What Caused The French Revolution Dbq

The American Revolution was a successful revolt of the colonies and their mother country in a fight for their independence. It was successful, because the new independent country known as the United States of America was formed, and can still be seen today. However, the revolution goes very in depth on how it happened. The revolution was a very tough and long war between Great Britain, the mother country, and their colonies. This war led the colonies to gain their independence from Great Britain and form, what we know today as the United States of America.

During the time period of c.1750 and c.1900, the spread of enlightenment ideas gradually sparked many revolts and revolution in different parts of Europe. The American Revolution against the British and the French Enlightenment writer, Voltaire, inspired the French Revolution. The French Revolution and the spread of enlightenment ideas also inspired the Haitian revolution. Both Revolutions that occurred in France and Haiti was inspired by the growing sense of unity, pride, and comrade between the people of the nation, most commonly between the same classes. This sense of unity was known as nationalism.

The American Revolution arose from the escalating conflict between the thirteen colonies and their mother country, Great Britain. This uprising took place between 1775 and 1783. By the end of the war, the thirteen colonies, in victory, had gained their independence from Britain and were to be called the United States of America. Some argue that the increasing debt of the British Empire, aided the Americans’ win in the Revolutionary war the most. However the different battle tactics used by the colonial militia and intervention of other countries like France played a role on a much larger scale in the result of America’s victory.

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.

Robespierre was influenced greatly by the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which inspired Robespierre’s belief and morals and became the main reason why he fought for equal rights for men and demand for justice and change from the French monarchy. Robespierre was not fond of the French monarchy and believed that they were abusing their power so he used his platform to advocate for change. “Robespierre and his youthful colleague, Saint-Just (1767-94)-also once an opponent of the death penalty led the way in claiming that ‘Louis must die in order for the Revolution to live,” (Robespierre and The Terror). Robespierre’s begin to call for more purges and execution, causing the people and other government officials to question Robespierre’s motives. They began to fear for their lives and in fear of another revolutionary, they decided to overthrow Robespierre and execute

The Enlightenment was mainly introduced to the people by the French soldiers who came back from America. The people started to question everything: why did they have to pay all the tax? Why were they being granted no privileges? Such questions made French society and the Ancien regime seem extremely unfair. The people started to complain, calling our for “liberty, equality, fraternity.” Thanks to the American War of Independence, France reached an Age of Enlightenment where they wanted a change in

While Europe is considered the center of the Enlightenment, the best practical application of its ideas happened in the American Revolution. In the colonies, the people did not like being taxed since they did not have legislators in Britain. They also became upset with the idea of an absolute monarch. The Enlightenment idea of the sovereignty of the people becomes the fuel for the revolution. Moreover, after the fighting was finished, American free-thinkers were guided by principles of the European philosophes.

The American revolution was caused by unfair taxes by the British. There were protests on British taxes, and the American colonists got angry and declared war. The British were trying to take control of the American colonies. France helped the Americans beat the Redcoats when the American Colonies weakened the British Redcoats. The British empire surrendered at Yorktown 1781, but the battle didn’t end until 1783.

Mercantilism was the main reason for the increase of tariffs. Traders were restricted to import goods outside France while export brought benefits and profits to France in rulers’ point of view. Native-born professionals and elites in the Spain were insulted by Spanish kings in order to exercise their power over the citizens of the colonies and to set heavy taxes to them. Therefore, the elites brought about enlightenment to arouse public awareness about the overthrow of government upon

From 1791 to 1804, the country that had the biggest impact on the Haitian Revolution was France. In fact, the French Revolution was a significant catalyst to the Haiti’s own revolution despite having started a few years prior. At this point, France’s economy was still suffering after their involvement in both the American Revolutionary War and the Seven Years’ War. To combat the huge amount of debt they owed, France issued widely unpopular taxation schemes which ultimately caused more harm than benefit. Additionally, the heightened privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy and the clergy drew popular resentment.