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.
Prior to Napoleon's reign as emperor, France had been through the rein of terror and the French Revolution. King Louis the Sixteenth and his wife Marie Antoinette had put France in major debt and took no responsibility for it. He was killed by the guillotine. Robespierre took control after his death and caused more problems for France and killed anyone who was not passionate enough about his ruling. He too was killed by the guillotine. Napoleon came into rule after Robespierre and ruled as emperor of France. Napoleon was a hero because he believed in better education for the people of France, he wanted to get rid of the tyrants of other countries to better the lives of people under their rule, and people had civil rights, which they didn’t have prior to his reign as emperor. Others argue that Napoleon was a tyrant because he
In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution. Due to these uprisings in different parts of the world, it had a varying political objective, but it appears to be that it was roused by the Enlightenment's radical
The French Revolution was a drastic time for the people of France. In 1789, the majority of people were living in poverty and dealing with terrible conditions. People were split into three estates: the first, second, and third, the first being the wealthiest. Political, economic, and social situations were what contributed to people’s desire for change. The three main, or biggest causes of the French Revolution, were taxes, inequality, and lack of reform.
Do the ends justify the mean? If you were an American soldier ready to be deployed for a massive land invasion of Japan, the atomic bombs saved your life. World War II ended when the United States dropped the atomic bombs and saved thousands of American lives. The French Revolution faced a similar dilemma. The rallying cry for the revolution was equality, liberty, and fraternity, bringing the first democracy to France. The Reign of Terror was led by Maximilien Robespierre, he violently suppressed counter-revolutionary forces within and outside the country. Did the French government have good reason to conduct a violent campaign to uphold the ideals of the French Revolution? The Reign of Terror was justified because of three reasons: the revolutionary
Within the period of 1750 to 1914, changes were taking place around the world. New empires and nations began growing and expanding their territory, and as a result of these actions, wars, bankruptcy, and rebellions became more common. An example is the American Revolution, in which the American colonists, who were influenced by new philosophies and the sense of nationalism, fought and gained their independence from Britain. This revolution eventually inspired others throughout the world as it was successful in gaining the colonies independence from a powerful European empire. Those revolutions include the Haitian and French Revolution. The Haitian Revolution can be compared to the French revolution in that they were both influenced by the Enlightenment
The American revolution and the French Revolution are two major incidents happened in the 1700s, which had intense social impacts on both French and American societies. In general, the American Revolution was more successful than the French revolution. The similarity between them is that the citizens in both countries, both faced the block of common economical development of the government. However, there is a difference that makes the American revolution succeeded while the French revolution doesn’t. The American Revolution turned the American society into a republic, as the French Revolution eventually led the French society into dictatorship and more chaos in the
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.
French Revolution, starting in the year 1789, was the movement that shook France between the years 1787 and 1799. The French Revolution had many causes. There were many easy fixes the government could have done, if they had fixed them, it could have prevented the revolution. Some of the most important causes were unfair taxes, social classes and last but not least the bankrupt state. I believe one of the biggest causes was the unfair taxes.
Following many European reform trends, France in 1789 began their own major reform that lasted nearly a decade. France suffered from many political problems, causing chaos in France. One major problem in France was the government itself. At that time, many governments
The late 1700’s was a time of great discontent in France. The people of France revolted against their government in an attempt to gain power in political decision making. In this time, France experienced many forms of governments as the people fought for change. It was during the 1790’s that Napoleon Bonaparte became known to the people as a strong military leader. Taking advantage of his rising popularity, Napoleon became the ruler of France and eventually the ruler of an empire. Napoleon Bonaparte had a positive impact on France and Europe due to the military, political and economic stability he restored to France, the laws he put in place, the reforms he introduced to the European countries he conquered and his improvement of the education system.
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
Between the years of 1785 and 1793, the French society was on the verge of collapsing. There was poverty and famine roaming the streets, making it nearly impossible to survive given the ridiculously high and unjust taxing system. King Louis XVI, who was the ruler at the time, was a main contributor to these problems that led France to its downfall. The country had a massive lack of resources and food, which led King Louis XVI to borrow more money than he could afford, thus putting the country in immense debt. Despite the very visible crisis overthrowing the country, the king was incapable of accepting his mistakes and refused to change his ways. He maintained the unjust voting system, known as the Estates-General, and worsened the taxing system in order to pay off his debts. The people, especially those of the Third Estate, were clearly angry and dissatisfied with the state of the country, which led them seek out a movement for what was right. They began the French Revolution, which wouldn’t have been possible if Louis’ actions hadn’t been as drastic as they were. To a greater extent, King Louis XVI can be held accountable for the main causes of the French Revolution due to the wars that he refused to drop because of his stubborn personality and the National
Nationalism became subverted by Radicalism and shifted the entire revolution because the revolution was just to overthrow a monarchy and take down Louis XVI and his foreign queen, and the way to do that was execution as they believed it would change everything for France. Nationalism was subverted because they wanted to be free from control from people like Louis XVI but radicals wanted to change the way society was and to do that was through a revolution. So instead of just peacefully leaving the control of Louis XVI it ended bloody for both the Nationalist and the Radicals. I feel like it could have ended badly another way for example the people would have seceded from Louis XVI’s control and