The French Revolution (French: Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃ sɛːz]) was a period of far-reaching

social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried
forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the French Empire. The Revolution overthrew the
monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally
culminated in a dictatorship under Napoleon that rapidly brought many of its principles to Western
Europe and beyond. Inspired by liberal and radical ideas, the Revolution profoundly altered the
course of modern history, triggering the global decline of absolute monarchies while replacing them
with republics and liberal democracies.[1] Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of
global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the
Revolution as one of the most important events in human history.[2][3][4]

The causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following
the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War,[5] the French government was deeply in
debt and attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes, which were
heavily regressive. Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular
resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were
formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-
General in May 1789. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate (commoners)
taking control, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen in August, and a women's march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to
Paris in October. A central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and
the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political
struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the monarchy intent on
thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at
Valmy. In a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in
January 1793.

External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution. The Revolutionary Wars beginning in
1792 ultimately featured French victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian Peninsula, the
Low Countries and most territories west of the Rhine – achievements that had eluded previous
French governments for centuries. Internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution
significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. The dictatorship
imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror, from 1793 until 1794,
established price controls on food and other items, abolished slavery in French colonies abroad,
dechristianised society through the creation of a new calendar and the expulsion of religious figures,
and secured the borders of the new republic from its enemies. Large numbers of civilians were
executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, with estimates ranging from 16,000 to
40,000.[6] After the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed
control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended
elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, and
significant military conquests abroad.[7] Dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in
a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. Napoleon, who became the hero of the Revolution
through his popular military campaigns, went on to establish the Consulate and later the First
Empire, setting the stage for a wider array of global conflicts in the Napoleonic Wars.

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The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. Almost all future revolutionary
movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor.[8] Its central phrases and cultural
symbols, such as La Marseillaise and Liberté, fraternité, égalité, ou la mort, became the clarion call
for other major upheavals in modern history, including the Russian Revolution over a century
later.[9]

The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day. The Revolution
resulted in the suppression of the feudal system, the emancipation of the individual, the greater
division of landed property, the abolition of the privileges of noble birth and the nominal
establishment of equality. The French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely
national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity.[10]

Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies. It became the focal point
for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism,
nationalism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total
war by organising the resources of France and the lives of its citizens towards the objective of
military conquest.[11] Some of its central documents, like the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen, also inspired movements for abolitionism and universal suffrage in the next
century.[12]

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The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from
about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand
production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the
increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system.

Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of
output and capital invested. The textile industry was also the first to use modern production
methods.[1]:40

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, and many of the technological innovations were
British.[2] By the mid-18th century Britain controlled a global trading empire with colonies in North
America and Africa, and with some political influence on the Indian subcontinent, through the
activities of the East India Company.[3] The development of trade and the rise of business were
major causes of the Industrial Revolution.[1]:15 The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning
point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average
income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. Some economists say that
the major impact of the Industrial Revolution was that the standard of living for the general
population began to increase consistently for the first time in history, although others have said that
it did not begin to meaningfully improve until the late 19th and 20th centuries.[4][5][6]

GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the
modern capitalist economy,[7] while the Industrial Revolution began an era of per-capita economic
growth in capitalist economies.[8] Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the
Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication
of animals and plants.[9]

The precise start and end of the Industrial Revolution is still debated among historians, as is the pace
of economic and social changes.[10][11][12][13] Eric Hobsbawm held that the Industrial Revolution
began in Britain in the 1780s and was not fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s,[10] while T. S. Ashton
held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830.[11] Rapid industrialization first began in
Britain, starting with mechanized spinning in the 1780s,[14] with high rates of growth in steam power
and iron production occurring after 1800. Mechanized textile production spread from Great Britain
to continental Europe and the United States in the early 19th century, with important centres of
textiles, iron and coal emerging in Belgium and the United States and later textiles in France.[1]

An economic recession occurred from the late 1830s to the early 1840s when the adoption of the
original innovations of the Industrial Revolution, such as mechanized spinning and weaving, slowed
and their markets matured. Innovations developed late in the period, such as the increasing adoption
of locomotives, steamboats and steamships, hot blast iron smelting and new technologies, such as
the electrical telegraph, widely introduced in the 1840s and 1850s, were not powerful enough to
drive high rates of growth. Rapid economic growth began to occur after 1870, springing from a new
group of innovations in what has been called the Second Industrial Revolution. These new
innovations included new steel making processes, the large-scale manufacture of machine tools and
the use of increasingly advanced machinery in steam-powered factories.[1][15][16][17]

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The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority
and legitimacy, and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional
government and separation of church and state.[4][5] In France the central doctrines of the
Enlightenment philosophers were individual liberty and religious tolerance, in opposition to an
absolute monarchy and the fixed dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. The Enlightenment was
marked by an emphasis on the scientific method and reductionism, along with increased questioning
of religious orthodoxy—an attitude captured by the phrase Sapere aude, "Dare to know".[6]

French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715 (the year that Louis XIV died)
and 1789 (the beginning of the French Revolution). Some recent historians begin the period in the
1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes (French for "the philosophers") of
the period widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges,
literary salons, coffee houses and in printed books and pamphlets. The ideas of the Enlightenment
undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church and paved the way for the political
revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. A variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism
and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment.

Capitalism is an economic system and ideology based upon private ownership of the means of
production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3] Characteristics central to capitalism include private
property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive
markets.[4][5] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investment are determined by
the owners of the means of production in financial and capital markets, whereas prices and the
distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services
markets.[6][7]

Economists, political economists, sociologists, and historians have adopted different perspectives in
their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-
faire or free market capitalism, welfare capitalism and state capitalism. Different forms of capitalism
feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership,[8] obstacles to free competition and
state-sanctioned social policies. The degree of competition in markets, the role of intervention and
regulation and the scope of state ownership vary across different models of capitalism.[9] The extent
to which different markets are free, as well as the rules defining private property, are matters of
politics and policy. Most existing capitalist economies are mixed economies, which combine
elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning.[10]

Market economies have existed under many forms of government, in many different times, places
and cultures. However, the development of capitalist societies marked by a universalization of
money-based social relations, a consistently large and system-wide class of workers who must work
for wages and a capitalist class which dominates control of wealth and political power developed in
Western Europe in a process that led to the Industrial Revolution. Capitalist systems with varying
degrees of direct government intervention have since become dominant in the Western world and
continue to spread.

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Capitalism has been criticized for establishing power in the hands of a minority capitalist class that
exists through the exploitation of a working class majority; for prioritizing profit over social good,
natural resources and the environment; and for being an engine of inequality and economic
instabilities.[citation needed] Supporters argue that it provides better products through competition,
creates strong economic growth, yields productivity and prosperity that greatly benefits society, as
well as being the most efficient system known for allocation of resources.[citation needed]

The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, People's Spring,
Springtime of the Peoples,[3] or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals
throughout Europe in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history.

The revolutions were essentially democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old
monarchical structures and creating independent national states. The first revolution began in
January in Sicily[clarification needed]. Revolutions then spread across Europe after a separate
revolution began in France in February. Over 50 countries were affected, but with no coordination or
cooperation among their respective revolutionaries. According to Evans and von Strandmann (2000),
some of the major contributing factors were widespread dissatisfaction with political leadership,
demands for more participation in government and democracy, demands for freedom of press, other
demands made by the working class, the upsurge of nationalism, and the regrouping of established
governmental forces.[4]

The uprisings were led by shaky[clarification needed] ad hoc coalitions of reformers, the middle
classes and workers, which did not hold together for long. Tens of thousands of people were killed,
and many more forced into exile. Significant lasting reforms included the abolition of serfdom in
Austria and Hungary, the end of absolute monarchy in Denmark, and the introduction of
representative democracy in the Netherlands. The revolutions were most important in France, the
Netherlands, the states of the German Confederation that would make up the German Empire in the
late 19th and early 20th century, Italy, and the Austrian Empire.

Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that frames capitalism through a paradigm of

exploitation, analyzes class relations and social conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical
development and takes a dialectical view of social transformation. It originates from the works of
19th century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Marxism uses a methodology known as historical materialism to analyze and critique the
development of capitalism and the role of class struggles in systemic economic change. According to
Marxian theory, class conflict arises in capitalist societies due to contradictions between the material
interests of the oppressed proletariat—a class of wage labourers employed by the bourgeoisie to

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produce goods and services—and the bourgeoisie—the ruling class who own the means of
production and extract their wealth through appropriation of the surplus product (profit) produced
by the proletariat. This class struggle that is commonly expressed as the revolt of a society's
productive forces against its relations of production, results in a period of short-term crises as the
bourgeoisie struggle to manage the intensifying alienation of labor experienced by the proletariat,
albeit with varying degrees of class consciousness. This crisis culminates in a proletarian revolution
and eventually leads to the establishment of socialism—a socioeconomic system based on social
ownership of the means of production, distribution based on one's contribution and production
organized directly for use. As the productive forces continued to advance, Marx hypothesized that
socialism would ultimately transform into a communist society; a classless, stateless, humane society
based on common ownership and the underlying principle: "From each according to his ability, to
each according to his needs".

Marxism has developed into many different branches and schools of thought, though now there is no
single definitive Marxist theory.[1] Different Marxian schools place a greater emphasis on certain
aspects of classical Marxism while rejecting or modifying other aspects. Many schools of thought
have sought to combine Marxian concepts and non-Marxian concepts, which has often lead to
contradictory conclusions.[2] However, lately there is movement toward the recognition that
historical materialism and dialectical materialism remains the fundamental aspect of all Marxist
schools of thought[3] which should result in more agreement between different schools. Marxism
has had a profound and influential impact on global academia and has enjoyed expansion into many
fields such as archaeology, anthropology,[4] media studies,[5] political science, theater, history,
sociology, art history and theory, cultural studies, education, economics, ethics, criminology,
geography, literary criticism, aesthetics, film theory, critical psychology and philosophy.

As a historical category, modernity refers to a period marked by a questioning or rejection of

tradition; the prioritization of individualism, freedom and formal equality; faith in inevitable social,
scientific and technological progress and human perfectibility; rationalization and
professionalization; a movement from feudalism (or agrarianism) toward capitalism and the market
economy; industrialization, urbanization and secularization; the development of the nation-state and
its constituent institutions (e.g. representative democracy, public education, modern bureaucracy)
and forms of surveillance (Foucault 1995, 170–77). Some writers have suggested there is more than
one possible modernity, given the unsettled nature of the term and of history itself.