The French example of change

The celebration of the 14th of July or Bastille Day marks a turning point in the history of France symbolising the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the Republic.

During the 1700s, French society was broken into three main sectors, each being called an Estate and collectively the Estates General. These included the clergy, the nobles and the commoners. In May 1789, and under the rule of King Louis XVI, the commoners declared the Constituent National Assembly a separate entity from the Estate General Assembly, which brought all the Estates together.

Joined by a number of clergy and nobles, this move was considered a rebellion within the political institution set at that time. The declaration encouraged the people of Paris to go out to the streets and march to the Bastille prison, liberating prisoners and destroying one of the symbols of oppression and absolutism of the ancient regime. After the taking of the Bastille a revolutionary committee of the citizens governed Paris, the provinces followed by forming revolutionary governments.

On August 27, the Assembly passed the declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which marked the implementing of equality among the citizens. In September 1791, France's first constitution was adopted by the Assembly and approved by the king, establishing a constitutional monarchy.

However, under pressure from the people, the Assembly suspended Louis XVI and ordered elections for a National Convention to draw up a new constitution.

On September 21, 1792, the Convention held its first meeting where it abolished the monarchy, set up the republic, and proceeded to try the king, who was then executed for treason. A period known as the Reign of Terror followed, where thousands of royalists and the so-called "enemies of the revolution" were executed.

France then went through a phase of juggling between two forms of governing: the monarchy and the republic.

In 1804, a young artillery officer, Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor, putting an end to the First Republic.

But his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 brought back the monarchy with Louis XVIII ascending to the throne. But this did not last. A second Republic came in 1848, followed by a second Empire in 1852. The final win was for the Republic, the third of which was proclaimed in 1875.

The French Revolution was initially triggered by economic difficulties. Yet it was also inspired by the philosophy of the enlightenment and the famous slogan of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. It marked a turning point as feudal privileges and customs were abolished. It facilitated the birth of a modern state; an economically liberal and secular one. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789 fulfilled the aspirations towards equality. It included the principle that all men are free and equal in rights at birth; they should also be equal before the law, trial by jury, the freedom of religion, speech and the press.

These initial principles paved the way for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948.

The Revolution's most resonant idea was that of the nation. On both the historical and the conceptual levels, the experience of the French Revolution offered crucial insights into the logic of national self-determination with its implications as an international political standard. The French Revolution inspired many movements for independence around the world. What it has done was to present an example of how change could be brought to a society and how modern nation states are built.