EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
Updated: Oct 5, 2020
CAUSES:
France was for years ruled by tyrants like Louis XIV.
The kings ruled the country as they liked, without caring for the good of the common people.
There was famine and suffering all over the country because of this autocratic monarch.
The popular upsurge against the tyranny of Kings culminated in the abolition of monarchy.
People wanted to establish the French Republic.
This great political event of consequences is called the French Revolution.
The leaders of the French Revolution drew inspiration for their course action from the American Revolution.
HAPPENINGS:
The French Revolution started with the breaking open of the State prison “Bastille” on 14th July 1789.
The reign of terror that followed the beheading of King Louis XVI and his Queen ended only when Napoleon became Emperor in May 1804.
In 1793 England was forced to declare war against French Revolution.
This is because French Revolutionary rulers offered to help all nations who wished to follow the example of the French and overthrow their Kings.
The war continued up to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 (when Lord Wellington inflicted a crushing defeat on Napoleon).
EFFECTS:
The prolonged war of twenty years had lasting effects on England.
The most important and immediate effect was the huge National Debt.
It has been estimated that the cost of the war from beginning to the end was nearly 1,000,000,000 Euro.
The nation of nineteen million people, had to pay annually a large amount by way of interest.
In 1815 the country had to raise 74,000,000 Euro by taxation alone.
PROBLEM OF UNEMPLOYMENT:
The peace that followed the war was the cause of a fall in the prices of coal and iron.
Many men employed in the industry were thrown out of their jobs.
After the signing of the peace treaty nearly half a million soldiers, sailors and others (who had been engaged directly in the war) were dismissed from active service.
They added to the already swelling army of the unemployed.
Thus the problem of unemployment became more acute.
PASSING OF CORN LAW:
During the twenty years of war there was no import of European corn into England.
This caused the price of corn to go high.
But the agricultural lords benefited by this.
After the restoration of peace, the free flow of European corn was resumed which brought down the price of English corn.
This was resented (disliked) by the English agriculturalists.
To protect their interest the Corn Law was passed in 1816.
This had disastrous effects on the poor (especially in the time of famine).
Their sufferings led to the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League.
This association was responsible for the repeal of the Corn Law in 1846 by Robert Peel (then Prime Minister).
THE BATTLE OF PETERLOO:
There was widespread discontent among poor people.
They suffered of various factors like low wages, high price of corn, and unemployment.
There were fierce riots in many places.
The Government authorities tried to put down these riots with an iron hand.
In 1819 the magistrates of Manchester attempted to arrest a radical leader known as Orator Hunt (at a large gathering) in St Peter’s Field.
By the resistance from the crowd the Government officer ordered a cavalry charge upon the unarmed mob.
Eleven persons were killed and six hundred wounded.
This event was popularly called as the Battle of Peterloo.
Also known the Manchester massacre was used by agitators to embarrass the Government.
To get their grievances redressed (set right) the poor agitated for parliamentary reform.
After much opposition from the lords the first Reform Bill was passed in 1832.
ARMY AND NAVY:
Navy and Army were recognized as National institutions.
The Battle of Trafalgar was won by Lord Nelson during the Revolutionary war in 1805.
This battle highlighted the greatness of the English Navy.
The victory was commemorated by renaming a part of London as Trafalgar Square.
The statue of Nelson stands on a lofty column in Trafalgar Square.
Its 51.5 metre column topped by the statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson looking to the River Thames, is one of the Favourite tourist spots in London.
It is the traditional end of most protest marches and rallies in the capital.
The army became popular with the victories of Lord Wellington at Waterloo in 1815.
Barracks were built, to house the troop and the haphazard.
Billeting of soldiers in public houses came to an end.
This was done to the great relief of both the civilian population and soldiers themselves.
INFLUENCES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE:
The French revolution is the source of inspiration to many English writers for writing some of their best known works.
Edmund Burke was inspired to write his famous book Reflections on the French Revolution.
Burke questions the propriety of the action of the revolutionaries in doing away with monarchy and making the National Assembly all powerful.
He expresses the opinion that defective institutions of the old regime should have been reformed and not destroyed.
In reply to this was written ‘Rights of Man’ in two volumes by Thomas Paine.
In first volume of the book he upholds the ideas that the Constitution of a country is an act of the people constituting the government.
In absence of such a written Constitution government is tyranny.
Paine takes pains to justify the French Revolution and traces the circumstances leading to the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the National Assembly.
The second volume of the book consists of proposals to improve the condition of Europe and England.
These proposals, though considered to be too revolutionary but were taken seriously and implemented by the democratic governments in the various countries.
Noble among these proposals are
A large reduction of administrative expenditure and
Taxation, Provision – for the aged poor, family allowances, allowances for the education of the poor, maternity grants, funeral grants, a graduated income-tax and limitation of armaments by treaty.
Another work of literary importance inspired is the French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle.
It is the poetic unrolling of a great historical melodrama illustrating the Nemesis that comes upon the oppression of the poor.
The book also contains a gallery of magnificent pen portraits of historical figures like Mirabeau Lafayette, Danton, and Robespierre.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a book which gives a true picture of Paris and London during the time of the French Revolution.
English Romanticism should be considered as a by- product of the great political event.
Romantic Movement started when Wordsworth and Coleridge together published the Lyrical Ballads in 1798.
This movement was completed by younger poets like Byron, Shelley and Keats.
Sources:
Social History of England by Louise Creighton
An Introduction to the Social History of England by A.G.Xavier
A Short History of Social Life in England by M B Synge