Question

Why did the french countryside feel panicked and fearful during the great fear

Answer 1

The Great Fear (in French, Grande Peur) was a wave of peasant riots and violence that swept through France in July and August 1789. These riots were sparked by economic concerns, rural panic and the power of rumour.


France’s peasants heard and shared rumours about roving bands of brigands, possibly paid by royalists.
These brigands, it was reported, were rampaging through the countryside, raiding villages and stealing grain.

These rumours appeared in different places, took different forms and invoked different responses.

Many peasants responded by arming themselves and mobilising to defend their property. Some went further and engaged in revolutionary violence, taking to the road, looting the châteaux of landed aristocrats and destroying feudal contracts. The peasants, it seems, became the destructive brigands they had initially feared.

While few people were killed during the Great Fear, property worth millions of livres was either stolen or destroyed. The Great Fear certainly had an impact on political events, contributing to the National Assembly’s abolition of feudalism on August 4th.