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Indochina 1886

Indochina: Dark green: always included, Light green: usually included, Red: sometimes included.
Indochinese Region (biology): Dark and Light green.

Indochina is the former name of a region of southeast Asia, which dates from the period when it was a colony of France under the full name of French Indochina. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", referring to the location of the territory between China and India. The people in the region are neither Chinese nor Indian. The Indochinese peninsula refers to a region in Southeast Asia lying roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The term "Indochina" may also be used in biogeography for the "Indochinese Region", a major biogeographical region within the Indomalaya ecozone.

French Indochina was a federation of French colonies and protectorates, that France named Cochin China, Tonkin, Annam, Laos and Cambodia. France had an imperial presence in the region between 1884 and 1954. France withdrew from southeast Asia following the loss of the Indochina War.

Indochina had boundaries imposed by France as a result of military conquests in the region, encompassing areas that are now modern Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The subjects of the colony were not homogenous; rather, Indochina was a "separate entity, it was largely unrelated to the cultural, geographical, and racial elements which shaped the people and governments of its constituent parts".^[1]

Geography[link]

Historically, Indochina comprises the territory of the former French Indochina:

• Cambodia
• Laos
• Vietnam

The broader geographic and cultural region is today referred to as Mainland Southeast Asia in which sense it also includes:

• Burma (also Myanmar—part of British India until 1937)
• Thailand (formerly Siam)
• Sometimes Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (also considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia if the Johor-Singapore Causeway is not taken into account)^{[citation needed]}

Biogeography[link]

Although the name "Indochina" is today a political anachronism, it is still sometimes used to refer to the "Indochinese Region" to mean a major biogeographical region in the Indomalaya ecozone, and also a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical Kingdom. It includes the native flora and fauna of all the countries above. The adjacent Malesian Region covers the Maritime Southeast Asian countries, and straddles the Indomalaya and Australasian ecozones.

See also[link]

Asia portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Indochina or Flora of Indochinese Region

• Chindia
• ASEAN
• East Indies
• French Indochina
• Malay Peninsula
• Maritime Southeast Asia
• Indochina War
• Indochina Time UTC+7
• Serindia
• Zomia (geography)
• Indochina Forum

References[link]

• History of the mountain people of southern Indochina up to 1945 (Bernard Bourotte, i.e. Jacques Méry, U.S. Agency for International Development, 195?

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French American
Franco-Américain, Franco-Américaine

Brett Favre • Kate Chopin • Oliver Stone Robert Goulet • Jack Kerouac • Henry David Thoreau John C. Frémont • Eleuthère Irénée du Pont • William C. Durant John James Audubon • Rene Gagnon Angelina Jolie • Johnny Depp
Total population
17,000,000 [1] 4% of the U.S. population (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Predominantly in New England, The Midwest and Louisiana
Languages
American English, French(Cajun•Acadian•Canadian•Missouri•New England French)
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism Calvinist Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
French people, French Canadian, Québécois, Cajuns, Acadians

French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 2.0 million speak French and French Creole at home.^[2] While Americans of French descent make up a substantial percentage of the American population, French Americans arguably are less visible than other similarly sized ethnic groups. This is due in part to the tendency of French American groups to identify more strongly with "New World" regional identities such as Acadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole. This has inhibited the development of a wider French American identity. The majority of Americans of French and French Canadian descent are descendants of those who first settled in Canada in the 17th century (known as New France at the time), which later became the Province of Quebec in 1763, Lower Canada in 1791, and a Canadian province of Quebec after Canadian Confederation in 1867. The majority of Americans of French descent, mostly resident in New England and the Midwest, are descendants of the Quebec Diaspora and the first Canadiens, while a few are of Acadian descent from the Canadian Maritime provinces. Immigration to the United States from France was much lower than from other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, or Poland.

History[link]

Unlike other immigrants who came to the United States from other countries, some French Americans arrived prior to the founding of the United States. In many parts of the country, like the Midwest and Louisiana, they were the founders of some of these villages, cities, and first state inhabitants. While found throughout the country, French Americans are most numerous in New England, northern New York, the Midwest, and Louisiana. French is the fourth most-spoken language in the country, behind English, Spanish, and Chinese.^[3] Often, French Americans are identified more specifically as being of French Canadian, Cajun, or Louisiana Creole descent.^[4] An important part of French American history is the Quebec diaspora of the 1840s-1930s, in which one million French Canadians moved to the United States, principally to the New England states, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Historically, the French in Canada had among the highest birth rates in world history, which is why their population was large even though immigration from France was relatively low.

Franco-American Flag

Some French Americans are descended from the casquette girls and comfort women who were sent to Louisiana from France as brides for the French colonists in the 18th century.

They also moved to different regions within Canada, namely Ontario and Manitoba. Many of the early male migrants worked in the lumber industry in both regions, and, to a lesser degree, in the burgeoning mining industry in the upper Great Lakes.

Louisiana[link]

The Cajuns of Louisiana have a unique heritage. Their ancestors settled Acadia, in what is now the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. In 1755, after capturing Fort Beauséjour in the region, the British Army forced the Acadians to either swear an oath of loyalty to the British Crown or face expulsion. Thousands refused to take the oath, causing them to be sent, penniless, to the 13 colonies to the south in what has become known as the Great Upheaval. Over the next generation, some four thousand managed to make the long trek to Louisiana, where they began a new life. The name Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian. Many still live in what is known as the Cajun Country, where much of their colonial culture survives. French Louisiana, when it was sold by Napoleon in 1803, covered all or part of than fifteen current U.S. states and contained French and Canadian colonists dispersed across it, though they were most numerous in its southernmost portion.

In Louisiana today, more than 15% of the population of the Cajun Country reported in the 2000 United States Census that French was spoken at home.^[5]

Another significant source of immigrants to Louisiana was Saint Domingue, which gained its independence as the Republic of Haiti in 1804, following a bloody revolution; much of its white population (along with some mulattoes) fled during this time, often to Louisiana, where they largely assimilated into the Creole culture.

Biloxi in Mississippi, and Mobile in Alabama, still contain French American heritage since they were founded by the Canadian Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

The Houma Tribe in Louisiana still speak the same French they had been taught 300 years ago.

Colonial era[link]

In the 17th and early 18th centuries there was an influx of a few thousand Huguenots, who were Protestant refugees fleeing religious persecution in France. For nearly a century they fostered a distinctive French Protestant identity that enabled them to remain aloof from American society, but by the time of the American Revolution they had generally intermarried and merged into the larger Presbyterian community.^[6]:382 The largest number settling in South Carolina, where the French comprised four percent of the white population in 1790.^[7][8] With the help of the well organized international Huguenot community, many also moved to Virginia.^[9] In the north, Paul Revere of Boston was a prominent figure.

Midwest[link]

From the beginning of the 17th century, French Canadians explored and traveled to the region with their coureur de bois and explorers, such as Jean Nicolet, Robert de LaSalle, Jacques Marquette, Nicholas Perrot, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant, Lucien Galtier, Pierre Laclède, René Auguste Chouteau, Julien Dubuque, Pierre de La Vérendrye, and Pierre Parrant.

The French Canadians set up a number of villages along the waterways, including Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; La Baye, Wisconsin; Cahokia, Illinois; Kaskaskia, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Saint Ignace, Michigan; Vincennes, Indiana; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; and Sainte Genevieve, Missouri. They also built a series of forts in the area, such as Fort de Chartres, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Saint Louis, Fort Ouiatenon, Fort Miami (Michigan), Fort Miami (Indiana), Fort Saint Joseph, Fort La Baye, Fort de Buade, Fort Saint Antoine, Fort Crevecoeur, Fort Trempealeau, Fort Beauharnois, Fort Orleans, Fort St. Charles, Fort Kaministiquia, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Rouillé, Fort Niagara, Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Venango, and Fort Duquesne. The forts were serviced by soldiers and fur trappers who had long networks reaching through the Great Lakes back to Montreal.^[10]

The region was relinquished by France to the British in 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris. Three years of war by the Natives, called Pontiac's War ensued. It became part of the Province of Quebec in 1774, and was seized by the United States during the Revolution.^[11]

New England, New York State[link]

In the late 19th century, many Francophones arrived in New England from Quebec and New Brunswick to work in textile mill cities in New England. In the same period, Francophones from Quebec soon became a majority of the workers in the saw mill and logging camps in the Adirondack Mountains and their foothills. Others sought opportunities for farming and other trades such as blacksmiths in Northern New York State. By the mid-20th century French Americans comprised 30% of the Maine's population. Some migrants became lumberjacks but most concentrated in industrialized areas and into enclaves known as 'Little Canadas.'^[12]

French Canadian immigrant women saw the United States as a place of opportunity and possibility where they could create alternatives for themselves distinct from the expectations of their parents and their community. By the early 20th century some French Canadian women even began to see migration to the United States to work as a rite of passage and a time of self-discovery and self-reliance. When these women did marry, they had fewer children with longer intervals between children than their Canadian counterparts. Some women never married, and oral accounts suggest that self-reliance and economic independence were important reasons for choosing work over marriage and motherhood. These women conformed to traditional gender ideals in order to retain their 'Canadienne' cultural identity, but they also redefined these roles in ways that provided them increased independence in their roles as wives and mothers.^[13][14]

The French Americans became active in the Catholic Church where they tried with little success to challenge its domination by Irish clerics.^[15] They founded such newspapers as 'Le Messager' and 'La Justice.' The first hospital in Lewiston, Maine, became a reality in 1889 when the Sisters of Charity of Montreal, the 'Grey Nuns,' opened the doors of the Asylum of Our Lady of Lourdes. This hospital was central to the Grey Nuns' mission of providing social services for Lewiston's predominately French Canadian mill workers. The Grey Nuns struggled to establish their institution despite meager financial resources, language barriers, and opposition from the established medical community.^[16] Immigration dwindled after World War I.

The French Canadian community in New England tried to preserve some of its cultural norms. This doctrine, like efforts to preserve francophone culture in Quebec, became known as la Survivance.^[17]

Potvin (2003) has studied the evolution of French Catholic parishes in New England. The predominantly Irish hierarchy of the 19th century was slow to recognize the need for French-language parishes; several bishops even called for assimilation and English language-only parochial schools. In the 20th century, a number of parochial schools for Francophone students opened, though they gradually closed toward the end of the century and a large share of the French-speaking population left the Church. At the same time, the number of priests available to staff these parishes also diminished. By the 21st century the emphasis was on retaining local reminders of French American culture rather than on retaining the language itself.^[18] With the decline of the state's textile industry during the 1950s, the French element experienced a period of upward mobility and assimilation. This pattern of assimilation increased during the 1970s and 1980s as many Catholic organizations switched to English names and parish children entered public schools; some parochial schools closed in the 1970s. Although some ties to its French Canadian origins remain, the community was largely anglicized by the 1990s, moving almost completely from 'Canadien' to 'American'.^[12][19]

Representative of the assimilation process was the career of singer and icon of American popular culture Rudy Vallée (1901–1986). He grew up in Westbrook, Maine, and after serving in World War I attended the University of Maine, then transferred to Yale, and went on to become as a popular music star. He never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake.^[20]

Civil War[link]

French Americans in the Union forces were one of the most important Catholic groups present during the American Civil War. The exact number is unclear, but thousands of French Americans appear to have served in this conflict. Union forces did not keep reliable statistics concerning foreign enlistments. However, historians have estimated anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 French Americans serving in this war. In addition to those born in the United States, many who served in the Union forces came from Canada or had resided there for several years. Canada's national anthem was written by such a soldier named Calixa Lavallée, who wrote this anthem while he served for the Union attaining the rank of Lieutenant.^[21] The French government and British government supported the Confederate cause, but no soldiers were sent.^[22] Leading Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard was a noted French American from Louisiana.

Politics[link]

Walker (1962) examines the voting behavior in U.S. presidential elections from 1880 to 1960, using election returns from 30 French American communities in New England, along with sample survey data for the 1948-60 elections. From 1896 to 1924, French Americans typically supported the Republican Party because of its conservatism, emphasis on order, and advocacy of the tariff to protect the textile workers from foreign competition. In 1928, with Catholic Al Smith as the Democratic candidate, the French Americans moved over to the Democratic column and stayed there for six presidential elections. They formed part of the New Deal Coalition. Unlike the Irish and German Catholics, very few French Americans deserted the Democratic ranks because of the foreign policy and war issues of the 1940 and 1944 campaigns. In 1952 many French Americans broke from the Democrats but returned heavily in 1960.^[23]

As the ancestors of most French Americans had for the most part left France before the French Revolution, they usually prefer the Fleur-de-lis to the modern French tricolor.^[24]

Franco-American Day[link]

In 2008, the state of Connecticut made June 24 Franco-American Day, recognizing French Canadians for their culture and influence on Connecticut. The states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have now held Franco-American Day festivals on June 24.^[25]

Population[link]

Distribution of Franco Americans according to the 2000 census

According to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2000, 5.3% of Americans are of French or French Canadian ancestry. French Americans made up close to, or more than, 10% of the population of:

In states that once made up part of New France (excluding Louisiana):

Franco Americans also made up more than 4% of the population in

States with the largest French communities including (according to the 2010 U.S. Census)

French and French Canadian

Religion[link]

Most Franco Americans have a Roman Catholic heritage (which includes most French Canadians and Cajuns). Besides the Protestant Huguenots who fled from France in the colonial era, there were some Protestants from Switzerland who came in the 19th century.^[27]

There was tension between the English-speaking Irish Catholics, who controlled the Church in New England, and the French immigrants, who wanted their language taught in the parochial schools. The Irish controlled all the Catholic colleges in New England, except for Assumption College in Massachusetts, controlled by the French, and one school in New Hampshire controlled by Germans. Tension reached a breaking point during the Sentinelle affair of the 1920s, in which Franco-American Catholics of Providence, Rhode Island, challenged their bishop over control of parish funds in an unsuccessful bid to wrest power from the Irish American episcopate.^[28]

Marie-Rose Ferron was a mystic stigmatic; she was born in Quebec and lived in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Between about 1925 and 1936, she was a popular "victim soul" who suffered physically to redeem the sins of her community. Father Onésime Boyer, promoted her cult.^[29]

French language in the United States[link]

According to the National Education Bureau, French is the second most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. high schools, colleges, and universities behind Spanish. French was the most commonly taught foreign language until the 1980s; when the influx of Hispanic immigrants aided the growth of Spanish. According to the U.S. 2000 Census, French is the third most spoken language in the United States after English and Spanish, with 2 097 206 speakers, up from 1 930 404 in 1990. In addition to parts of Louisiana, the language is also commonly spoken in Florida, northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York City; home to large French-speaking communities from France, Quebec, and Haiti.

As a result of French immigration to what is now the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the French language was once widely spoken in much of the country, especially in the former Louisiana Territory, as well as in the Northeast. French-language newspapers existed in many American cities; especially New Orleans and in certain cities in New England. Americans of French descent often lived in predominately French neighborhoods; where they attended schools and churches that used their language. In New England, Upstate New York, and the Midwest, French Canadian neighborhoods were known as "Little Canada".

Cities founded by the French and French Canadians[link]

• Biloxi, Mississippi founded in 1699 by Canadien Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
• Boise, Idaho, founded in the 1820s by French fur traders, means "wooded."
• Bourbonnais, Illinois named after French Canadian fur trader Francois Bourbonnais. The first permanent resident was French Canadian fur trader Noel LeVasseur in the 1830s.
• Chicago, Illinois founded by the French and the Indians, is pronounced with the French pronunciation of the sound ché as opposed to the English chi. It also contained a u at the end, Chécagou.
• Coeur d'Alene, Idaho French Canadian fur traders allegedly named the local Indian tribe the Coeur d'Alene out of respect for their tough trading practices. Coeur d'Alêne literally means "heart of the awl."
• Detroit, Michigan was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, a French army captain, and was originally called Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, after the minister of marine under Louis XIV and the French word Détroit for "strait."
• Dubuque, Iowa was established as a lead mining site by Canadien Julien Dubuque in 1788
• French Camp, California was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used by French-Canadian fur traders (including Michel Laframboise)in the 1830s and 1840s, making it one of the oldest settlements in San Joaquin County.
• Green Bay, Wisconsin or La Baye, was founded by Jean Nicolet in 1634. Many descendants of Green Bay are direct descendants of the French Canadian habitants and their families.
• Juneau, Alaska was founded in 1891 and named in honour of Joseph Juneau, a gold prospector from the region of Montreal, who settled the first mining camp in the area.
• Kaskaskia, Illinois was founded in 1703 by French Jesuit missionaries and was Illinois's first capital.
• Mobile, Alabama founded in 1702 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne. It was the first capital of Louisana.
• Natchitoches, Louisiana was founded in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis.
• New Orleans, Louisiana was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne.
• Pierre, South Dakota was named after Pierre Chouteau, Jr., a fur trader of French Canadian origin, who built Fort Pierre, where the capital of Pierre stands today.
• Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin established in 1685 by Nicholas Perrot as a fur trading post.
• Prairie du Rocher, Illinois was founded in 1722 by Sister Thérèse Langlois, four years after Fort de Chartres was built by Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand.
• Saint Charles, Missouri was founded by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian, in 1769.
• Saint Louis, Missouri was founded by a French trader, Pierre Laclède, and his stepson, a trader from Louisiana, René Auguste Chouteau in 1764.
• Sainte Genevieve, Missouri was founded in 1735 by habitants.
• Saint Ignace, Michigan was founded by father Jacques Marquette in 1671.
• Saint Paul, Minnesota was established in 1838 by Pierre Parrant and settled by French Canadians. In 1841, it was named Saint-Paul by Father Lucien Galtier in honor of Paul the Apostle.
• Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan was founded in 1668 by fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon
• Vincennes, Indiana was established in 1732 by François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes and rallied to the cause of the American revolution with Father Pierre Gibault.
• San Antonio

State names given to American states[link]

Most of the names were bestowed by early French explorers who were not permanent residents of the area that became the U.S. Upwards of 10 U.S. states have names of either direct French origin (Louisiana, Vermont, Illinois), indirect French origin through other languages (Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Delaware, New Jersey) or possible / disputed French origin (Maine, Oregon).

• Arkansas – named by French explorers from the corrupted Indian word meaning "south wind";
• Delaware – named after Lord de la Warr (Anglo-Norman surname originally de la Guerre meaning; "of the war");
• Illinois – French for the land of the Illini, a Native American tribe;
• Louisiana – from the French "Louisiane", in honor of king Louis XIV of France;
• Maine – most likely from the French province of the same name. because Henrietta Maria of France, queen of Charles I of England was said to have owned the province of Maine in France.^[30][31]
• Michigan – French transcription of Ojibwe word Mishigamaw which means "great lake"
• New Jersey – named after the Bailliage de Jersey, the largest of the British Channel Islands, whose inhabitants are of Norman descent and many of whom still speak a Norman-French dialect. English and French are the official languages of Jersey and Guernsey;
• Oregon – may have been named by early French explorers after "le fleuve aux ouragans", the hurricane river, a name used to describe the windiness of the Columbia River;
• Vermont – comes from a contraction of French words, Vert, green, and mont, mount, mountain. Hence the "Green Mountain" (la montagne verte) state;
• Wisconsin – named after the Meskousing River. This spelling was later corrupted from the local Native American language to "Ouisconsin" by French explorers, and over time this version became the French name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling to its modern form when they began to arrive in greater numbers during the early 19th Century;^[30]

Historiography[link]

Richard (2002) examines the major trends in the historiography regarding the Franco-Americans who came to New England in 1860-1930. He identifies three categories of scholars: survivalists, who emphasized the common destiny of Franco-Americans and celebrated their survival; regionalists and social historians, who aimed to uncover the diversity of the Franco-American past in distinctive communities across New England; and pragmatists, who argued that the forces of acculturation were too strong for the Franco-American community to overcome. The 'pragmatists versus survivalists' debate over the fate of the Franco-American community may be the ultimate weakness of Franco-American historiography. Such teleological stances impede the progress of research by funneling scholarly energies in limited directions while many other avenues, for example, Franco-American politics, arts, and ties to Quebec, remain unexplored.^[15][17]

Immigration from France, Canada, and Acadia[link]

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Franco-Americans portal
	Quebec portal
	Canada portal
	France portal
	Acadia portal

• Acadians
• Canadian American
• European American
• French Argentine
• French Canadian
• Hyphenated American
• List of French Americans
• The Huguenot Society of America

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Robbins, Rhea Cote. Wednesday's Child (2008)
• Robbins, Rhea Cote, ed. Canuck and Other Stories (2006)

External links[link]

• Extensive studies, Documents, Statistics and Resources of Franco American History
• Franco American Center
• Franco American Women's Institute
• Institut français
• Dave Martucci, Franco-American flags, in Flags of the World
• Vivre en Orange County - French Community in Orange County, California
• Bonjour L.A. !- Bonjour L.A. ! Los Angeles with a French touch
• Council for the Development of French in Louisiana - a state agency.
• [2] Oral History of French Canadians in Franklin County, New York and of a small sawmill and logging community in the Northern New York State populated by French Canadians

The French Revolution
The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789
Participants	French society
Location	France
Date	1789–1799
Result	A cycle of royal power being limited by uneasy constitutional monarchy—then abolition and replacement of the French king, aristocracy and church with a radical, secular, democratic republic—in turn becoming more authoritarian, militaristic and property-based. Radical social change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights, as well as nationalism and democracy. Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte Armed conflicts with other European countries

The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799), was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France that had a major impact on France and indeed all of Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an epic transformation, as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from radical left-wing political groups, masses on the streets, and peasants in the countryside.^[1] Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy – of monarchy, aristocracy and religious authority – were abruptly overthrown by new Enlightenment principles of equality, citizenship and inalienable rights.

History of France
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The French Revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the Estates-General in May. The first year of the Revolution saw members of the Third Estate proclaiming the Tennis Court Oath in June, the assault on the Bastille in July, the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August, and an epic march on Versailles that forced the royal court back to Paris in October. The next few years were dominated by tensions between various liberal assemblies and a right-wing monarchy intent on thwarting major reforms.

A republic was proclaimed in September 1792 and King Louis XVI was executed the next year. External threats also played a dominant role in the development of the Revolution. The French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792 and ultimately featured spectacular French victories that facilitated the conquest of the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and most territories west of the Rhine – achievements that had defied previous French governments for centuries.

Internally, popular sentiments radicalized the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins and virtual dictatorship by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror from 1793 until 1794 during which between 16,000 and 40,000 people were killed.^[2] After the fall of the Jacobins and the execution of Robespierre, the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795 and held power until 1799, when it was replaced by the Consulate under Napoleon Bonaparte.

After the Napoleonic Wars and ensuing rise and fall of Napoleon's First French Empire, a restoration of absolutist monarchy was followed by two further successful smaller revolutions (1830 and 1848). This meant the 19th century and process of modern France taking shape saw France again successively governed by a similar cycle of constitutional monarchy (1830–48), fragile republic (Second Republic) (1848–1852), and empire (Second Empire) (1852–1870). The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution. The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the spread of secularism, the development of modern ideologies and the invention of total war^[3] all mark their birth during the Revolution.

Causes[link]

The government of King Louis XVI of France faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s.

Adherents of most historical models identify many of the same features of the Ancien Régime as being among the causes of the Revolution. Economic factors included hunger and malnutrition in the most destitute segments of the population, due to rising bread prices (from a normal 8 sous for a four-pound loaf to 12 sous by the end of 1789),^[4] after several years of poor grain harvests. Bad harvests (caused in part by extreme weather from El Niño along with volcanic activity at Laki and Grímsvötn in 1783–1784), rising food prices, and an inadequate transportation system that hindered the shipment of bulk foods from rural areas to large population centers contributed greatly to the destabilization of French society in the years leading up to the Revolution.

Another cause was the state's effective bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of previous wars, particularly the financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War. The national debt amounted to some 1,000–2,000 million^{[citation needed]} livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the loss of France's colonial possessions in North America and the growing commercial dominance of Great Britain. France's inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of an inadequate system of taxation. To obtain new money to head off default on the government's loans, the king called an Assembly of Notables in 1787.

Meanwhile, the royal court at Versailles was seen as being isolated from, and indifferent to, the hardships of the lower classes. While in theory King Louis XVI was an absolute monarch, in practice he was often indecisive and known to back down when faced with strong opposition. While he did reduce government expenditures, opponents in the parlements successfully thwarted his attempts at enacting much needed reforms. Those who were opposed to Louis' policies further undermined royal authority by distributing pamphlets (often reporting false or exaggerated information) that criticized the government and its officials, stirring up public opinion against the monarchy.^[5]

Many other factors involved resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals. These included resentment of royal absolutism; resentment by peasants, laborers and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by the nobility; resentment of the Church's influence over public policy and institutions; aspirations for freedom of religion; resentment of aristocratic bishops by the poorer rural clergy; aspirations for social, political and economic equality, and (especially as the Revolution progressed) republicanism; hatred of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was falsely accused of being a spendthrift and an Austrian spy; and anger toward the King for firing finance minister Jacques Necker, among others, who were popularly seen as representatives of the people.^[6]

Pre-revolution[link]

Financial crisis[link]

Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.

Louis XVI ascended to the throne amidst a financial crisis; the state was nearing bankruptcy and outlays outpaced income.^[7] This was because of France’s financial obligations stemming from involvement in the Seven Years War and its participation in the American Revolutionary War.^[8] In May 1776, finance minister Turgot was dismissed, after he failed to enact reforms. The next year, Jacques Necker, a foreigner, was appointed Comptroller-General of Finance. He could not be made an official minister because he was a Protestant.^[9]

Necker realized that the country's extremely regressive tax system subjected the lower classes to a heavy burden,^[9] while numerous exemptions existed for the nobility and clergy.^[10] He argued that the country could not be taxed higher; that tax exemptions for the nobility and clergy must be reduced; and proposed that borrowing more money would solve the country's fiscal shortages. Necker published a report to support this claim that underestimated the deficit by roughly 36 million livres, and proposed restricting the power of the parlements.^[9]

This was not received well by the King's ministers, and Necker, hoping to bolster his position, argued to be made a minister. The King refused, Necker was fired, and Charles Alexandre de Calonne was appointed to the Comptrollership.^[9] Calonne initially spent liberally, but he quickly realized the critical financial situation and proposed a new tax code.^[11]

The proposal included a consistent land tax, which would include taxation of the nobility and clergy. Faced with opposition from the parlements, Calonne organised the summoning of the Assembly of Notables. But the Assembly failed to endorse Calonne's proposals and instead weakened his position through its criticism. In response, the King announced the calling of the Estates-General for May 1789, the first time the body had been summoned since 1614. This was a signal that the Bourbon monarchy was in a weakened state and subject to the demands of its people.^[12]

Estates-General of 1789[link]

The Estates-General was organized into three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of France.^[13] On the last occasion that the Estates-General had met, in 1614, each estate held one vote, and any two could override the third. The Parlement of Paris feared the government would attempt to gerrymander an assembly to rig the results. Thus, they required that the Estates be arranged as in 1614.^[14] The 1614 rules differed from practices of local assemblies, where each member had one vote and third estate membership was doubled. For example, in the Dauphiné the provincial assembly agreed to double the number of members of the third estate, hold membership elections, and allow one vote per member, rather than one vote per estate.^[15]

The "Committee of Thirty," a body of liberal Parisians, began to agitate against voting by estate. This group, largely composed of the wealthy, argued for the Estates-General to assume the voting mechanisms of Dauphiné. They argued that ancient precedent was not sufficient, because "the people were sovereign."^[16] Necker convened a Second Assembly of Notables, which rejected the notion of double representation by a vote of 111 to 333.^[16] The King, however, agreed to the proposition on 27 December; but he left discussion of the weight of each vote to the Estates-General itself.^[17]

Elections were held in the spring of 1789; suffrage requirements for the Third Estate were for French-born or naturalised males only, at least 25 years of age, who resided where the vote was to take place and who paid taxes.

Pour être électeur du tiers état, il faut avoir 25 ans, être français ou naturalisé, être domicilié au lieu de vote et compris au rôle des impositions.^[18]

Strong turnout produced 1,201 delegates, including: "291 nobles, 300 clergy, and 610 members of the Third Estate."^[17] To lead delegates, "Books of grievances" (cahiers de doléances) were compiled to list problems.^[13] The books articulated ideas which would have seemed radical only months before; however, most supported the monarchical system in general. Many assumed the Estates-General would approve future taxes, and Enlightenment ideals were relatively rare.^[14][19]

Pamphlets by liberal nobles and clergy became widespread after the lifting of press censorship.^[16] The Abbé Sieyès, a theorist and Catholic clergyman, argued the paramount importance of the Third Estate in the pamphlet Qu'est-ce que le tiers état? ("What is the Third Estate?"), published in January 1789. He asserted: "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing. What does it want to be? Something."^[14][20]

The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 in Versailles.

The Estates-General convened in the Grands Salles des Menus-Plaisirs in Versailles on 5 May 1789 and opened with a three-hour speech by Necker. The Third Estate demanded that the verification of deputies' credentials should be undertaken in common by all deputies, rather than each estate verifying the credentials of its own members internally; negotiations with the other estates failed to achieve this.^[19] The commoners appealed to the clergy who replied they required more time. Necker asserted that each estate verify credentials and "the king was to act as arbitrator."^[21] Negotiations with the other two estates to achieve this, however, were unsuccessful.^[22]

National Assembly (1789)[link]

The National Assembly taking the Tennis Court Oath (sketch by Jacques-Louis David).

On 10 June 1789, Abbé Sieyès moved that the Third Estate, now meeting as the Communes (English: "Commons"), proceed with verification of its own powers and invite the other two estates to take part, but not to wait for them. They proceeded to do so two days later, completing the process on 17 June.^[23] Then they voted a measure far more radical, declaring themselves the National Assembly, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People." They invited the other orders to join them, but made it clear they intended to conduct the nation's affairs with or without them.^[24]