The Revolution of 1789 ignited profound political change in France, overthrowing absolutist monarchy and empowering popular political action for the first time.
The Tennis Court Oath and the Creation of the National Assembly
In May 1789, the long-anticipated Estates-General convened at Versailles for the first time since 1614, tasked with resolving France’s dire financial crisis. However, disagreements quickly arose over voting procedures: the Third Estate, representing the vast majority of France’s population, demanded that voting be by head rather than by order to reflect their greater numbers.
When their demands were rejected, the Third Estate boldly declared itself the National Assembly on 17 June 1789, claiming to represent the nation’s general will. Three days later, they found their usual meeting hall locked, an apparent attempt to stifle their actions. Undeterred, they assembled instead in a nearby indoor tennis court.
On 20 June 1789, in what became known as the Tennis Court Oath, the deputies swore never to disband until they had given France a constitution. This was a direct challenge to royal authority and marked a pivotal moment: a self-appointed body claiming sovereignty independent of the king.
Key features:
Asserted popular sovereignty over divine-right monarchy.
Encouraged wider political mobilisation and pamphlet campaigns.
Forced some members of the First and Second Estates to join the Assembly, increasing its legitimacy.
The Storming of the Bastille
Tensions in Paris escalated as the king gathered troops near Versailles and dismissed the popular finance minister, Jacques Necker, on 11 July 1789. Parisians feared a royal crackdown on reformist deputies and themselves.
On 14 July 1789, crowds stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress and prison symbolising royal tyranny. Though lightly guarded and nearly empty of prisoners, its capture had enormous symbolic and practical significance:
Demonstrated the people’s willingness to use violence to defend revolutionary changes.
Provided the revolutionary cause with arms and ammunition.
Forced Louis XVI to recognise the National Assembly and withdraw troops.
The storming of the Bastille remains a defining moment in revolutionary iconography and is still celebrated as Bastille Day in France.
Popular Action and the Municipal Revolution
Following the Bastille’s fall, Paris and many provincial towns witnessed a municipal revolution:
Revolutionary committees and National Guards were established to maintain order and defend gains against counter-revolution.
Middle-class citizens and radical artisans joined forces, forming a new, politicised urban populace.
This local political empowerment laid the groundwork for enduring popular influence throughout the Revolution.
The Great Fear and the Abolition of Feudalism
The revolutionary wave did not stop in Paris. During July and August 1789, rumours spread across the countryside that nobles planned to suppress the Revolution by force, possibly using foreign troops or bandits. This mass hysteria became known as the Great Fear (la Grande Peur).
In response:
Peasants attacked manor houses, burned feudal records, and forcibly reclaimed lands and rights.
Rural uprisings undermined the feudal system, which had long burdened peasants with dues and obligations.
The National Assembly, pressured by this unrest, passed the August Decrees on 4 August 1789, abolishing feudal privileges and seigneurial rights:
Ended noble tax exemptions and manorial dues.
Signalled the formal end of feudalism in France.
Strengthened the link between peasant support and revolutionary change.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
In tandem with the August Decrees, the Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on 26 August 1789:
Asserted equality before the law and individual freedoms.
Enshrined popular sovereignty and the principle that authority must come from the nation, not divine right.
This declaration became a foundational document for French revolutionary and modern democratic ideals.
The October Days: Women and the Urban Mob
Despite these advances, food shortages and continued high bread prices fuelled anger in Paris through the autumn. Many Parisians believed the king remained a threat to reforms.
On 5 October 1789, thousands of Parisian women, outraged by hunger and rumours that the king’s bodyguards had insulted the revolutionary cockade at a banquet, marched to Versailles demanding bread and political accountability.
Key aspects of the October Days:
The crowd, joined by members of the National Guard led by Lafayette, forced Louis XVI to accept the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
They compelled the royal family to relocate to Paris under the people’s watchful eye, symbolically bringing the monarchy to the capital and placing it under revolutionary scrutiny.
The prominent participation of women demonstrated their crucial role in driving political change, challenging traditional gender expectations.
The October Days marked a high point of popular, direct action shaping the course of events.
Collapse of Royal Authority and Emergence of Revolutionary Legitimacy
The cumulative effect of these pivotal months was profound. By October 1789:
The king had effectively lost independent authority; the National Assembly now dictated reforms.
Popular political participation—through urban mobs, rural peasants, and revolutionary committees—had become a defining feature of the new political order.
The traditional structures of absolutism, based on divine-right monarchy and aristocratic privilege, were fatally weakened.
These events transformed France from an absolute monarchy to a nation where sovereignty resided in the people and their representatives. Revolutionary legitimacy—rooted in the notion of the general will and active citizenship—replaced the passive, hierarchical loyalty to a monarch.
Significance for Popular Politics
The Revolution of 1789 inaugurated an era of popular politics in several key ways:
It empowered ordinary citizens to act directly to influence political developments.
It created a precedent for urban crowds and rural communities to exert pressure on national leadership.
It laid the foundation for the proliferation of political clubs, newspapers, and assemblies that would shape subsequent revolutionary phases.
These transformations ignited broader debates about citizenship, rights, and representation, which would evolve further during the radical and republican phases of the French Revolution.
Key Events (May–October 1789)
To consolidate understanding, here is a brief chronological outline:
May 1789: Estates-General opens at Versailles.
17 June: Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
20 June: Tennis Court Oath.
14 July: Storming of the Bastille.
July–August: The Great Fear sweeps rural France.
4 August: Abolition of feudal privileges (August Decrees).
26 August: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
5–6 October: October Days; king and family move to Paris.
These milestones collectively broke the power of the monarchy and entrenched the principle that the people, not the king, were the ultimate source of political legitimacy.
FAQ
Rumours and pamphlets played a crucial part in stirring public unrest and directing popular action during 1789. In the months leading up to the storming of the Bastille, Paris was saturated with pamphlets condemning royal corruption, aristocratic privilege, and alleged conspiracies to suppress reform. These easily circulated texts encouraged a sense of collective grievance and gave ordinary people a framework to interpret unfolding events as part of a struggle between tyranny and liberty. Similarly, rumours of foreign troops massing to crush the National Assembly and Paris spread panic, motivating the formation of the National Guard and the raid on the Bastille for arms. In the countryside, false reports that nobles were hiring brigands to destroy crops sparked the Great Fear, as peasants united to defend themselves. These unofficial sources of information undermined royal attempts to control the narrative and proved more influential than formal royal proclamations, directly influencing crowd behaviour and local uprisings.
The Parisian middle class, including merchants, lawyers, and professionals, were vital to steering the revolution in an organised direction during the volatile summer of 1789. While urban mobs drove much of the street-level violence, the middle class took steps to stabilise the capital after the Bastille’s fall by forming the Commune of Paris, a new municipal government representing the city’s sections. They also created the National Guard, a citizen militia led by Lafayette, to maintain order and protect property from uncontrolled riots and further royal intervention. Many in the middle class feared both royal repression and unchecked popular violence, so they positioned themselves as mediators, embracing moderate reforms that would curb absolutism while safeguarding social stability. Their actions ensured that radical demands did not immediately spiral into widespread anarchy. By occupying key positions in new municipal structures, the Parisian bourgeoisie gained significant political influence, shaping the early course of revolutionary governance alongside the National Assembly.
The radical press exploded in output and influence during 1789, playing a central role in politicising the masses and sustaining revolutionary momentum. Figures like Jean-Paul Marat, through his publication L’Ami du Peuple, called out perceived traitors, criticised royal policy, and urged the people to take action against corruption and oppression. Radical journalists transformed local grievances into broader revolutionary arguments, framing events like the king’s indecisiveness or troop movements as conspiracies against liberty. This intensified public suspicion and encouraged more militant attitudes among urban workers and the sans-culottes. Many newspapers were cheaply produced and easily read aloud in cafes, clubs, and public squares, reaching even the illiterate. By providing constant updates and rhetorical fire, the radical press fostered a sense of shared purpose and justified crowd actions, including protests and direct interventions like the October Days. This developing media culture embedded the idea that vigilant popular participation was necessary to defend revolutionary gains against enemies within and without.
Symbolism and shared revolutionary rituals were essential tools for uniting France’s diverse social groups behind common revolutionary goals in 1789. The tricolour cockade, combining the colours of Paris (blue and red) with the royal white, became a visible badge of revolutionary commitment. Wearing it signified loyalty to the new political order and solidarity among different estates and classes. Public ceremonies, such as celebrating the storming of the Bastille or commemorating the Tennis Court Oath, reinforced collective memory and fostered national unity. Processions, songs like La Marseillaise (emerging slightly later but rooted in this culture), and the planting of Liberty Trees in town squares symbolised freedom’s triumph over tyranny. These rituals allowed peasants, urban workers, and the middle class to express their new political identity together. They also pressured the monarchy to conform outwardly to revolutionary symbols, as Louis XVI was forced to wear the cockade to demonstrate loyalty. In essence, shared symbols and rituals bridged divides, creating a sense of fraternity crucial to sustaining popular politics in its early phase.
The October Days significantly shifted the balance of power by effectively moving the political centre of gravity from Versailles to Paris, placing the National Assembly under closer scrutiny by the capital’s politicised populace. By marching the royal family back to Paris, the demonstrators ensured that the king could no longer act independently from the revolutionary crowd’s influence. This proximity meant that any sign of royal betrayal could quickly provoke popular action, deterring the king from resisting reforms outright. Likewise, the National Assembly, which also relocated to Paris, found itself more directly accountable to Parisians, who had demonstrated their ability to mobilise and intervene. This encouraged deputies to consider popular opinion more carefully, as they risked provoking mass protests or insurrection if they failed to deliver meaningful change. The October Days, therefore, reinforced the role of direct democracy and crowd action in shaping legislative agendas, embedding the capital’s radical mood into the everyday workings of revolutionary government.
Practice Questions
Explain the significance of the Tennis Court Oath and the storming of the Bastille in undermining royal authority in 1789.
The Tennis Court Oath and the storming of the Bastille were critical in dismantling royal absolutism. The Oath asserted the National Assembly’s legitimacy over the king’s will, showing collective defiance. The Bastille’s fall symbolised the people’s readiness to defend revolutionary ideals with force, compelling Louis XVI to recognise the Assembly and withdraw troops. Together, these events shifted power from the monarchy to popular representatives and urban crowds. They energised further uprisings and reforms, setting a precedent for direct action and demonstrating that royal authority could no longer suppress the collective will of the nation.
Assess how the Great Fear and the October Days contributed to the rise of popular politics in 1789.
The Great Fear spread peasant insurrections that destroyed feudal records, forcing the National Assembly to abolish feudal privileges, aligning rural demands with revolutionary goals. This grassroots mobilisation showed that peasants were not passive but active political agents. The October Days saw women and urban mobs march on Versailles, compelling the king to move to Paris under revolutionary surveillance. This demonstrated the power of mass action and women’s political influence. Both events dismantled traditional hierarchies, empowered ordinary people, and ensured that popular pressure, rather than royal command, now shaped political change during the early Revolution.
