French Revolution

One direct result of the French Revolution was the abolition of absolute monarchy in France. The Revolution was also responsible for destroying the feudal privileges of the nobles. Serfdom was abolished, feudal dues and tithes were eliminated, the large feudal estates were broken up, and the principle of equal liability to taxation was introduced. With the sweeping redistribution of wealth and land tenure, France became the European country with the largest proportion of small independent landowners. Other social and economic reforms initiated during this period included eliminating imprisonment for debt, introducing the metric system, and abolishing the rule of primogeniture in the inheritance of land.

During the Consulate, Napoleon carried through a series of reforms that were begun during the Revolution. He established the Bank of France, which has continued to function more or less unchanged up to the present time, as a quasi-independent national bank and as the agent of the French government for currency, public loans, and the deposit of public funds. The present highly centralized, secularly controlled French educational system was begun during the Reign of Terror and completed by Napoleon; the University of France and the Institut de France were organized. Teaching appointments, based on competitive examinations, were opened to all citizens regardless of birth or wealth. The reform and codification of the diverse provincial and local law, which culminated in the Napoleonic Code, reflected many of the principles and changes introduced during the Revolution: equality before the law, right of habeas corpus, and provisions for fair trial. Trial procedure provided for a board of judges and a jury for criminal cases: an accused person was deemed innocent until proven guilty, and was guaranteed counsel.

An additional area in which the Revolution played an important part was that of religion. Although not always practised in the Revolutionary period, the principles of freedom of religion and the press, as enunciated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, resulted ultimately in freedom of conscience and in civil status for Protestants and Jews. The Revolution paved the way also for separation of Church and state.

The more intangible results of the Revolution were embodied in its watchwords, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. These ideals became the platform of liberal reforms in France and Europe in the 19th century and remain the present-day keywords of democracy. Revisionist historians, however, attribute to the Revolution less laudable effects, such as the rise of the highly centralized (often totalitarian) state and mass warfare involving total wars of nations-in-arms.