Question

Write a short note on role of middle class people in French Revolution

Answer 1

Middle Classes - The Thinkers. They wanted change in France, and they were the people with ideas for what France should look like. More separation between Church and State, fairer taxation, a constitutional monarchy. Some were more radical than others, but this group was generally composed of people who had plans for a revolutionary and post-revolutionary France.Working Classes - The Angry. They were the force behind the radical revolution that executed suspected counter-revolutionaries mercilessly and often with little evidence of wrongdoing. More often radicals, often with republican tendencies following the bungled Flight to Varennes. They were used by powerful educated speakers like Marat, Danton and Robespierre to force their agenda through often more violent actions on the streets of Paris while proudly singing Ça Ira. They struggled under the Ancien Régime’s taxes and things like the Corvée, and the Ferme Générale (seriously France, privatised tax collection!).

But throughout much of the revolution it was in Paris that the Middle Classes and Working Classes were relevant. The rest of the country was generally more moderate and even more pro-monarchy compared to Paris.