French Revolution Dbq

Within the Historical sphere, there is no unanimity regarding the impact of the French revolution on the status quo of western Europe. The argument lies that the revolution was insurgent and promoted ideas contrary to conventional belief, thus leaving an enduring impact stemming from nationalism and liberalism, on France and western Europe. In contrast, many individuals affirm the position that the changes yielded from the revolution was reversed by reactionary responses consequently discrediting the revolution's significance to Europe. As a result, I will be evaluating both arguments and will arrive at a measured conclusion, whether the French Revolution (1789) threatened the status quo (state of affairs) in Western Europe and if so how.

One of the most intricate revolutions in the modern world history was the French Revolution which ignited a surge of enlightenment. As a result, the revolution inspired a multiplicity of momentous reform ideologies, both politically and socially. Consequently, the complex revolution had a multifaceted impact on French society and western Europe. Encapsulated in the French revolution was a series of violent outbreaks and mass executions, this climate of instability enabled militaristic Napoleon Bonaparte to gain control of vulnerable France. However, the revolution’s real significance lied within its fundamental changes to France’s society. These social and political changes were extensive, encompassing areas such as the implementation of a constitutional monarchy, rise of nationalism, the economic reinvigoration, religious reform, and the emergence of feminist crusades, thus were some of the most notable facets extracted from the revolution.
The status quo of France (Latin term meaning existing state of affairs) in the eighteenth century was turbulent, Under the despotic monarchy of King Louis XIV, France was economically stagnant due to causes varying from persistent domestic crisis to the nation’s burden of enormous debt arose from its earlier intervention in the American Revolution (Thomas E.

Kaiser Feudalism and the French Revolution pg-204). Despite these significant issues, Louis XIV’s spending was supported entirely by citizens’ tax due to lack of foreign trade and perpetual debt. The majority of funds was spent to sustain the Palace of Versailles, the spendthrift nobles, and the cumbersome army. These issues and individuals occupied the upper echelon of society, and for Louis XIV, the stability of these factors was indispensable to the security of his absolute power. Ingrained in France economic issues in the eighteenth century was the system of feudalism which is best described as a hierarchy of power in which land constitutes the principal form of wealth and provides the basis for political and social orders as well as economic structures (Candice Goucher, In the Balance: Themes in Global History, chapter 7, pg-2). French society since its medieval time adhered to the feudal system which discouraged France’s “trade and economic growth” and became a hindrance to its “unified government” (Dr. Kip Wheeler

"Feudalism.").
The French Revolution and the Tennis Court Oath bore many significant changes, one of the most important political changes was the abolishment of the absolute monarchy in France and the implementation of a constitutional monarchy. Corresponding, the presence of social inequality and fiscal crises slowly diminish from its original dominance as a plethora of revolutionary reforms developed. The genesis of the revolutions reforms can be traced to the development of the National Constituent Assembly, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Constitution of 1791, the Constitution of 1793, then, ultimately, the Constitution of 1795, the document where all the fundamental rights and principles of French people were enshrined.
The creation and intention of the constitutional monarchy was, to govern France; however, it would be controlled and checked by a parliament. This government system had enabled and encouraged a more democratic state in France and allowed for a depleted influence of the upper class and an increased power of the middle and lower classes. (William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution 1989).
Within a political sphere, The French Revolution was a pivotal in promoting republicanism and replacing the necessity of an absolute monarchy in France legislative framework.

Sequentially, the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo a radical restructuring. It is pivotal to note that France’s population was predominantly Catholic, however during the Enlightenment period, philosophers asserted that religion was a necessity regarding moral and social order, but the Church in was having excessive power and influence on society and the government. As a result, during the discourse of revolution, Robespierre a radical Jacobin leader who possessed an indispensable role in the French Revolution, led the attempt to reform the church, he was determined, and his quest resulted in cataclysmic upheavals. However, Robespierre’s plan was marred due to his execution in 1794. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed in 1790, nonetheless, successfully engendered a remarkable change to

the
ancien r égime’s Church as it forced the clerics to take an oath to comply with the French Constitution. It also declared that bishops and priests were to be selected by people which sort to limit the pope’s excessive power and influence. The Religious reform which unraveled was a tremendous change that impacted both French social and political system, marking an end to the First Estate and the excessive power it had been having on France (Gemma Betros, “The French Revolution and The Catholic Church." pg. 16-21).
Even though the sweeping, radical reforms did not bring an immediate boost to the French economy, it successfully enabled a momentous transformation in the nation’s governmental structure and economic system, which was the primary factor that steered France to the era of prosperity in the mid-eighteenth century. Before the dawn of the French Revolution, the majority of Europe was dominated by two kinds of aristocracies, the land nobility which dominated the field of agriculture and the urban-based oligarchy which controlled commerce and various occupations however the urban oligarchy, was possibly more threatened by the emergency of industrialization. Many economic and institutional reforms that blossomed out of the French revolution materialized during the Napoleonic era, as Napoleon Bonaparte, had a significant influence on neighboring countries. Before Napoleon, the revolutionary armies invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, and parts of Germany in the 1790's, however, when Napoleon ascended to top in the early 1800's he expanded the French influence and control over the previous territories and Spain. (Daron Acemoglu MIT, Simon Johnson MIT, James Robinson Harvard, Liberty, Fraternity, Equality, and Industry: The Economic Consequences of the French Revolution.) In the case of Germany, Napoleon sustained the reforms already penetrated into the Rhineland, by introducing the Code Napoléon (French civil code). Napoleon himself saw the imposition of the civil code (Code Napoléon) in the areas he controlled as his most significant reform (Lyons, 1994, p. 94). Consequently, this enforcement transformed the Rhineland from a dominate oligarchy area to one, which was accessible to new businesses and new participants. Hence it is pivotal to note that The French intervention considerably suppressed the establishment of oligarchies and the institutional foundations of their power, removing feudal privileges and abolishing guild. Additionally, their intervention removed the legal and economic obstacles that protected the privileged classes which encompassed the (nobility, clergy, and urban oligarchies) and firmly established the principle of equality before the law which led to a restructuring of the state. (Daron Acemoglu, MIT, THE CONSEQUENCES OF RADICAL REFORM: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION pg.14).
There were, however, limitations to the French revolutions influence in western Europe notable, in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland, Napoleon consolidated the changes engendered by the Revolution and emphasized on establishing and stabilizing the Code Napoléon and the downplaying of any move towards democracy. The persistence of these reforms after the collapse of Napoleon in 1815 varied. Clive Emsley author of Napoleon: Conquest, Reform, and Reorganization (2003) fluently discussed the perpetual impact of the French revolution and napoleons reign on western Europe, he states “Yet on the left bank of the Rhine, in the departments annexed to France during the revolutionary decade, the Code became firmly entrenched. Indeed, it was so well entrenched that, after 1815, the Rhenish elite successfully preserved the Code and resisted attempts of their new Prussian masters to introduce the Prussian Allgemeines Landrecht. Similarly, Brendan Simms author of Political and Diplomatic Movements, 1800-1830; Napoleon, national uprising, restoration” (2004) summarizes the lasting impression of the French revolution and napoleon reforms by stating,
In western and southern Germany there was no going back to the feudal status quo ante. The Prussian bureaucrats arriving in the newly acquired Rhine Province in 1815 found a population determined to hold onto the French law . . . In southern Germany, the old corporate representations had permanently given way to parliaments whose lower houses were largely elected on the basis of a property franchise, and by 1820 all southern German states had constitutions guaranteeing freedom of conscience and equality before the law . . . The genie of the reform movement—freedom of movement, the standardization of taxation, the abolition of guilds—could not be put back in the bottle.