In the spring of 1789 France, plunged into economic, political and social chaos, experienced an unprecedented insurrectionary movement... Following the failure of the Estates General (Extraordinary Assembly convened by the King in the event of a crisis, bringing together the clergy, the nobility and the Third Estate) held on May 4 and 5, 1789, the Third Estate proclaimed itself, on June 17, 1789, the National Assembly. Defying the ban on meetings, the members take an oath, in the Salle du Jeu de Paume, not to part until they have drafted the constitution (June 20, 1789). This does not appease the people. The harvests are bad, food shortages are rampant, the price of bread is rising, the people are crying out for hunger. In addition, grievances concerning taxes were not heard... The king, whose authority was weakened by the creation of the now constituent National Assembly (July 9, 1789), dismissed Necker (his finance minister), made patrolling his guards… Tempers flare. The people then decide to recover weapons that they think they will find at the state prison. On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed, this insurrection caused several deaths. Symbolically, the people have just taken their destiny into their own hands.
July 20 - August 6, 1789
Characters
Louis XIV
Procedure
But following the storming of the Bastille, the population in the Province feared revenge from the nobility. Indeed, the Parisian events are misunderstood. A rumor swells:the nobles, aided by foreign royal powers, have decided to attack the people. Some think that brigands in the pay of the nobility will ransack the green wheat in order to destroy the future harvest. In many villages, the population armed itself, village militias were created and guard towers organized to protect the towns. The roads around the townships are also monitored. With each ringing of the bell, we imagine the worst. The bell towers respond to each other, helping to spread general panic... The taking up of arms is irrational. There are about 6 large independent centers from which this Great Fear spread:Franche-Comté, Champagne, Beauvaisis, Maine, the Nantes region, the South-West. Some call it the "Saint Barthélemy of patriots". But, failing to see the plot materialize with the arrival of the brigands, the heated spirits then headed for the lordships, sometimes looted them, and burned the charters of feudal rights, the terrier books (listing the rights and possessions of the lords ). The riots spread to most of the country (even if certain regions were spared, such as Languedoc, most of Normandy and Brittany, Hérault, etc.). The Great Fear, which seems indomitable, will only subside two days after the abolition of feudal rights and privileges, decreed on August 4, 1789.
Consequences
Spontaneous movement, conspiracy… These jacqueries (peasant revolts), stemming from a feeling of fear, spread across France, creating an insurrectional movement that will be called the Great Fear. These riots lead to the flight of the nobility abroad... It is in this boiling political context that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen will be drafted. It will be ratified by Louis XVI on October 5, 1789. The Old Regime, whose principles were based on the privilege of birth, is dying.