Weather has played a key role in shaping the progress of the world and its societies. Here, Kayla Vickery looks at how weather conditions shaped the 1789 French Revolution. She considers the Little Ice Age, the Lake volcano eruption, the poor weather of 1788, and the Great Hailstorm of Paris.
The Storming of the Bastille by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, 1790.
Introduction
Historians have long debated the causes of the French Revolution. There have been falsehoods about King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake,” anyone?), finger-pointing at various players, and many theories. But ultimately, they all want to know the same thing: how did the Bourbon dynasty fall? While many events over the eighteenth century created a domino effect against the monarchy, did you know that extreme weather contributed greatly to France’s economic struggles? Over a few decades, several different weather events left the country in trouble and would eventually inspire the lower classes to rise up and overthrow the monarchy. From the Laki Volcano eruption to the drought/winter of 1788, these natural occurrences all had real consequences. While there were several ideological changes, the events of 1789 would not have been as severe were it not for the weather and the havoc it played on the 18th-century French economy.
Little Ice Age
First was the Little Ice Age, a period of the Earth's cooling. Way less cool than the animated film Ice Age starring one of my favorite characters Sid the Sloth; it is generally accepted that it started during the Middle Ages and ended sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. Researchers have also observed three periods of freezing weather, one of which occurred in 1770, a mere twenty years before the beginning of the French Revolution. Temperatures dropped globally at this time by as much as 4 degrees, and Europe was significantly affected. Like my moods, the weather was unpredictable and often swung from one extreme to another. This began to affect the crop yield and livelihood of the people of France. The peasants of 18th century France depended highly on good crop output to, ya know, eat. In the late 1700s, the classes had a significant income disparity. As the crops began to fail, the price of food began to rise, leaving workers with extraordinarily little extra income. The Little Ice Age and its negative impact on crops began to cause hunger throughout the country. At this same time, there was a huge population boom across France. Growing from 22.5 million inhabitants in 1715 to 28.5 million in 1789 meant there was a growth of about 25 percent! History has shown that when people are cold, the need for warmth leads to a cuddle which leads to how babies are made. As the number of people grew, so did the demand for goods. A need that was often unable to be met because of the Little Ice Age. As the government became more entrenched in debt, it continued to raise the taxes paid by the lowers classes. Nobles and the clergy were excluded from paying taxes (eat the rich!), so the government's debt came to rest on the shoulders of the most abused from above. The social order of France made it so that even the tiniest shortcomings would be detrimental to the lives of much of the population.
Laki Volcano Eruption
In 1775, after a poor grain harvest from northern France, people began to let their unhappiness show the only way they know how… with good ol' fashioned riots! The people's anger was directed at the wealthy landowners, and even managed to reach Versailles. This peasant uprising became known as the Flour War, a straightforward title because there was no time for cleverness when starting a Revolution! This uprising would be squashed in a few weeks, but the damage had been done. The peasants of France had seen the power behind a widespread protest and knew what kneaded (I know what I did) to be done.
The Little Ice Age and its powerful effect on the crops and, inherently, the people growing them would just be one of many weather occurrences that would ignite the people of France to revolt. From 1783 to 1784, the Laki Volcano continuously erupted in Iceland, sending ash across Europe. The ash would block the sun, darkening the skies, lowering the temperature, and thoroughly convincing people they were living in actual Hell. With ships unable to move because of the fog from the ash, and weather patterns disrupted, the food crisis became even more severe. To understand the impact of poor harvests, one must realize how little the Third Estate had in the 1700s. Even though they made up 98 percent of the population, they were people with limited economic means and struggled to reach survival levels. They were also forced to pay exorbitant taxes to the King and maintain their feudal obligations to their landlord. They also held no judicial power meaning they could do nothing about the unfair circumstances forced onto them by the King. With such a decrease in their livelihoods, peasants cut back on spending, which hurt the economy even more. I like to point to this moment when trying to prove that my shopping addiction is, in fact, good for the economy!
The Great Hailstorm of Paris
In the already broken economy struggling to recover after years of war and failing markets, the weather of 1788 would push the people of France over the edge. The spring of 1788 was a disaster for the planting season in France. After an abnormally dry spring that dramatically affected the crops of the already starving people, there was a summer of extreme temperatures and random downpours. The mass majority of the population was severely malnourished and was now pushed into yet another famine after a period of economic slump and hunger.
One such event, The Great Hailstorm of Paris, was a ferocious storm that ripped through the countryside, wreaking havoc on July 13, 1788. The destitution the storm caused would go on to infuriate the starving citizens of France, and the devastation of the crops would have dire consequences for the economy of France. Bread prices would continue to soar, and the citizens would find their incomes significantly lowered. As if they hadn't been through enough, the conditions of the lower classes after the Great Hailstorm of Paris would only worsen with the extreme winter ahead. The winter of 1788/1789 would be one of the coldest on record. During this harsh winter, Emmanuel Sieyes's published his political pamphlet What Is The Third Estate? An essay that would attack the privilege of the nobility and give words to the struggle of the lower classes. Think Hamilton but with less rapping. With the pamphlet What Is the Third Estate, the common people of France finally had a physical manifestation of their resentments against the other two estates. By April of 1789, the people of France were rioting regularly over the rising price of bread. The economy's downfall and the crops' failure for several years would push them over the edge and into Revolution. The mood in Paris before the fall of the Bastille was one of anger and desperation. There are many firsthand accounts of the rowdiness of the crowds in Paris who were rioting and demanding answers for the skyrocketing bread costs. Eventually, the hungry and abused crowds would march on the Bastille and overtake the prison, and the French government learned the very valuable lesson of never coming between the French population and a baguette.
Conclusion
After decades of unheard-of weather patterns working against their livelihoods and without help from their King, the resentment of the poor in France would eventually rise and change the course of history. The Little Ice Age, the Laki Volcano, and the severe drought and winter of 1788 would lead to the uprising of the peasants, the fall of the Bastille, the abolishment of the feudalism system, and eventually, the heads of the French monarchy.
What role do you think that weather played in the French Revolution? Let us know below.
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References
Dispatches from Paris (April-July 1789)" in The Old Regime and the French Revolution, ed. Keith Michael Baker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Jessene, Jean-Pierre. The Social and Economic Crisis in France at the End of the Ancien Régime, 1st ed., 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Lancaster, John. “How the Little Ice Age Changed History.” The New Yorker, March 2019,https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/01/how-the-little-ice-age-changed-history.
Loyseau, Charles "A Treatise on Orders," in The Old Regime and the French Revolution, ed. Keith Michael Baker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
McWillimas, Brendan, ‘The Fall of the Bastille', The Irish Times, Jul 13, 1998, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-fall-of-the-bastille-1.172547
Neumann, J and Dettwiller, J. “Great Historical Events that were Significantly Affected by the Weather: Part 9, the Year Leading to the Revolution of 1789 in France (II).” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Popkin, Jeremy D, A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 2019)
Sieyes, Emmanuel-Joseph, "What is the Third Estate?" in The Old Regime and the French Revolution, ed. Keith Michael Baker (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Waldinger, Maria, Drought and the French Revolution: The effects of adverse weather conditions on peasant revolts in 1789, (2013)
