Free Sample Essays > European History
Why the French Revolution was so Revolutionary
The French Revolution was such a significant point in history because of the changes in the political, civil, and economic ideologies of liberalism as well as nationalism from the beliefs of the Ancien Regime. The Ancien Regime’s system of manorialism was replaced by liberalism’s ideas of equal rights and freedom of thought and speech. The governmental system of absolutism was replaced by a constitutional monarchy with direct representation for most classes. Adam Smith’s laissez-faire, or free trade economic system took the place of mercantilism. After the revolution a new sense of nationalism united citizens from all social groups.1
The French revolution replaced the Ancien Regime’s social system of manorialism with liberalism’s ideas of equal rights and freedoms. This ‘civil’ liberalism was the beginning of a whole new social system that marked a turning point in European history. It abolished the feudal serf system and put the sans-culottes and bourgeois in relative control of the government. This reversal of power from the nobility to the bourgeois and sans-culottes went against The Great Chain of Being on which the Ancien Regime based itself. With this reversal of power came an assault of new, radical ideas; equal rights, freedom of thought and speech, individualism, and a lack of social distinction.2 The idea of equal rights for all men was an extremely radical concept. Before the revolution the privileges of the nobility far exceeded the rights of the lower groups of society. For example the nobility and clergy of France, who made up two percent of the population of France but possessed the most money, paid no taxes. Instead the peasants and bourgeois financed the crown leaving them unable to leave their social position. After the revolution liberalists’ instituted equal laws and taxing on all social groups. Liberals believed in the idea of individualism and the contributions that citizens could make to society.3 This theory stressed the political and economic independence of a citizen. It lifted the barriers of the Ancien Regime’s social groups so citizens could move up or down in society depending on their value to society.4 Social rank was no longer dependant on money and heredity, but on your skills and knowledge. The ideas of equal rights and individualism marked a change in the social structure of France in the 18th century.
As the social organization of France was being redefined France’s absolutist political system was being replaced by a liberalist constitutional monarchy. In France’s absolute government all the power lay in the crown and the nobility; peasants and bourgeois had no say in governmental affairs. Following the revolution the bourgeois gained control of the government. The middle class of French society now had the most say in the governmental affairs of France.5 This enabled laws to be passed that appealed to the majority of French society and not only the upper two percent. Although liberals advocated for equal rights they only allowed male property owners [next page]