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.
In this unit, you examined the American and French Revolutions. The American Revolution, sparked by conflict over British rule and influenced by Enlightenment ideas, broke colonial ties with a monarchy and yielded a new nation. The French Revolution, inspired by the American Revolution as well as the Enlightenment, freed French citizens from an absolute monarchy and secured equality before the law for all male citizens.
The substantial taxation, discrimination, and overall unjust treatment of the less fortunate was too much to just be ignored. The French citizens held riots and even stormed a famous fortress in revolt. It was suggested that the Declaration of American Independence inspired the people of France. When the American citizens broke away from England because of a disagreement with how things were being ran, it served as an example to the third estate of what could be (Doc. 5). No change taking place in society really lit a fire within French citizens.
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 French Revolution was one of the most significant wars that changed France’s history. The Revolution started in 1789 and ended in 1799 and was mainly initiated by the conditions affecting the Third Estate. Louis XVI was predominately the king during this time period but little did he know that an uprising among the peasants was happening. The French Revolution was caused by the Enlightenment ideas because of the American Revolution, the knowledge of rights, and the questioning of France’s government. The American Revolution was basically the “fire” that ignited the change the Third Estate wanted to see in their country. The French people’s knowledge of their rights led them to believe that it is possible to achieve fairness and be respected in their own province. And lastly, the idea of questioning France’s government had peasants discover that their king barely even cared about their well-being and restricted them of representation.
Revolutions were a common occurrence in many parts of the world. The 17th century was miserable. Between 1790 and 1848 many different people in Europe, Central America, the Caribbean, and other areas of the world struggled to gain freedom and independence from oppressive and dictatorial regimes. While the the French and Haitian Revolutions, inspired by the American Revolution, were alike in many areas such as social class struggles, economic inequities, and personal freedoms. In spite of their similarities the revolutions in France and Haiti were more different than similar because pitted While France struggled with it’s Aristocracy, Haiti struggled with slavery. France was dealing with unequal distribution of wealth while Haiti had little wealth at all. Finally, While France is attempting to change it’s form of
French society was defined by the the “Ancien Regime” the system of three estates (Clergy, Nobility, and Peasantry). The clergy and nobility were respected and had a higher position in society and the peasants were left to carry the country, by working farms, generating the wealth, and paying a large majority of taxes. This largely contributed to the tensions arising in 1780’s France. Meanwhile, France was engaged in the Age of Enlightenment people were demanding that church and state be separate, the King resigns and a new logic based system of government is to be established. This completely challenged Frances current system of an absolute monarchy. France also suffered through several years of poor harvests further increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. The years before the French Revolution would trouble both financially and socially, influenced by many more factors than the decisions of King Louis
During the French Revolution, people fought and killed for the things they believed in, specifically rights. It was started for many things, including resentment of royal absolutism, rise of enlightenment ideals, unmanageable national debt, and the unfair treatment of the Third Estate. The French Revolution produced written works such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which served as a model of man’s inalienable right to liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. Everyone during the Revolution agreed on and wanted one thing: rights. However, not everyone wanted people to have this privilege, and cared more for themselves.
Was the French Revolution preventable? This is a question that is fascinating to think about. What could have been done differently to prevent this revolution that cost countless people their lives? Why were others willing to give their lives, for what cause? Why was life so turbulent? These questions will be answered by the time you have finished reading this paper.
May 5, 1789, the beginning of the infamous French Revolution. Historians around the world studied the causes of the French Revolution, arguably regarded as one of the most important events in human history. Many important ideologies were developed during this time period. The current western political philosophies in France is the result of the French Revolution which introduced the principles of civic equality and popular sovereignty that challenged the historical Three Estates.
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 Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government. These new ideas played as a catalyst to acts of resistance, or in a broader retrospect, the French Revolution.
The French Revolution all began after people in France decided it was time to fight for their rights and freedom and escape the tyranny that took place and give the people more power. At the time King Louis XVI was the French king and had power from 1774 to 1792 and was later executed in 1793. In France, the people were divided into three separate social estates, clergy, nobility, and the commoner as the lowest and the highest above all of course would be the king. The Enlightenment was a movement by intellectuals who promoted reason and science, and they began to question the system in place at the time in France and they began to spread revolutionary ideas that got people thinking about change. The “French Revolution was influenced by Enlightenment ideals” and when the ideas began to spread people were newly educated about something they never thought about, and after
The most important cause of the Democratic Revolutions of the seventeen-seventy's and the eighteen-ten’s was political because the people did not have a voice in the government. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by monarchies. Kings and queens ruled France and had the power of its people. For example, in the article of the “ French Revolution” it states that during their ruling time, they enjoyed his power by using the “ Letter de Cachet” to arrest innocent people. As well, they did not care about their citizens. This proves that politics was one of the most important causes of the Democratic Revolution because the monarchs did not care of hurting the people by imprisoning innocent people without giving them any trial. As well, before the revolution in Venezuela, Spain at that time ruled Venezuela as a colony.
In a letter to Cristina of Lorraine, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Galileo gives a perfectly sound and rational argument as to why the church should not be charging him as a heretic for his belief in the heliocentric model when the bible is going against what they see with their own eyes. Furthermore, Galileo argues that, contrary to popular belief at the time, the bible should only be used to help us understand abstruse concepts and what is needed for salvation, not to explain the natural world. In a lot of ways, Galileo’s argument paves the way for separation between church and state, as well as the age-old conflict between science and religion that is still discussed even till today. However, what I found interesting here is that Galileo actually believed that his beliefs went hand in hand with the bible. He tries to justify his beliefs according to the bible by arguing that God gave us a brain in order to