There have said to be 5 factors that shaped the French Nationalism. those factors are the following:
As we know there is no single factor that has lead to French Nationalism.One of the factors are Historical factors, in this category there are some historical factors that helped shape the French Revolution, but one factor that stands out was the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison where the king Louis XVI brutally tortured the civics of France for disagreeing and disobeying what he had to say. July 14 1789 was a historical day because the third Estate got about 600 people and together they demolished the Bastille. The destroying of the Bastille lead the french people to for the first time stand up for themselves against the king and his nobles. These events are now marked as a substantial day in French history because it was a major turning point. The destroying of the Bastille is now celebrated every year on July 14 as a French holiday :)
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This is the French Civics destroying the Bastille
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Social factors are another thing that affected the French nationalism. Everyone thought that they should be included in decisions and have power, but as we know France was divided by the old regime rule. The first and second Estates were more powerful and had the most say in decision making, while the third Estate had no say and had to pay taxes. the bourgeoisie contributed greatly to social factors because they were traders and also well educated. This meant that they could find information about other countries. For example, the bourgeoisie heard that in Britain the power of the monarch had been overthrown and limited; they had also heard the in Britain American colonies a revolutionary war took place which lead to a independent republic.These bourgeoisie came back to France and shared this information with the civics, which gave them new ideas and changed their perspectives on what a nation should be.
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| above shows the Bourgeoisie |
The economy impacted French nationalism in a extreme way. Before the revolution France was in great debt and were heading toward bankruptcy and during the time King Louie had no choice but to call the Estates General for help. King Louis's plan to get the Estates General to approve his new taxes was declined and instead the third estate because determined to take over. As a group they self proclaimed themselves as the National Assembly and created the Tennis Court Oath which enforced that the third estate were the only people to represent France.
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| This photo shows the people of the third estate coming together and creating the Tennis Court Oath. |
Geographic factors that effected France in two ways; the weather and Marie Antoinette. Near the time of the revolution France experienced freezing winters, floods, and drought which all impacted grain crops severely. French farmers were unable to grow good quality grain which later resulted in a shortage of bread. The shortage of bread made bread an item of value since it was a big part of the French civics diet and the more value it had the higher the price of bread was raised. The angry and starving citizens began to riot and attack wagons which carried grain in order to survive. Marie Antoinette, coming from a Austrian background, was also a geographic factor. She was hated by many because she came from the land of the enemy and was considered a foreigner to French civics. Many of them even blamed Marie for the bread shortage and Frances economical problems because she used to buy fancy things and these assumptions led rioters to believe she had replied "let them eat cake" when she was asked what the people of France who could not afford bread are expected to do.
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| This image is a representation of the rioter in France angry about the bread shortage. |
Once the revolution had taken place the people that supported the Royals all had fled away. Other countries feared that what had happened to France could have happened to them. As a result of this fear countries they sent forces to go and invade France trying to prevent the monarchy to be overthrown. In France all the revolutionaries fought the invasions, and they eventually executed Louis XVI and the Queen, Marie Antoinette in 1793.Some People in France did not agree with the revolution that was taking place . They were terrified with the gory events that were taking place. This time in the French revolution was called the "Reign Of Terror. During this time you could almost get executed for anything. There was no trust, but fear everywhere. Friends were bailing out friends, neighbours spying on neighbours. The Reign of Terror lasted for about 11 long months in 1793 and 1794. an estimated of 200000 people were arrested while an average of 17000 people were killed.One person that was in this number of 17000 people killed was an extraordinary women called Olympe de Gouges. Olympe challenged the revolution because the rights of Declaration Of man excluded women. she wrote a remedy on this situation and wrote pamphlets with the title of "
Declaration of Rights Of Women And Man". She was also a one that spoke her mind and told that she thought that is was wrong to execute the king. Olympe de Gouges was arrested in 1793 acused and found guilty of treason leading her to death.
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Above is a picture representing when King Louis XVI got beheaded.
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The Reign of terror ended in 1794. over the years the government of France was struggling for power. Then one man came to the rescue that man was Napolean. In 1799 napolean emerged as a strong and great leaderand brought order in France. He conquered most of Europe by beating a series of wars. In the end Napolean was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and died in 1821. Napolean is now remembered as an inspriational leader and is still rememmbered to this date.
These are that 5 external factors that helped shape nationalism in France.
