The French Revolution of 1789 marked a turning point in history, ending the old regime and beginning the modern era. Inspired by Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, the revolution overthrew the French monarchy and established a democratic republic. Key events included the storming of the Bastille prison and the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. However, internal conflicts and wars with other European powers led to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of the initial revolutionary period. Nonetheless, the revolution's ideals spread around the world and influenced many other independence movements.

1. 1
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789 AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE
WORLD
Fernando Alcoforado*
On July 14, 1789, the French Revolution represented a turning point in human history
with the end of the Modern Age and the beginning of the Contemporary Age. It was such
an important event that its ideals influenced various movements around the world. The
French Revolution had great participation of the marginalized population (bankers, big
businesspersons, merchants, liberal professionals, artisans, merchants, apprentices of
crafts, wage earners, unemployed and peasants) in the fight against the tyranny exercised
by the monarchical regime of France. Influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment, an
intellectual movement that emerged during the 18th century in Europe, which defended
the use of reason against the old regime and preached greater economic and political
freedom, the French people began to revolt and fight for the equality of all before the law.
They fought, among other things, against monarchical absolutism and the privileges of
the nobility and the Church. Meanwhile, the French economy was going through an
unprecedented crisis. One of the main causes of the French Revolution was the financial
crisis that hit the country as a result of the expenses that France assumed with its
participation (and defeat) in the Seven Years' War and the War of Independence of the
United States of America, in addition to the high costs of the Court of Louis XVI that left
France's finances in a state of bankruptcy.
The French Revolution was mainly motivated by growing social inequality, the
devastating economic crisis and the endemic hunger suffered by the vast majority of the
population. The French Revolution was a social and political movement whose main
objective was to overthrow the Ancien Régime and establish a democratic State that
represented and guaranteed the rights of all citizens. The Parisian population took to the
streets of the city to fight against this situation on July 12, 1789. King Louis XVI tried to
react, but the people remained united, taking over the streets. The revolutionaries' slogan
was "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". The popular unrest did not subside and, on July
14, the people continued with their uprising, first attacking the Arsenal of the Invalides
and then promoting the fall of the Bastille, which was an old fortress that had been
transformed into a prison for the political opponents of the French kings.
With the news of the fall of the Bastille, the revolution spread throughout France,
precipitating transformations in the country and leading thousands of people, in the cities
and in the countryside, to rebel against the French aristocracy and against the Ancien
Régime. On August 26, 1789, the National Constituent Assembly proclaimed the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, whose main points were: 1) respect for the
dignity of people; 2) freedom and equality of citizens before the law; 3) right to individual
property; 4) right to resist political oppression; and, 5) freedom of thought and opinion.
In 1790, the Constituent Assembly reduced the power of the clergy by confiscating
several Church lands and put the clergy under the authority of the state.
In 1791, the Constitution made by the members of the Constituent Assembly was
completed. The main topics of this Constitution were the following: 1) Legal equality
between individuals; 2) End of clergy and nobility privileges; 3) Freedom of production
and trade (without state interference); 4) Prohibition of strikes; 5) Freedom of belief; 6)
Separation of State from Church; 7) Nationalization of clergy goods; and, 8) Three
powers created (Legislative, Executive and Judiciary). King Louis XVI did not accept the
loss of power and began to plot against the revolution. For this he contacted the support

2. 2
of émigré nobles and monarchs from Austria and Prussia (who also felt threatened). The
goal of the counterrevolutionaries was to organize an army that would invade France and
restore absolute monarchy. In 1791, Louis XVI wanted to join the counterrevolutionaries
and tried to flee France, but he was recognized and arrested in Varennes.
In 1792, the Austro-Prussian army invaded France, but was defeated by French troops at
the Battle of Valmy. This victory gave new strength to the French revolutionaries and this
fact led the leaders of the revolution to decide to proclaim the Republic on September 22,
1792. With the proclamation of the Republic, the Constituent Assembly was replaced by
the National Convention whose mission was to elaborate a new Constitution for France.
At that time, the main revolutionary political forces that stood out the most were the
following: 1) Girondins composed of the upper bourgeoisie were moderates and led by
Danton; and, 2) Jacobins constituted by the bourgeoisie (small and middle) and proletariat
of Paris were radicals and defended the interests of the people and were led by
Robespierre and Saint-Just who preached the condemnation of the king to death. Even
against the will of the Girondins, Louis XVI was tried and guillotined in January 1793.
The king's death brought a series of problems such as internal revolts and a reorganization
of foreign absolutist forces. To deal with these problems, the Committee of Public Safety
and the Revolutionary Tribunal (responsible for the guillotine death of many people who
were considered traitors to the revolutionary cause) were created. This period became
known as “Terror”. A Jacobin dictatorship begins, led by Robespierre. During his
government, he sought to balance himself between various political tendencies, some
more identified with the upper bourgeoisie and others closer to the aspirations of the
popular strata. Robespierre achieved some significant achievements, mainly in the
military sector: the French army managed to repel the attack of foreign forces. During
Robespierre's government, the new Constitution of the Republic (1793) was in force,
which guaranteed the people: 1) the right to vote; 2) right of rebellion; 3) right to work
and subsistence; and, 4) it contained a statement that the aim of government was the
common good and happiness of all.
After the period designated by historians as the Reign of Terror in which citizens'
guarantees were suspended and the Mountain faction of the Jacobin party murdered and
persecuted their opponents, some Girondins survived and organized themselves in
articulating a coup. On July 27, 1794, the date known as 9 Thermidor by the calendar of
the French Revolution, Robespierre and his party were overthrown in an agile maneuver
by the National Convention. The leaders of the Jacobin party and Robespierre were
guillotined. In this way, representatives of the upper bourgeoisie took power, initiating a
reflux of the revolutionary movement. This episode is called the Thermidorian reaction
representing one of the final stages of the French Revolution.
After Robespierre's death, the National Convention decided to draft another Constitution
for France when, in the elections, universal suffrage was annulled and the majority of the
population was once again politically marginalized. With this, several uprisings arise in
France that were severely fought. With the succession of popular conflicts, the way was
opened for the generals to assume power. In 1793, the French army was considered the
largest in all of Europe in which General Napoleon Bonaparte stood out. During this
period, France again received threats from neighboring absolutist nations, aggravating the
situation. After a respectable victory against Austria, Napoleon gained considerable
prestige in French society. Then, when he returned to France, Napoleon staged a coup
d'état that lasted between 1799 and 1802. With that, a period of dictatorial political order
began in France. On 11/10/1799, Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the Directory and

3. 3
established a new government called the Consulate. With that, he consolidated the
conquests of the bourgeoisie putting an end to the initial purposes of the revolution.
It appears from the above that the French Revolution marked the rise of the bourgeoisie
as the dominant social class, overcoming the land-owning aristocracy, as well as the
creation of new institutions and new ways of organizing economic, political and social
life that would expand to the entire planet. With the French Revolution, capitalism broke
through the feudal political obstacles that still prevailed in Western Europe, joining the
economic transformations triggered by the Industrial Revolution. The French Revolution
represented the end of the privileges of the aristocracy and the liberation of peasants from
the bonds of servitude that bound them to the nobility and clergy. In the cities, the feudal
corporations that limited the business of the bourgeoisie ended. The concept of
nationalism and the recruitment of citizens of all classes into the army were one of the
influences of the French Revolution. The model of technical and scientific organization,
in addition to the metric system of measurements (meter, centimeter, decimeter, etc.), was
another contribution developed during this period by the French Revolution.
The ideals of the French Revolution came to an end with the overthrow by the bourgeoisie
of the Jacobin government under the leadership of Robespierre, who radicalized in the
fight against the enemies of the revolution and in the defense of the country's interests
against external aggression and culminated in the implantation of the Bonapartist
dictatorship. Despite this political setback with the Bonapartist dictatorship, the ideals of
the French Revolution contributed to the fall of absolutism in Europe and proliferated
around the world, constituting the flag of countless revolutionary movements that took
place in several countries that culminated, including, with the Independence of several
countries from South America. In 1794, for example, enslaved Africans working on
Haiti's sugar cane fields achieved the end of slavery after a bloody war of independence
against French colonialism. It was the first country on the American continent to put an
end to slavery. In Brazil, the Conjuração Baiana (or Revolta dos Alfaiates) of 1798 and
the 2nd of July of 1823 with the Independence of Brazil in Bahia were also strongly
influenced by the events of the French Revolution. The ideals of the French Revolution
of freedom, equality and fraternity among human beings still mobilize many peoples
around the world, especially in the contemporary era, with the resurgence of fascism,
including in Brazil. Long vie à la France. Vive la Révolution française.
REFERENCES
ALCOFORADO, FERNANDO. As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e
Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo. Curitiba: Editora CRV, 2016.
GAXOTTE, Pierre. La Révolution Française. Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1957.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 82, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and
IPB - Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development
from the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning,
business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice
President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de
Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center,
Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is author of the books
Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial
(Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os

4. 4
condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de
Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora
Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos
na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica,
Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate
ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores
Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no
Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba,
2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua
convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o
mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019) and A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência
(Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021).