AGRARIAN REVOLUTIONS OF THE PAST 35 



Later the National Assembly ordered the large 

 estates broken up and offered for sale to the peasants 

 in blocks of 2 or 3 acres, on very reasonable terms. 

 All farm rents were abolished without compensation 

 to the landlords. "The rich," said Marat, "have 

 so long sucked out the marrow of the people that 

 they are now visited with a crushing retribution." 



The abolition of feudalism with its archaic sys- 

 tem of privileges was the most important achieve- 

 ment of the French Revolution. The year 1789 

 is therefore a notable one in agrarian history be- 

 cause it marked the end of servile tenure in France. 



Agrarianism in Germany 



When we turn from France to Germany, we find 

 a difference in the history of agrarianism. Land 

 tenure policies in Germany were far from uniform. 

 East of the Elbe the land was settled relatively late. 

 The estates were large in this section and the land- 

 lords completely overwhelmed the peasant class. 

 But western, central, and southern Germany de- 

 veloped a dense population by the early Middle 

 Ages, and small-scale farming became the settled 

 policy of the country. As many towns developed 

 in this region, good markets were available for the 

 sale of farm products and the peasant class pros- 

 pered and became a well contented and thrifty ele- 

 ment in the population. 



Conditions gradually changed for the worse, and 



