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.
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Definition
Timeline
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14 Jul 1789The Bastille in Paris is stormed.
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16 Jul 1789The 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.
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c. 19 Jul 1789 - c. 6 Aug 1789The Great Fear sweeps across the French countryside, as peasants attack the feudal estates of the nobility.
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22 Jul 1789Fear and paranoia drive Paris mobs to murder royal minister Joseph Foullon and his son-in-law, Berthier de Sauvignay.
