What was the Great Fear of 1789?

The Great Fear was a period of widespread panic and rural unrest that occurred in 1789 during the French Revolution.12

Driven by years of food shortages and political instability, peasants became convinced of an "aristocratic conspiracy" in which the king and the nobility intended to use foreign troops or hired gangs to suppress the Third Estate. In response, rural communities formed militias and engaged in riots, often targeting the homes of the nobility. A primary objective of this violence was the destruction of feudal records, which documented the privileges of the elite and the obligations of the peasantry.12

This unrest prompted the National Constituent Assembly to take decisive action to restore order. In August 1789, the assembly abolished the feudal system and adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, effectively dismantling the legal foundations of noble and clerical privilege.2