• 1789–1791
  
• 1791–1793
  
• 1793–1799
  
• 1799–1814
  Napoleon's coup and the establishment of the empire
• 1814–1848
  
• 1848–1851
  
• 1851–1870
  
• 1870–1875
  Revolution of 1870 and establishment of the Third Republic

In 1787, an economic recession began in France, gradually turning into a crisis: production fell, the French market was flooded with cheaper English goods; to this were added crop failures and natural disasters, leading to the death of crops and vineyards. In addition, France spent a lot on unsuccessful wars and supporting the American Revolution. There was not enough income (by 1788, expenses exceeded income by 20%), and the treasury took loans, the interest on which was unbearable for it. The only way to increase revenues to the treasury was to deprive the tax privileges of the first and second estates Under the Old Order, French society was divided into three classes: the first - the clergy, the second - the nobility and the third - all the rest. The first two estates had a number of privileges, including being exempted from the need to pay taxes..

Attempts by the government to abolish the tax privileges of the first two estates failed, meeting the resistance of the noble parliaments. Parliaments- before the revolution, the highest courts of the fourteen regions of France. Until the 15th century, only the Parlement of Paris existed, then the remaining thirteen appeared.(that is, the highest courts of the Old Order period). Then the government announced the convening of the Estates General Estates General- a body that included representatives of the three estates and convened on the initiative of the king (as a rule, to resolve a political crisis). Each estate sat separately and had one vote., which included representatives of all three classes. Unexpectedly for the crown, this caused a wide public outcry: hundreds of pamphlets were published, voters issued orders to deputies: few people wanted a revolution, but everyone hoped for change. The impoverished nobility demanded financial support from the crown, while at the same time counting on limiting its power; the peasants protested against the rights of the lords and hoped to get the land as their property; among the townspeople, the ideas of the enlighteners about the equality of all before the law and about equal access to positions became popular (in January 1789, the well-known brochure of Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes “What is the third estate?” was published, containing the following passage: “1. What is the third estate - Everything. 2. What has it been politically so far? - Nothing. 3. What does it require? - To become something"). Based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, many believed that the nation, not the king, should have the highest power in the country, that absolute monarchy should be replaced by a limited one, and that traditional law should be replaced by a constitution - a collection of clearly defined laws that are the same for all citizens.

The Great French Revolution and the Establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy

The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Painting by Jean Pierre Hoehl. 1789

Bibliothèque nationale de France

Chronology

Beginning of the Estates General

Proclamation of the National Assembly

Storming of the Bastille

Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Adoption of the first French constitution

On May 5, 1789, a meeting of the Estates General opened at Versailles. By tradition, each class had one vote during the voting. Deputies from the third estate, who were twice as many as deputies from the first and second, demanded an individual vote, but the government did not agree to this. In addition, contrary to the expectations of the deputies, the authorities brought up for discussion only financial reforms. On June 17, the deputies from the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, that is, representatives of the entire French nation. On June 20, they vowed not to disperse until a constitution was drafted. Some time later, the National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly, thus declaring its intention to establish a new state system in France.

Soon a rumor spread around Paris that the government was gathering troops to Versailles and was planning to disperse the Constituent Assembly. An uprising began in Paris; On July 14, hoping to seize weapons, the people stormed the Bastille. This symbolic event is considered the beginning of the revolution.

After that, the Constituent Assembly gradually turned into the highest authority in the country: Louis XVI, who sought to avoid bloodshed at any cost, sooner or later approved any of his decrees. Thus, from August 5 to August 11, all peasants became personally free, and the privileges of the two estates and individual regions were abolished.

The overthrow of the absolute monarchy
On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. On October 5, the crowd went to Versailles, where Louis XVI was, and demanded that the king and his family move to Paris and approve the Declaration. Louis was forced to agree - and the absolute monarchy ceased to exist in France. This was enshrined in the constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 3, 1791.

Having adopted the constitution, the Constituent Assembly dispersed. The laws were now approved by the Legislative Assembly. Executive power remained with the king, who turned into an official who obeyed the will of the people. Officials and priests were no longer appointed, but elected; Church property was nationalized and sold.

Symbols

"Freedom equality Brotherhood
". The formula "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité", which became the motto of the French Republic, first appeared on December 5, 1790, in an unspoken speech by Maximilian Robespierre, one of the most influential French revolutionaries, elected in 1789 to the States General from the third estate.

Bastille. By July 14, there were only seven prisoners in the Bastille, the ancient royal prison, so its storming had a symbolic, not pragmatic meaning, although it was taken in the hope of finding weapons there. By decision of the municipality, the taken Bastille was destroyed to the ground.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The Declaration of the Rights of Man stated that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights" and declared human rights to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression to be natural and inalienable. In addition, it consolidated freedom of speech, press and religion and abolished estates and titles. As a preamble, it entered the first constitution (1791) and still forms the basis of French constitutional law, being a legally binding document.

The execution of the king and the establishment of the republic

The last moments of the life of Louis XVI. Engraving after a painting by Charles Benazech. 1793

Wellcome Library

Chronology

Beginning of the war with Austria

Deposition of Louis XVI

Start of the National Convention

Execution of Louis XVI

On August 27, 1791, in the Saxon castle of Pillnitz, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II and Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II (brother of Louis XVI's wife Marie Antoinette), under pressure from aristocrats who emigrated from France, signed a document declaring their readiness to support the King of France, including military . Girondins Girondins- a circle that has developed around the deputies from the department of the Gironde, who advocated further changes, but adhered to relatively moderate views. In 1792, many of them opposed the king's execution., supporters of the republic, took advantage of this to persuade the Legislative Assembly to go to war with Austria, which was declared on April 20, 1792. When the French troops began to suffer defeat, the royal family was blamed for this.

Overthrow of the constitutional monarchy
On August 10, 1792, an uprising took place, as a result of which Louis was overthrown and imprisoned on charges of betraying the national interests. The Legislative Assembly resigned its powers: now, in the absence of the king, it was necessary to write a new constitution. For these purposes, it was collected new law the legislative body is the elected National Convention, which first of all proclaimed France a republic.

In December, the trial began, which found the king guilty of maliciously against the freedom of the nation and sentenced him to death.

Symbols

Marseillaise. March written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (military engineer, part-time poet and composer) on April 25, 1792. In 1795, the Marseillaise became the national anthem of France, lost that status under Napoleon, and finally regained it in 1879 under the Third Republic. By the second half of the 19th century, it had become an international song of left-wing resistance.

Jacobin dictatorship, Thermidorian coup and establishment of the Consulate

The overthrow of Robespierre at the National Convention on July 27, 1794. Painting by Max Adamo. 1870

Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin

Chronology

By decree of the Convention, an Extraordinary Criminal Tribunal was established, which in October will be renamed the Revolutionary Tribunal

Creation of the Committee of Public Safety

Expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention

Adoption of the Year I Constitution, or Montañar Constitution

Decree on the introduction of a new calendar

Thermidorian coup

Execution of Robespierre and his supporters

Adoption of the Constitution III year. Formation of the Directory

Coup of 18 Brumaire. Change of Directory by the Consulate

Despite the execution of the king, France continued to suffer setbacks in the war. Monarchist rebellions broke out inside the country. In March 1793, the Convention created the Revolutionary Tribunal, which was supposed to try "traitors, conspirators and counter-revolutionaries", and after it - the Committee of Public Safety, which was supposed to coordinate the country's domestic and foreign policy.

Expulsion of the Girondins, Jacobin dictatorship

The Girondins gained great influence in the Committee of Public Safety. Many of them did not support the execution of the king and the introduction of emergency measures, some expressed outrage that Paris was imposing its will on the country. Montagnards competing with them Montagnards- a relatively radical group, based, in particular, on the urban poor. The name comes from the French word montagne - mountain: at meetings of the Legislative Assembly, members of this group usually took seats in the upper rows on the left side of the hall. sent against the Girondins disaffected urban poor.

On May 31, 1793, a crowd gathered at the Convention demanding the exclusion of the Girondins, who were accused of treason. On June 2, the Girondins were placed under house arrest, and on October 31, many of them were guillotined by the verdict of the Revolutionary Tribunal.

The expulsion of the Girondins led to civil war. Despite the fact that at the same time France was at war with many European states, the constitution adopted in 1793 did not come into force: before the onset of peace, the Convention introduced a "temporary revolutionary order of government." Practically all power was now concentrated in his hands; The Convention sent commissars with great powers to the localities. The Montagnards, who now had a huge advantage in the Convention, declared their opponents enemies of the people and sentenced them to guillotining. The Montagnards abolished all senior duties and began to sell the lands of emigrants to the peasants. In addition, they introduced a maximum to which the prices of the most necessary goods, including bread, could rise; in order to avoid shortages, they had to take grain from the peasants by force.

By the end of 1793, most of the rebellions were suppressed, and the situation at the front was reversed - the French army went on the offensive. Nevertheless, the number of victims of terror did not decrease. In September 1793, the Convention passed the Suspicious Law, which ordered the detention of all people who were not accused of any crime, but could have committed one. From June 1794, interrogations of defendants and their right to lawyers, as well as mandatory interrogations of witnesses, were abolished at the Revolutionary Tribunal; for people found guilty by the tribunal, there was now only one punishment - the death penalty.

Thermidorian coup 


In the spring of 1794, the Robespierreists began to talk about the need for a final wave of executions, which would cleanse the Convention of opponents of the revolution. Almost all members of the Convention felt that their lives were in danger. On July 27, 1794 (or 9 Thermidor II of the revolutionary calendar), the leader of the Montagnards, Maximilian Robespierre, and many of his supporters were arrested by members of the Convention who feared for their lives. On July 28 they were executed.

After the coup, terror quickly declined, the Jacobin Club Jacobin club- a political club formed in 1789 and meeting in a Jacobin monastery. The official name is the Society of Friends of the Constitution. Many of its members were deputies to the Constituent and Legislative Assembly, and later to the Convention; they played a big part in the policy of terror that was carried out. was closed. The power of the Committee of Public Safety diminished. Thermidorians Thermidorians- members of the Convention who supported the Thermidorian coup. proclaimed a general amnesty, many of the surviving Girondins returned to the Convention.

Directory

In August 1795, the Convention adopted a new constitution. In accordance with it, the legislative power was handed over to the bicameral Legislative Body, and the executive power to the Directory, which consisted of five directors, who were selected by the Council of Elders (upper house of the Legislative body) from a list submitted by the Council of Five Hundred (lower house). The members of the Directory sought to stabilize the political and economic situation in France, but not too successfully: for example, on September 4, 1797, the Directory, with the support of General Napoleon Bonaparte, extremely popular as a result of his military successes in Italy, declared martial law in Paris and annulled the results of the elections in The legislature in many regions of France, since they received the majority of the royalists, who now constituted a fairly strong opposition.

Coup of 18 Brumaire

A new conspiracy has matured within the Directory itself. On November 9, 1799 (or 18 Brumaire, 8th year of the Republic), two of the five directors, together with Bonaparte, carried out a coup, dispersing the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Elders. The Directory was also deprived of power. Instead, the Consulate arose - a government consisting of three consuls. All three conspirators became them.

Symbols


Tricolor. In 1794, the tricolor became the official flag of France. To the white color of the Bourbons, used on the flag before the revolution, blue was added, the symbol of Paris, and red, the color National Guard.

Republican calendar. On October 5, 1793, a new calendar was put into circulation, the first year of which was 1792. All the months in the calendar received new names: time from the revolution had to start anew. In 1806 the calendar was abolished.

Louvre Museum. Despite the fact that some parts of the Louvre were open to the public even before the revolution, the palace turned into a full-fledged museum only in 1793.

The coup of Napoleon Bonaparte and the establishment of the empire

Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul. Fragment of a painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. 1803-1804

Wikimedia Commons

Chronology

Adoption of the Constitution of the VIII year, which established the dictatorship of the first consul

The adoption of the Constitution of the X year, which made the powers of the first consul for life

Adoption of the Constitution of the XII year, the proclamation of Napoleon as emperor

On December 25, 1799, a new constitution was adopted (Constitution of Year VIII), created with the participation of Napoleon Bonaparte. A government came to power, consisting of three consuls, named directly in the constitution by name, and elected for ten years (as a one-time exception, the third consul was then appointed for five years). Napoleon Bonaparte was named the first of the three consuls. Almost all real power was concentrated in his hands: only he had the right to propose new laws, appoint members of the State Council, ambassadors, ministers, senior military leaders and prefects of departments. The principles of separation of powers and popular sovereignty were actually abolished.

In 1802, the Council of State put to a referendum the question of whether Bonaparte should be made consul for life. As a result, the consulate became for life, and the first consul received the right to appoint his successor.

In February 1804, a monarchist conspiracy was uncovered, the purpose of which was to assassinate Napoleon. After that, proposals began to arise to make Napoleon's power hereditary in order to exclude such a thing in the future.

Establishment of an empire
On May 18, 1804, the XII Constitution was adopted, approved by referendum. The administration of the republic was now transferred to the "Emperor of the French", who declared Napoleon Bonaparte. In December, the emperor was crowned by the Pope.

In 1804, the Civil Code, written with the participation of Napoleon, was adopted - a set of laws that regulated the life of French citizens. The code affirmed, in particular, the equality of all before the law, the inviolability of landed property and secular marriage. Napoleon managed to normalize the French economy and finances: due to constant recruitment into the army, both in the countryside and in the city, he managed to cope with an excess of workers, which led to an increase in income. He dealt harshly with the opposition and limited freedom of speech. The role of propaganda, glorifying the invincibility of French weapons and the greatness of France, became enormous.

Symbols

Eagle. In 1804, Napoleon introduced a new imperial coat of arms, which depicted an eagle - a symbol of the Roman Empire, which was present on the coats of arms of other great powers.

Bee. This symbol, dating back to the Merovingians, became the personal emblem of Napoleon and replaced the lily flower in heraldic ornaments.

Napoleondor. Under Napoleon, a coin called the Napoleon (Napoléon d’or, literally “golden Napoleon”) received circulation: it depicted the profile of Bonaparte.

Legion of Honor. Order founded by Bonaparte on May 19, 1802 following the example of knightly orders. Belonging to the order testified to the official recognition of special merits to France.

Restoration of the Bourbons and the July Monarchy

Freedom leading the people. Painting by Eugene Delacroix. 1830

Musee du Louvre

Chronology

Napoleon's invasion of Russia

Capture of Moscow

Battle of Leipzig ("Battle of the Nations")

Abdication of Napoleon from the throne, proclamation of King Louis XVIII

Promulgation of the Charter of 1814

Escape of Napoleon from Elba

Capture of Paris

Battle of Waterloo

Abdication of Napoleon

Accession to the throne of Charles X

Signing of the July ordinances

Mass unrest

Abdication of Charles X

The Duke of Orleans' oath of allegiance to the new Charter. From that day on he became king of the French, Louis Philippe I.

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, the French Empire turned into the most powerful European power with a stable state system and finances put in order. In 1806, Napoleon forbade all European countries subject to him to trade with England - as a result of the industrial revolution, England forced out French goods from the markets. The so-called Continental Blockade damaged the English economy, but by 1811 the resulting economic crisis had affected all of Europe, including France. The failures of the French troops in the Iberian Peninsula began to destroy the image of the invincible French army. Finally, in October 1812, the French had to begin a retreat from Moscow, which was occupied in September.

Restoration of the Bourbons
On October 16-19, 1813, the battle of Leipzig took place, in which the Napoleonic army was defeated. In April 1814, Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on the island of Elba, and Louis XVIII, brother of the executed Louis XVI, ascended the throne.

Power returned to the Bourbon dynasty, but Louis XVIII was forced to grant the people a constitution - the so-called Charter of 1814, according to which each new law had to be approved by two chambers of parliament. In France, a constitutional monarchy was again established, but not all citizens and not even all adult men had the right to vote, but only those who had a certain level prosperity.

One Hundred Days of Napoleon

Taking advantage of the fact that Louis XVIII did not have popular support, Napoleon fled from Elba on February 26, 1815 and landed in France on March 1. A significant part of the army joined him, and in less than a month Napoleon occupied Paris without a fight. Attempts to negotiate peace with European countries failed, and he had to re-enter the war. On June 18, the French army was defeated by the Anglo-Prussian troops at the Battle of Waterloo, on June 22 Napoleon abdicated again, and on July 15 he surrendered to the British and went into exile on the island of St. Helena. Power returned to Louis XVIII.

July Revolution

In 1824, Louis XVIII died, and his brother Charles X ascended the throne. The new monarch took a more conservative course. In the summer of 1829, while the Chambers of Deputies were closed, Charles appointed the extremely unpopular Prince Jules Auguste Armand Marie Polignac as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On July 25, 1830, the king signed ordinances (decrees that had the force of state laws) - on the temporary abolition of freedom of the press, the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, the increase in the electoral qualification (now only landowners could vote) and the appointment of new elections to the lower house. Many newspapers were closed.

The ordinances of Charles X caused mass indignation. On July 27, riots began in Paris, and on July 29 the revolution ended, the main city centers were occupied by the rebels. On August 2, Charles X abdicated and left for England.

The Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe, a representative of the younger branch of the Bourbons, who had a relatively liberal reputation, became the new king of France. During his coronation, he took an oath on the Charter of 1830 drawn up by deputies and became not "king by the grace of God" like his predecessors, but "king of the French". The new constitution lowered not only property, but also the age limit for voters, deprived the king of legislative power, banned censorship and returned the tricolor flag.

Symbols

Lilies. After the overthrow of Napoleon, the coat of arms with an eagle returned to replace the coat of arms with three lilies, which symbolized royal power already in the Middle Ages.

"Liberty Leading the People". Eugène Delacroix's famous painting, centered on Marianne (symbolizing the French Republic since 1792) holding the French tricolor in her hand as the personification of the struggle for freedom, was inspired by the July Revolution of 1830.

Revolution of 1848 and establishment of the Second Republic

Lamartine in front of the Paris City Hall rejects the red flag on February 25, 1848. Painting by Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux

Musee du Petit-Palais, Paris

Chronology

The beginning of the riots

Resignation of the Guizot government

Approval of a new constitution that consolidated the republican form of government




General presidential election, victory for Louis Bonaparte

By the end of the 1840s, the policies of Louis Philippe and his Prime Minister François Guizot, supporters of gradual and cautious development and opponents of universal suffrage, ceased to suit many: some demanded the expansion of suffrage, others demanded the return of the republic and the introduction of suffrage for all. In 1846 and 1847 there was a poor harvest. Hunger has begun. Since rallies were banned, in 1847 political banquets gained popularity, at which monarchical power was actively criticized and toasts to the republic were proclaimed. Political banquets were also banned in February.

Revolution of 1848
The ban on political banquets sparked riots. On February 23, Prime Minister François Guizot resigned. A huge crowd was waiting for him to leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of the soldiers guarding the ministry fired, most likely by mistake, and this gave rise to a bloody clash. After that, the Parisians built barricades and moved towards the royal palace. The king abdicated and fled to England. France proclaimed a republic and introduced universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age. Parliament (returning the name "National Assembly") became unicameral again.

On December 10-11, 1848, the first general presidential election took place, which was unexpectedly won by Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who received about 75% of the vote. In the elections to the Legislative Assembly, the Republicans received only 70 seats.

Symbols


Barricades. Barricades were erected on the streets of Paris during every revolution, but it was during the revolution of 1848 that almost all of Paris was barricaded. The Parisian omnibuses launched in the late 1820s were also used as material for the barricades.

1851 coup and Second Empire

Portrait of Emperor Napoleon III. Fragment of a painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. 1855

Chronology

Dissolution of the National Assembly

Promulgation of the new constitution. By changes made to its text on December 25 of the same year, the Second Empire was created

Proclamation of Napoleon III as Emperor of the French

The Republicans no longer enjoyed the confidence of either the President, or the Parliament, or the people. In 1852, Louis Napoleon's presidential term was coming to an end. According to the constitution of 1848, he could be elected again only after the expiration of the next four-year term. In 1850 and 1851, supporters of Louis Napoleon demanded several times to revise this article of the constitution, but the Legislative Assembly was against it.

Coup of 1851
On December 2, 1851, President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, supported by the army, dissolved the National Assembly and arrested its opposition members. The riots that began in Paris and in the provinces were harshly suppressed.

Under the leadership of Louis Napoleon, a new constitution was prepared, extending the presidential powers for ten years. In addition, the bicameral parliament was returned, with the deputies of its upper house appointed by the president for life.

Empire Restoration
On November 7, 1852, the Senate appointed by Louis Napoleon proposed the restoration of the empire. As a result of a referendum, this decision was approved, and on December 2, 1852, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor Napoleon III.

Until the 1860s, the powers of Parliament were reduced and freedom of the press was limited, but from the 1860s the course changed. In order to strengthen his authority, Napoleon started new wars. He planned to reverse the decisions of the Congress of Vienna and rebuild the whole of Europe, giving each nation its own state.

Proclamation of the Republic
On September 4, France was again proclaimed a republic. A provisional government was chosen, headed by Adolphe Thiers.

On September 19, the Germans began the siege of Paris. There was famine in the city, the situation worsened. In February 1871, elections were held for the National Assembly, in which the monarchists won the majority. Adolphe Thiers became head of government. On February 26, the government was forced to sign a preliminary peace treaty, followed by a German parade on the Champs Elysees, which many citizens perceived as treason.

In March, the government, which had no funds, refused to pay the National Guard's salaries and tried to disarm it.

Parisian Commune

On March 18, 1871, an uprising broke out in Paris, as a result of which a group of left-wing radical politicians came to power. On March 26, they held elections for the Paris Commune, the council of the city of Paris. The government led by Thiers fled to Versailles. But the power of the commune did not last long: on May 21, government troops went on the offensive. By May 28, the uprising was brutally crushed - a week of fighting between the troops and the Communards was called "Bloody Week".

After the fall of the commune, the position of the monarchists again strengthened, but since they all supported different dynasties, in the end the republic was saved. In 1875, the Constitutional Laws were passed, which approved the post of president and a parliament elected on the basis of universal male suffrage. The Third Republic lasted until 1940.

Since then, the form of government in France has remained republican, with executive power passing from one president to another as a result of elections.

Symbols

Red flag. The traditional republican flag was the French tricolor, but the members of the commune, among whom were many socialists, preferred a single color red. The paraphernalia of the Paris Commune, one of the key events for the formation of communist ideology, was adopted by Russian revolutionaries as well.

Vendôme column. One of the important symbolic gestures of the Paris Commune was the demolition of the Vendome Column, erected in honor of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz. In 1875 the column was installed again.

Sacre Coeur. The neo-Byzantine style basilica was founded in 1875 in memory of the victims of the Franco-Prussian War and has become one of the important symbols of the Third Republic.

The editors would like to thank Dmitry Bovykin for his help in working on the material. 

Event: the capture by the people of the royal fortress of Bastille

king louis sixteenth

Outcome: start of the French Revolution

Event:"Night of Miracles" Meeting of the first in the history of France, the people's Constituent Assembly.

What political forces were in power: king louis sixteenth

Outcome: declared equality of all citizens before the law. The privileges of the clergy and nobles were abolished. The church tithe, which all citizens had previously paid to the church, was abolished. Later, the nobility was abolished in general and the first ever democratic "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" was adopted.

Event: march of the people to Versailles. The king was forcibly taken out of the Palace of Versailles and settled in Paris.

What political forces were in power: formally - the king, but in fact - the revolutionaries

Outcome: The absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional one. Now it was not the people who did what the king wanted, but the king carried out the will of the Constituent Assembly

Event: Deposition of King Louis by the Paris Commune

What political forces were in power: The Paris Commune of insurgents-revolutionaries. Basically, these are guardsmen, soldiers and ordinary citizens.

Outcome: Prussia, protecting the king, started a war with France. The king is imprisoned.

Event: France proclaimed a republic

What political forces were in power: French National Convention (Girondins).

Outcome: The monarchy in the country has been abolished altogether

Event: execution of Louis XVI in Paris

What political forces were in power: National Convention (Girondins)

Outcome: France is at war with several European powers defending the monarchy: Prussia, England, Spain.

Event: Jacobin uprising

What political forces were in power: Girondins and Montagnards

Outcome: a split among the revolutionaries, the coming to power of the Jacobins and Montagnards. The beginning of the brutal revolutionary terror of the population. The Girondins were executed. All material goods were taken away from citizens in the interests of the revolution and war.

Event: execution of Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI

What political forces were in power: Jacobin National Convention and the Paris Commune

Outcome: destroyed another "enemy of the revolution"

Event: Thermidorian revolution. A split among the leadership of the revolutionaries. The Commune, with arms in hand, took the side of Robespierre against other Jacobins.

What political forces were in power: The Paris Commune and the National Convention.

Outcome: Robespierre was defeated and executed along with his supporters. The Paris Commune has fallen. The revolution weakened, and the Jacobins themselves began to be persecuted.

Event: Coup of 18 Brumaire

What political forces were in power: Directory

Outcome: End of the French Revolution. The victory of the military monarchy in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, who proclaimed the power of the Provisional Government in the person of three consuls, one of whom was himself. Later, he will take power single-handedly into his own hands.

At first, they simply roamed peacefully over these lands with their herds of domestic animals. In 1200-900 BC. Celts began to settle mainly in the east of modern France.

At the end of the 8th century BC, after they mastered the processing of iron, stratification began in the Celtic tribes. Luxury items found during excavations show how rich the Celtic aristocracy was. These items were made in different parts of the Mediterranean, including Egypt. Trade was well developed already in that era.

To strengthen their trading influence, the Phocian Greeks founded the city of Massalia (modern Marseille).

In the VI century BC, during the period of the La Tene culture in the history of France, the Celts began to rapidly conquer and develop new lands. They now had a plow with an iron coulter, which made it possible to work the hard soil of the central and northern part of modern France.

At the beginning of the III century BC. The Celts were greatly supplanted by the Belgian tribes, but at the same time, in the history of France, the civilization of the Celts is experiencing its highest flowering. Money appears, fortress cities appear, between which there is an active circulation of money. In the III century BC. e. On the island of the Seine River, the Celtic tribe of the Parisians settled. It was from this name of the tribe that the name of the capital of France, Paris, came from. A tour to Paris will allow you to visit this Ile de la Cité, the place where the first inhabitants of Paris, the Parisian Celts, settled.

In the II century BC. Europe was dominated by the Celtic tribe of Averni. At the same time, the Romans increased their influence in the south of France. It is to Rome that the inhabitants of Massalia (Marseille) more and more often turn for protection. The next step on the part of the Romans was the conquest of the lands of present-day France. At this turn of its history, France was called Gaul.

The Romans called the Celts Gauls. Between galls and the Romans constantly broke out military conflicts. Proverb " Geese saved Rome”appeared after the attack of the Gauls on this city in the 4th century BC.

According to legend, the Gauls, approaching Rome, scattered the Roman army. Part of the Romans fortified on the Capitoline Hill. At night, the Gauls in complete silence began the assault. And no one would have noticed them if it were not for the geese, who made a great noise.

The Romans for a long time with difficulty resisted the attacks of the Gauls, spreading their influence further and further into their territory.

In the 1st century BC. viceroy in Gaul was sent Julius Caesar. Main Headquarters Julius Caesar was on the Île de la Cité, in the place where Paris later grew up. The Romans named their settlement Lutetia. A trip to Paris necessarily involves visiting this island, from which the history of Paris originates.

Julius Caesar began actions for the final pacification of the Gauls. The fight went on for eight years. Caesar tried to win over the population of Gaul. A third of its inhabitants received the right of Roman allies or simply free citizens. The duties under Caesar were also quite mild.

It was in Gaul that Julius Caesar gained popularity among the legionnaires, which allowed him to join the struggle for dominion over Rome. With the words "The die is cast," he crosses the Rubicon River, dragging the troops to Rome. For a long time, Gaul was under the rule of the Romans.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Gaul was ruled by a Roman governor who declared himself an independent ruler.

In the 5th century on the left bank of the Rhine settled francs. Initially, the Franks were not a single people, they were divided into Salic and Ripuarian Franks. These two large branches, in turn, were subdivided into smaller "kingdoms", ruled by their own "kings, who in essence are only military leaders.

The first royal dynasty in the Frankish state is considered Merovingians (late 5th century - 751). This name was given to the dynasty by the name of the semi-legendary founder of the clan - Merovei.

by the most famous representative the first dynasty in the history of France was Clovis (about 481 - 511). Having inherited in 481 rather small possessions of his father, he began active military operations against Gaul. In 486, at the Battle of Soissons, Clovis defeated the troops of the last Roman governor of the central part of Gaul and significantly expanded his possessions. So the rich region of Roman Gaul with Paris fell into the hands of the Franks.

Clovis did Paris the capital of his greatly grown state. He settled on the island of Cite, in the palace of the Roman governor. Although tours to Paris include a visit to this place in the program, almost nothing from the time of Clovis has survived to this day. Later, Clovis annexed the south of the country to these territories. The Franks conquered and many Germanic tribes east of the Rhine.

The most important event of the reign of Clovis was his baptism. Under Clovis, in his possessions, the Franks adopted the Christian religion. It was milestone in the history of France. Arising under Clovis Frankish state existed for about four centuries and became the immediate predecessor of the future France. In the V-VI centuries. all of Gaul became part of the vast Frankish monarchy.

The second dynasty in French history was Carolingians. They ruled the Frankish state from 751 of the year. The first king of this dynasty was Pepin Short. He bequeathed a huge state to his sons - Charles and Carloman. After the death of the latter, the entire Frankish state was in the hands of King Charles. His main goal was the creation of a strong Christian state, which, in addition to the Franks, would also include pagans.

was a prominent figure in French history. Almost every year he organized military campaigns. The scope of the conquests was so great that the territory Frankish state doubled.

At this time, the Roman region was under the rule of Constantinople, and the popes were the governors of the Byzantine emperor. They turned to the ruler of the Franks for help, and Charles gave them support. He defeated the king of the Lombards who threatened the Roman region. Taking the title of the Lombard king, Charles began to introduce the Frankish system in Italy and united Gaul and Italy into one state. IN 800 He was crowned imperial in Rome by Pope Leo III.

Charlemagne saw the support of royal power in the Catholic Church - he awarded its representatives with the highest positions, various privileges, and encouraged the forced Christianization of the population of the conquered lands.

The most extensive activity of Karl in the field of education was devoted to the task of Christian education. He issued a decree on the establishment of schools at the monasteries and tried to introduce compulsory education for the children of free people. He invited the most enlightened people of Europe to the highest state and church positions. Interest in theology and Latin literature, which flourished at the court of Charlemagne, gives historians the right to name his era Carolingian revival.

The restoration and construction of roads and bridges, the settlement of abandoned lands and the development of new ones, the construction of palaces and churches, the introduction of rational methods of agriculture - all these are the merits of Charlemagne. It was after him that the dynasty was called the Carolingians. The capital of the Carolingians was Aachen. Although the Carolingians moved the capital of their state from Paris, a monument to Charlemagne can now be seen on the Ile de la Cité in Paris. It is located on the square in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in the square named after him. Holidays in Paris will allow you to see the monument to this man, who left a bright mark on the history of France.

Charlemagne died in Aachen on January 28 814 of the year. His body was transferred to the Aachen Cathedral he built, and placed in a gilded copper sarcophagus.

The empire created by Charlemagne fell apart within the next century. By Verdun Treaty of 843 it was divided into three states, two of which - West Frankish and East Frankish - became the predecessors of the current France and Germany. But the union of the state and the church that he carried out largely predetermined the character of European society for centuries to come. The educational and ecclesiastical reforms of Charlemagne retained their significance for a long time.

The image of Karl after his death became legendary. Numerous stories and legends about him resulted in a cycle of novels about Charlemagne. According to the Latin form of the name Charles - Carolus - the rulers of individual states began to be called "kings".

Under the successors of Charlemagne, a tendency to the disintegration of the state immediately appeared. son and successor Charles Louis I the Pious (814–840) did not have the qualities of a father and could not cope with the heavy burden of managing the empire.

After the death of Louis, his three sons began a struggle for power. Eldest son - Lothar- was recognized by the emperor and received Italy. Second brother- Louis the German- ruled the Eastern Franks, and the third, Karl the Bald, - Western francs. The younger brothers disputed the imperial crown with Lothair, in the end, the three brothers signed the Treaty of Verdun in 843.

Lothair retained his imperial title and received lands extending from Rome through Alsace and Lorraine to the mouth of the Rhine. Louis came into possession of the East Frankish kingdom, and Charles - into the possession of the West Frankish kingdom. Since then, these three territories have developed independently, becoming the forerunners of France, Germany and Italy. In the history of France, a new stage has begun: it has never again united with Germany in the Middle Ages. Both of these countries were ruled by different royal dynasties and turned into political and military opponents.

The most serious danger in the late 8th - early 10th centuries. were raids Vikings from Scandinavia. Sailing in their long maneuverable ships along the northern and western coasts of France, the Vikings plundered the inhabitants of the coast, and then began to seize and settle the lands in the north of France. In 885–886 the Viking army laid siege to Paris, and only thanks to the heroic defenders led by Count Odo and Bishop Gozlin of Paris, the Vikings were driven back from the walls of the city. Charles the Bald, the king of the Carolingian dynasty, could not help and lost his throne. new king in 887 became a count Odo of Paris.

The Viking leader Rollon managed to gain a foothold between the Somme and Brittany, and the king Karl Simple from the Carolingian dynasty was forced to recognize his rights to these lands, subject to recognition of the supreme royal authority. The area became known as the Duchy of Normandy, and the Vikings who settled here quickly adopted the Frankish culture and language.

The troubled period between 887 and 987 in the political history of France was marked by the struggle between the Carolingian dynasty and the family of Count Odo. In 987, large feudal magnates gave preference to the Odo clan and elected king Hugo Capeta, Count of Paris. By his nickname, the dynasty began to be called Capetians. It was third royal dynasty in French history.

By this time, France was severely fragmented. The counties of Flanders, Toulouse, Champagne, Anjou, and smaller counties were strong enough. Tours, Blois, Chartres and Meaux. In fact, the independent lands were the duchies of Aquitaine, Burgundy, Normandy and Brittany. The only difference from the other rulers of the Capetians was that they were legally elected kings of France. They controlled only their ancestral lands in the Île-de-France, stretching from Paris to Orléans. But even here in Ile-de-France, they could not control their vassals.

Only during the 30-year reign Louis VI Tolstoy (1108–1137) managed to curb recalcitrant vassals and consolidate royal power.

After that, Louis took up management affairs. He appointed only loyal and capable officials, who were called prevosts. The prevosts carried out the royal will and were always under the supervision of the king, who constantly traveled around the country.

A critical stage in the history of France and the Capetian dynasty falls on the years 1137-1214. Also in 1066 Duke of Normandy Wilgelm the conqueror defeated the army of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold and annexed his rich kingdom to his duchy. He became king of England and at the same time had possessions on the mainland in France. During the reign Louis VII (1137–1180) English kings captured almost half of France. The English King Henry created a vast feudal state that almost surrounded the Île-de-France.

If Louis VII had been replaced on the throne by another equally indecisive king, disaster could have befallen France.

But Louis' heir was his son Philip II Augustus (1180–1223), one of the greatest kings in the history of medieval France. He began a decisive struggle against Henry II, inciting a rebellion against the English king and encouraging his internecine struggle with his sons who ruled the lands on the mainland. Thus, Philip was able to prevent encroachments on his power. Gradually, he deprived the successors of Henry II of all possessions in France, with the exception of Gascony.

Thus, Philip II Augustus established the hegemony of France in Western Europe for the next century. In Paris, this king is building the Louvre. Then it was just a castle-fortress. For almost all of us, a trip to Paris includes a visit to the Louvre.

The most progressive innovation of Philip was the appointment of officials to manage the newly formed judicial districts in the annexed territories. These new officials, paid from the royal treasury, faithfully carried out the orders of the king and helped unite the newly conquered territories. Philip himself stimulated the development of cities in France, granting them extensive self-government rights.

Philip cared a lot about the decoration and security of cities. He strengthened the city walls, surrounding them with moats. The king paved the roads, paved the streets with cobblestones, often doing it at his own expense. Philip contributed to the founding and development of the University of Paris, attracting renowned professors with awards and benefits. Under this king, the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral continued, a visit to which includes almost every tour to Paris. Rest in Paris involves, as a rule, a visit to the Louvre, the construction of which began under Philip Augustus.

During the reign of Philip's son Louis VIII (1223–1226) the county of Toulouse was annexed to the kingdom. Now France stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. His son was succeeded Louis IX (1226–1270), which was later named Saint Louis. He was adept at settling territorial disputes through negotiation and treaty-making, while displaying a sense of ethics and tolerance unparalleled in the medieval era. As a result, during the long reign of Louis IX, France almost always lived in peace.

To the board Philip III (1270–1285) an attempt to expand the kingdom ended in failure. Philip's significant achievement in the history of France was the agreement on the marriage of his son to the heiress of the county of Champagne, which guaranteed the accession of these lands to the royal possessions.

Philip IV Handsome.

Philip IV the Handsome (1285–1314) played a significant role in the history of France, in the transformation of France into a modern state. Philip laid the foundations of an absolute monarchy.

To weaken the power of large feudal lords, he used the norms of Roman law as opposed to ecclesiastical and customary law, which in one way or another limited the omnipotence of the crown to biblical commandments or tradition. It was under Philip that the highest authorities - Parlement of Paris, Supreme Court and Court of Accounts (Treasury)- from more or less regular meetings of the highest nobility, they turned into permanent institutions, in which the legalists served mainly - experts in Roman law, who came from among petty knights or wealthy citizens.

Standing guard over the interests of his country, Philip IV the Handsome expanded the territory of the kingdom.

Philip the Handsome led a decisive policy to limit the power of the popes over France. The popes sought to free the church from state power and give it a special supranational and supranational status, and Philip IV demanded that all subjects of the kingdom be subject to a single royal court.

The popes also sought the possibility for the church not to pay taxes to secular authorities. Philip IV, on the other hand, believed that all estates, including the clergy, should help their country.

In the fight against such a powerful force as the papacy, Philip decided to rely on the nation and convened in April 1302 the first in the history of France, the States General - a legislative assembly of representatives of the three estates of the country: the clergy, the nobility and the third estate, who supported the position of the king in relation to the papacy . A bitter struggle broke out between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII. And in this struggle, Philip IV the Handsome won.

In 1305, the Frenchman Bertrand de Gault, who took the name of Clement V, was elevated to the papal throne. This Pope was obedient to Philip in everything. In 1308, at the request of Philip, Clement V transferred the papacy from Rome to Avignon. That's how it started" Avignon captivity of the popes when the Roman pontiffs became French court bishops. Now Philip felt strong enough to destroy the ancient Knights Templar, a very strong and influential religious organization. Philip decided to appropriate the wealth of the order and thus liquidate the debts of the monarchy. He brought against the Templars imaginary accusations of heresy, unnatural vices, money-grubbing and alliance with Muslims. During the falsified trials, cruel torture and persecution, which lasted for seven years, the Templars were completely ruined, and their property went to the crown.

Philip IV the Handsome did a lot for France. But his subjects did not like him. Violence against the Pope caused indignation of all Christians, large feudal lords could not forgive him for restricting their rights, in particular, the right to mint their own coin, as well as the preference given by the king to rootless officials. The taxable class resented the financial policy of the king. Even people close to the king were afraid of the cold, rational cruelty of this man, this unusually beautiful and surprisingly impassive person. With all this, his marriage to Joan of Navarre was a happy one. His wife brought him the kingdom of Navarre and the county of Champagne as a dowry. They had four children, all three sons were successively kings of France: Louis X the Grumpy (1314-1316), Philip V the Long (1316-1322), Charles IV (1322-1328). Daughter Isabel was married to Edward II, King of England from 1307 to 1327.

Philip IV the Handsome left behind a centralized state. After Philip's death, the nobles demanded the return of traditional feudal rights. Although the performances of the feudal lords were suppressed, they contributed to the weakening of the Capetian dynasty. All three sons of Philip the Handsome did not have direct heirs; after the death of Charles IV, the crown passed to his closest male relative, cousin Philippe of Valois- founder Valois dynasty – fourth royal dynasty in French history.

Philip VI of Valois (1328–1350) got the most powerful state in Europe. Almost all of France recognized him as a ruler, the popes obeyed him in Avignon.

Only a few years have passed and the situation has changed.

England sought to return vast territories in France that had previously belonged to her. King of England Edward III (1327–1377) made claims to the French throne as the maternal grandson of Philip IV the Handsome. But the French feudal lords did not want to see an Englishman as their ruler, even if it was the grandson of Philip the Handsome. Then Edward III changed his coat of arms, on which tender French lilies appeared next to a grinning English leopard. This meant that not only England was now subordinate to Edward, but also France, for which he would now fight.

Edward invaded France with an army that was small in number but included many skilled archers. In 1337, the British launched a victorious offensive in northern France. This was the start Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). In the battle of Crecy V 1346 Edward utterly defeated the French.

This victory allowed the British to take an important strategic point - fortress-port of Calais, breaking the eleven-month heroic resistance of its defenders.

In the early 50s, the British launched an offensive from the sea to the south-west of France. Without much difficulty they captured Guillain and Gascony. To these areas Edward III appointed his son Prince Edward, named after the color of his armor, as viceroy Black Prince. The English army, led by the Black Prince, inflicted a brutal defeat on the French in 1356 at the Battle of Poitiers. New french king John the Good (1350–1364) was captured and released for a huge ransom.

France was ravaged by troops and gangs of hired bandits, in 1348-1350 a plague epidemic began. The discontent of the people resulted in uprisings that shook the already devastated country for several years. The biggest uprising was Jacquerie in 1358. It was brutally suppressed, as was the uprising of the Parisians, led by a merchant foreman. Etienne Marcel.

John the Good was succeeded on the throne by his son Charles V (1364–1380), who changed the course of the war and recaptured almost all the lost possessions, except for a small area around Calais.

For 35 years after the death of Charles V, both sides - both French and English - were too weak to conduct major military operations. The next king Charles VI (1380–1422), was insane for most of his life. Taking advantage of the weakness of royal power, the English king Henry V in 1415 inflicted a crushing defeat on the French army battle of Agincourt, and then began to conquer Northern France. Duke of Burgundy, becoming in fact an independent ruler on his lands, entered into an alliance with the British. With the help of the Burgundians, the English king Henry V achieved great success and in 1420 forced France to sign a difficult and shameful peace in the city of Troyes. Under this treaty, the country lost its independence and became part of the united Anglo-French kingdom. But not at once. Under the terms of the agreement, Henry V was to marry the daughter of the French king, Catherine, and after the death of Charles VI, become king of France. However, in 1422 both Henry V and Charles VI died, and the one-year-old son of Henry V and Catherine, Henry VI, was proclaimed king of France.

In 1422, the British held most of France north of the Loire River. They attacked the fortified cities that defended the southern lands that still belonged to the son of Charles VI - the Dauphin Charles.

IN 1428 English troops besieged Orleans. It was a very strategic fortress. The capture of Orleans opened the way to the south of France. To the aid of the besieged Orleans, an army led by Joan of Arc. Rumors spread the news about a girl who was guided by God.

Orleans, which had been besieged by the British for half a year, was in a difficult situation. The blockade ring tightened. The townspeople were eager to fight, but the local military garrison showed complete indifference.

spring 1429 army led by Joan of Arc, managed to expel the British, and the siege of the city was lifted. Amazingly, besieged for 200 days, Olean was released 9 days after the arrival of Joan of Arc, nicknamed Maid of Orleans.

From all over the country under the banner Maid of Orleans peasants, artisans, impoverished knights flocked. Having liberated the fortresses on the Loire, Jeanne insisted that the Dauphin Charles go to Reims, where French kings have been crowned for centuries. After the solemn coronation Charles VII became the sole legitimate ruler of France. During the celebrations, the king wanted to reward Joan for the first time. For herself, she did not want anything, she only asked Karl to exempt the peasants of her native land from taxes. the village of Domremy in Lorraine. None of the subsequent rulers of France dared to take away this privilege from the inhabitants of Domremy.

IN 1430 Joan of Arc was captured. In May 1431, nineteen-year-old Jeanne was burned at the stake in the central square of Rouen. The place of burning is still marked with a white cross on the stones of the square.

In the next 20 years, the French army liberated almost the entire country from the British, and in 1453 after the capture of Bordeaux, only the port of Calais remained under the rule of England. ended Hundred Years War and France regained its former greatness. In the second half of the 15th century, once again in its history, France became the most powerful state in Western Europe.

France got this Louis XI (1461-1483). This king despised chivalric ideals, even feudal traditions annoyed him. He continued to fight against powerful feudal lords. In this struggle, he relied on the strength of the cities and the help of their most prosperous inhabitants, attracted to public service. Through years of intrigue and diplomacy, he undermined the power of the Dukes of Burgundy, his most serious rivals in the struggle for political dominance. Louis XI succeeded in annexing Burgundy, Franche-Comte and Artois.

At the same time, Louis XI began the transformation of the French army. Cities were exempted from military service, vassals were allowed to pay off military service. The bulk of the infantry were Swiss. The number of troops exceeded 50 thousand. In the early 80s of the XV century, Provence (with an important trading center on the Mediterranean - Marseille) and Maine were annexed to France. Of the large lands, only Brittany remained unconquered.

Louis XI took a significant step towards absolute monarchy. Under him, the Estates General met only once and lost their real significance. The prerequisites were created for the rise of the economy and culture of France, the foundations were laid for a relatively peaceful development in the following decades.

In 1483 the 13-year-old prince ascended the throne. Charles VIII (1483-1498).

From his father Louis XI, Charles VIII inherited a country in which order was restored, and the royal treasury was significantly replenished.

At this time, the male line of the ruling house of Brittany ceased, having married the Duchess Anna of Brittany, Charles VIII included the previously independent Brittany in France.

Charles VIII organized a triumphal campaign in Italy and reached Naples, declaring it his possession. He could not keep Naples, but this expedition made it possible to get acquainted with the wealth and culture of Italy during the Renaissance.

Louis XII (1498–1515) also led the French nobles on an Italian campaign, this time claiming Milan and Naples. It was Louis XII who introduced the royal loan, which played a fatal role in the history of France 300 years later. And before the French kings borrowed money. But the royal loan meant the introduction of a regular banking procedure, under which the loan was secured by tax revenues from Paris. The royal loan system provided investment opportunities for wealthy French citizens and even for the bankers of Geneva and Northern Italy. It was now possible to have money without resorting to excessive taxation and without resorting to the Estates General.

Louis XII was succeeded by his cousin and son-in-law, the Count of Angouleme, who became king Francis I (1515–1547).

Francis was the embodiment of the new Renaissance spirit in the history of France. He was one of the main political figures in Europe for over a quarter of a century. During his reign, the country enjoyed peace and prosperity.

His reign began with a lightning-fast invasion of Northern Italy, which culminated in the victorious battle of Marignano, in 1516 Francis I concluded a special agreement with the pope (the so-called Bologna concordat), according to which the king began to partially dispose of the property of the French church. In 1519, Francis' attempt to proclaim himself emperor ended in failure. And in 1525, he undertakes a second campaign in Italy, which ended with the defeat of the French army in the battle of Pavia. Francis himself was then taken prisoner. Having paid a huge ransom, he returned to France and continued to rule the country, abandoning grandiose foreign policy plans.

Civil wars in France. Henry II (1547-1559), who succeeded his father on the throne, must have seemed a strange anachronism in Renaissance France. He recaptured Calais from the British and established control over such dioceses as Metz, Toul and Verdun, formerly belonging to the Holy Roman Empire. This king had a long-term love affair with the court beauty Diane de Poitiers. In 1559 he died fighting in a tournament with one of the nobles.

Heinrich's wife Catherine de Medici, who came from a family of famous Italian bankers, after the death of the king for a quarter of a century, played a decisive role in the politics of France. At the same time, her three sons officially ruled, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III.

The first one, painful Francis II, was engaged to Mary Stuart (Scottish). A year after accession to the throne, Francis died, and his ten-year-old brother Charles IX took the throne. This boy-king was completely under the influence of his mother.

At this time, the power of the French monarchy suddenly reeled. Even Francis I began a policy of persecution of non-Protestants. But Calvinism continued to spread widely throughout France. The French Calvinists were called Huguenots. The policy of persecution of the Huguenots, which became tougher under Charles, ceased to justify itself. The Huguenots were predominantly burgesses and nobles, often wealthy and influential.

The country split into two opposing camps.

All the contradictions and conflicts in the country - and the disobedience to the king of the local feudal nobility, and the dissatisfaction of the townspeople with the heavy requisitions of royal officials, and the peasants' protests against taxes and church land ownership, and the desire for independence of the bourgeoisie - all this took the religious slogans common for that time led to the beginning Huguenot wars. At the same time, the struggle for power and influence in the country between two side branches of the old Capetian dynasty intensified - Gizami(Catholics) and Bourbons(Huguenots).

The Guise family, ardent defenders of the Catholic faith, was opposed by both moderate Catholics, like Montmorency, and Huguenots, like Condé and Coligny. The struggle was punctuated by periods of truces and agreements, under which the Huguenots were given a limited right to stay in certain areas and create their own fortifications.

The condition of the third agreement between the Catholics and the Huguenots was the marriage of the king's sister margaritas With Heinrich of Bourbon, young king of Navarre and chief leader of the Huguenots. The wedding of Henry of Bourbon and Marguerite in August 1572 was attended by many Huguenot nobles. On the night of the feast of St. Bartholomew (August 24) Charles IX organized a terrible massacre of his opponents. Initiated Catholics marked in advance the houses where their future victims were located. It is characteristic that among the killers there were mainly foreign mercenaries. After the first alarm, a terrible massacre began. Many were killed right in their beds. The killings spread to other cities as well. Henry of Navarre managed to escape, but thousands of his followers were killed

Two years later, Charles IX died, his successor was a childless brother Henry III. There were other contenders for the royal throne. The greatest chances were Henry of Navarre, but being the leader of the Huguenots, he did not suit most of the country's population. Catholics sought to enthrone their leader Heinrich Giese. Fearing for his power, Henry III treacherously killed both Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine. This act caused general indignation. Henry III moved to the camp of his other rival, Henry of Navarre, but was soon killed by a fanatical Catholic monk.

Although Henry of Navarre was now the only claimant to the throne, in order to become king, he had to convert to Catholicism. Only then did he return to Paris and be crowned at Chartres in 1594 year. He became the first king Bourbon dynasty - the fifth royal dynasty in the history of France.

The great merit of Henry IV was the adoption in 1598 year Edict of Nantes- the law of tolerance. Catholicism remained the dominant religion, but the Huguenots were officially recognized as a minority with the right to work and self-defense in some areas and cities. This edict stopped the ruin of the country and the flight of the French Huguenots to England and the Netherlands. The Edict of Nantes was drawn up very cunningly: with a change in the balance of power between Catholics and Huguenots, it could be revised (which Richelieu later took advantage of).

During the reign Henry IV (1594-1610) order was restored in the country and prosperity was achieved. The king supports high officials, judges, lawyers, financiers. He allows these people to buy positions for themselves and pass them on to their sons. In the hands of the king is a powerful apparatus of power, allowing you to rule without regard to the whims and whims of the nobles. Henry also attracts large merchants, he strongly supports the development of large-scale production and trade, and establishes French colonies in overseas lands. Henry IV the first French kings begins to be guided in his policy by the national interests of France, and not only by the estate interests of the French nobility.

In 1610, the country plunged into deep mourning when it learned that its king had been assassinated by the Jesuit monk Francois Ravaillac. His death threw France back into a state of near regency anarchy, as the young Louis XIII (1610-1643) was only nine years old.

The central political figure in the history of France at this time was his mother, the Queen. Maria Medici, which then enlisted the support of the Bishop of Luson, Armand Jean du Plessis (who is better known to us as Cardinal Richelieu). IN 1 624 Richelieu became a mentor and representative of the king and actually ruled France until the end of his life in 1642 . The beginning of the triumph of absolutism is connected with the name of Richelieu. In the person of Richelieu, the French crown acquired not only an outstanding statesman, but also one of the prominent theoreticians of absolute monarchy. In his " political testament" Richelieu named two main goals that he set for himself at the time of coming to power: " My first goal was the greatness of the king, my second goal was the power of the kingdom". The first minister of Louis XIII directed all his activities to the implementation of this program. Its main milestones were the attack on the political rights of the Huguenots, who, according to Richelieu, shared power and the state with the king. Richelieu considered his task to be the elimination of the Huguenot state, the deprivation of power of recalcitrant governors and the strengthening of the institution of general governors-commissioners.

Military operations against the Huguenots lasted from 1621 to 1629. In 1628, the stronghold of the Huguenots, the seaport of La Rochelle, was besieged. The fall of La Rochelle and the loss of self-government privileges by the cities weakened the resistance of the Huguenots, in 1629 they capitulated. Adopted in 1629" Mercy Edict”confirmed the main text of the Edict of Nantes, concerning the right of free practice of Calvinism. All articles that related to the political rights of the Huguenots were repealed. The Huguenots lost their fortresses and the right to keep their garrisons.

Richelieu took up the strengthening of the state apparatus of the absolute monarchy. The main event in solving this problem was the final approval of the institute of quartermasters.

On the ground, the king's policy was hampered by governors and provincial states. Acting as representatives of both royal and local authorities, the governors became virtually independent rulers. The quartermasters became the instrument for changing this order. They became the plenipotentiary representatives of the royal power in the field. At first, the mission of the quartermasters was temporary, then gradually it became permanent. All the threads of the provincial administration are concentrated in the hands of the quartermasters. Only the army remains outside their competence.

The First Minister is forcing economic development states. From 1629 to 1642, 22 trading companies were formed in France. The beginning of the French colonial policy dates back to the reign of Richelieu.

In foreign policy, Richelieu consistently defended the national interests of France. Beginning in 1635, France under his leadership participated in the Thirty Years' War. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 helped France to take a leading role in international relations in Western Europe.

But 1648 was not the end of the war for France. Spain refused to sign peace with the French monarch. The Franco-Spanish war lasted until 1659 and ended with the victory of France, which received Roussillon and the province of Artois in the Pyrenees. Thus was resolved the long-standing border dispute between France and Spain.

Richelieu died in 1642, and Louis XIII died a year later.

To the heir to the throne Louis XIV (1643-1715) was then only five years old. The Queen Mother took over the guardianship Anna of Austria. The management of the state was concentrated in her hands and in the hands of the Italian protege Richelieu. Cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin was an active conductor of the king's policy until his death in 1661. He continued Richelieu's foreign policy until the successful conclusion of the Westphalian (1648) and Pyrenean (1659) peace treaties. He was able to solve the problem of preserving the monarchy, especially during the uprisings of the nobility, known as Fronde (1648–1653). The name Fronde comes from the French - sling. Throwing from a sling in a figurative sense - to act against the authorities. In the turbulent events of the Fronde, the anti-feudal actions of the masses and parts of the bourgeoisie, the conflict of the judicial aristocracy with absolutism, and the opposition of the feudal nobility were contradictory intertwined. Having coped with these movements, absolutism emerged stronger from the political crisis of the Fronde period.

Louis XIV.

After the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV (1643-1715), who by that time had reached the age of 23, took control of the state in his own hands. Protracted for 54 years " Louis XIV century”is both the apogee of French absolutism and the beginning of its decline. The king plunged headlong into state affairs. He skillfully selected for himself active and intelligent associates. Among them are Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Minister of War Marquis de Louvois, Minister of Defense Sebastian de Vauban and such brilliant generals as the Vicomte de Turenne and Prince Condé.

Louis formed a large and well-trained army, which, thanks to Vauban, had the best fortresses. A clear hierarchy of ranks was introduced in the army, a single military uniform, quartermaster service. Matchlock muskets were replaced by a bayonet-mounted hammer gun. All this increased the discipline and combat effectiveness of the army. The instrument of foreign policy - the army, along with the police created at that time, was widely used as an instrument of "internal order".

With the help of this army, Louis pursued his strategic line during four wars. The most difficult was the last war - the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) - a desperate attempt to resist all of Europe. An attempt to win the Spanish crown for his grandson ended with the invasion of enemy troops on French soil, the impoverishment of the people and the depletion of the treasury. The country has lost all previous conquests. Only a split among the enemy forces and a few very recent victories saved France from complete defeat. At the end of his life, Louis was accused of being "too fond of war." A heavy burden for France was 32 war years out of 54 years of Louis's reign.

In the economic life of the country, a policy of mercantilism was carried out. It was especially actively pursued by Colbert, the Minister of Finance in 1665-1683. A major organizer and indefatigable administrator, he tried to put into practice the mercantilist doctrine of a "trade surplus". Colbert sought to minimize the import of foreign goods and increase the export of French, thus increasing the amount of taxable monetary wealth in the country. Absolutism introduced protectionist duties, subsidized the creation of large manufactories, granted them various privileges (“royal manufactories”). The production of luxury items (for example, tapestries, i.e. carpet-pictures at the famous royal Gobelin manufactory), weapons, equipment, uniforms for the army and navy was especially encouraged.

For active overseas and colonial trade, monopoly trading companies were created with the participation of the state - East India, West India, Levantine, the construction of the fleet was subsidized.

In North America, the vast territory of the Mississippi basin, called Louisiana, became the possession of France along with Canada. The importance of the French West Indies (Saint Domingo, Guadeloupe, Martinique) increased, where plantations of sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, indigo, coffee, based on the labor of Negro slaves, began to be created. France took possession of a number of trading posts in India.

Louis XIV rescinded the Edict of Nantes, establishing religious tolerance. The prisons and galleys filled with Huguenots. Dragonnades (stays of dragoons in the houses of the Huguenots, in which the dragoons were allowed "necessary outrages") fell upon the Protestant areas. As a result, tens of thousands of Protestants left the country, among them many skilled artisans and wealthy merchants.

The king chose the place of his residence Versailles, where a grandiose palace and park ensemble was created. Louis sought to make Versailles the cultural center of all of Europe. The monarchy sought to direct the development of sciences and arts, to use them to maintain the prestige of absolutism. Under him, an opera house, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Painting, the Academy of Architecture, the Academy of Music were created, and an observatory was founded. Pensions were paid to scientists and artists.

Under him, absolutism in the history of France reached its apogee. " State is me».

By the end of the reign of Louis XIV, France was devastated by exhausting wars, the goals of which exceeded the capabilities of France, the cost of maintaining a huge army at that time (300-500 thousand people per early XVIII century against 30 thousand in the middle of the XVII), heavy taxes. Agricultural output fell, industrial production and trade activity declined. France's population has declined significantly.

All these results of the "century of Louis XIV" testified that French absolutism had exhausted its historical progressive possibilities. The feudal-absolutist system entered the stage of decay and decline.

The fall of the monarchy.

In 1715, Louis XIV, already decrepit and old, died.

His five-year-old great-grandson became the heir to the French throne Louis XV (1715-1774). While he was a child, the country was ruled by a self-appointed regent, the ambitious Duke of Orleans.

Louis XV tried to imitate his brilliant predecessor, but in almost every respect the reign of Louis XV was a miserable parody of the reign of the Sun King.

The army nurtured by Louvois and Vauban was led by aristocratic officers who sought their posts for the sake of court careers. This had a negative effect on the morale of the troops, although Louis XV himself paid great attention to the army. French troops fought in Spain, participated in two major campaigns against Prussia: the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763).

The royal administration controlled the sphere of trade and did not take into account its own interests in this sphere. After the humiliating Peace of Paris (1763), France had to give up most of its colonies and give up its claims to India and Canada. But even then, the port cities of Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes and Le Havre continued to prosper and enrich themselves.

Louis XV said: " After me - even a flood". He was little concerned about the situation in the country. Louis devoted time to hunting and favorites, allowing the latter to interfere in the affairs of the country.

After the death of Louis XV in 1774, the French crown went to his grandson, the twenty-year-old Louis XVI. At this time in French history, the need for reform was evident to many.

Turgot was appointed comptroller-general of finances by Louis XVI. Outstanding statesman and a prominent theoretician-economist, Turgot tried to implement a program of bourgeois reforms. In 1774-1776. he abolished the regulation of the grain trade, abolished the guild corporations, freed the peasants from the state road corvee and replaced it with a cash land tax that fell on all classes. Turgot hatched plans for new reforms, including the abolition of feudal duties for the ransom. But under the onslaught of reactionary forces, Turgot was dismissed, his reforms were cancelled. Reform "from above" within the framework of absolutism was impossible to solve the urgent problems of the further development of the country.

In 1787-1789. a commercial and industrial crisis unfolded. Its emergence was facilitated by the treaty concluded by French absolutism in 1786 with England, which opened the French market for cheaper English products. The decline and stagnation of production swept the cities and the fishing countryside. The public debt rose from 1.5 billion livres in 1774 to 4.5 billion in 1788. The monarchy was on the verge of financial bankruptcy. The bankers refused new loans.

The life of the kingdom seemed peaceful and calm. In search of a way out, the government again turned to attempts at reform, in particular to Turgot's plans to impose part of the taxes on the privileged classes. A project of a non-estate land direct tax was developed. Hoping to get the support of the privileged estates themselves, the monarchy convened a meeting in 1787 " notables"- eminent representatives of the estates chosen by the king. However, the notables flatly refused to approve the proposed reforms. They demanded to call Estates General not collected since 1614. At the same time, they wanted to preserve the traditional voting order in the states, which made it possible to carry out decisions that were beneficial to them. The privileged leaders hoped to occupy a dominant position in the Estates General and achieve the restriction of royal power in their own interests.

But these calculations did not come true. The slogan of the convocation of the Estates General was taken up by broad circles of the third estate, led by the bourgeoisie, who came up with their own political program.

The convocation of the Estates General was scheduled for the spring of 1789. The number of deputies of the third estate doubled, but the important question of the voting procedure remained open.

The deputies of the third estate, feeling popular support and pushed by it, went on the offensive. They rejected the estate principle of representation and on June 17 proclaimed themselves National Assembly, i.e. authorized representative of the whole nation. On June 20, having gathered in a large hall for a ball game (the usual meeting room was closed and guarded by soldiers by order of the king), the deputies of the national assembly vowed not to disperse until a constitution was worked out.

In response to this, on June 23, Louis XVI announced the abolition of the decisions of the third estate. However, the deputies of the third estate refused to obey the order of the king. They were joined by some of the deputies of the nobility and the clergy. The king was forced to order the rest of the deputies of the privileged estates to join the National Assembly. On July 9, 1789, the Assembly proclaimed itself Constituent Assembly.

The court circles and Louis XVI himself decided to stop the beginning of the revolution by force. Troops were drawn to Paris.

Alerted by the introduction of troops, the Parisians understood that the dispersal of the National Assembly was being prepared. On July 13, the alarm sounded, the city was engulfed in an uprising. By the morning of July 14, the city was in the hands of the rebels. The culmination and final act of the uprising was the assault and storming of the bastille- a powerful eight-tower fortress with high 30-meter walls. From the time of Louis XIV, it served as a political prison and became a symbol of arbitrariness and despotism.

The storming of the Bastille was the beginning of French history. French Revolution and her first victory.

The onslaught of peasant uprisings prompted the Constituent Assembly to solve the agrarian problem - the main socio-economic issue of the French Revolution. Decrees of August 4-11 abolished church tithes, the right of seigneurial hunting for peasant lands etc. The main “real” duties connected with the land are qualifications, shampars, etc. were declared the property of the lords and subject to redemption. The terms of the redemption were promised by the Meeting to be fixed later.

On August 26, the Assembly adopted " Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” – an introduction to the future constitution. The influence of this document on the minds of contemporaries was exceptionally great. 17 articles of the Declaration in capacious formulas proclaimed the ideas of the Enlightenment as the principles of the revolution. " People are born and remain free and equal in rights”, read her first article. " natural and inalienable» security, resistance to oppression were also recognized as human rights. The Declaration proclaimed the equality of all before the law and the right to hold any position, freedom of speech and press, religious tolerance.

Immediately after the storming of the Bastille, the emigration of counter-revolutionary aristocrats began. Louis XVI, having declared his accession to the revolution, in fact refused to approve the Declaration of Rights, did not approve the decrees of August 4-11. He declared: " I will never agree to rob my clergy and my nobility».

Military units loyal to the king were drawn to Versailles. The masses of Paris grew anxious about the fate of the revolution. The ongoing economic crisis, food shortages, high prices increased the discontent of the Parisians. On October 5, about 20 thousand residents of the city moved to Versailles, the residence of the royal family and the National Assembly. An active role was played by Parisians from the labor strata - about 6 thousand women, participants in the campaign, were the first to march on Versailles.

The people were followed by the Paris National Guard, dragging their commander, Marshal Lafayette. At Versailles, people broke into the palace, pushed back the royal guards, demanded bread and the king's move to the capital.

On October 6, yielding to popular demand, the royal family moved from Versailles to Paris, where they were under the supervision of the revolutionary capital. The National Assembly also settled in Paris. Louis XVI was forced to unconditionally approve the Declaration of Rights, sanctioned the decrees of August 4-11, 1789.

Having strengthened its positions, the Constituent Assembly energetically continued the bourgeois reorganization of the country. Following the principle of civil equality, the Assembly abolished class privileges, abolished the institution of hereditary nobility, noble titles and coats of arms. By asserting freedom of enterprise, it destroyed state regulation and the shop system. The abolition of internal customs, the trade agreement of 1786 with England contributed to the formation of the national market and its protection from foreign competition.

By decree of November 2, 1789, the Constituent Assembly confiscated the church's possessions. Declared national property, they were put on sale to cover the public debt.

In September 1791, the Constituent Assembly completed the drafting of a constitution that established a bourgeois constitutional monarchy in France. Legislative power was vested in a unicameral Legislative Assembly, executive - to the hereditary monarch and the ministers appointed by him. The king could temporarily reject the laws approved by the Assembly, having the right of "delaying veto". France was divided into 83 departments, power in which was exercised by elected councils and directories, in cities and villages - by elected municipalities. The new unified judicial system was based on the election of judges and the participation of juries.

The election system introduced by the Assembly was a qualification and two-stage. "Passive" citizens who did not meet the conditions of the qualification did not receive political rights. Only "active" citizens - men from the age of 25, paying a direct tax of at least 1.5-3 livres, had the right to vote, were part of the National Guard, created in cities and villages. Their number was slightly more than half of adult men.

At that time, the importance of political clubs was great - in fact, they played the role of political parties that had not yet arisen in France. Created in 1789 had a great influence Jacobin club, who sat in the hall of the former monastery of St. James. It united supporters of the revolution of various orientations (including Mirabeau, And Robespierre), but in the early years it was dominated by the influence of moderate constitutionalist monarchists.

was more democratic Cordeliers club. It allowed "passive" citizens, women. Supporters of universal suffrage had a great influence in it. Danton, Desmoulins, Marat, Hébert.

On the night of June 21, 1791 The royal family secretly left Paris and moved to the eastern frontier. Relying on the army standing here, on detachments of emigrants and the support of Austria, Louis hoped to disperse the National Assembly and restore his unlimited power. Identified on the way and detained in the town of Varennes, the fugitives were returned to Paris under the protection of the National Guard and many thousands of armed peasants raised by the tocsin.

Now the democratic movement took on a republican character: the monarchical illusions of the people were dispelled. The center of the republican movement in Paris was the Cordeliers Club. However, moderate monarchist-constitutionalists strongly opposed these demands. " It's time for the revolution to end, one of their leaders declared in the Assembly Barnave, - she has reached her limit».

On July 17, 1791, the National Guard, using the "law of martial law", opened fire on unarmed demonstrators who, at the call of the Cordeliers, had gathered on the Champ de Mars to accept the republican petition. 50 of them were killed and several hundred wounded.

The political division in the former Third Estate also caused a split in the Jacobin Club. The more radical bourgeois figures remained in the club, who wanted to continue the revolution together with the people. Moderate liberal monarchists emerged from it, supporters of Lafayette and Barnave, who wanted to end the revolution and consolidate the constitutional monarchy. In the building of the former monastery of the Feuillants, they founded their own club.

In September 1791, the Assembly approved the final text of the constitution adopted by Louis XVI. Having exhausted its functions, the Constituent Assembly dispersed. It was replaced by the Legislative Assembly, elected on the basis of the qualification system, the first meeting of which took place on October 1, 1791.

The right wing of the meeting was made up of the Feuillants, the left wing consisted mainly of members of the Jacobin Club. Among the Jacobins then the deputies from the department the Gironde. Hence the name of this political group - Girondins.

On the basis of hostility to the revolution, the contradictions between France's neighbors in the east, Austria and Prussia, were sort of smoothed out. On August 27, 1791, the Austrian emperor Leopold II and the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II signed a declaration in the Saxon castle of Pillnitz, in which they declared their readiness to provide military assistance to Louis XVI and called on other monarchs of Europe to do so. On February 7, 1792, Austria and Prussia entered into a military alliance against France. The threat of foreign intervention hung over France.

In France itself, from the end of 1791, the question of war became one of the main ones. Louis XVI and his court wanted war - they counted on intervention and the fall of the revolution as a result of the military defeat of France. The Girondins strove for war - they hoped that the war would consolidate the decisive victory of the bourgeoisie over the nobility and at the same time push back the social problems posed by the popular movement. Mistakenly assessing the strength of France and the situation in the countries of Europe, the Girondins hoped for an easy victory and that the peoples would rise up against their "tyrants" when French troops appeared.

Robespierre opposed the militant agitation of the Girondins, supported by part of the Jacobins, including Marat. Realizing the inevitability of war with the European monarchies, he considered it reckless to hasten its beginning. Robespierre disputed the assertion Brissot about an immediate uprising in the countries where the French troops will enter; " Nobody likes armed missionaries ».

Most of the Feuillants were also against the war, fearing that in any case the war would overturn the regime of constitutional monarchy they had created.

The influence of the supporters of the war prevailed. On April 20, France declared war on Austria. The beginning of the war was unsuccessful for France. The old army was disorganized, half of the officers emigrated, the soldiers did not trust the commanders. The volunteers who came to the troops were poorly armed and not trained. On July 6, Prussia entered the war. The invasion of enemy troops into the territory of France was inexorably approaching, the enemies of the revolution were expecting it, the royal court became their center. Queen Marie Antoinette, who was the sister of the Austrian emperor, sent the French military plans to the Austrians.

France is in danger. The revolutionary people were seized by a patriotic upsurge. Battalions of volunteers were hastily formed. In Paris, 15,000 people signed up within a week. Detachments of federates arrived from the provinces, in defiance of the king's veto. These days, for the first time, it sounded widely Marseillaise- a patriotic song of the revolution, written back in April Rouget de Lile m and brought to Paris by a battalion of the Marseille federates.

In Paris, preparations began for an uprising to remove Louis XVI from power and develop a new constitution. On the night of August 10, 1792, the alarm sounded over Paris - the uprising began. Commissars chosen by the Parisians spontaneously gathered in the town hall. They formed the Paris Commune, which took power in the capital. The rebels took possession of the royal palace of the Tuileries. The Assembly deprived Louis XVI of the throne, the Commune, by its power, imprisoned the royal family in the Temple Castle.

The political privileges of the top bourgeoisie, enshrined in the constitution of 1791, also fell. All men from the age of 21 who were not in personal service were admitted to the elections to the Convention. Fled abroad Lafayette and many other leaders of the Feuillants. The Girondins became the leading force in the Assembly and in the new government.

On September 20, the National Convention began its work; On September 21, he decreed the abolition of royal power; September 22, France was proclaimed a republic. Its constitution was to be worked out by the Convention. However, from the very first steps of his activity, a fierce political struggle flared up in him.

On the upper benches in the Convention sat the deputies who made up its left wing. They were called the Mountain or Montagnards (from the French montagne - mountain). The most prominent leaders of the Mountain were Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Saint-Just. Most of the Montagnards were members of the Jacobin Club. Many Jacobins adhered to egalitarian ideas and strove for a democratic republic.

The right wing of the Convention was formed by the Girondin deputies. The Girondins opposed the further deepening of the revolution.

About 500 deputies constituting the center of the Convention were not part of any grouping, they were called "plain" or "swamp". During the first months of the Convention, the Plain strongly supported the Gironde.

By the end of 1792, the question of the fate of the king was at the center of the political struggle. Brought before the court of the Convention, Louis XVI was found "guilty" of treason, association with emigrants and foreign courts, of malicious intent against the freedom of the nation and the general security of the state. January 21, 1793 year he was guillotined.

In the spring of 1793, the revolution entered a period of a new acute crisis. In March, a peasant uprising broke out in northwestern France, reaching unprecedented strength in the Vendée. The royalists took over the leadership of the uprising. The Vendée rebellion, which raised tens of thousands of peasants, caused bloody excesses and for several years became an unhealed wound of the republic.

In the spring of 1793, the country's military situation deteriorated sharply. After the execution of Louis XVI, France found itself at war not only with Austria and Prussia, but also with Holland, Spain, Portugal, the German and Italian states.

The danger that once again hung over the republic required the mobilization of all the forces of the people, which the Gironde was unable to do.

May 31 - June 2 an uprising broke out in Paris. Forced to submit to the insurgent people, the Convention decided to arrest Brissot, Vergniaud and other leaders of the Gironde. (total 31 people). They came to the political leadership in the republic Jacobins.

On June 24, 1793, the Convention adopted a new constitution for France. It provided for a republic with a unicameral Legislative Assembly, direct elections and universal suffrage for men from the age of 21, proclaimed democratic rights and freedoms. Article 119 declared non-interference in the internal affairs of other peoples as a principle of French foreign policy. Later, on February 4, 1794, the Convention passed a decree abolishing slavery in the colonies.

The leading wing of the ruling Jacobin party was made up of the Robespierres. Their ideal was a republic of small and medium-sized producers, in which strict morality, supported by the state, moderated "private interest" and prevented extremes of property inequality.

In the autumn-winter of 1793, a temperate course took shape among the Jacobins. The leader of this trend was Georges Jacques Danton, his talented publicist - Camille Desmoulins. One of the most prominent Montagnards, tribunes of the first years of the revolution, Danton considered it natural to increase wealth and freely use its benefits, his fortune increased 10 times during the revolution.

On the opposite flank were the "extreme" revolutionaries - Chaumette, Hébert and others. They sought further leveling measures, confiscation and division of property of the enemies of the revolution.

The struggle between the currents became more and more fierce. In March 1794, Hébert and his closest associates appeared before a revolutionary tribunal and were guillotined. Soon their fate was shared by the ardent defender of the poor, the prosecutor of the Commune Chaumette.

In early April, a blow fell on the leaders of the moderates - Danton, Desmoulins and several of their associates. They all died on the guillotine.

The Robespierres saw that the positions of the Jacobin authorities were weakening, but they could not put forward a program capable of gaining broad public support.

In May-June 1794, the Robespierres tried to unite the people around a civil religion in the spirit of Rousseau. At the insistence of Robespierre, the Convention established the "cult of the Supreme Being", which included the veneration of republican virtues, justice, equality, freedom, love of the fatherland. The new cult was not needed by the bourgeoisie, and the masses remained indifferent to it.

In an attempt to strengthen their positions, the Robespierists passed a law on the tightening of terror on June 10. This multiplied the number of dissatisfied and accelerated the formation of a conspiracy in the Convention to overthrow Robespierre and his supporters. July 28 (10 Thermidor) outlawed Robespierre, Saint-Just and their associates (22 people in total) were guillotined. On 11-12 Thermidor, 83 more people shared their fate, most of them members of the Commune. Jacobin dictatorship fell.

In August 1795, the Thermidorian Convention adopted a new French constitution to replace the Jacobin, which was never implemented. While retaining the republic, the new constitution introduced a bicameral legislative body ( Council of Five Hundred And Council of Elders of 250 members at least 40 years old), two-stage elections, age and property qualifications. The executive power was handed over to the Directory of five people elected by the Legislative Corps. The constitution confirmed the confiscation of emigrant possessions, guaranteed the ownership of buyers of foreign property.

Four years Directory mode in the history of France were a time of socio-economic and political instability. France was going through a difficult period of adaptation to new conditions (in the future, deeply favorable for its progress). The war, the English blockade and the decline of the maritime colonial trade that flourished until 1789, the most acute financial crisis complicated this process.

The owners wanted stability and order, a strong government that would protect them both from the revolutionary uprisings of the people and from the claims of the supporters of the restoration of the Bourbons and the old order.

The most suitable person for the military coup was Napoleon Bonaparte. Influential financiers supplied him with money.

The coup has happened 18 brumaire(November 9, 1799). Power passed to three temporary consuls, actually led by Bonaparte. The coup of 18 Brumaire in the history of France opened the way for a regime of personal power - military dictatorship of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Consulate (1799-1804)

Already in December 1799 year, a new French constitution. Formally, France remained a republic with a very complex and ramified power structure. Executive power, whose rights and powers were significantly expanded, was given to three consuls. The first consul - and he became Napoleon Bonaparte - was elected for 10 years. He concentrated in his hands virtually all the fullness of executive power. The second and third consuls had an advisory vote. The consuls were for the first time named by name in the text of the constitution.

All men over the age of 21 enjoyed the right to vote, but they did not elect deputies, but candidates for deputies. From among them, the government selected members of the local administration and the highest legislative bodies. Legislative power was distributed among several bodies - the Council of State, the Tribunate, the Legislative Corps - and made dependent on the executive branch. All bills, having passed these instances, fell into the Senate, whose members were approved by Napoleon himself, and then went to the signature of the first consul.

The government also owned the legislative initiative. In addition, the constitution gave the first consul the right to introduce bills directly to the Senate, bypassing the legislature. All ministers were directly subordinate to Napoleon.

In fact, it was the regime of personal power of Napoleon, but it was possible to impose a dictatorship only by preserving the main gains of the revolutionary years: the destruction of feudal relations, the redistribution of landed property and a change in its nature.

A new constitution in the history of France was approved by a plebiscite (popular vote). The results of the plebiscite were predetermined. The voting took place in public, in front of the representatives of the new government; many then already voted not for the constitution, but for Napoleon, who gained considerable popularity.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 -1821)- an outstanding statesman and military leader of the time when the bourgeoisie was still a young, rising class and sought to consolidate its gains. He was a man of unshakable will and extraordinary mind. Under Napoleon, a whole galaxy of talented military leaders came to the fore ( Murat, lann, Davout,Her and many others).

A new plebiscite in 1802 secured the post of first consul for Napoleon Bonaparte for life. He was given the right to appoint a successor, dissolve the Legislative Corps, single-handedly approve peace treaties.

The continuous, successful wars for France contributed to the strengthening of the power of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1802, Napoleon's birthday was declared a national holiday, since 1803 his image appeared on the coins.

First Empire (1804-1814)

The power of the first consul increasingly assumed the character of a one-man dictatorship. The logical result was the proclamation of Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1804 Emperor of France under the name Napoleon I. He was solemnly crowned by the Pope himself.

In 1807, the Tribunate was abolished - the only body where there was opposition to the Bonapartist regime. A magnificent courtyard was created, court titles were restored, and the rank of marshal of the empire was introduced. The situation, customs, life of the French court imitated the old pre-revolutionary royal court. The appeal “citizen” disappeared from everyday life, but the words “sovereign”, “your imperial majesty” appeared.

In 1802, an amnesty law for emigrant nobles was issued. Returning from emigration, the old aristocracy gradually strengthened its positions. More than half of the prefects appointed in Napoleonic times belonged to the old nobility by origin.

Along with this, the French emperor, in an effort to strengthen his regime, created a new elite, she received titles of nobility from him and was indebted to him for everything.

Between 1808 and 1814, 3,600 titles of nobility were granted; land was distributed both in France and abroad - landed property was an indicator of wealth and social status.

However, the revival of titles did not mean a return to the old feudal structure of society. Class privileges were not restored, Napoleon's legislation consolidated legal equality.

Napoleon made all his brothers kings in the countries of Europe conquered by France. In 1805 he declared himself King of Italy. At the height of his power in 1810, Napoleon I, due to the childlessness of Empress Josephine, began looking for a new wife in one of the reigning houses of feudal Europe. He was denied marriage to a Russian princess.

But the Austrian court agreed to the marriage of Napoleon I with the Austrian princess Marie-Louise. With this marriage, Napoleon hoped to enter the family of "legitimate" monarchs of Europe and establish his own dynasty.

Napoleon sought to solve the most acute domestic political problem since the beginning of the revolution - the relationship between the bourgeois state and the church. In 1801, a concordat was concluded with Pope Pius VII. Catholicism was declared the religion of the majority of the French. The separation of the church from the state was destroyed, the state again undertook to provide for the maintenance of the clergy, to restore religious holidays.

The pope, in turn, recognized the sold-out church lands as the property of the new owners and agreed that the highest church ranks be appointed by the government. The Church introduced a special prayer for the health of the consul, and then the emperor. Thus, the church became the backbone of the Bonapartist regime.

During the years of the Consulate and the Empire in the history of France, the democratic gains of the revolution were for the most part eliminated. Elections and plebiscites were of a formal nature, and declarations of political freedom became a convenient demagogy that covered the despotic nature of government.

At the time of Napoleon's coming to power, the financial situation of the country was extremely difficult: the treasury was empty, civil servants had not received salaries for a long time. Streamlining finances has become one of the top priorities of the government. By increasing indirect taxes, the government managed to stabilize the financial system. Direct taxes (on capital) were reduced, which was in the interests of the big bourgeoisie.

Successful wars and protectionist policies contributed to the growth of exports. Napoleon imposed on European states favorable terms of trade for France. All the markets of Europe, as a result of the victorious march of the French army, were opened to French goods. The protectionist customs policy protected French entrepreneurs from the competition of English goods.

In general, the time of the Consulate and the Empire was favorable for the industrial development of France.

The regime established in France under Napoleon Bonaparte was called " Bonapartism". Napoleon's dictatorship was a special form of the bourgeois state, under which the bourgeoisie itself was excluded from direct participation in political power. Maneuvering between various social forces, relying on a powerful apparatus government controlled, the power of Napoleon received a certain independence in relation to social classes.

In an effort to unite the majority of the nation around the regime, to present himself as the spokesman for national interests, Napoleon adopted the idea of ​​​​the unity of the nation born in the French Revolution. However, this was no longer a defense of the principles of national sovereignty, but propaganda of the national exceptionalism of the French, the hegemony of France in the international arena. Therefore, in the field of foreign policy, Bonapartism is characterized by a pronounced nationalism. The years of the Consulate and the First Empire were marked by almost continuous bloody wars waged by Napoleonic France with the states of Europe. In the conquered countries and vassal states of France, Napoleon pursued a policy that was aimed at turning them into a market for French goods and a source of raw materials for French industry. Napoleon repeatedly said: My principle is France first". In the dependent states, in the interests of the French bourgeoisie, economic development was hampered by the imposition of unprofitable trade deals and the establishment of monopoly prices for French goods. Huge indemnities were pumped out of these states.

Already by 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte had formed a huge empire, reminiscent of the times of Charlemagne. In 1806, Austria and Prussia were defeated. At the end of October 1806, Napoleon entered Berlin. Here, on November 21, 1806, he signed a decree on the continental blockade, which played a big role in the fate of European countries.

According to the decree, throughout the French Empire and the countries dependent on it, trade with the British Isles was strictly prohibited. Violation of this decree, smuggling of English goods was punishable by severe repressions up to and including the death penalty. With this blockade, France sought to crush the economic potential of England, to bring her to her knees.

However, Napoleon did not achieve his goal - the economic destruction of England. Although the economy of England experienced difficulties during these years, they were not catastrophic: England owned vast colonies, had well-established contacts with the American continent, and, despite all the prohibitions, widely used the smuggling trade in English goods in Europe.

The blockade turned out to be difficult for the economies of European countries. French industry could not replace the cheaper and better goods of English enterprises. The break with England gave rise to economic crises in European countries, which led to the restriction of the sale of French goods in them. The blockade to a certain extent contributed to the growth of French industry, but it soon became clear that French industry could not do without British industrial products and raw materials.

The blockade for a long time paralyzed the life of such large French port cities as Marseille, Le Havre, Nantes, Toulon. In 1810 a system of licenses for the right to limited trade in English goods was introduced, but the cost of these licenses was high. Napoleon used the blockade as a means of protecting the developing French economy and as a source of revenue for the treasury.

At the end of the first decade of the 19th century, the crisis of the First Empire began in France. Its manifestations were periodic economic downturns, the growing weariness of large sections of the population from incessant wars. In 1810-1811, an acute economic crisis began in France. The negative consequences of the continental blockade had an effect: there was a shortage of raw materials, industrial products, and the high cost was growing. The bourgeoisie went into opposition to the Bonapartist regime. The last blow to Napoleonic France was inflicted by the military defeats of 1812-1814.

On October 16-19, 1813, a decisive battle took place near Leipzig between the army of Napoleon and the united army of the allied states of Europe. The battle of Leipzig was called the Battle of the Nations. Napoleon's army was defeated.

On March 31, 1814, the allied army entered Paris. Napoleon abdicated in favor of his son. However, the Senate, under pressure from European powers, decided to re-erect the Bourbon dynasty, the Count of Provence, brother of the executed Louis XVI, to the French throne. Napoleon was exiled for life to the island of Elba.

On May 30, 1814, a peace treaty was signed in Paris: France was deprived of all territorial acquisitions and returned to the borders of 1792. The agreement provided for the convening of an international congress in Vienna to finally resolve all issues related to the collapse of the Napoleonic empire.

10 months of Bourbon rule was enough to revive pro-Napoleonic sentiments again. Louis XVIII in May 1814 he published a constitutional charter. By " Charters of 1814 The power of the king was limited by the parliament, which consisted of two chambers. The upper chamber was appointed by the king, while the lower chamber was elected on the basis of a high property qualification.

This provided power to large landowners, nobles, and partly to the upper strata of the bourgeoisie. However, the old French aristocracy and clergy demanded from the government the full restoration of feudal rights and privileges, the return of land holdings.

The threat of the restoration of the feudal order, the dismissal of more than 20 thousand Napoleonic officers and officials caused an explosion of discontent with the Bourbons.

Napoleon took advantage of this situation. He also took into account the fact that the negotiations at the Congress of Vienna were moving forward with difficulty: sharp disagreements were revealed between the recent allies in the fight against Napoleonic France.

On March 1, 1815, with a thousand guards, Napoleon landed in the south of France and undertook a victorious campaign against Paris. All along the way, French military units went over to his side. March 20, he entered Paris. The empire has been restored. However, Napoleon could not resist the huge forces of England, Russia, Prussia and Austria.

The Allies had a huge superiority of forces, and on June 18, 1815, at the Battle of Waterloo (near Brussels), the Napoleonic army was finally defeated. Napoleon abdicated, surrendered to the British and was soon exiled to St. Helena in Atlantic Ocean where he died in 1821.

Defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte's army battle of waterloo led to the second restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France. Louis XVIII was restored to the throne. According to the Peace of Paris in 1815, France had to pay an indemnity of 700 million francs, to contain the occupying troops (they were withdrawn in 1818 after the payment of an indemnity).

Restoration was marked by political reaction in the country. Thousands of emigrant nobles who returned with the Bourbons demanded reprisals against political figures from the times of the revolution and the Napoleonic regime, the restoration of their feudal rights and privileges.

The “white terror” unfolded in the country, it took on especially cruel forms in the south, where gangs of royalists killed and persecuted people who were known as Jacobins and liberals.

However, a complete return to the past was no longer possible. The Restoration regime did not encroach on those changes in the distribution of landed property that occurred as a result of the French Revolution and were consolidated during the years of the First Empire. At the same time, the titles (but not estate privileges) of the old nobility were restored, which to a large extent managed to maintain their land ownership. The emigrant nobles were given back the lands confiscated by the revolution but not sold in 1815. Titles of nobility distributed under Napoleon I were also recognized.

From the beginning of the 1820s, the influence on state policy of the most reactionary part of the nobility and clergy, who did not want to adapt to the conditions of post-revolutionary France, increased and thought about the most complete return to the old order. In 1820, the heir to the throne, the Duke of Berry, was killed by the craftsman Louvel. This event was used by the reaction to attack constitutional principles. Censorship was restored, education was placed under the control of the Catholic Church.

Louis XVIII died in 1824. Under the name Charles X his brother, the Comte d'Artois, succeeded to the throne. He was called the king of emigrants. Charles X began to pursue a frankly pro-nobility policy and thereby completely upset the balance that had developed in the early years of the Restoration between the top of the bourgeoisie and the nobility in favor of the latter.

In 1825, a law was issued on monetary compensation to emigrant nobles for the lands they lost during the years of the revolution (25 thousand people, mainly representatives of the old nobility, received compensation in the amount of 1 billion francs). At the same time, the “law of sacrilege” was issued, which provided for severe punishment for actions against religion and the church, up to the death penalty by quartering and wheeling.

In August 1829, a personal friend of the king, one of the inspirers of the "White Terror" of 1815-1817, became head of government. Polignac. Polignac's ministry was one of the most reactionary in all the years of the Restoration regime. All its members belonged to the ultra-royalists. The very fact of the formation of such a ministry aroused indignation in the country. The Chamber of Deputies demanded the resignation of the ministry. In response, the king interrupted the meeting of the House.

Public discontent was intensified by the industrial depression that followed the economic crisis of 1826 and the high cost of bread.

In such a situation, Charles X decided on a coup d'état. On July 25, 1830, the king signed ordinances (decrees), which were a direct violation of the "Charter of 1814". The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved, the right to vote was henceforth granted only to large landowners. The ordinances abolished the freedom of the press by introducing a system of prior authorizations for periodicals.

The Restoration regime was clearly aimed at restoring the absolutist system in the country. In the face of such a danger, the bourgeoisie had to decide to fight.

July bourgeois revolution of 1830. "Three Glorious Days"

On July 26, 1830, the ordinances of Charles X were published in the newspapers. Paris responded to them with violent demonstrations. The very next day, an armed uprising began in Paris: the streets of the city were covered with barricades. Almost every tenth inhabitant of Paris participated in the battles. Part of the government forces went over to the side of the rebels. On July 29, the royal palace of the Tuileries was taken with a fight. The revolution has won. Charles X fled to England.

Power passed into the hands of the Provisional Government, created by the deputies of the liberal bourgeoisie; it was headed by the leaders of the liberals - banker Laffite And General Lafayette. The big bourgeoisie did not want and was afraid of a republic, it stood up for the preservation of the monarchy, headed by the Orleans dynasty, traditionally close to bourgeois circles. July 31 Louis Philippe d'Orleans was declared viceroy of the kingdom, and on August 7 - king of France.

The July Revolution finally decided the dispute: which social class should have political dominance in France - the nobility or the bourgeoisie - in favor of the latter. A bourgeois monarchy was established in the country; the new king, Louis Philippe, the largest forest owner and financier, was not accidentally called the “bourgeois king”.

Unlike the constitution of 1814, which was declared as an award to the royal power, the new constitution is “ Charter of 1830"- was declared an inalienable property of the people. The king, declared the new charter, rules not by virtue of divine right, but at the invitation of the French people; from now on, he could not cancel or suspend laws, lost the right to legislative initiative, being the head of the executive branch. The members of the House of Peers were to be elected, as were the members of the lower house.

The "Charter of 1830" proclaimed freedom of the press and assembly. Age and property qualifications were reduced. Under Louis Philippe, the financial bourgeoisie, the big bankers, dominated. The financial aristocracy received high positions in the state apparatus. She enjoyed huge government subsidies, various benefits and privileges that were provided to railway and commercial companies. All this added to the budget deficit, which had become a chronic phenomenon under the July Monarchy. The result was a steady increase in public debt.

Both met the interests of the financial bourgeoisie: state loans, which the government took to cover the deficit, were given at high interest rates and were a sure source of enrichment. The growth of public debt increased the political influence of the financial aristocracy and the dependence of the government on it.

The July Monarchy resumed the conquest of Algiers begun under Charles X. The population of Algeria put up stubborn resistance, many “Algerian” generals of the French army, including Cavaignac, “became famous” for the cruelties in this war.

In 1847, Algeria was conquered and became one of the largest French colonies.

In the same 1847, a cyclical economic crisis broke out in France, which caused a sharp reduction in production, a shock to the entire monetary system and an acute financial crisis (the gold reserves of the French Bank fell from 320 million francs in 1845 to 42 million in early 1848), a huge increase government deficits, a wide wave of bankruptcies. The banquet company launched by the opposition swept the whole country: in September-October 1847, about 70 banquets were held with the number of participants 17 thousand people.

The country was on the eve of a revolution - the third in a row since the end of the 18th century.

On December 28, the legislative session of Parliament opened. It took place in an extremely stormy atmosphere. Domestic and foreign policy was subjected to sharp criticism from opposition leaders. However, their demands were rejected, and the next banquet of supporters of electoral reform, scheduled for February 22, 1848, was banned.

Nevertheless, thousands of Parisians took to the streets and squares of the city on February 22, which became rallying points for a government-banned demonstration. Skirmishes with the police began, the first barricades appeared, their number increased rapidly. On February 24, all of Paris was covered with barricades, all important strategic points were in the hands of the rebels. Louis Philippe abdicated in favor of his infant grandson, the Count of Paris, and fled to England. The Tuileries Palace was captured by the rebels, the royal throne was pulled out to Place de la Bastille and burned.

An attempt was made to preserve the monarchy by establishing the regency of the Duchess of Orléans, mother of the Count of Paris. The Chamber of Deputies defended the regency rights of the Duchess of Orleans. However, these plans were thwarted by the rebels. They burst into the meeting room of the Chamber of Deputies with exclamations: “No regency, no king! Long live the Republic! The deputies were forced to agree to the election of the Provisional Government. The February Revolution has won.

The actual head of the Provisional Government was a moderate liberal, a well-known French romantic poet. A. Lamartine who took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Provisional Government was included as ministers without a portfolio of workers Alexander Albert, member of secret republican societies, and popular petty-bourgeois socialist Louis Blanc. The provisional government was of a coalition character.

February 25, 1848 The Provisional Government proclaimed France a republic. A few days later, a decree was issued on the introduction of universal suffrage for men over 21 years old.

On May 4, the Constituent Assembly opened. On November 4, 1948, the Constituent Assembly adopted the constitution of the Second Republic. Legislative power was held by the unicameral Legislative Assembly, elected for 3 years by universal suffrage for men over 21 years of age. Executive power in the person of the president, who was elected not by parliament, but by popular vote for 4 years (without the right to re-election) and endowed with enormous power: he formed the government, appointed and dismissed officials, led the armed forces of the state. The President was independent of the Legislative Assembly, but could not dissolve it and cancel the decisions taken by the Assembly.

The presidential election was scheduled for December 10, 1848. The nephew of Napoleon I won - Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. He had already tried twice before to seize power in the country.

Louis Napoleon led a frank struggle to move from the presidential chair to the imperial throne. On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon staged a coup d'état. The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and a state of siege was introduced in Paris. All power in the country was transferred to the hands of the president, who was elected for 10 years. As a result of the coup d'état in 1851, a Bonapartist dictatorship was established in France. A year after the usurpation of power by Louis Napoleon, on December 2, 1852, he was proclaimed emperor under the name Napoleon III.

The time of the empire is a chain of wars, aggressions, seizures and colonial expeditions of French troops in Africa and Europe, Asia, America, Oceania in order to establish France's hegemony in Europe and strengthen its colonial power. Military operations continued in Algeria. The Algerian question played an ever greater role in the life of France. In 1853 it became the colony of New Caledonia. Since 1854, military expansion was carried out in Senegal. French troops, along with the British, fought in China. France actively participated in the "opening" in 1858 of Japan to foreign capital. In 1858, the French invasion of South Vietnam began. The French company began construction of the Suez Canal in 1859 (opened in 1869).

Franco-Prussian War.

The ruling court circles of Napoleon III decided to raise the prestige of the dynasty through a victorious war with Prussia. Under the auspices of Prussia, the unification of the German states was successfully carried out. At eastern borders France grew a powerful militaristic state - the North German Union, the ruling circles of which openly sought to capture the rich and strategically important areas France - Alsace and Lorraine.

Napoleon III decided to prevent the final creation of a unified German state by the war with Prussia. The Chancellor of the North German Union, O. Bismarck, was intensively preparing for the final stage of the reunification of Germany. The saber-rattling in Paris only made it easier for Bismarck to implement his plan to create a unified German empire through war with France. In contrast to France, where the Bonapartist military leaders made a lot of noise, but cared little about the combat effectiveness of the army, in Berlin they secretly but purposefully prepared for war, re-equipped the army and carefully developed strategic plans for upcoming military operations.

On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Napoleon III, starting the war, poorly calculated his forces. "We are ready, we are completely ready," the French Minister of War assured members of the Legislative Corps. It was bragging. Disorder and confusion reigned everywhere. The army did not have a general leadership, there was no definite plan for the conduct of the war. Not only soldiers, but also officers needed the bare necessities. The officers were given 60 francs each to purchase revolvers from merchants. There were not even maps of the theater of operations on the territory of France, since it was assumed that the war would be fought on the territory of Prussia.

From the very first days of the war, the overwhelming superiority of Prussia was revealed. She was ahead of the French in the mobilization of troops and their concentration near the border. The Prussians had an almost double numerical superiority. Their command persistently carried out a predetermined war plan.

The Prussians almost immediately cut the French army into two parts: one part, under the command of Marshal Bazin, retreated to the fortress of Metz and was besieged there, the other, under the command of Marshal MacMahon and the emperor himself, was driven back to Sedan under the onslaught of a large Prussian army. Near Sedan, not far from the Belgian border, on September 2, 1870, a battle took place that decided the outcome of the war. The Prussian army defeated the French. Three thousand French fell in the battle of Sedan. MacMahon's army of 80,000 and Napoleon III himself were taken prisoner.

The news of the captivity of the emperor shook Paris. On September 4, crowds of people filled the streets of the capital. At their request, France was proclaimed a republic. Power passed to the Provisional Government of National Defense, which represented a broad bloc of political forces in opposition to the empire, from monarchists to radical republicans. In response, Prussia made frankly predatory demands.

The republicans who came to power considered it dishonorable to accept the Prussian conditions. After all, even during the revolution of the late 18th century, the republic had earned the reputation of a patriotic regime, and the republicans were afraid that the republic would be suspected of betraying national interests. But the scale of the losses suffered by France in this war did not leave hope for an early victory. On September 16, Prussian troops appeared in the vicinity of Paris. Within a short time they occupied the entire north-east of France. For some time, France remained defenseless against the enemy. The government's efforts to restore military capacity only bore fruit towards the end of 1870, when the Army of the Loire was formed south of Paris.

In a similar situation, the revolutionaries of 1792 called on France for a popular war of liberation. But the fear of the threat of the escalation of the national liberation war into a civil one kept the government from such a step. It came to the conclusion that the conclusion of peace was inevitable on the terms offered by Prussia, but was waiting for this favorable moment, but for now it was imitating national defense.

As soon as it became known about the government's new attempt to enter into peace negotiations, an uprising broke out in Paris. On October 31, 1870, soldiers of the National Guard arrested and held the ministers hostage for several hours until they were rescued by troops loyal to the government.

Now the government was more concerned with appeasing restless Parisians than with national defense. The uprising of 31 October thwarted the plan for an armistice prepared by Adolphe Thiers. French troops unsuccessfully tried to break the blockade of Paris. By the beginning of 1871, the position of the besieged capital seemed hopeless. The government decided that it was impossible to delay further with the conclusion of peace.

On January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles of the French Kings, the Prussian King Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor, and on January 28, an armistice was signed between France and united Germany. Under its terms, the forts of Paris and the army's stockpiles of weapons were transferred to the Germans. The final peace was signed in Frankfurt on May 10, 1873. Under its terms, France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany, and also had to pay 5 billion francs indemnity.

The Parisians were extremely outraged by the terms of the peace, but despite the seriousness of disagreements with the government, no one in Paris thought about an uprising, much less prepared it. The uprising was provoked by the actions of the authorities. After the blockade was lifted, the payment of remuneration to the soldiers of the National Guard was stopped. In a city whose economy has not yet recovered from the consequences of the blockade, thousands of residents were left without a livelihood. The pride of the inhabitants of Paris was hurt by the decision of the National Assembly to choose Versailles as its place of residence.

Paris Commune

On March 18, 1871, by order of the government, troops attempted to capture the artillery of the National Guard. The soldiers were stopped by the inhabitants and retreated without a fight. But the guardsmen seized the generals Lecomte and Tom, who commanded government troops, and shot them on the same day.

Thiers ordered the evacuation of government offices to Versailles.

On March 26, elections were held for the Paris Commune (as the city government of Paris was traditionally called). Of the 85 members of the Council of the Commune, most were workers or their recognized representatives.

The Commune declared its intention to carry out profound reforms in many areas.

First of all, they took a number of measures to alleviate the situation of the poor inhabitants of Paris. But many global plans failed to materialize. The main concern of the Commune at that moment was the war. At the beginning of April clashes began between the federates, as the fighters of the armed detachments of the Commune called themselves, with the troops of Versailles. The forces were obviously not equal.

Opponents seemed to compete in cruelty and excesses. The streets of Paris were covered in blood. Unparalleled vandalism was carried out by the Communards during street fighting. In Paris, they deliberately set fire to the city hall, the Palace of Justice, the Tuileries Palace, the Ministry of Finance, the house of Thiers. Countless cultural and artistic treasures perished in the fire. Arsonists also attempted on the treasures of the Louvre.

"Bloody Week" May 21-28 ended the short history of the Commune. On May 28, the last barricade on Rampono Street fell. The Paris Commune lasted only 72 days. Very few Communards managed to escape the ensuing massacre by leaving France. Among the Communard emigrants was a French worker, poet, author of the proletarian anthem "The Internationale" - Eugene Pottier.

A troubled time began in the history of France, when three dynasties claimed the French throne at once: bourbons, Orleans, Bonapartes. Although September 4, 1870 of the year as a result of a popular uprising in France, a republic was proclaimed, in the National Assembly the majority belonged to the monarchists, the minority were republicans, among whom there were several trends. There was a "republic without republicans" in the country.

However, the plan to restore the monarchy in France failed. The bulk of the population of France was in favor of establishing a republic. The question of determining the political system of France was not decided for a long time. Only in 1875 In the same year, the National Assembly, by a majority of one vote, adopted an addition to the basic law, recognizing France as a republic. But even after that, France was on the verge of a monarchical coup several more times.

May 24, 1873 an ardent monarchist was elected president of the republic McMahon, on whose name three monarchist parties that hated each other agreed when they were looking for a successor to Thiers. Under the auspices of the president, monarchist intrigues were carried out to restore the monarchy.

In November 1873 McMahon's powers were extended for seven years. IN 1875 McMahon was a determined opponent of a constitution in the republican spirit, which, nevertheless, was adopted by the National Assembly.

The constitution of the Third Republic was a compromise between monarchists and republicans. Forced to recognize the republic, the monarchists tried to give it a conservative, undemocratic character. Legislative power was transferred to Parliament, which consisted of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Senate was elected for 9 years and renewed after three years by one third. The age limit for senators was 40 years. The Chamber of Deputies was elected for 4 years only by men who have reached the age of 21 and have lived at least 6 months in this community. Women, military personnel, youth, seasonal workers did not receive voting rights.

The executive power was handed over to the president, elected by the National Assembly for 7 years. He was given the right to declare war, make peace, as well as the right to initiate legislation and appoint to the highest civil and military positions. Thus, the power of the president was great.

The first parliamentary elections, held on the basis of the new constitution, brought victory to the Republicans. IN 1879 McMahon is forced to resign. Moderate Republicans came to power. Elected new president Jules Grevy, and the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Leon Gambetta.

Jules Grevy - the first president of France, who was a staunch Republican and actively opposed the restoration of the monarchy.

The removal of Marshal McMahon was greeted in the country with a sense of relief. With the election of Jules Grevy, the conviction took root that the republic had entered a period of even, calm and fruitful development. Indeed, the years of Grevy's administration were marked by colossal successes in strengthening the republic. December 28th 1885 he was re-elected president Third Republic. The second period of the presidency of Jules Grevy was very short. At the end 1887 he was forced to resign the title of president of the republic under the influence of public indignation caused by revelations about the reprehensible actions of Grevy's son-in-law, deputy Wilson, who traded in the highest state award - the Order of the Legion of Honor. Personally, Grevy was not compromised.

From 1887 to 1894 French President was Sadie Carnot.

The seven years of Carnot's presidency took a prominent place in the history of the Third Republic. It was a period of consolidation of the republican system. His ultimate failure Boulanger and Boulangerism (1888-89) made the republic even more popular in the eyes of the population. The strength of the republic was not in the least shaken even by such unfavorable events as "Panamanian scandals" (1892-93) and severe manifestations anarchism (1893).

During the presidency of Grevy and Carnot, the majority in the Chamber of Deputies belonged to the moderate Republicans. On their initiative, France actively seized new colonies. IN 1881 year, a protectorate of France was established over Tunisia, V 1885 France's right to Annam and Tonkin was secured. In 1894, the war for Madagascar began. After two years of bloody war, the island became a French colony. At the same time, France was leading the conquest of West and Central Africa. At the end of the 19th century, French possessions in Africa were 17 times the size of the metropolis itself. France became the second (after England) colonial power in the world.

Colonial wars demanded large sums of money, taxes grew. The authority of the moderate republicans, who expressed the interests of only the big financial and industrial bourgeoisie, was falling.

This led to the strengthening of the radical left wing in the ranks of the Republican Party, led by Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929).

Georges Clemenceau - the son of a doctor, the owner of a small estate, Clemenceau's father and he himself opposed the Second Empire, were persecuted. During the period of the Paris Commune, Georges Clemenceau served as one of the Paris mayors, tried to be an intermediary between the Commune and Versailles. Becoming the leader of the radicals, Clemenceau sharply criticized the domestic and foreign policies of the moderate Republicans, sought their resignation, earning the nickname "the overthrower of ministers."

In 1881, the Radicals broke away from the Republicans and formed an independent party. They demanded the democratization of the political system, the separation of church and state, the introduction of a progressive income tax, and social reforms. In the parliamentary elections of 1881, the Radicals already acted independently and won 46 seats. However, the majority in the Chamber of Deputies remained with the moderate Republicans.

The political positions of monarchists, clerics, and moderate republicans converged more and more on a common anti-democratic platform. This was clearly manifested in connection with the so-called Dreyfus affair, around which a sharp political struggle unfolded.

The Dreyfus affair.

In 1884, it was discovered that secret documents of a military nature had been sold to the German military attache in Paris. This could be done only by one of the officers of the General Staff. Suspicion fell on the captain Alfred Dreyfus, Jewish by nationality. Despite the fact that no serious evidence of his guilt was established, Dreyfus was arrested and court-martialed. Among the French officers, mostly from noble families who were educated in Catholic educational institutions anti-Semitic sentiments were strong. The Dreyfus affair was the impetus for an explosion of anti-Semitism in the country.

The military command did everything possible to support the Dreyfus charge of espionage, he was found guilty and sentenced to life hard labor.

The movement to revise the Dreyfus affair that unfolded in France was not limited to defending an innocent officer, it turned into a struggle between the forces of democracy and reaction. The Dreyfus case excited wide circles of the population and attracted the attention of the press. Among the supporters of the revision of the sentence were writers Emile Zola, Anatole France, Octave Mirabeau and others. Zola published open letter titled "I accuse", addressed to President Faure, an opponent of the retrial of the Dreyfus case. The famous writer accused of trying to save the real criminal by falsifying evidence. Zola was prosecuted for his speech, and only emigration to England saved him from imprisonment.

Zola's letter excited the whole of France, it was read and discussed everywhere. The country split into two camps: the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards.

It was clear to the most far-sighted politicians that the Dreyfus affair should be ended as soon as possible - France was on the verge of civil war. The verdict in the Dreyfus case was revised, he was not acquitted, but then the president pardoned him. The government in this way tried to hide the truth: the innocence of Dreyfus and the name of the real spy - Esterhazy. Only in 1906 Dreyfus was pardoned.

At the turn of the century.

The French people could not forget the national humiliation experienced in connection with the defeat of France in the war with Prussia. The country struggled to heal the wounds inflicted by the war. The original French lands of Alsace and Lorraine were included in German territory. France badly needed an ally for a future war with Germany. Russia could become such an ally, which, in turn, did not want to remain isolated in the face of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy), which had a clearly anti-Russian orientation. IN 1892 A military convention was signed between France and Russia in 1893, and a military alliance was concluded in 1893.

From 1895 to 1899 President of the Third Republic Felix Fore.

He introduced in the Elysee Palace the etiquette of almost royal courts, unusual until then in France, and demanded strict observance of it; he considered himself unworthy of appearing at various celebrations next to the prime minister or the presidents of the chambers, everywhere trying to emphasize his special significance as head of state.

These features began to manifest themselves especially sharply after the visit to Paris by Emperor Nicholas II and the Empress in 1896. This visit was the result of the rapprochement between France and Russia, which was being worked on by governments before and under Faure; he himself was an active supporter of rapprochement. In 1897, the Russian imperial couple paid a second visit.

Industrialization took place in France more slowly than in Germany, the USA, England. If in concentration of production France lagged far behind other capitalist countries, then in concentration of banks it was ahead of others and took first place.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been a general shift to the left in the mood of the French. This was clearly manifested during the parliamentary elections in 1902, when the majority of the votes were received by the left parties - socialists and radicals. After the elections, the radicals became the masters in the country. The radical government of Combe (1902-1905) launched an offensive against the Catholic Church. The government ordered the closure of schools run by priests. The clergy fiercely resisted. Several thousand schools of religious orders turned into fortresses. Unrest was especially strong in Brittany. But "Papa Komba", as the new prime minister was called, stubbornly pursued his line. It came to breaking off diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Tensions intensified with the top army leadership, dissatisfied with the government's attempts to carry out army reform. At the end of 1904, information was leaked to the press that the government was maintaining a secret dossier on the highest army ranks. A loud scandal broke out, as a result of which the Combe government was forced to resign.

In 1904, France made an agreement with England. Creation of an Anglo-French alliance Entente was an international event.

In December 1905, the cabinet of the right-wing radical Rouvier, who replaced Combe's cabinet, passed a law on the separation of church and state. At the same time, the property of the church was not confiscated, and the clergy received the right to state pensions.

By the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, France ranked first in Europe in terms of the number of strikers. A great resonance was caused by the miners' strike in the spring of 1906. Its cause was one of the largest catastrophes in the history of France in the mines, which killed 1,200 miners. There was a threat of escalation of traditional labor conflicts into street clashes.

This was taken advantage of by the Radical Party, which sought to present itself as the most wise political force, capable of simultaneously carrying out the necessary reforms and ready to display cruelty in order to preserve civil peace.

In the parliamentary elections of 1906, the Radical Party gained even more strength. Georges Clemenceau (1906-1909) became head of the Council of Ministers. A bright, extraordinary figure, he initially sought to emphasize that it was his government that would really begin to work on reforming society. It turned out to be much easier to declare this idea than to implement it. True, one of the first steps of the new government was the re-establishment of the Ministry of Labor, the leadership of which was entrusted to the "independent socialist" Viviani. This, however, did not solve the problem of stabilizing labor relations. Across the country, acute labor conflicts periodically flared up, more than once developing into open clashes with the forces of law and order. Failing to normalize social situation, Clemenceau resigned in 1909.

The new government was headed by “an independent socialist A. Briand. He passed a law on workers' and peasants' pensions from the age of 65, but this did not strengthen the position of his government.

There was a certain instability in the political life of France: none of the parties represented in the parliament could carry out its political line alone. Hence the constant search for allies, the formation of various party combinations, which fell apart at the first test of strength. This situation continued until 1913, when the presidential elections were won by Raymond Poincare, going to success under the slogan of creating a "great and strong France". He obviously sought to shift the center of the political struggle from social problems towards foreign policy and thus consolidate society.

World War I.

IN 191 3 was elected President of France Raymond Poincare. Preparation for war became the main task of the new president. France wanted in this war to return Alsace and Lorraine, taken from her by Germany in 1871, and to seize the Saar basin. The last months before the outbreak of the First World War were filled with acute internal political struggle, and only the entry of France into the war removed from the agenda the question of which course she should follow.

First World War began on July 28, 1914. France entered the war on 3 August. The German command planned to defeat France as soon as possible, and only then focus on the fight against Russia. German troops launched massive offensives in the West. In the so-called "border battle" they broke through the front and launched an offensive deep into France. In September 1914, a grandiose battle on the Marne, on the outcome of which the fate of the entire campaign depended on Western front. In fierce battles, the Germans were stopped and then driven back from Paris. The plan for the lightning defeat of the French army failed. The war on the Western Front became protracted.

In February 1916 the German command began the largest-scale offensive operation trying to capture the strategically important French Fortress Verdun. However, despite colossal efforts and huge losses, the German troops were never able to take Verdun. The Anglo-French command tried to use the current situation, which launched a major offensive in the summer of 1916. operation in the area of ​​the river Somme, where for the first time they tried to seize the initiative from the Germans.

However, in April 1917, when the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente, the situation became more favorable for Germany's opponents. The inclusion of the United States in the military efforts of the Entente guaranteed the troops of that reliable advantage in terms of logistics. Realizing that time was against them, the Germans in March-July 1918 made several desperate attempts to achieve a turning point in the course of hostilities on the Western Front. At the cost of huge losses, which completely exhausted the German army, she managed to get closer to Paris at a distance of about 70 km.

On July 18, 1918, the Allies launched a powerful counteroffensive. November 11, 1918 Germany capitulated. The peace treaty was signed at the Palace of Versailles June 28, 1919. Under the terms of the treaty, France received Alsace, Lorraine, Saar coalfield.

Interwar period.

France was at the height of its power. She completely defeated her mortal enemy, she had no serious opponents on the continent, and in those days hardly anyone could have imagined that after a little more than two decades the Third Republic would fall apart like a house of cards. What happened, why France not only failed to consolidate its very real success, but in the end suffered the largest national catastrophe in the history of France?

Yes, France won the war, but that success cost the French people dearly. Every fifth inhabitant of the country (8.5 million people) was mobilized into the army, 1 million 300 thousand Frenchmen died, 2.8 million people were injured, of which 600 thousand remained disabled.

A third of France, where the fighting took place, was seriously destroyed, and it was there that the main industrial potential of the country was concentrated. The franc depreciated 5 times, and France itself owed the United States a huge amount - more than 4 billion dollars.

There were fierce disputes in society between a wide range of left-wing forces and the nationalists in power, led by Premier Clemenceau, about how and by what means to solve numerous internal problems. The socialists believed that it was necessary to move towards building a more just society, only in this case all the sacrifices that were made on the altar of victory would be justified. To do this, it is necessary to more evenly distribute the hardships of the recovery period, alleviate the situation of the poor, take key sectors of the economy under state control so that they work for the whole society, and not for the enrichment of a narrow clan of the financial oligarchy.

Nationalists of various colors were united by a common idea - Germany must pay for everything! The implementation of this attitude requires not reforms that will inevitably split society, but its consolidation around the idea of ​​a strong France.

In January 1922, the government was headed by Raymond Poincaré, who even before the war had proven himself a fierce opponent of Germany. Poincare said that the main task of the current moment is to collect reparations from Germany in full. However, it was impossible to realize this slogan in practice. Poincaré himself became convinced of this a few months later. Then, after some hesitation, he decided to occupy the Ruhr area, which was done in January 1923.

However, the consequences of this step turned out to be quite different than Pkankare had imagined. There was no money coming from Germany - they were already used to it, but now coal has also stopped coming, which hit French industry painfully. Inflation has intensified. Under pressure from the United States and England, France was forced to withdraw its troops from Germany. The failure of this adventure caused a regrouping of political forces in France.

Parliamentary elections in May 1924 brought success to the Left Bloc. The head of the government was the leader of the radicals E. Herriot. First of all, he dramatically changed the country's foreign policy. France established diplomatic relations with the USSR and began to establish contacts with the country in various fields. But the implementation of the internal political program of the Left Bloc caused active resistance from conservative forces. An attempt to introduce a progressive income tax was failed, which jeopardized the entire financial policy of the government. The largest French banks also entered into a confrontation with the prime minister. In the most radical party, he had many opponents. As a result, on April 10, 1925, the Senate condemned the government's financial policy. Herriot resigned his powers.

This was followed by a period of governmental leapfrog - five governments were replaced in a year. Under such conditions, carrying out the program of the Left Bloc proved impossible. In the summer of 1926, the Left Bloc collapsed.

The new "government of national unity", which included both representatives of right-wing parties and radicals, was headed by Raymond Poincaré.

As his main task, Poincaré proclaimed the fight against inflation.

Government spending was markedly reduced by reducing the bureaucracy, new taxes were introduced, and at the same time large benefits were provided to entrepreneurs. From 1926 to 1929 France had a deficit-free budget. The Poincaré government succeeded in bringing down inflation, stabilizing the franc, and stopping the rise in the cost of living. The social activity of the state was intensified, benefits for the unemployed were introduced (1926), old-age pensions, as well as benefits for sickness, disability, and pregnancy (1928). Not surprisingly, the prestige of Poincaré and the parties supporting him grew.

In this situation, in 1928, the next parliamentary elections were held. As expected, the majority of seats in the new parliament were won by right-wing parties. The successes of the right were largely based on the personal prestige of Poincaré, but in the summer of 1929 he fell seriously ill and was forced to leave his post and politics in general.

The Third Republic was again seriously in a fever: from 1929 to 1932. 8 governments have changed. All were dominated by right-wing parties, which had new leaders - A. Tardieu and P. Laval. However, none of these governments could stop the French economy from sliding down an inclined plane.

In this environment, France approached the next parliamentary elections in May 1932, which were won by the newly re-established Left Bloc. The government was headed by E. Herriot. He immediately faced a complex of problems generated by the global economic crisis. Every day the budget deficit increased, and the government faced the question more and more acutely: where to get the money? Herriot was against the plans advocated by the communists and socialists to nationalize a number of industries and impose additional taxes on big capital. In December 1932, the Chamber of Deputies withdrew his proposal to continue paying war debts. The Herriot government fell, and the ministerial leapfrog began again, from which France not only seriously tired, but also seriously suffered.

The positions of those political forces that believed that democratic institutions had exhausted their possibilities and should be discarded began to strengthen in the country. In France, these ideas were propagated by a number of pro-fascist organizations, the largest of which were Action Francaise and Combat Crosses. The influence of these organizations among the masses grew rapidly, they had many adherents in the ruling elite, in the army, and in the police. As the crisis worsened, they spoke louder and more resolutely about the incapacity of the Third Republic and about their readiness to take power.

By the end of January 1932, the fascist organizations achieved the resignation of the government of K. Shotan. However, the government was headed by E. Daladier, a radical socialist hated by the right. One of his first steps was the removal of the prefect of police Chiappa, known for his fascist sympathies.

The patience of the latter has come to an end. On February 6, 1934, more than 40 thousand fascist activists moved to storm the Bourbon Palace, where Parliament was sitting, intending to disperse it. Clashes broke out with the police, during which 17 people were killed and over 2,000 injured. They could not capture the palace, but the government they did not like fell. Daladier was replaced by the right-wing radical G. Doumergue. There was a serious shift of forces in favor of the right. The threat of the establishment of a fascist regime really hung over the country.

All this forced the anti-fascist forces, forgetting their differences, to fight against the fascisization of the country. In July 1935 arose People's Front, which included communists, socialists, radicals, trade unions and a number of anti-fascist organizations of the French intelligentsia. The effectiveness of the new association was tested by the parliamentary elections held in the spring of 1936 - the candidates of the Popular Front received 57% of all votes. The formation of the government was entrusted to the leader of the parliamentary faction of the socialists, L. Blum. Under his chairmanship, negotiations began between representatives of trade unions and the General Confederation of Entrepreneurs. Under the terms of the agreements reached, wages increased by an average of 7-15%, collective agreements became mandatory for all enterprises where it was demanded by trade unions, and, finally, the government undertook to submit to parliament a number of laws on the social protection of workers.

In the summer of 1936, with unprecedented rapidity, Parliament adopted 133 laws that implemented the main provisions of the Popular Front. Among the most important are the law banning the activities of fascist leagues, as well as a series of socio-economic legislation: on a 40-hour working week, on paid holidays, on raising the minimum wages, about the organization public works, on the deferral of payments on debt obligations for small entrepreneurs and on their preferential lending, on the creation of the National Grain Bureau for the purchase of grain from peasants at fixed prices.

In 1937, a tax reform was carried out and additional loans were allocated for the development of science, education, and culture. The French Bank was placed under state control, the National Society was created railways with mixed capital, in which 51% of the shares belonged to the state, and, finally, a number of military factories were nationalized.

These measures significantly increased the state budget deficit. Large entrepreneurs sabotaged the payment of taxes, transferred capital abroad. The total amount of capital withdrawn from the French economy was, according to some estimates, 60 billion francs.

The law prohibited only paramilitary, but not political, fascist organizations. Supporters of the fascist idea immediately took advantage of this. The “Combat Crosses” were renamed the French Social Party, the “Patriotic Youth” became known as the Republican National and Social Party, etc.

Using democratic freedoms, the pro-fascist press launched a campaign of harassment against the Socialist Interior Minister Salangro, who was driven to suicide.

In the summer of 1937, Bloom submitted to Parliament a "financial recovery plan" that would increase indirect taxes, corporate income taxes, and introduce government controls on foreign exchange transactions.

After the Senate rejected this plan, Blum decided to resign.

The right managed to establish in the public mind the idea that the deterioration of the situation in the country is directly related to the "irresponsible social experiments" of the Popular Front. The right claimed that the Popular Front was preparing for the "Bolshevization" of France. Only a sharp turn to the right, a reorientation towards Germany, could save the country from this, argued the right. The leader of the right P. Laval said: "Better Hitler than the Popular Front." This slogan was adopted in 1938 by most of the political establishment of the Third Republic. In the end, it was her undoing.

In the autumn of 1938, the Daladier government, together with England, sanctioned the Munich Pact, which gave Czechoslovakia to be torn to pieces by Nazi Germany. Anti-communist sentiment outweighed even the traditional fear of Germany in the eyes of a significant part of French society. In essence, the Munich agreement opened the way to unleashing a new world war.

One of the first victims of this war was the Third Republic itself. June 14, 1940 German troops entered Paris. Today we can safely say that the path of the German army to Paris began in Munich. The Third Republic paid a terrible price for the short-sighted policies of its leaders.

The revelation came too late. Hitler had already managed to complete preparations for delivering a decisive blow on the Western Front. On May 10, 1940, the Germans, bypassing the Maginot defensive line built along the Franco-German border, invaded Belgium and Holland, and from there into Northern France. On the very first day of the offensive, German aviation bombarded the most important airfields on the territory of these countries. The main forces of French aviation were destroyed. In the Dunkirk area, a 400,000-strong Anglo-French group was surrounded. Only with great difficulty and huge losses was it possible to evacuate its remnants to England. The Germans, meanwhile, were rapidly advancing towards Paris. On June 10, the government fled from Paris to Bordeaux. Paris, declared an "open city", was occupied by the Germans on June 14 without a fight. A few days later, the government was headed Marshal Pétain, who immediately turned to Germany with a request for peace.

Only a few representatives of the bourgeoisie and senior officers opposed the capitulatory policy of the government. Among them was General Charles de Gaulle, who at that time was negotiating military cooperation with England in London. In response to his radio appeal to the French military outside the metropolis, many patriots united in the Free French movement to fight for the national revival of the homeland.

June 22, 1940 in the Compiègne forest France's surrender was signed. In order to humiliate France, the Nazis forced her representatives to sign this act in the same carriage in which, in November 1918, Marshal Foch dictated the terms of the armistice to the German delegation. The Third Republic fell.

According to the terms of the armistice, Germany occupied 2/3 of the territory of France, including Paris. The southern part of France formally remained independent. The small town of Vichy was chosen as the seat of the government of Pétain, who began to cooperate most closely with Germany.

The question arises: why did Hitler decide to at least formally retain part of France's sovereignty? There was a very pragmatic calculation behind this.

First, in this way he avoided raising the question of the fate of the French colonial empire and the French navy. In the event of the complete elimination of French independence, the Germans would hardly have been able to prevent the sailors from leaving for England and certainly would not have been able to prevent the transition of the huge French colonial empire and the troops stationed there under the control of Britain.

And so the French Marshal Pétain categorically forbade the fleet and colonial troops to leave their bases.

In addition, the presence of a formally independent France hampered the development resistance movement, which, in the context of Hitler's preparations for the English Channel jump, was very relevant for him.

Petain was proclaimed sole head of the French state. The French authorities undertook to supply Germany with raw materials, food and labor. The economy of the entire country was placed under German control. The French armed forces were subject to disarmament and demobilization. The Nazis got a huge amount of weapons and military materials.

Later, Hitler ordered the occupation of southern France, after the French colonial army at its core, contrary to the order of Pétain, went over to the side of the Allies.

On the territory of France, a resistance movement unfolded. On August 19, 1944, French patriots revolted in Paris. When the allied troops approached Paris on August 25, most of the city was already liberated.

Four years of occupation, aerial bombardment and hostilities have done a lot of damage to France. The economic situation of the country was extremely difficult. The government was led by General Charles de Gaulle, who was considered a national hero by most French people. One of the most important demands of the majority of the French was to punish the traitorous collaborators. Laval was shot, but Petain's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and many lower-ranking traitors eluded retribution.

In October 1945, elections were held for the Constituent Assembly, which was to develop a new constitution. They brought victory to the left forces: the PCF (French communist party), a little inferior to her SFIO (French Socialist Party).

The government was again led de Gaulle, became his deputy Maurice Thorez. The communists also received the portfolios of ministers of economy, industrial production, armaments and labor. At the initiative of the communist ministers in 1944-1945. power plants, gas plants, coal mines, aviation and insurance companies, major banks, and Renault automobile plants were nationalized. The owners of these factories received large material rewards, with the exception of Louis Renault, who collaborated with the Nazis, who committed suicide. But while Paris was starving, three-quarters of the population was malnourished.

A sharp struggle unfolded in the Constituent Assembly over the question of the nature of the future state system. De Gaulle insisted on concentrating power in the hands of the President of the Republic and reducing the prerogatives of Parliament; the bourgeois parties advocated a simple restoration of the constitution of 1875; the communists believed that the new republic should be truly democratic, with a sovereign parliament expressing the will of the people.

Convinced that with the current composition of the Constituent Assembly, the adoption of its constitutional draft is impossible, de Gaulle resigned in January 1946. A new three-party government was formed.

After a tense struggle (the first draft of the constitution was rejected in a referendum), the Constituent Assembly developed a second draft, which was approved by popular vote, and the constitution came into force at the end of 1946. France was declared "a single and indivisible secular democratic and social republic" in which sovereignty belonged to the people.

The preamble contained a number of progressive provisions on the equality of women, on the right of persons persecuted in their homeland for activities in defense of freedom, to political asylum in France, on the right of all citizens to receive work and material security in old age. The constitution proclaimed the obligation not to wage wars of conquest and not to use force against the freedom of any people, declared the need for the nationalization of key industries, economic planning, and the participation of workers in the management of enterprises.

Legislative power belonged to the parliament, which consisted of two chambers - the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic. The right to approve the budget, declare war, conclude peace, express confidence or distrust in the government was granted to the National Assembly, and the Council of the Republic could only delay the entry into force of the law.

The President of the Republic was elected for 7 years by both chambers. The president appoints one of the leaders of the party with the largest number of seats in parliament as head of government. The composition and program of the government are approved by the National Assembly.

The constitution declared the transformation of the French colonial empire into the French Union and proclaimed the equality of all its constituent territories.

The constitution of the Fourth Republic was progressive; its adoption meant the victory of democratic forces. However, in the future, many of the freedoms and obligations proclaimed in it turned out to be unfulfilled or were violated.

IN 1946 year began war in indochina that lasted almost eight years. The French dubbed the Vietnam War the "dirty war" with good reason. A movement of supporters of peace unfolded, which assumed a particularly wide scope in France. The workers refused to ship weapons to be sent to Vietnam, and 14 million French people signed the Stockholm Appeal demanding a ban on atomic weapons.

IN 1949 year, France joined NATO.

May 1954 France suffered a crushing defeat in Vietnam: Surrounded in the area of ​​Dien Bien Phu, the French garrison capitulated. 6 thousand soldiers and officers surrendered. On July 20, 1954, agreements were signed to restore peace in Indochina. The “dirty war”, for which France spent an astronomical amount of 3000 billion francs, having lost several tens of thousands of lives, is over. France also pledged to withdraw troops from Laos and Cambodia.

On November 1, 1954, France began a new colonial war - this time against Algeria. The Algerians have repeatedly appealed to the French government with a request to grant Algeria at least autonomy, but invariably received a refusal under the pretext that Algeria was allegedly not a colony, but an organic part of France, its “overseas departments”, and therefore cannot claim autonomy. Since peaceful methods did not give results, the Algerians rose to armed struggle.

The uprising grew and soon swept the whole country, the French government was unable to suppress it. The stormy rallies and demonstrations that unfolded in Algeria spread to Corsica, the metropolis was under the threat of civil war or a military coup. June 1, 1958 the National Assembly elected Charles de Gaulle head of government and granted him emergency powers.

De Gaulle began with what he failed to achieve in 1946 - the proclamation of a constitution that met his political views. The president of the republic gained enormous power by reducing the prerogatives of parliament. Thus, the president determines the main directions of the country's domestic and foreign policy, is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, appoints to all senior positions, starting with the prime minister, can prematurely dissolve the National Assembly and delay the entry into force of laws adopted by parliament. Under extraordinary circumstances, the president has the right to take full power into his hands.

Parliament still consists of two chambers - the National Assembly, elected by popular vote, and the Senate, which replaced the Council of the Republic. The role of the National Assembly has been greatly reduced: the agenda of its sessions is set by the government, their duration has been reduced, and when discussing the budget, deputies cannot make proposals that provide for a decrease in revenues or an increase in state expenditures.

The expression of no confidence in the government by the National Assembly is hampered by a number of restrictions. The deputy mandate is incompatible with responsible positions in the government, state apparatus, trade unions and other national organizations.

In a referendum held on September 28, 1958, this constitution was adopted. The Fourth Republic was replaced by the Fifth. Most of the participants in the referendum voted not for the constitution, which very many did not even read, but for de Gaulle, hoping that he would be able to revive the greatness of France, put an end to the war in Algeria, governmental leapfrog, financial crisis, dependence on the United States and parliamentary intrigues.

After the members of Parliament and a special electoral college elected President in December 1958 Fifth Republic General de Gaulle, the process of constituting the Fifth Republic was completed.

The pro-fascist elements hoped that de Gaulle would ban the Communist Party, establish a totalitarian regime, and, having unleashed the military might of France on the Algerian rebels, achieve their appeasement on the basis of the slogan: "Algeria has been and will always be French!"

However, possessing the qualities of a politician of a large scale and taking into account the existing alignment of forces, the president chose a different political course and, in particular, did not agree to ban the Communist Party. De Gaulle hoped that he would be able to win all the French over to his side.

The Algerian policy of the Fifth Republic went through several stages. At first, the new government tried to achieve a solution to the Algerian problem from a position of strength, but soon became convinced that these attempts would lead nowhere. The resistance of the Algerians is only intensifying, the French troops are suffering defeat after defeat, the campaign for the independence of Algeria is expanding in the mother country, and in the international arena a broad movement of solidarity with the struggle of the Algerian people entails the isolation of France. Since the continuation of the war could only lead to the complete loss of Algeria, and with it oil, the French monopolies began to advocate an acceptable compromise. This turn was reflected in de Gaulle's recognition of Algeria's right to self-determination, which gave rise to whole line speeches, terrorist acts by ultra-colonists.

And yet, on March 18, 1962, an agreement was signed in the city of Evian on granting independence to Algeria. In order to avoid new wars, the French government had to grant independence to a number of states in Equatorial and West Africa.

In the fall of 1962, de Gaulle submitted to a referendum a proposal to change the procedure for electing the president of the republic. Under this bill, the president would no longer be elected by an electoral college, but by popular vote. The aim of the reform was to further understand the authority of the president of the republic and to eliminate the last remnants of his dependence on parliament, whose deputies had until then participated in his election.

De Gaulle's proposal was opposed by many of the parties that had previously supported him. The National Assembly expressed no confidence in the government, which was headed by one of the president's closest associates, Georges Pompidou. In response, de Gaulle dissolved the meeting and called new elections, threatening to resign if his project was rejected.

The referendum supported the President's proposal After the elections, the supporters of General de Gaulle retained the majority in the National Assembly. The government was again headed by Georges Pompidou.

In December 1965, elections were held for the President of the Republic, who was elected by popular vote for the first time. Left forces managed to agree on the nomination common candidate. They became the leader of a small left-bourgeois party, Francois Mitterrand, a member of the Resistance movement, one of the few non-communists who opposed the regime of personal power. In the second round of voting, the 75-year-old General de Gaulle was re-elected President of the Republic for the next seven years by a majority of 55% of the vote, 45% of voters voted for Mitterrand.

In the field of foreign policy, General de Gaulle sought to ensure the growth of the role of France in the modern world, its transformation into an independent great power capable of withstanding the competition of other powers in world markets. To do this, de Gaulle considered it necessary, first of all, to free himself from American tutelage and unite continental Western Europe under French hegemony, opposing it to the United States.

At first, he staked on cooperation between France and Germany within the framework of the European Economic Community (EEC, "Common Market"), hoping that in exchange for political support from France, West Germany would agree to give her a leading role in this organization. It was on this perspective that the rapprochement between France and the FRG, which began in 1958 and became known as the Bonn-Paris axis, was based.

Soon, however, it became obvious that the FRG was not going to cede the first fiddle to France in the EEC and prefers not to spoil relations with the United States, considering their support to be more weighty than that of France. Contradictions between the countries all amplified. Thus, the Federal Republic of Germany advocated the admission of England to the EEC, and de Gaulle vetoed this decision, calling England a "Trojan horse of the USA" (January 1963). There were other contradictions that led to the gradual weakening of the "axis" Bonn - Paris. Franco-German "friendship", in the words of de Gaulle, "withered like a rose," and he began to look for other ways to strengthen France's foreign policy positions. These new paths were expressed in rapprochement with the countries of Eastern Europe, primarily with Soviet Union, and in support of the course towards detente of international tension, which de Gaulle had previously disapproved of.

In February 1966, de Gaulle decided to withdraw France from the military organization of the North Atlantic bloc. This meant the withdrawal of French troops from NATO command, the evacuation from French territory of all foreign troops, NATO headquarters, warehouses, air bases, etc., and the refusal to finance NATO military activities. By April 1, 1967, all these measures were implemented, despite protests and pressure from the United States, France remained only a member of the political union.

Contradictions were brewing in the internal life of the country for many years, which resulted in May-June 1968 in one of the most massive popular movements in the history of the country.

The first to come out were students who demanded a radical restructuring of the higher education system. The fact is that during the 1950s and 1960s there was a rapid increase in the number of students, but the higher school turned out to be unprepared for such growth. There were not enough teachers, classrooms, hostels, libraries, funding for higher education were meager, only a fifth of the students received scholarships, so about half of the university students were forced to work.

The teaching system has hardly changed since the 19th century - often professors read not what life and the level of science required, but what they knew.

On May 3, 1968, the police, called by the rector of the Sorbonne, broke up a student rally and arrested a large group of its participants. In response, the students went on strike. On May 7, a mass demonstration demanding the immediate release of those arrested, the removal of the police from the university and the resumption of classes was attacked by a large police force - on this day more than 800 people were injured and about 500 were arrested. The Sorbonne was closed, students began to build barricades in the Latin Quarter in protest. On May 11, there was a new clash with the police. The students barricaded themselves in the university building.

The massacre of students caused outrage throughout the country. On May 13, a general strike in solidarity with the student movement began. From that day on, although the student unrest continued for a long time, the initiative of the movement passed into the hands of the workers. The one-day strike developed into a long strike that lasted almost four weeks and spread throughout the country. Solidarity with the students was only an excuse for the workers, who had long-standing and much more serious grievances against the regime. The strike movement included engineers, technicians, employees; radio and television workers, employees of some ministries, department store sellers, communications workers, and bank officials were on strike. Total number The strikers reached 10 million.

As a result, by mid-June, the strikers had achieved almost all of their demands: the minimum wage was doubled, the duration of working week, benefits and pensions have been increased, collective agreements with employers have been revised in the interests of the working people, the rights of trade unions at enterprises have been recognized, student self-government has been introduced in higher educational institutions, etc.

Contrary to the hopes of the government and businessmen, the concessions of 1968 did not lead to the fading of the class struggle. From May 1968 to March 1969 the cost of living rose by 6%, which greatly depreciated the gains of the working people. In this regard, the workers continued to fight for tax cuts, wage increases, the introduction of a flexible wage scale, providing for its automatic increase as prices rise. On March 11, 1969, a massive general strike took place, and anti-government demonstrations took place in Paris and other cities.

In this situation, Challes de Gaulle scheduled a referendum on April 27 on two bills - on the reform of the administrative structure of France and the reorganization of the Senate. The government had the opportunity to put them into effect without a referendum, through a parliamentary majority submissive to its will, but de Gaulle decided to test the strength of his power, threatening that in the event of a negative outcome of the referendum, he would resign.

As a result, 52.4% of the referendum participants voted against the bills. On the same day, General Charles de Gaulle resigned, no longer took part in political life, and on November 9, 1970, he died at the age of 80.

General de Gaulle was undoubtedly an outstanding political figure and had a lot of merit before France. He played a major role in the fight against fascism during the Second World War, contributed to the revival of France in the first post-war years, and after his second coming to power in 1958, he achieved the strengthening of the country's independence, increasing its international prestige.

But over the years, the number of Frenchmen supporting him steadily fell, de Gaulle could not come to terms with this. He understood that the results of the April 1969 referendum were a direct consequence of the May-June events of 1968, and he had the courage to step down as President of the French Republic, which he had the right to remain until December 1972.

The election of a new president was scheduled for July 1. In the second round, he won Georges Pompidou, a candidate from the parties of the government coalition.

The new president of the republic largely maintained de Gaulle's course. Foreign policy almost didn't change. Pompidou rejected US attempts to bring France back into NATO and actively opposed many aspects of American policy. However, Pompidou withdrew objections to England's admission to the Common Market.

In April 1974, the President of the Republic, Georges Pompidou, died suddenly, and early presidential elections were held in May. The victory in the second round was won by the leader of the government party "Federation of Independent Republicans" Valerie Giscard d'Estaing. He was the first non-Gaullist president of the Fifth Republic, but since the majority in the National Assembly belonged to the Gaullists, he had to appoint a representative of this party as prime minister. Jacques Chirac.

Valery Giscard d'Estaing's reforms include: lowering the electoral age limit to 18 years, decentralization of radio and television management, raising pensions for the elderly, and facilitating the divorce procedure.

In relation to the United States, the president insistently emphasized that France was a reliable ally of the United States. France ceased to oppose the prospect of a political unification of Western Europe, agreed to participate in the elections of the European Parliament in 1978, giving it supranational prerogatives. For the sake of rapprochement with the FRG, it was decided to abandon the celebration of Victory Day over Nazi Germany, which caused violent protests from the public. However, this decision did not weaken the Franco-German contradictions.

People inhabited the territory of France even, presumably, 1.8 million years ago. In France, since the Paleolithic era, there are many cave paintings. The first colony in France was founded by the Greeks in 600 BC. in the city then called Massalia, now called Marseille.

The spread of the Celtic tribes of the Gauls into France took place between the fifth and third centuries BC, during which much of the borders of modern France were delineated. This territory was then known as Gaul, and its inhabitants, the Gauls, were at enmity with the Romans until the Romans captured the southern part of their country (Provence) in 125 BC.

The Franks, an ancient German pagan tribe from which the name "France" derives, settled in Gaul and later conquered it, dividing the territory into four regions for the sons of the Frankish king Clovis I. These kingdoms were subsequently united by Charles I the Great.

France played important role during the Crusades between 1095 and 1291.

Between 1337 and 1453, a series of conflicts took place between France and England, called the "Hundred Years' War", after which there were several civil wars, called the "front", at the same time there was a war with Spain, between 1635 and 1659.

During the time of European exploration, France founded a colony in the New World. Under the leadership of Louis XV, the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) in the New World ended with the loss of the territories of New France, and their conquest by Britain. As a result, France became the main ally of the American colonists during the American Revolution fighting for independence from Britain, which eventually led to the Peace of Paris in 1783.

Between 1789 and 1799, the Great French Revolution took place, culminating in the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, as a result of which absolute monarchy ended in France and a constitutional monarchy appeared. The French Revolutionary Wars began in 1792, the same year France became a republic. King Louis XVI was executed in 1793 for treason, as was his wife, Marie Antoinette.

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in the Republic, who later became emperor. The French Empire began to conquer Europe, under the leadership of Napoleon, until his defeat in 1815.

During the nineteenth century, France became the second largest colonial power of all time, with colonies in North America, Southeast Asia, North, West, and Central Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands. Many of these colonies are still part of the French Republic. France played an important role in both World War I and World War II, and was a founding member of NATO in 1949.

The Great French Revolution is common name processes that swept France in the late 1780s - the first half of the 1790s. Revolutionary changes were radical, they caused:

• breaking the old system
• liquidation of the monarchy
• gradual transition to democracy.

In general, the revolution was bourgeois, directed against the monarchy and feudal remnants.

Chronologically, the revolution covers the period from 1789 to 1794, although some historians believe that it ended in 1799, when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power.

Members

The Great French Revolution was based on the opposition of the privileged nobility, which was the backbone of the monarchical system, and the "third estate". The latter was represented by such groups as:

• Peasants;
• Bourgeoisie;
• Manufactory workers;
• Urban poor or plebs.

The uprising was led by representatives of the bourgeoisie, who did not always take into account the needs of other groups of the population.

Background and main causes of the revolution

At the end of the 1780s. in France, a protracted political, economic and social crisis erupted. Changes were demanded by the plebs, the peasants, the bourgeoisie and the workers, who did not want to put up with this state of affairs.

One of the most difficult issues was agrarian, which was constantly becoming more complicated due to the deep crisis of the feudal system. Its remnants prevented the development of market relations, the penetration of capitalist principles into agriculture and industry, the emergence of new professions and production areas.

Among the main causes of the French Revolution, it is worth noting such as:

• Commercial and industrial crisis that began in 1787;
• The bankruptcy of the king and the country's budget deficit;
• Several lean years that led to the peasant uprisings of 1788-1789. In a number of cities - Grenoble, Besançon, Rennes and the suburbs of Paris - there was a series of speeches by the plebs;
• Crisis of the monarchical regime. At the royal court, attempts were made to solve the problems that had arisen, but the methods of overcoming the systemic crisis, which officials resorted to, were hopelessly outdated and did not work. Therefore, King Louis XVI decided to make certain concessions. In particular, notables and the States General were convened, which last met in 1614. Representatives of the third estate were also present at the meeting of the Estates General. The latter created the National Assembly, which soon became Constituent.

The nobility and the privileged strata of French society, including the clergy, spoke out against such equality, and began to prepare to disperse the assembly. In addition, they did not accept the king's proposal to tax them. The peasants, the bourgeoisie, the workers and the plebs began to prepare for a popular uprising. On July 13 and 14, 1789, an attempt to disperse it brought many representatives of the third estate to the streets of Paris. Thus began the French Revolution, which changed France forever.

Stages of the revolution

Subsequent events are usually divided into several periods:

• From July 14, 1789 - to August 10, 1792;
• From August 10, 1792 - to June 3, 1793;
• June 3, 1793 - July 28, 1794;
• July 28, 1794 - November 9, 1799

The first stage began with the capture of the most famous French prison - the Bastille fortress. The following events also belong to this period:

• Replacing old authorities with new ones;
• Creation of the National Guard, subordinate to the bourgeoisie;
• Adoption in autumn 1789;
• The adoption of a number of decrees concerning the rights of the bourgeoisie and the plebs. In particular, class division was abolished, church property was confiscated, the clergy came under the control of secular authorities, the old administrative division of the country was abolished and workshops were abolished. The most intense was the abolition of feudal duties, but in the end the rebels managed to achieve this as well;
• The emergence of the so-called Varna crisis in the first half of the summer of 1791. The crisis was connected with the king's attempt to escape abroad. This event is associated with: the execution of a demonstration on the Champ de Mars; the beginning of the confrontation between the poorest segments of the population and the bourgeoisie, who went over to the side of the nobility; as well as the separation from the revolutionary Jacobin club of the moderate political party Feuillants;
• Constant contradictions between the main political forces - the Girondins, Feuillants and Jacobins, which made it easier for other European states to penetrate French territory. During 1792-1792. The following declared war on the state torn apart by the revolution: Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, Austria, the Kingdom of Naples, Spain, the Netherlands and some German principalities. The French army was not ready for such a turn of events, especially since most of the generals fled the country. Because of the threat of an attack on the capital, detachments of volunteers began to appear in Paris;
• Activation of the anti-monarchist movement. On August 10, 1792, the final overthrow of the monarchy and the creation of the Paris Commune took place.

The main feature of the second stage of the revolution was the confrontation between the Girondins and the Jacobins. The leaders of the first were Zh.P. Brissot, J.M. Roland and P.V. Vergniaud, who were on the side of the commercial, industrial and agricultural bourgeoisie. This party wanted a speedy end to the revolution and the establishment of political stability. The Jacobins were led by M. Robespierre, J.P. Marat and J.J. Danton, who were representatives of the middle class and the poor bourgeois. They defended the interests of the workers and peasants, and also advocated the further development of the revolution, since their demands remained unheeded.

The main events of the second period of the French Revolution were:

• Fight between Paris Commune, controlled by the Jacobins, and the Legislative Assembly of the Girondins. The result of the confrontation was the creation of the Convention, whose representatives were elected from the entire male population of France over 21 years old on the basis of universal suffrage;
• France declared a republic on September 21, 1792;
• Execution of the last king of the Bourbon dynasty on January 21, 1793;
• Continuation of peasant uprisings caused by poverty, landlessness and hunger. The poor seized the estates of their masters and divided the communal land. The townspeople also rioted, demanding fixed food prices;
• The expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention in late May - early June 1793. This ended the second period of the uprising.

Getting rid of opponents allowed the Jacobins to concentrate all power in their own hands. The third period of the Great French Revolution is known as the Jacobin dictatorship and, first of all, is associated with the name of the head of the Jacobins - Maximilian Robespierre. It was a rather difficult period for the young republic - while internal contradictions were tearing the country apart, the troops of neighboring powers were advancing to the borders of the state. France was involved in the Vendean Wars, which engulfed the southern and northwestern provinces.

The Jacobins, first of all, took up the solution of the agrarian question. All communal lands and lands of the fleeing nobles were transferred to the peasants. Then feudal rights and privileges were abolished, which contributed to the formation of a new class of society - free owners.

The next step was the adoption of a new Constitution, which was distinguished by its democratic character. It was supposed to introduce constitutional government, but a complex socio-political and economic crisis forced the Jacobins to establish a regime of revolutionary democratic dictatorship.

At the end of August 1793, a decree was adopted on the mobilization of the French in the fight against foreign invaders. In response, the opponents of the Jacobins who were inside the country began to massively carry out terrorist acts in all cities of France. As a result of one of these actions, Marat was also killed.

At the end of July 1796, the republican troops defeated the interventionist troops near Fleurus. The last decisions of the Jacobins were the adoption of the Vantoise decrees, which were not destined to come true. Dictatorship, repression and the policy of requisition (expropriation) turned the peasants against the Jacobin regime. As a result, a conspiracy arose to overthrow the government of Robespierre. The so-called Thermidorian coup ended Jacobin rule and brought moderate republicans and the bourgeoisie to power. They created a new governing body - the Directory. The new government carried out a number of transformations in the country:

• Adopted a new Constitution;
• Replaced universal suffrage with census (admission to elections was received only by those citizens who possessed property for a certain amount);
• Established the principle of equality;
• Gave the right to elect and be elected only to those citizens of the republic who are 25 years old;
• She created the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of the Elders, who monitored the political situation in France;
• She waged wars against Prussia and Spain, culminating in the signing of peace treaties. Continued hostilities against England and Austria.

The Board of the Directory ended on November 9, 1799, when another coup took place in the republic. It was led by General of the Army Napoleon Bonaparte, who was very popular among the soldiers. Relying on the military, he managed to seize power in Paris, which was the beginning new era in the life of the country.

Outcomes and results of the revolution

• The elimination of the remnants of the feudal system, which contributed to the rapid development of capitalist relations;
• Establishment of a republican system based on democratic principles;
• The final consolidation of the French nation;
• Formation of authorities formed on the basis of suffrage;
• The adoption of the first constitutions, the provisions of which guaranteed citizens equality before the law and the opportunity to enjoy national wealth;
• Solving the agrarian question;
• Liquidation of the monarchy;
• Adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

However, positive transformations also contained a number of negative features:

• Introduction of property qualification;
• Ignoring the opinion of the majority of citizens, which led to new unrest;
• The establishment of a complex administrative division, which prevented the formation of an effective management system.