In return, the state assumed responsibilities such as paying the clergy and caring for the poor, the sick and the orphaned. Emboldened by this success, in February 1793 France declared war on the Dutch Republic, Spain and Britain, beginning the War of the First Coalition. [56], Food shortages and the worsening economy caused frustration at the lack of progress, and the Parisian working-class, or sans culottes, became increasingly restive. They now pinned the blue-and-red cockade of Paris onto the white cockade of the Ancien Régime. Above all the antagonism helped stimulate and shape German nationalism. [232], The French invaded Switzerland and turned it into an ally known as the "Helvetic Republic" (1798–1803). [10] Under Louis XIV, the Court at Versailles was the centre of culture, fashion and political power. "[63], The Revolution caused a massive shift of power from the Catholic Church to the state; although the extent of religious belief has been questioned, elimination of tolerance for religious minorities meant by 1789 being French also meant being Catholic. In the Austrian Netherlands, the Brabant Revolution succeeded in expelling Austrian forces and established the new United Belgian States. There was a widespread assumption writing was a vocation not a business, and the role of the press advancement of civic republicanism. "[200][title missing], The most heated controversy was over the status of the Catholic Church. [178], Madame Roland (a.k.a. Many of its principles are now considered fundamental aspects of modern liberal democracy.[1]. [187] It also abolished the highly inefficient system of tax farming, whereby private individuals would collect taxes for a hefty fee. Many feared their own survival depended on Robespierre's removal; during a meeting on 29 June, three members of the Committee of Public Safety called him a dictator in his face. By 27 June, they had been joined by the majority of the clergy, plus forty-seven members of the nobility, and Louis backed down. [184] Economically, many peasant women refused to sell their goods for assignats because this form of currency was unstable and was backed by the sale of confiscated Church property. In June, an uprising in Paris replaced the Girondins who dominated the Assembly with a Committee of Public Safety under Maximilien Robespierre. Revolution definition, an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed. The French Revolution was a revolution in France from 1789 to 1799. France had invested heavily in the American Revolution, and King Louis XVI greatly mismanaged the country's finances. In an attempt to gain support, the government ordered non-juring priests to swear the oath or be deported, dissolved the Constitutional Guard and replaced it with 20,000 fédérés; Louis agreed to disband the Guard, but vetoed the other two proposals, while Lafayette called on the Assembly to suppress the clubs. Deprived of political rights under the Ancien Regime, the 1791 Constitution classed them as "passive" citizens, leading to demands for social and political equality for women and an end to male domination. [2] Widespread social distress led to the convocation of the Estates General in May 1789, the first since 1614. [85] The second was non-juring priests; opposition to the Civil Constitution had resulted in a state of near civil war in southern France, which Bernave tried to defuse by relaxing the more punitive provisions. The Declaration of Independence Was A Template For The French. [251][252] Nevertheless, as Spang has shown, there persists a very widespread agreement that the French Revolution was the watershed between the premodern and modern eras of Western history, and one of the most important events in history. [18] However, neither the level of French state debt in 1788, or its previous history, can be considered an explanation for the outbreak of revolution in 1789. Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris, and they are used on the city's coat of arms. Susan Dalton, "Gender and the Shifting Ground of Revolutionary Politics: The Case of Madame Roland,", Hufton, Olwen. Nevertheless, the threat rallied popular support behind the regime. Although those numbers have been challenged, François Furet concluded it "not only revealed massacre and destruction on an unprecedented scale, but a zeal so violent that it has bestowed as its legacy much of the region's identity. 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