The deposit at the National Archives (Gozo section) (NAG) regarding the French Occupation of Gozo

Abstract

The cataclysmic political and social upheaval in the European continent extending from 1789 to 1799 is referred to in history as the French Revolution. In France, the revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes, the most important of which were the inability of the ruling classes of clergy, nobility, and bourgeoisie to come to grips with the problems of state; the indecisive nature of the monarch; extortionate taxation of the peasantry; impoverishment of the workers; the intellectual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment; and the example of the American Revolution. Recent scholarship tends to downplay the social class struggle and emphasize political, cultural, ideological, and personality factors in the advent and unfolding of the conflict. The Revolution itself produced an equally vast complex of consequences. It all began when the French parliament convened on 5 May 1789. The Estates-General, as the parliament was known, made up of representatives of the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners, was summoned by King Louis XVI to solve a grave economic crisis. It had been in adjournment since 1614. On 17 June, the Third Estate or Commoners, who had a majority of members, decided that France needed a radical reform and took matters into their own hands declaring themselves the National Constituent Assembly. Instead of meeting their wishes, the King marched the National Guard against them. The people of Paris reacted to this provocation with open insurrection. On 14 July, they stormed and captured the Bastille, a royal prison that symbolized the despotism of the Bourbons, and ushered in the bloody revolution.