How serious was the financial crisis on the eve of the French Revolution?

Fleeing to Varennes - Revelation of Financial Reform on the Eve of the French Revolution

Author: Li Weiguang Reposted from: Yan Nan

June 20, 1791 Late at night, in the bitter wind and rain, King Louis XVI of France disguised himself, sneaked out of the Tuileries Palace with his family, and boarded a specially prepared carriage. The carriage quickly dashed into the darkness, heading straight for the northeastern border of France. The destination of the king's trip was the Austrian military camp in the Netherlands. However, in the town of Varennes, not far from the Luxembourg border, the king and his party were recognized by a tavern owner and were recruited by the local National Guard. Seizure. After being subjected to unprecedented suspicion and humiliation, Louis XVI and the Queen were escorted back to Paris. On June 25, when the King returned to Paris, the whole city was silent. Soldiers lined the streets, holding their guns upside down, as if they were defending the monarch. Make a send-off. The king's family once again moved into the closely guarded Tuileries Palace. At this time, Louis XVI was actually no longer the king, but a hostage. This is the famous "Flight of the King" event in the history of the French Revolution.

Why did Louis XVI escape? Because all his previous efforts to save the financial and political crisis had failed, now the Great Revolution is in full swing in that country, the royal family has "stepped aside", the order of the old system has been broken, and the new system has not yet been completely established, the country fell into chaos, and it no longer made sense for the king to remain in France. The cause of all these serious events was actually a financial reform actively promoted by Louis XVI himself! The "Report to the People" he drafted before his escape stated his plan to escape: first to join the army commanded by Bouye, from there to the Austrian army in the Netherlands, and finally to return to Paris and dissolve the National Constituent Assembly and various clubs. , restore the royal power system. Had this plan been successful, the history of France would have been written in a different light, but of course, since he was intercepted, this never came to fruition.

Whenever a society has a crisis that can turn everything upside down, its precursor must be a financial crisis

The same is true for France. The question is, how could a reform aimed at overcoming a fiscal crisis have such serious consequences? This is an issue that we have to pay attention to today, more than 200 years later. Hayden

White, a master of American postmodern history and professor at Stanford University, once said that any academic research is fundamentally a process of "storytelling" or "statement". So, Let’s continue telling the story of “The Escape of the King”

1. “Louis XVI’s Dilemma” and Failed Financial Reform

The “Locksmith King” Louis X. Six was not an extremely autocratic and violent king. On the contrary, in French history, he was one of the few monarchs who could exercise restraint in his private life, and he was also able to carry out some important reforms in the social and political system, especially It was the reforms he implemented to overcome the financial crisis and abandoned some of the excessively authoritarian and wasteful policies and practices of the previous king. Some Western scholars even called him a "radical reformer". However, he was timid by nature and lacked the skills to be a statesman. and the decisive spirit and firm will necessary for reformers, "It is equally difficult to change benevolent government and to continue tyranny, because to carry out reform, we must have the power to make the privileged class obey the reform; to implement tyranny, we must make the people endure the abuses of the times, Louis Sixteen was neither an innovator nor a tyrannical king.

” However, the building is about to collapse, and the enlightenment of an emperor cannot save the empire that is about to collapse. When the corruption of the system and the root rot reach the extreme, whether it is an enlightened emperor or an iron-fisted emperor, No one can stop the coming storm.

Louis XVI (Louis

XVI) ascended the throne in 1774. At this time, France was highly autocratic by Louis XIV, who claimed that "I am the law and I am the country" , the unlimited expansion of royal power and Louis XV’s extravagant squandering of “I won’t care about the flood after I die”, like an overstretched clockwork, it has slackened, exhausted, and the country is facing a serious financial crisis: in The protracted wars on the mainland and overseas, the numerous annuities provided to the privileged class, the extravagance of the Palace of Versailles, the huge expenditures of government agencies and the support for the North American War of Independence

have led to the financial collapse of the Royal Government. There is a huge deficit. What's more serious is that these huge expenditures of the royal government are supported by a large amount of borrowing, and the debt interest is as high as 8.5-10, which is twice as high as the British government's borrowing interest.

In order to pay the due debt and interest, the royal government had to borrow new debt, thus putting the country's financial situation into a vicious cycle. "By the 1880s, the country's debt accounted for more than half of the country's tax revenue."

The government fell into a serious credit crisis. Louis XVI realized that in order to change this extremely difficult situation, he must He did make many efforts to reform the tax collection system that the lower class people had been grudged against for a long time and that the privileged class clung to. However, they all ended in failure without exception. In the end, he also "had no way out." situation.

Louis XVI first appointed Minister of Finance Turgot, a famous scholar of the Physiocratic School and one of the contributors to the "Encyclopedia", as the Director of Finance to carry out financial system reforms (1774-1776) . In order to alleviate financial difficulties, Turgot changed the road construction labor service to a road tax based on the amount of industry in 1775, and stipulated that all grades should pay taxes according to regulations. At the beginning of 1776, the liquor monopoly was abolished and free trade was allowed. He is also preparing to further standardize financial and taxation order, including reducing administrative expenses and establishing a discount bank to provide emergency funds in times of government fiscal crisis. However, at the critical moment of reform, Louis XVI restored the Paris Superior Court, which had been dissolved by Louis XV in 1771, and more than ten higher courts in other provinces. These institutions were populated by privileged "robe-wearing nobles" who Worried that the reform would affect his own interests, he strongly resisted Turgot's reforms and exerted influence on the king through Queen Marie

Antorinette, forcing Louis XVI to After his dismissal, the newly launched fiscal reforms that were obviously beneficial to the development of the capitalist economy came to nothing. Regarding the rapid demise of this "golden age", Voltaire once said sadly: "My heart will never be at peace."

The person who succeeded Turgot was a man named Necker. ) Swiss banker (1777-11781). As a foreigner and a Protestant, Necker did not have the title of "finance director" although he was authorized to be in charge of finance. In order to relieve the urgent need to save the palace's financial expenditure and alleviate the increasingly serious domestic financial crisis, he used his reputation as a banker to borrow money everywhere when he came to power. He successfully raised several huge sums of money and initially stabilized his position. But he knows that in order to truly solve the problem, drastic reforms are imperative. Soon, he abolished some high-salaried and idle positions in the palace, reduced the royal family's financial expenditure, and cut military service tax and salt tax. These measures quickly aroused a backlash from the court nobles, who immediately attacked Necker as violently as they had against Turgot. In 1781, Necker published a "Financial Report" to the king on the budget of the royal government. This report revealed to the society the huge amount of money and favors given by the king, making it impossible for the royal family and the dignitaries who received large annuities to Tolerated, Necker was forced to resign. The disclosures in the financial report and Necker's dismissal shocked the public, and dissatisfaction with the court began to rise.

Necker's successor was Calonne (1783-1787) recommended by Queen Marie Antoinette and appointed in 1783.

In order to win over the princes and nobles, Caron once adopted a completely opposite policy to Necker in the early days of taking power. He once paid off gambling debts for palace staff and increased their annuities in an attempt to increase the prestige of the royal family with the illusion of luxury. But at the same time, he also hoped to stimulate economic development and increase fiscal revenue by digging canals, building ports, and building roads, but the results were not obvious. In 1786, "the government's fiscal deficit reached 4 to 5 million francs

, and the time for extreme remedial measures was obviously approaching." In August, forced by the increasingly severe financial situation Under pressure, Caron submitted a fiscal reform plan to Louis XVI. It is worth noting that many of the contents of Cuarón's reform program are very similar to the revolutionary results of the subsequent "moderate revolutionary period", that is, taxing the wealthy. Caron suggested replacing poll taxes and tithes with land characteristic taxes. All landowners, including privileged classes, should pay in proportion to their income. The repayment period for short-term national debt should be extended from 10 years to 20 years. All domestic checkpoints should be abolished. , canceling tariffs in various territories, extending monopoly rights on salt and tobacco, etc. At the same time, the government will reduce fiscal expenditures by 20 million lithium per year

. Calon clearly realized that if this reform plan with obvious "Turgotian flavor" was submitted directly to the Paris High Court for approval, it would inevitably lead to veto from the privileged class. Therefore, he suggested to Louis XVI to convene a "Conference of Notables" "

, adjudicate on this reform plan

and have high hopes for it. In February 1787, the "Emergency Meeting of Notables" was held. ***144 representatives attended the meeting, with representatives of the nobility and clergy accounting for the absolute majority, and less than 30 representatives from the third estate.

Louis XVI hoped to use this conference "to prove the need to adopt a new method of land taxation in peacetime in an attempt to get the country out of trouble"

; "Hopefully to avoid convening the French Third Estate meeting, because there has been no meeting of the Estates-General for 175 years." "If the summoned dignitaries can decide the taxation, they can decide the conditions for taxation, and they will change from a auxiliary institution to a dominant government. It soon became clear that an emergency meeting of dignitaries would not achieve the purpose of increasing taxation.

" These " dignitaries " appointed by the king launched a fierce attack on this fiscal reform plan, and their objections were also serious. They are all different and can argue. Due to strong political pressure, Caron resigned in April 1787 and went into exile in England.

Louis XVI's financial situation was deteriorating, and the reforms were so unsatisfactory. In desperation, he pinned his hopes on Brienne (1787-1788), Archbishop of Toulouse. Briena is a member of the "Conference of Celebrities" and an active opponent of Caron's fiscal package. The famous French writer Lefebvre called him an "incompetent fool". At his wits' end, this unoriginal "idiot" endorsed the Cuarón fiscal reform plan that he had just opposed, insisting on adding new taxes and demanding that privileged classes also pay taxes. They proposed a taxation plan and claimed that only the three-level national conference has the power to decide on fiscal reform policies and levy new taxes. In May 1787, Louis XVI disbanded the "Conference of Celebrities". After Brienne tinkered with the Caron reform plan, he handed it over to the Paris High Court for review, knowing that it was impossible to do anything. The result was predictable: the Parlement of Paris refused to register and instead proposed convening the Estates-General to decide how subjects should pay taxes to the king. In order to force the Paris High Court to accept the Brienne Plan, Louis XVI visited the court twice to exert pressure, but the court did not buy it. In August 1787, Louis XVI drove the Paris Parlement to the eastern city of Troyes, but only a month later he recalled it under pressure from public opinion. On May 3, 1788, the Paris High Court issued a declaration, the "Fundamental Law of National Rights and Monarchy", stating that citizens should "freely" pay taxes to the king through the regularly held meetings of the Estates-General. Clearly, the Parlement of Paris was trying to rein in the royal power.

In a rage, Louis XVI threw two judges into prison. The conflict between the court system and the royal government intensified. Riots broke out across the country, and calls for the convening of the Estates-General became stronger.

Louis XVI, who had changed four finance ministers to no avail, had to "acknowledge that there is no way to get the country out of the financial crisis except by consulting with the people in the form of a three-tier conference"

; "There is really no other option but to convene the frightening three-level meeting.

" On July 5, 1788, the king agreed to convene a national three-level meeting. In August, Brienne resigned, and Necker was brought back and appointed as the king's chief adviser. After Necker took office, he raised 75 million lithium loans and the financial crisis eased.

The king's concession seemed to temporarily lift the political crisis gripping the country, but that was far from the case. The entry into force of the Anglo-French Trade Treaty

led to the closure of a large number of French companies and the massive unemployment of workers. Due to the serious natural disaster in 1788, French agriculture suffered a catastrophic harvest failure. As a result, most of the lower-class urban and rural residents were suffering from hunger and cold. During this period, the economic crisis and financial crisis are getting worse and worse, which will eventually lead to serious situations. However, many characters who were at the center of various conflicts at that time did not realize that a real storm was coming. The third estate did not realize it, and King Louis XVI would not have thought of it. In other words, at this time, almost no one would consider themselves a "revolutionary", and no one would think of "Little Red Riding Hood"

, "guillotine", but just a year later, the bloody French Revolution broke out, and countless heads fell to the ground. In the end, Louis XVI himself was also sent to the guillotine. History is full of paradoxes!

"The reason why France convened the three-level meeting is because the government wants to get the money it needs and has no other way to think of"

Moreover, the method of holding the meeting is still the same as 175 The old practice of the Estates-General was that each estate had the same number of representatives, the three estates met separately and voted by estate. If these intentions had been realized, French history would have been completely different. However, France in the 18th century, which had been influenced by Enlightenment ideas for decades, was no longer the "classical" France more than a century ago in which the idea of ??monarchical absolutism was dominant. Later facts proved that Louis XVI's vision was nothing more than It's a naive wishful thinking.

The Third Estate opened on May 5, 1789.

The meeting did not go smoothly. The representatives of the third estate were greatly disappointed with the performance of Louis XVI. The king was only concerned about financial issues: "I need the assistance of loyal subjects to help me overcome all financial difficulties I currently encounter." Thematic report of Finance Minister Necker It was a detailed and lengthy annotation of the king's "instructions". Because there was so much content, Nek, who was shouting hoarsely, had to have someone read it for him halfway through. People said that they originally hoped that Necker could have some original ideas in system reform, "but what they saw was an accountant who could only read bills."

The Third Estate believed that the Estates-General could not become a place for the privileged class to safeguard their private interests. A constitution must be formulated to safeguard the basic rights that everyone is born with, and a new set of state machinery must be established to replace the autocratic institutions riddled with abuses. In their view, if the three levels of deliberation and voting by levels continue to be implemented, the equality of tax rights and political rights will be empty talk. The performance of the king and Necker at the meeting of the three estates ended the last hope of the third estate in the government and made them realize that they could only rely on themselves for the following things. On June 17, the Third Estate changed the nameless Estates-General to the "National Assembly" (Assemblée

nationale) and gave itself the power to approve taxes. In this regard, Louis XVI did not come up with any good strategy to resolve the crisis, but took a foolish action-closing the third-level meeting hall, which triggered the famous "Tennis Court Oath". On July 9, the National Assembly changed its name to the "National Constituent Assembly" (Assemblée

nationale constituante).

Louis XVI continued to make mistakes. Instigated by the queen and some court nobles, he dispatched troops to Versailles and around Paris in an attempt to strengthen control of the situation. The strong dissatisfaction of ordinary people who lived a difficult life quickly evolved into a social unrest. People were looking for weapons and the poor (beggars and unemployed) were looting. In the early morning of July 13, black smoke billowed from tax offices in Paris, church bells echoed over the city, and alarm cannons rumbled continuously. On July 14, the revolutionary action symbolized by the storming of the Bastille

The French people suddenly discovered that they possess such huge power. At the same time, they also discovered that there was no such thing as " Indestructible” myth.

In this way, the result of a financial reform actually triggered an earth-shattering revolution. While Paris was performing this tragic scene, Louis XVI in Versailles was dull and did not realize the seriousness of the situation. In his journal-style notebook, July 14th was not a special day: "Tuesday, the 14th, nothing happened." However, this seemingly inconspicuous event actually determined the course of the French Revolution. It even determined the final outcome of the revolution.

Revolutionary actions quickly spread to the provinces, and peasant riots swept across the French countryside. Armed peasants stormed into the castles of the feudal lords who had oppressed them in the past, and searched out ancient certificates that registered feudal privileges and legally levied taxes. deeds and burned them in the village square. The peasants' revolutionary actions not only greatly impacted the traditional rights of the nobility, but also offended the interests of the urban bourgeoisie. Because many of them are also landowners, and in this name they collect taxes from farmers. Now, in order to protect their vested interests, they did not hesitate to form an alliance with the nobles, their original enemies, to suppress the "irrational" peasants. In the Maza area, 26 rioting peasants were tried by a temporary court after a fierce battle that was ultimately defeated by the urban militia, and they were all hanged. The rapidly changing rural situation forced the Constituent Assembly to temporarily put aside the constitution it was drafting and first assume the responsibility of protecting farmers' rights. At the Constitutional Assembly on the night of August 4, representatives of the nobility and clergy proposed the abolition of all unreasonable feudal privileges and taxes, especially tithes, and the abolition of corvee and other personal servitude

, which was passed The famous "August Law" decree. On August 26, 1789, the Constituent Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a landmark in French and even world history.

It fundamentally eradicated the principle of privileges during the old system. In their place are the principles of human rights and the rule of law.

Louis XVI could not accept all this. In order to control the situation, he once again mobilized troops from the provinces to Versailles, arousing greater anger among the Paris people. At that time, Paris was in the midst of a famine with rising prices and a lack of bread. The economic crisis once again pushed the political crisis forward. In the early morning of October 6, a group of excited people rushed into the palace and several of the king's personal guards were killed. At the critical moment, the cowardly and gentle Louis XVI chose not to confront the people, so he was escorted back to Paris by the rioting people and placed under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace, becoming a "revolutionary" Prisoner"

. When they arrived in Paris, Louis XVI's carriage passed through the crowd. People did not take off their hats to salute, but expressed their inner indignation and contempt with deathly silence.

The king's original absolute authority over budget, taxation, and approval and supervision of national financial revenue and expenditures has now been transferred to the hands of the Constituent Assembly. After October 1789, the Constituent Assembly began to transform France's political, economic and social structure, began to exercise various financial powers it already possessed, and strived to overcome a serious financial crisis. For France in 1789, after the tax system was abolished "without the consent of the people", it was difficult to find new tax sources for a while, and the income from issuing public bonds and organizing fund-raising was only a drop in the bucket. , the national debt that year increased from 3 billion lithium in the previous year to 4 billion lithium, and the national finances were still in crisis. In order to escape the financial crisis, the Constituent Assembly decided to declare war on the Church.

The church occupies about 15% of France's arable land, and its total wealth is approximately equal to the total national debt. In November 1789, the Constituent Assembly ordered that all church property be nationalized. In order to make these "state-owned real estate" effective as soon as possible, starting from December 29, 1789, the Constituent Assembly began to issue "assignats" (a kind of treasury bonds, assignats) guaranteed by state-owned real estate.

, as a result, the country’s financial situation has eased. In May 1790, the Constituent Assembly ordered the auction of church properties in installments, further enriching the treasury. During this period, there was the devaluation of "point certificates" and the continuous resistance of the church. However, the huge church real estate was still transferred to the hands of bourgeois and wealthy farmers in an orderly manner. This was a change with the significance of the progress of the times. The Constituent Assembly also reformed local administrative divisions, generally changing the chaotic situation of the old system.

By the summer of 1791, the transformation of the French country had been initially completed, and the provisions of the constitution had basically taken shape. France seemed to be only one step away from a constitutional monarchy. However, the problem occurred just before the success was achieved. occasion. Maybe it was because the king was eager to restore royal order, maybe because the National Assembly passed church legislation, or maybe he just wanted to escape - because anyone with a discerning eye could see that the king no longer had any guarantee of personal safety at this time. If anyone wanted to go on a killing spree, he, Louis XVI, would definitely be the first - anyway, he chose the "escape" strategy by accident, and thus, the scene introduced at the beginning of this article occurred. It's just that he was unlucky and didn't escape, and was taken back to Paris again

The history that happened after that was roughly like this: On July 16, 1791, in order to avoid foreign interference, the constitutionalists Prompted the Constituent Assembly to declare the restoration of Louis XVI's throne; on September 14, 1791, Louis XVI accepted the constitution formulated by the Constituent Assembly

and publicly apologized to all members; on September 30, 1791 , the Constituent Assembly, which completed its constitutional task, announced its dissolution. However, the Constitution did not guarantee the true establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France, and a new wave of the Revolution surged. On September 21, 1792, the National Convention, which led the violent revolution, announced the abolition of the monarchy, and the next day declared France a republic. On January 16, 1793, the National Convention, as a legislative body, voted on the life and death of Louis XVI. The radicals decided the fate of Louis XVI with only a slim majority of 1 vote

January 1793 At noon on the 21st, Louis XVI, who was only 39 years old, was sent to the guillotine in the Grand Revolution Square (today's Place de la Concorde, de la Concorde). What he said in the last few minutes of his life has been forever recorded in history: "Although I have to die, I have never committed any of the crimes accused of me. I forgive those who caused my death, and I also pray to God that in the After my blood is shed, there will be no more blood on the soil of France.

" When the heavy blade fell, bones and flesh broke, and the expressions of the people present were extremely gloomy. An eyewitness said: "That day, everyone walked slowly and did not dare to look at each other.

" In October of the same year, his "Mrs. Deficit"

Queen Mary ?Antoinette was also pushed to the guillotine. It is said that she accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot and immediately apologized to him habitually: "I'm so sorry, sir."

During the execution, the square There were huge crowds of people. The Seine River flows silently.

The thrilling past events in France prove a point made by the author a few years ago: in any society, finance and taxation are first a political and legal issue, and then an economic issue. .

2. Analysis of the financial reasons for the Revolution

Louis XVI was extremely passive before and after the outbreak of the revolution, but he proposed the abolition of financial privileges and advocated equal financial rights in the financial reform , this is far beyond what the autocratic rulers before him could do. The courage he showed in the face of the severe financial situation is admirable. "He has made up his mind to deprive the upper class at the smallest possible cost." financial privileges.

“It was he who abolished tax privileges and stopped the practice of imposing taxes without consent. "Whether it is a monarchy or a democracy, the elimination of the financial privileges of the upper class means the equality of financial rights. For the people, this actually has greater meaning than violent revolution." They have to spend money to feed the upper class. In addition to bringing benefits and comfort to the upper class, they will also require that the taxes they pay be spent on themselves. … The nobles had to give up not only their privilege of being exempt from certain taxes, but also the privilege of receiving an annuity even though they had not worked long or done any valuable work. In the eyes of the state, privileges mean the right to evade taxes, while for politicians, privileges mean the right to force others to pay taxes on their behalf.

”

The "Liberal Constitution" proposed by Louis XVI included equal taxation, regular meetings of the Estates-General, and the power of Parliament to decide appropriations by voting. When he heard, When only one of the Notables voted for an increase in the number of representatives of the Third Estate, he said: "You can add my vote. "Malouet, the noblest and most insightful politician during the Revolution, testified that the king was sincere, and he said that the king fully agreed with him.

The Prussian Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary fairly described Louis XVI in a letter of July 31, 1789: The king consciously weakened the power of the executive branch in the country, because such a government can benefit the people. "He was determined to make the arbitrary government passed down by his ancestors accommodate the emerging forces of the time. On the road to establishing a free government, he has pushed the royal family to the end, and the rest can only be left to the people. He did not try to influence the election, nor did he think of commanding and controlling the Estates-General. In the face of the Estates-General, the king had voluntarily given up his power. He gave so much power to this newly created institution that nothing was left to the king, whose power was effectively suspended and could never be restored.

"Obviously, if there had not been popular riots, France could have gradually established a constitutional monarchy like the United Kingdom and embarked on the road to constitutionalism. But the French, who have suffered from feudal oppression and exploitation for too long, have no patience to continue. After waiting, they poured all their century-old hatred on the head of poor Louis XVI without hesitation and without reservation.

A great social transition from the old system to the new system is like a car. A huge truck must be turned around very carefully. This process requires wisdom, rationality, and compromise, but it does not require the agitation of clubs and violence on the streets. Once the unfortunate revolution breaks out, it will no longer rely on the will of the people. In order to transfer, the process will be full of blood, one after another, until "enough" people die. In one year from 1793 to 1794 during the Revolution, 17,000 people were guillotined. This even includes Robespierre, the "revolutionary" who sounded the death knell for Louis XVI!

The death of Louis XVI is obviously a huge historical tragedy. More than 200 years later, I am still related to it! Many historians regret his death.

The autocratic and powerful Louis XIV reigned for a full 72 years, the dim and incompetent Louis XV also reigned for 59 years, and the gentle, kind, willing to reform but very weak Louis XVI only had 15 years left in history. ! He wanted to restore the country's economic order and strength through financial reforms. He could restore the Three Estates Conference, which had been abolished by successive kings for 160 years, and invite hundreds of representatives from the country to Versailles to "discuss state affairs." After the outbreak of the Great Revolution, , he made compromises and concessions again and again, and did not implement force to suppress them, which shows that he is a relatively enlightened king. What else can people ask of a king in the old system era?

Why did a fiscal and tax system trigger a great revolution? Why did the good intentions of reform bring about the consequences of denying the reformers themselves? Why did the reform of tax reduction and equalization of tax burdens anger the people?

The Sixteenth Period was generally still the most prosperous period of the old monarchy (the agricultural harvest was good in 1789, and the food shortage problem had been alleviated). Why did prosperity accelerate the arrival of the Great Revolution

The Revolution and the Old Monarchy? What is the internal relationship between the past history of the monarchy? After observing the financial reforms on the eve of the French Revolution, we can't help but be confused by these difficult questions. There must be extremely complicated reasons behind this series of "whys".

French historian Tocqueville also raised the question in his famous book "The Old Regime and the Great Revolution": "Why did this great revolution that was brewing in almost the entire Europe break out in France and nowhere else? Why does it seem to arise spontaneously from the very society it is about to destroy? Finally, how could the old monarchy collapse so completely and so suddenly?

" He believed that when a country experienced a violent social upheaval like the French Revolution, the reasons must be complicated. It was "by no means an accidental event", but "the completion of a long-term work, which is ten years' work. The sudden and violent end of vicarious labor”

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