Explanation:
Major effect of the french revolution
1. The House of Bourbon is a French Dynasty that had ruled France for over 400 years. Its reign was disrupted by the French Revolution. Monarchy was abolished in France in 1792 and replaced with the Republican form of Government. Although the Bourbon monarchy was restored after the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, it lasted till only 1830 when it was finally overthrown in the July Revolution. Also, during the Revolution, the royal guard of the Bourbon monarchy was replaced by the National Guard, the revolutionary army whose role was to protect the achievements of the French revolution. By the end of 1793, the National Guard comprised of 700, 000 well trained soldiers that protected people and their property.
2. Manorialism was an integral part of feudalism by which peasants were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord. Tithes was one tenth of annual produce or earnings taken as a tax for the support of the church. Both these taxes were abolished during the French Revolution. Two thirds of France was employed in agriculture and abolition of these taxes brought much respite for the peasants. Also, with the breakup of large estates controlled by the Church and the nobility during the Revolution, rural France primarily became a land of small independent farms. It might be said that the revolution bequeathed to the nation “a ruling class of landowners.”
3. Prior to the French Revolution, Catholicism had been the official religion in France and the French Catholic Church was very powerful. It owned around 10% of the land. It also received tithes, which was one-tenth of the annual earnings of the common people taken as tax to support of the clergy. From this dominant position, the French Catholic Church was almost destroyed during the Revolution. Its priests and nuns were turned out, its leaders executed or exiled, its property controlled by the state and tithes was abolished. The Concordat of 1801, an agreement between Napoleon and the Church, ended this period and established rules for a relationship between the Church and the French State. Though the Concordat restored some of the traditional roles of the Church, it didn’t restore its power, lands or monasteries. Also religious worship could never become as prominent in France as before.
4. An ideology may be defined as a doctrine about the best form of social and political organization. The French Revolution gave birth to ideologies. In fact the term ideology was coined during the Revolution. Prior to the French Revolution, people generally lived in the form of government that had been in place for centuries and that form was monarchy in most places. However, after the French Revolution, no government was accepted as legitimate without justification. The republicans challenged those who favored the monarchy. Even within republicans, some advocated a government directed by the elite while others preferred a more democratic structure. Several ideological alternatives arose due to the French Revolution including nationalism, liberalism, socialism and eventually communism.
5. Nationalism is an ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion or allegiance to a nation and places these obligations above other individual or group interests. The French Revolution initiated the movement toward the modern nation-state and played a key role in the birth of nationalism across Europe. As French armies under Napoleon Bonaparte captured territories, the ideology of Nationalism was spread across Europe. The Revolution didn’t only impact French Nationalism but had a profound and long lasting impact on European intellectuals. Due to this, struggle for national liberation became one of the most important themes of 19th and 20th-century European and world politics.
6. Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty and equality. During the French Revolution, hereditary aristocracy was overthrown with the slogan “liberty, equality, fraternity” and France became the first state in history to grant universal male suffrage. There were two key events that marked the triumph of liberalism during the Revolution. The first was the abolition of feudalism in France on the night of 4th August 1789. This marked the collapse of feudal and old traditional rights and privileges. The second was the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August 1789. The Declaration is regarded as a foundational document of both liberalism and human rights. Due to the success of the French Revolution, liberal governments were established in nations across Europe, South America and North America through the 19th century. Thus the Revolution is considered a defining moment in Liberalism.
