Considering the phrases outlined in “The anatomy of a revolution”, was the French Revolution a revolution? Was it revolutionary?

Prior to the French Revolution, France was a country that was fresh out of the Enlightenment (of the 17th century) and bustling with new, revolutionary ideas that questioned the Divine Right of Louis XV’s rule. As you can imagine, the combination of financial issues, bad harvests, and an ever-growing disconnect between the French King and his people, was the foundation for a revolution to come. However, how does one determine whether this brutal period of change was a revolution? Luckily for us, a man named Crane Brinton wrote the Anatomy of a Revolution, a definition, and a model for revolutions. By proving all four phases outlined in Brinton’s “anatomy of a revolution” happened during the French Revolution, we can prove that the French Revolution was indeed, a revolution.

By comparing the events detailed in the first phase of Brinton’s definition, “the anatomy of a revolution”, we can see many similarities that prove the French Revolution is a revolution. Brinton’s 1st Phase details an old government that is economically and politically weak, taken advantage of by intellectuals amidst growing class antagonism. We can see this reflected in the French Monarchy before the revolution, a weak government that was in a financial crisis after supporting the American Revolution and forced to tax its unhappy population, the politically and economically weak government Brinton requires in his first stage. As a result of this financial crisis, King Louis XV called the General Assembly in for financial reforms on July 1788, but the system in which these reforms were determined was biased. Each of the three classes was allowed one vote, a system that allowed the two upper classes to outvote the third even though majority of the population resided in the third estate, causing a lot of class antagonism. Unhappy with these rules, the third estate met in a tennis court to take the Tennis Court Oath on June 20, 1789, forming the National Assembly in the process, and vowing to continue meeting until the King granted them fair representation in the General Assembly. This is the intellectual dissertation mentioned in Brinton’s outline and with it, each point on his outline is represented by an event or condition in the first stage of the revolution.

This pattern ^[a]continues between the second phase of Brinton’s “anatomy of a revolution” and the French Revolution, further proving it’s a revolution. Brinton’s 2nd Phase includes a nation in financial crisis ruled by a dual sovereignty with the moderates in power and symbolic events galore. We already know that the nation was in financial crisis, but in July 1790, King Louis XV agreed to a constitutional monarchy, effectively turning France into a dual sovereignty with the moderates in power and the king as a mere figurehead. It wasn’t until the King and his family attempted to flee the country in June 1791 that Louis XV was suspended from all functions and imprisoned, causing the Legislative Assembly, now the National Convention, to declare themselves a Republic. The moderates were now in power, and this was the symbolic event that caused Austria and Prussia to band against France in the Declaration of Pilnitz. We have now met all the requirements in Brinton’s second phase: the financial crisis, dual sovereignty, moderate power, and symbolic events detailed in his outline have all been accounted for, moving us one step closer to proving the French Revolution was a revolution. By the end of this phase, Louis XV was executed, and this was the final symbolic event that leads us into the third stage of the revolution, the most radical phase yet.

The third phase of ^[b]the French Revolution further proves that it was a revolution when compared to Brinton’s “anatomy of a revolution”. Brinton’s 3rd phase is a period of radical changes. From wars to coup d’états, “the anatomy of a revolution” describes a time of terror and virtue. During this phase, French was going through a multitude of radical reforms because the Mountain group in the National Convention staged a coup d’état with sans-culottes and seized power from the Girondists, handing all political power to Robespierre and his Jacobins in June 1793. This was the start of a series of radical changes, from the changing of the calendar, to the Jacobins Foreign Wars where most of Europe was an enemy, to their poor attempt to save the French economy in the form of the Committee of Public Safety, the French citizens were in a state of panic and confusion. Furthermore, the beheading of “spies” became a common occurrence, an unfair ploy that sentenced tens of thousands of innocent Francians to the guillotine, a time known as the Reign of Terror. In the end, there’s a reason this phase is called the “gospel of Revolution”. Just like Brinton’s 3rd phase, it was a time of chaos and radical reforms, a true time of terror and virtue.

The similarities between the fourth stage of the French Revolution and the “anatomy of a revolution” conclude that the French Revolution is a revolution. Brinton’s 4th phase describes a society that reverts to the “quieter times” before a phase of radical rule by a self-established tyrant who succeeds the radicals as their new government, beginning a period of aggressive nationalism. After the Thermidorian Reaction, or the execution of Robespierre, France undid most of its radical reforms from the previous period. This coup d’état of the Jacobins also ended the Reign of Terror and established an oligarchy as their government, a group of individuals called the Directory who ruled from 1795-1799. Unfortunately, this new government was short lived. Robespierre left the country in economic ruin and traumatized from the events during his Reign of Terror, a prime opportunity that Napoleon seized to stage a coup d’état and overthrow the Directory, the self-established tyrant mentioned in Brinton’s outline. Napoleon then proceeded to make many key reformations, including his Napoleonic Code and the Concordat of 1801. These reformations contributed to the growing sense of nationalism in the citizens of France and completes all the requirements outlined in Brinton’s 4th phase, proving that the French Revolution was a revolution.

On another note, while some may argue that The French Revolution was not a revolutionary revolution, I disagree. It’s true that France started a monarchy and ended a monarchy, but the definition of a revolution is a profound change in society. While common, this change doesn’t have to be within the government, it should just be a “profound change in society”, and the French Revolution caused many profound, lasting changes to society. For example, Napoleon’s Napoleonic Code not only granted French citizens equality before the law, but it introduced the revolutionary concept of innocent until proven guilty to the rest of the world. The idea of human and independent rights was also normalized and expected after this revolution. Another example of a lasting change was feudalism. The National Assembly abolished feudalism on August 4, 1789, and it has been abolished since, a major change a society that grew rich by exploiting cheap labor. Lastly, the French gained a sense of nationalism they didn’t have previously. They gained an identity, the last of the four profound changes the French Revolution had on society, proving it was not only a revolution, but a revolutionary one.

The French Revolution, a deserving title as proved by Brinton’s Anatomy of a Revolution, was truly a revolutionary revolution. Each phase outlined in Brinton’s definition/model for revolutions was reflected in the French Revolution down to the last detail, allowing us to confidently conclude that the French Revolution was indeed, a revolution. Furthermore, it was a revolutionary revolution, one that resulted in lasting, profound changes on our society. In the end, the French Revolution was more than a revolution against an oppressive monarchy, it was a revolution against an oppressive society. It was a revolution for a future of Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité.

Brinton, Crane. Anatomy of a Revolution. 1964.

Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E.; Buckley Ebrey, Patricia; Beck, Roger B.; Davila, Jerry; Crowston, Clare Haru; McKay, John P.. A History of World Societies, Concise, Combined Volume . Bedford/st Martins. Kindle Edition.