The French Revolution: From the Origins to 1789 (Season 1, Episode 1)

On July 14, 1789, the populace of Paris confronted royal soldiers, leading to the assault on the Bastille, the nation's most famous prison. Following a day of intense fighting, guards were executed, and the rioters seized rifles and gunpowder reserves. This dramatic event occurred while the government convened at Versailles, catching the authorities completely by surprise. Questions arose regarding how a state prison could be left undefended against such an insurgency, though Louis XVI and his ministers remained unaware that this was not merely a local riot but the genesis of a national uprising.

The central issue facing the monarchy was how Louis XVI would respond to the escalating troubles: would the sovereign choose repression, or attempt to resolve the crisis without resorting to violence? This video aims to dissect the underlying reasons and origins of the 1789 events, explaining why they culminated in the greatest upheaval in French history: the termination of royal absolutism and the commencement of the French Revolution.

The subsequent analysis will detail the foundational causes leading to the revolutionary period. While the immediate context involved popular unrest, understanding the deep structural issues is crucial to grasping why the kingdom entered this turbulent new phase.

In the spring of 1789, life in Versailles appeared outwardly normal, with busy avenues filled with citizens crossing paths in the Saint-Louis district. Markets offered a wide array of goods, including meat, fish, oil, pepper, fine ceremonial clothing, work attire, sugar, and coffee, displayed alongside artisans like weavers, blacksmiths, and fortune tellers. Despite this picturesque surface, something highly unusual began infiltrating daily life, causing immediate disruption across the city.

Certain bakeries started closing their doors, inciting anger and confusion among residents because bread became increasingly scarce and expensive over several years. The deplorable state of the harvests caused the price of bread to soar from 12 livres to 40 livres, while wages remained stagnant. This situation quickly became unbearable throughout France in 1789, as urban unrest spread to the countryside.

The food crisis alone was insufficient to explain the impending revolution; a greater, more powerful frustration was necessary to destabilize the regime. This profound frustration was nurtured by the writings of Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. Their works, later termed the Enlightenment movement, had been circulating for years, advocating for reforms to liberate the French economy and political structure.

Louis XVI, however, remained deaf and inflexible, which only intensified the magnitude of the resentment rising against him.

By 1789, all the necessary elements seemed present for a general revolt; only a single spark was needed to ignite the situation. The question remained whether the rioters, the defenders of Enlightenment ideals, or the King himself, through his own negligence, would provide the opportunity for all opponents of the regime to gather simultaneously in Versailles.

At the beginning of 1789, Louis XVI, seeking counsel during the crisis, summoned the Estates-General, an assembly of elected representatives from across the kingdom. Initially, the King did not convene this body to debate the food crisis or potential reforms to his administration. The primary concern was the dire state of France's finances, which were collapsing under the weight of unsustainable public debt.

As King's advisor and minister Jacques Necker pointed out, the state had lived on credit for too long, funding its core expenditures, such as the army, as well as the arts and the court at Versailles, through mandatory loans taken from the French bourgeoisie. This financing model had been viable when France maintained its vast colonial empire, ensuring regular revenue and establishing the kingdom as the world's leading power.

The alliance between Prussia and England unexpectedly dismantled this dominance. The English severely damaged the royal navy, while the Prussians defeated the French army, causing the country to lose its leading power status in under a decade. Consequently, public finances suffered immediately; the debt soared, and revenue streams dried up. Louis XVI had no choice but to raise taxes, a highly unpopular move during a period of famine and growing intellectual distrust of the sovereign.

The functioning of the Estates-General dictated that the assembly be divided into three distinct groups: the Order of the Nobility (dukes and officers), the Order of the Clergy (high church representatives), and the Third Estate. The first two orders constituted the privileged class, paying little to no tax and holding guaranteed access to public employment. The final order, the Third Estate, was a mixed and heterogeneous group, comprising 96% of the population, while the privileged classes accounted for only 4%.

Influential figures like the astronomer Bailly and Dr. Guillotin (the future inventor of the guillotine) attempted to persuade enlightened nobles and clergy members to join their cause, targeting figures like the Marquis de Lafayette and Mirabeau. Through intense negotiation and debate, the deputies of the Third Estate, sensing support from factions within the other two orders, demanded voting by head. When this was refused, they declared themselves the National Assembly.

The symbol was powerful because it represented a direct challenge to authority.

On June 20, 1789, after the King ordered the main debate hall closed, over 300 deputies of the Third Estate illegally convened in the nearby Tennis Court hall. There, they swore an oath never to separate until they had drafted a constitution for the kingdom. This action transformed the purpose of the Estates-General from merely resolving the public deficit to fundamentally reforming France. The King eventually conceded, recognizing the deputies as a Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting a constitution to limit sovereign power.

Despite the political maneuver by the Third Estate deputies, the common people across France were uncertain if their social and economic conditions would improve. Most inhabitants were simple peasants, shepherds, or the uneducated, rarely visiting cities for news. Urban dwellers, engaged in precarious manual labor—such as shoe shiners earning little or butchers working in slaughterhouses—or street musicians hoping for a single coin, wondered what they could do to make their voices heard.

In July 1789 Paris, the price of bread continued to climb, pushing the city toward famine. Riots erupted; the Saint-Lazare convent was stormed because it stored grain, and other locations like the Garde-Meuble were attacked. This violence convinced the city's bourgeoisie to create a militia of approximately fifty thousand men, distinguished by red and blue cockades. This militia urgently needed arms, as rumors spread that the King's army was preparing to surround Paris to crush the revolt.

The taking of the Bastille resonated throughout the kingdom like a spectacular feat, like a clap of thunder.

The siege began at 10:00 AM on July 14, 1789, and by evening, the symbol of royal absolutism fell into Parisian hands. Fear gripped the nation, which was already on the brink of famine and anarchy. Nobles worried about hoarding grain, while the King faced a dilemma: resort to military suppression of newly acquired rights or accept the complete destruction of the existing order, potentially leaving France vulnerable to invasion.

Fear fueled widespread unrest across the country, manifesting as riots, attacks, and fires, with rumors circulating even in Aquitaine that the English were preparing to land and plunder the region. Pushed by the fear of descending into pure anarchy, the deputies of the new assembly voted for the abolition of privileges on August 4th, followed by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. However, these texts lacked legal value as the King had not yet ratified them.

The food crisis persisted, and hunger led to renewed riots. On October 5th and 6th, thousands of women marched on Versailles, accompanied by the National Guard, forcing Louis XVI to ratify the August laws. Furthermore, the monarch was compelled to abandon the opulence of Versailles and return to Paris, taking residence in the Tuileries Palace. In less than six months, the combined pressure from the bourgeoisie and the people succeeded in dismantling absolutism, burying feudalism, and proclaiming new rights.