What was the Great Fear of 1789?

The Great Fear of 1789 was a period of unrest in the French towns and countryside that lasted for roughly three weeks in July and August 1789, at the start of the French Revolution.

What happened during the Great Fear of 1789?

During the Great Fear of 1789, French peasants attacked the homes of feudal lords and forced them to renounce their feudal privileges.

What was the significance of the Great Fear of 1789?

The Great Fear's significance was to lead to the August Decrees, which abolished feudalism in France, as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. These were two of the most important achievements of the French Revolution.

Great Fear

Server Costs Fundraiser 2024

Help our mission to provide free history education to the world! Please donate and contribute to covering our server costs in 2024. With your support, millions of people learn about history entirely for free every month.

$3926 / $18000

❤ Donate

Definition

The Great Fear (French: la Grande Peur) was a wave of panic that swept the French countryside in late July and early August 1789. Fearful of plots by aristocrats to undermine the budding French Revolution (1789-1799), peasants and townspeople mobilized, attacking manorial houses. The unrest contributed to the passage of the August Decrees, which abolished feudalism in France.

More about: Great Fear

Timeline

14 Jul 1789
The Bastille in Paris is stormed.
16 Jul 1789
The Comte d'Artois, Louis XVI's brother, flees Versailles with other royalists after the Storming of the Bastille, becoming the first wave of emigres to flee the French Revolution.
c. 19 Jul 1789 - c. 6 Aug 1789
The Great Fear sweeps across the French countryside, as peasants attack the feudal estates of the nobility.
22 Jul 1789
Fear and paranoia drive Paris mobs to murder royal minister Joseph Foullon and his son-in-law, Berthier de Sauvignay.