Great Fear

The Grande Peur (French: Great fear) is a phenomenon of the French Revolution, which took place between July 20 and August 6, 1789 in rural France. In response to rumors of a plot of the aristocracy, the peasants took up arms and it came to violent peasant revolts. They had the consequence that the Constituent Assembly under pressure of these events on the night of 4/5 August 1789 abolished many privileges of the privileged classes.

Course

In the summer of 1789, many farmers to pay taxes or pay taxes to their lords refused. In addition, the rural population was frightened and excited by the events in Paris. She was afraid of the revenge of the nobility, and there were rumors that said that begging hordes of robbers and schemers would cover the whole country. The peasants took up arms because of this alleged danger. When they realized that the bandits would not come, the pent-up aggression directed against the nobility and its possession. The peasants stormed castles and set it on fire, broke the right to hunt and attacked Taub Enver beats the nobles to. In particular, they destroyed the files containing the tax obligations and prerogatives of nobility. " This extraordinary, primordial fears outbreak of collective violence and reactions became known as Grande Peur " ( Thamer, 2004).

The National Assembly at Versailles responded to the rural peasant uprisings. To prove its ability to act, she managed to its meeting on 4 / 5 August 1789 some privileges for the 1st and 2nd level from. For example, while privileges such as tax privileges and serfdom were abolished, however, remained exist rights which were attached to the real property. The peasants remained only the possibility to buy free of these charges. Despite this compromise, the peasant uprisings were an important step on the way to overcome the feudal system in the agricultural sector. With the end of the constitutional monarchy, the feudal system was abolished completely.