The Revolution abolished monarchy and replaced it with a republic. It was a period of social and political chaos. The cost from the American Revolution and the expensive spending from King King Louis XVI left France close to bankruptcy. The spending left many peasants and urban poor with little to nothing to eat. The purpose of the French Revolution was to help solve the financial problems of the government. Afraid that they would overthrow the revolution, many royal families, upper class, and lower class men were killed.
The ‘Reign of Terror’ was not justified because the it took away the rights that the French government had achieved during French Revolution. One piece of evidence for this was that during the reign of terror the French people had no freedom of religion. A detail that supports this was the fact that during the Reign of Terror, people were not allowed to practise any religion, especially Christianity.
Over the course of time, many leaders attempted to control their nation and increase their own power in order to dictate their citizens. Some examples of such leaders are, Louis XIV of France and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. During the age of absolutism, Louis XIV also known as, the “Sun King” became the ruler of France through the theory of divine right, which allowed him to rule his people as an absolute ruler. He controlled his people by implementing a centralized government and forcing the 3rd estate to pay unfair taxes. Joseph Stalin, who was another ruler, who went down in history as one of the most ruthless dictators the world has ever known. He used the political system of totalitarianism in order to remain an authority figure
the committee of public safety were effectively protecting the revolution. they were showing promising strength and would take a lot to stop it. other monarchs wanted it crushed so their people wouldn’t get the idea of revolting against them. qall efforts to stop them failed due to a constant show of force.
This essay will address the French Revolution and the degree to which it can be aptly described as “revolutionary.” How revolutionary was the French Revolution? Was the storming of the Bastille, the destruction of feudalism, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of a fundamental and radical and revolutionary nature, or, alternatively, simply a series of historical events that results in the supplanting of one authoritarian regime for another and at great cost in
The Reign of Terror did not support the ideals of the revolution. Unfortunately for French citizens, they were not able to elect tribunal members. The tribunal members, who have absolute power were “appointed by the National Convention” (Document E). French people were rejected in their own country, which is proven by the statement that “conspirators are, in its eyes, only strangers”(Document G). The original ideals were made to protect the people of France but instead they were killing
80,000 Austrian and Prussian armies were marching towards France to end the revolution (Doc C). It is true that the French forces stopped them at the Battle of Valmy in 1792, a year before the Reign of Terror (Doc C). But the goals of the revolution was to spread the new ideas of liberty, equality, and male suffrage (the right to vote) across Europe. In 1791, Austria and Prussia officially expressed their support for the French monarchy (Doc B). Furthermore, France faced internal threats in the Western region of Vendee, where emigres or nobles conspired against the young republic. Nearly 10,000 French army officers and aristocrats (nobles) were ready to join the foreign invasion (Doc C). France was facing a real crisis with only two years into the revolution. The Reign of Terror was bloody, but it clarified the goals of all French citizens- join the army, protect the revolution, and resist the return to feudalism and the Old Regime. The map addresses that France had external threats, in August 1792, 80,000 Austrian and Prussian armies were marching towards France to suppresses the French Revolution. That was not the only problem France had though, they also had internal troubles, 10,000 French army officers and aristocrats had moved to the Austrian-controlled Netherlands to form armies and they allied themselves with France’s foreign enemies. Also many French citizens fought against the military draft called the levée en masse and against laws that tried to abolish Christianity in France. France was being attacked from two fronts, outside invaders and by rebels and émigrés. Desperate times require desperate measures. The timeline enforces that The Reign of Terror was justified, it successfully fought enemies from both inside and outside of France. First, the counter-revolution in Western France fell in December 1793. Second, the French Revolutionary
Because the patriots posed as a threat, “forty of their number were killed” (Document D). This issue should have been dealt with differently; there is a way to stop uprisings like this other than killing people. Also, the government abolished “Sunday worship, Christmas, and Easter” (Document C). This is not fair for the French citizens who normally participate in these events. The people should be free to follow their own beliefs. This shows that the actions of the government are not fair to the French
There were people dying at every second of the Reign of Terror, dozens of people were dying because of Robespierre and the guillotine. This was considered as a humane way of killing people because everyone died the same way and it was immediate (Doc. F). Unfortunately, many of the citizens were dying without a good reason or a fair trial. The citizens and counter-revolutionaries were being executed for the slightest thing such as saying a careless word of criticism about the government. Although the government did this to stop any rebellions from forming, they ended up doing much more than what was needed and going completely
The French Revolution was a very problematic time period. After the execution of Louis XVI, the Reign of Terror began during the years of 1793 - 1794 which was led by French politician, Maximilien Robespierre and lasted for 18 months. This topic is controversial when the question, “Was the Reign of Terror justified?” is asked. The Reign of Terror was ultimately unjust because the promises for a democracy were put to the side due to a desire for power. It was inhumane to murder a colossal amount of people based on accusations and from being blinded from greediness.
Another contributing to the rebellion and revolution were the Class System called the Privileged Estates. France was severely in debt at that time, banks couldn’t give people who needed money because they didn’t have any to give, even with the high taxes. With the Privileged Estates system, the rich who could afford to pay the taxes didn’t
The French Revolution was a major failure and a minor success. After all of the blood shed, the laws, civil rights, and codes did not get instituted effectively and did not represent the values that the citizens had fought for. Examples of this were the Napoleonic Code and Declaration of Rights of Man. Another reason it was a failure was because during the revolts and reforms more than 40,000 men and women died. This enormous massacre of people went against Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, all of which the national assembly declared were every man 's right. Much of the killing can be blamed on Robespierre and King Louis XVI. Although it was mostly a failure, some achievements can be seen through the Revolution. The French Revolution helped the French people become a more equal and socialist state. This showed Europe that the French were capable of revolting and they were not afraid to stand up for what they believed. They demonstrated pure democracy by abolishing the 3 estates and assuming power for the people. These two points are miniscule compared to death, destruction, and economic failures that the Revolution brought. The French Revolution was mostly a failure because of the ineffective execution of reforms and unnecessary massacre of lives. However it was a minor success because of the socialistic ideologies that were given birth to during the Revolution, which helped reform France into what it is today.
The people of France tried to resolve issues peacefully but the king cared only about his power and acted at the expense of the citizens. According to the French Revolution portion of the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the bourgeoisie wanted to have political power and the peasants did not want the feudal system to continue (French Revolution 2). A large meeting was held to discuss and solve issues, but, “rumors of an ‘aristocratic conspiracy’ by the king and the privileged to overthrow the Third Estate led to the Great Fear of July 1789.” (French Revolution 2). With the king of France being unwilling to actually resolve any conflicts, the only choice that was left was to overthrow the government as a whole and rebuild it into being a more fair and just system. Again, people need freedom and happiness in their lives in order to be satisfied with their ways of living, and the appropriate response to that lacking in their lives is to remonstrate against the burdensome
They had an election between all the Estate and everyone got to choose and the result was shocking. The King got executed by a very close result; the king got executed by 1 more vote. After king got executed by a very close result some people thought they were free now from absolute monarchy but other people knew there is a big war coming up. Their politic power was all gone and more people start dying because Robespierre stood up and started to execute every person who was going against revolution or did something bad or broke a law. Still need a conclusion
The French Revolution, which lasted from 1789 to 1799, was primarily a response to the poor leadership of King Louis XVI who had been ruling France at the time. A number of commoners took to the streets of Paris to protest against the monarchy after years of alienation and paying abundance of tax and fees. The bourgeoisie was also out of touch with the rigid social structure orchestrated by the regime as they were often excluded from law-making decisions and other political rights that were given exclusively to noblemen. Shortly after the monarchy had been abolished, the church became victimized at the hands of the revolutionaries who recognized the institution as a chunk of the Ancien Regime that needed to be destroyed. On that note, the French