Developments in the country and Great Fear

Question 1

what was happening in the country

Answer 1

• The development of Versailles and Paris reached the country
• in towns across France, angry mobs attacked the houses of magistrates and royal officials causing them to flee. old municipal town councils were reformed or replaced and NG units were set up to maintain a citizen’s authority

Question 2

what did the peasants believe, so what did they do

Answer 2

the peasants in the countryside believed that changes from the capital would mean the end of their burdens and bring imminent new wealth and status. They refused to pay for the feudal dues and attacked the landlord’s chateaux. they armed themselves, rang church bells to warn others of danger and burnt down fences, hedges and barns
they sought their masters Terrie’s and records of sales and burned them

Question 3

what was the great fear

Answer 3

• the Great Fear between 17 July and 3 August 1789 was driven by rumours which were more credible because there was an increase in wandering labourers and beggars in the countryside
• stories of marauding brigands who were stealing grains form fields or preparing tho attack farming families. or nobles from abroad were planning to come back with foreign armies and set to wreak vengeance
• grain merchants and aristocratic landlords were making vast profits out of the scarce grain so they attacked the grain convoys

Question 4

what areas were untouched?

Answer 4

few areas were untouched such as Brittany, Lorraine and Alsace

Question 5

what was the abolition of feudal rights?

Answer 5

The Assembly responded on 4th July 1789 to appease the peasants and prevent further rural disorder by abolishing feudal rights

• all feudal dues were abolished without compensation to the landlords
• exclusive rights to animals like pigeons and hunting rights were abolished
• all tithes and fees were abolished
• no venality and all citizens were eligible for all ecclesiastical, civilian and military positions

Question 6

what was the dOM

Answer 6

• passed on 26 August
• summarise the revolutionaries’ ideal and provide a framework for the details of a new constitution
• enlightenment principles from Montesquiei’s insistence on the ‘separation of powers’ and Roussea’s social contract
• LXVI was able to concede to these ideas of the DoM and AD because it went against the Divine Right and sense of duty