3 - The Countryside

Summary

This chapter provides an overview of the conditions and experiences of the 22 million people who lived on farms and who inhabited the villages and small towns in the countryside during the revolution. The relationship between these people and revolutionary legislators in Paris was one of negotiation, confrontation and dialogue. This chapter will highlight how rural dwellers adopted, adapted and resisted change from the capital. It discusses the cahiers de doléances, not only as they represent a decisive moment of mass politicization, but also because they emphasize so very well the concerns, hopes and fears of the majority of the population. The chapter also pays attention to the various waves of peasant insurrection – against feudalism and taxation – during 1789-1793. A balance sheet is drawn up for the outcomes of the French Revolution for the rural population, which reveals that changes in family life, religious practices and socio-economic relations combined to fundamentally alter the mental universe of all French citizens.