Great Fear

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The "Great Fear" (French: la Grande Peur) occurred from July 20 to August 5, 1789 in France at the start of the French Revolution. Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and the grain supplies were now guarded by local militias as bands of vagrants roamed the countryside. Rumors spread among the peasantry that nobles had hired these vagrants to prey on villages and protect the new harvest from the peasants.

In response, fearful peasants armed themselves in self-defense against the imaginary marauders and attacked manor houses. Aristocratic property was ransacked, and documentation recording feudal obligations were destroyed. There were isolated incidents of violence against the aristocrats, but the peasants mostly wanted to destroy the records in which the feudal dues were recorded. Grain supplies were attacked and merchants suffered serious losses as peasants helped themselves to much needed supplies. The hysteria spread across the country but gradually burned itself out as militias imposed law and order.

1 Causes and Course of the Revolts
- 1.1 Chronology and centres of revolt
2 Ergotism
3 Notes and references

[edit] Causes and Course of the Revolts

As the French historian Georges Lefebvre pointed out, the revolt in the countryside can be followed in remarkable detail. The revolts had not only economic but political causes, pre-dating the events in Paris and Versailles in the summer of 1789. As Lefebvre commented, "To get the peasant to rise and revolt, there was no need of the Great Fear, as so many historians have suggested: when the panic came, he was already up and away."

In early 1789, the king's financial minister Jacques Necker was warned that the countryside risked a general uprising, and in April peasant uprisings were increasingly organised and anti-seigneurial in character. Demands were made for the cancellation of harvest payments and the restoration of rights, such as that of grazing. The drawing up of the Cahiers de doléances and subsequent elections contributed to the general expectation of reform. The political temperature rose drastically in July, with news of events in Versailles and riots in Paris and elsewhere contributing to rumors of plots to kill all their goats. The great numbers of strangers on the roads seeking work could also be taken as brigands in the pay of an unpatriotic aristocracy. In five different regions, peasants began to arm themselves, ringing church bells to warn of danger, and took to attacking the symbols of the seigneurial regime, reclaiming tithes and grain.

[edit] Chronology and centres of revolt

Franche-Comté (from late 1788, and especially 19-31 July 1789)
Dauphiné (Feb-June and from 27 July 1789)
Provence

[edit] Ergotism

Historian Mary K. Matossian argued that one of the causes of the Great Fear was consumption of ergot, a hallucinogenic fungus. In years of good harvests, wheat with ergot was thrown away, but when the harvest was poor, the peasants could not afford to be so choosy. ^[1].

The Great Fear was most intense between 20 July and 6 August, and partly explains why the nobility and the clergy surrendered their privileges on the Night of 4 August.

This event led to the abolition of serfdom and feudal obligations, and brought up the need for a new social structure. Even during months of July and August many communities took legal action against their feudal lords which forced them to submit their feudal titles for judicial review, and refused to pay their dues during the trial.

The Great Fear was largely responsible for the National Constituent Assembly's dismissal of feudal rights and obligations; this in effect led to the general unrest of the nobility of France.