Why did the French monarchy collapse after 1789, and how did the Revolution descend into Terror by 1794?
The French Revolution 1774 to 1795: the crisis of the old regime, the events of 1789, the radicalisation of the Revolution, the Terror, and the Thermidorian reaction.
A WJEC A-Level History depth study of the French Revolution from 1774 to 1795, covering the crisis of the ancien regime, the causes and events of 1789, the radicalisation of the Revolution, the execution of Louis XVI, the Jacobin Terror, and the Thermidorian reaction.
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What this dot point is asking
This WJEC depth study asks you to explain in detail why the French monarchy collapsed and how the Revolution radicalised into Terror between 1774 and 1795. Depth studies reward precise knowledge and close analysis of a short, intense period, including engagement with the historiographical debate over whether the Terror flowed from circumstance or from revolutionary ideology.
The answer
The crisis of the old regime, 1774 to 1789
The state was effectively bankrupt by the late 1780s, with debt servicing consuming around half of royal revenue. Reform attempts by Turgot, Necker and Calonne foundered on the resistance of the privileged orders and the Parlements. The Third Estate resented noble and clerical privilege and tax exemption, while Enlightenment thinkers (Rousseau's general will, Voltaire's critique of privilege) spread ideas of liberty, equality and popular sovereignty. Bad harvests in 1788 sent bread prices soaring, sharpening popular anger.
The events of 1789
When the Estates-General deadlocked over whether to vote by head or by order, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly (17 June 1789) and swore the Tennis Court Oath (20 June) not to disband until France had a constitution. The storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 became the symbol of revolution; the "Great Fear" swept the countryside; the August Decrees abolished feudalism (4 to 11 August); and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 August) proclaimed liberty and equality before the law.
Radicalisation and the Terror, 1789 to 1794
The king's attempted flight to Varennes (June 1791) discredited the monarchy; war from April 1792 radicalised politics; the storming of the Tuileries (10 August 1792) toppled the king; the monarchy was abolished (21 September 1792) and Louis XVI executed (21 January 1793). The Terror followed, with the Law of Suspects (September 1793) and the Law of 22 Prairial (June 1794), until Robespierre was overthrown and executed in Thermidor (27 to 28 July 1794).
Thermidor and the end, 1794 to 1795
The Thermidorian reaction dismantled the machinery of Terror, closed the Jacobin Club, curbed the radical sans-culottes (after the risings of Germinal and Prairial 1795), and unleashed a "White Terror" against former terrorists. A new constitution in 1795 set up the Directory, ending the most violent phase of the Revolution and shifting power to the propertied middle class.
Examples in context
Model paragraph (circumstance versus ideology). Whether the Terror was driven by circumstance or ideology is the central interpretive question, and the evidence supports a combination. The "thesis of circumstances", associated with Albert Mathiez and Georges Lefebvre, points to genuine emergency: France faced invasion in 1793, the Vendee was in open revolt, and federalist cities had risen, so emergency government and the Law of Suspects can be read as defensive measures. Yet the revisionist François Furet argues that the language of virtue and the general will, drawn from Rousseau and present in the Revolution from 1789, contained the seeds of terror, since dissent could be branded treason against the nation. Robespierre's own claim that terror was "an emanation of virtue" shows ideology shaping the response. The Terror is therefore best explained as circumstance interpreted through an ideology that made the elimination of enemies a revolutionary duty.
Try this
Q1. What were the three Estates of the ancien regime? [3 marks]
- Cue. The clergy (First), the nobility (Second), and the commoners or Third Estate.
Q2. Who dominated the Committee of Public Safety during the Terror? [1 mark]
- Cue. Maximilien Robespierre.
Q3. To what extent was financial crisis the main reason the monarchy collapsed in 1789? [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. A judgement weighing the financial crisis against social privilege, the voting deadlock, harvest failure and Enlightenment ideas, with dated evidence.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC 201920 marksTo what extent was financial crisis the main reason for the collapse of the French monarchy in 1789?Show worked answer →
A depth essay testing AO1 precise knowledge and a balanced judgement weighing causes.
Top-band answers argue a clear line rather than listing causes.
Financial crisis: state bankruptcy worsened by debt from the American War (1778 to 1783), Calonne's and Necker's failed reforms, and the deficit that forced Louis XVI to summon the Estates-General (May 1789), the trigger for collapse.
Other factors: structural resentment of First and Second Estate privilege and tax exemption; the deadlock over voting by head or by order; bad harvests (1788) and bread prices that radicalised Paris; and Enlightenment ideas of popular sovereignty.
The decisive top-band feature is a judgement on whether financial crisis was the prime mover or the catalyst that released deeper social and political grievance, with dated evidence.
WJEC 202220 marksHow far was the Terror of 1793 to 1794 driven by circumstance rather than ideology?Show worked answer →
A depth question rewarding a weighing of contingent pressures against revolutionary ideology.
Circumstance: foreign war from 1792, the federalist revolts, the Vendee rising, economic crisis and food shortages, and the threat of counter-revolution, which the "thesis of circumstances" (Mathiez, Lefebvre) sees as forcing emergency government.
Ideology: Rousseauian notions of virtue and the general will, Robespierre's belief that terror was "virtue's emergency", and the revolutionary drive to remake society, which the revisionist line (Furet) sees as inherent in 1789.
The top band engages this historiographical debate and judges how far the Terror flowed from emergency or from revolutionary ideology, with precise evidence.
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Sources & how we know this
- WJEC A-level History specification — WJEC (2015)