Nobles in the French Revolution

During the French Revolution, the demise of the Old Regime's social-legal system eliminated the privileges of the elite and changed their lives drastically. In the first two phases of the Revolution, the nobility transformed from privileged to social outcasts targeted for counterrevolution. After a study of the subjective experiences of the aristocracy, in the form of their diaries, journals, letters, and memoirs, we can understand how they viewed and reacted to this transformation. This analysis of the reactions of the nobility contributes to the historiography on the fate of the elites from 1789-1794 and helps us understand their actions in the Third or Thermidorian Phase of the Revolution.