The French Revolution was chiefly the result of social and economic conditions of the time. To appreciate its origin and progress it is necessary to review the developments that led to it over a long period.
During the Middle Ages, the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, the Church had transformed the bar¬barians of the Dark Ages into civilised Europeans, Society became divided into four chief classes: the Clergy, representing religion and the authority of the Church; the Nobility, who were professional warriors and local rulers, maintained by the peasantry, with their feudal, rights, their castles, and amusements; the Peasantry, tillers of the soil, freemen or serfs, relatively poor and ignorant; and lastly, the Bourgeoisie, tow dwellers, burghers, who comprised the merchants, guildsmen, artisans, and professional men generally.
The Holy Roman. Empire maintained a loose unity in Europe, though national kingdoms, such as France, England and Spain, existed in strength; the power of Governments was accepted as representing the authority of God over the people.
Trade had been mostly by barter, but with the adoption of money for exchange, commerce had grown, how-ever, it was restricted by the prohibition of interest, price-fixing by the guilds, and the fixed tenancy of the peasants. By the fifteenth century, following the re¬vival of principles of Roman law, these restrictions were removed, and land-capitalism and money-capitalism had come in, with the strengthening of absolute monarchies and autocracy. The landlords became employers of labour and moneylending was a lawful occupation.
The explorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries served to change the medieval system of trade immensely. Trade outside Europe, with Asia and India, had been controlled by Italy, for it came through the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea; the Portuguese, Spanish and English sought to have their share by seeking new trade routes.
In 1488, Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese, went round the Cape of Good Hope at the extreme of South Africa, to the Indian Ocean; in 1497, Vasco da Gama went on the same route to India, and others sailed as far as the Spice Islands and China.
Spain sent Columbus to look for a way to India in 1492, and he crossed the Atlantic to find America. Henry VII of England sent the Italian, John Cabot, on a voyage in 1497, which also ended in America, and two years later, the Italian, Amerigo Vespuccil landed in Brazil.
In 1519, the Spaniard, Magellan, travelled around South America, across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed; one of his ships made the voyage home by the north of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope.
England did not enter into the trade opened up by these new routes for the present, but France and Holland took an active interest in Africa, India, and America, to the detriment of Italian commerce. Europe's influence expanded with her trade; and as trade grew, manufactures began to be transported, with the consequent increase of wealth in Europe. More trade meant more money and more moneylending, with greater use of gold from the new worlds .and of paper money to represent it. Joint stock companies arose, demanding profits, free use of property, bargaining for prices and control of management; thus, the middle class became powerful. Money was power, and the bankers, merchants and businessmen had become as strong as the nobles. These, as absentee landlords, sought for more money from the peasants, and by taking over the rights of common lands forced the peasants to become labourers on hire, increasing industry and weakening the guild system. But the competition for power by the bourgeoisie secured their wish for a share in the government beyond what they had ever held before.
Rulers began to resist the influence of the Church. There was only one faith, but its economic laws were a restraint upon the wealthy. Advance in knowledge, of science, astronomy, geography and medicine, coupled with the growth of wealth among the few and big land possessions of the Church, as well as some scandals among the clergy, led to the questioning of the doctrines of the Church and the suspicion of the old ideas and institutions.
During the Middle Ages, the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, the Church had transformed the bar¬barians of the Dark Ages into civilised Europeans, Society became divided into four chief classes: the Clergy, representing religion and the authority of the Church; the Nobility, who were professional warriors and local rulers, maintained by the peasantry, with their feudal, rights, their castles, and amusements; the Peasantry, tillers of the soil, freemen or serfs, relatively poor and ignorant; and lastly, the Bourgeoisie, tow dwellers, burghers, who comprised the merchants, guildsmen, artisans, and professional men generally.
The Holy Roman. Empire maintained a loose unity in Europe, though national kingdoms, such as France, England and Spain, existed in strength; the power of Governments was accepted as representing the authority of God over the people.
Trade had been mostly by barter, but with the adoption of money for exchange, commerce had grown, how-ever, it was restricted by the prohibition of interest, price-fixing by the guilds, and the fixed tenancy of the peasants. By the fifteenth century, following the re¬vival of principles of Roman law, these restrictions were removed, and land-capitalism and money-capitalism had come in, with the strengthening of absolute monarchies and autocracy. The landlords became employers of labour and moneylending was a lawful occupation.
The explorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries served to change the medieval system of trade immensely. Trade outside Europe, with Asia and India, had been controlled by Italy, for it came through the Arabian Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea; the Portuguese, Spanish and English sought to have their share by seeking new trade routes.
In 1488, Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese, went round the Cape of Good Hope at the extreme of South Africa, to the Indian Ocean; in 1497, Vasco da Gama went on the same route to India, and others sailed as far as the Spice Islands and China.
Spain sent Columbus to look for a way to India in 1492, and he crossed the Atlantic to find America. Henry VII of England sent the Italian, John Cabot, on a voyage in 1497, which also ended in America, and two years later, the Italian, Amerigo Vespuccil landed in Brazil.
In 1519, the Spaniard, Magellan, travelled around South America, across the Pacific to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed; one of his ships made the voyage home by the north of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope.
England did not enter into the trade opened up by these new routes for the present, but France and Holland took an active interest in Africa, India, and America, to the detriment of Italian commerce. Europe's influence expanded with her trade; and as trade grew, manufactures began to be transported, with the consequent increase of wealth in Europe. More trade meant more money and more moneylending, with greater use of gold from the new worlds .and of paper money to represent it. Joint stock companies arose, demanding profits, free use of property, bargaining for prices and control of management; thus, the middle class became powerful. Money was power, and the bankers, merchants and businessmen had become as strong as the nobles. These, as absentee landlords, sought for more money from the peasants, and by taking over the rights of common lands forced the peasants to become labourers on hire, increasing industry and weakening the guild system. But the competition for power by the bourgeoisie secured their wish for a share in the government beyond what they had ever held before.
Rulers began to resist the influence of the Church. There was only one faith, but its economic laws were a restraint upon the wealthy. Advance in knowledge, of science, astronomy, geography and medicine, coupled with the growth of wealth among the few and big land possessions of the Church, as well as some scandals among the clergy, led to the questioning of the doctrines of the Church and the suspicion of the old ideas and institutions.
