The French Revolution began in 1789 due to the discontent of the Third Estate being unequal to the First Estate, who were exempt from taxes and held special privileges. Although, Louis XVI attempted to tax the First Estate in order to fix France, who is on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the First Estate refused to be taxed because it goes against the traditions imposed years ago. Louis XVI attempted to solve this by calling the Estates-General, where all three estates could meet and attempt to settle issues. The Estates-General failed to solve any problems, with that the Third Estate decided to separate and form the National Assembly. The liberal phase was primarily focused on turning France into a constitutional monarchy, where the National …show more content…
A peasant wrote in a letter about how the new calendar causes peasants to work long hours without having any distractions, which was provided by the Roman Catholic calendar (Doc 4). The revolutionary calendar got rid of holidays, such as Lent, which provided a break for peasants from work. While, the revolutionary calendar imposed days, where peasants had to work hard labor. Most likely, to increase productivity of the French people. Naturally, as a peasant, he would oppose the new calendar because he’s the one who has to go through nine days of labor due to the new calendar. Additionally, Pierre-Joseph Denis talks about how the calendar is an act of despotism on the French citizens (Doc 5). He discusses how the Jacobins overthrew the former government and placed Robespierre as the leader. He uses a bitter tone by using words such as “trample”, which shows his discontent with the Republic. He believes that the calendar is a way for the republic to control French citizens and citizens had to follow along with it. Although, naturally as a former Girondin, he would disagree with the calendar because the Girondins lost their opportunity to gain power in the National Convention, while the Jacobins asserted their power and eventually took political control in the National Convention. Also, he was imprisoned in the Reign of Terror, which was created by the …show more content…
There are parallels between the French Revolution to the Russian Revolution in the 20th century. The Russian Revolution began due to peasants revolting against the leader due to tax burdens. Similar, to how the French Revolution started due to the heavy tax burden placed on the Third Estate. Both revolutions eventually got more radical and violent, the French Revolution with the Reign of Terror where citizens were guillotined, while the Russian Revolution had Bloody Sunday, where citizens were killed. Radical leaders eventually got control over the government, such as Robespierre with the Committee of Public Safety and they issued their own policies Then, the Russian Revolution eventually ended with the Soviet Union taking control of Russia, similar to how Napoleon took control of France in the French Revolution. Both the French and Russian Revolution share similar characteristics between each
The three main focuses of the French Revolution were liberté, égalité, and fraternité. Napoleon’s action show that he supported liberté and égalité, and therefore Napoleon supported the revolution.
The French Revolution was a series of struggles regarding economic and social issues under rule of Louis XVI in 18th century. As a result of the Revolution, there was a shift towards radical changes apropos to the desire for a new historical beginning in revolutionary France. The adoption of the new calendar was created to in hopes to introduce these new republican values, bring about new ideas of de-Christianization, and to celebrate a new marking in French history. This progressive era was a time of radical change in France, where the traditional values and practices were slowly being abolished, which caused many contrary reactions to break out within the people.
An increase in prices, a lack of capital, and billions of national debt naturally led to the revolution inevitable. France’s economical climate was greatly influenced by Britain’s control of the commercial market. In addition to adverse economical conditions, France had no central bank, no paper currency, and no means of obtaining more money, as their tax system really taxed the poor. Similar to the Russians, the French people realized that King Louis XVI was harming the country, and the three levels of class systems could not come to terms. Moreover, just like Bolsheviks were fighting with Anti-Bolsheviks, conflict between radical Jacobins and liberal Girondins and the significant Reign of Terror played a key role in leading to and sustaining the revolution.
During the period 1789-1806, one of the unusual manifestations of the French Revolution was the adoption of a completely new calendar; 'The Calendar of Reason’. It was divided into twelve months of thirty days each which symbolized their separation from the old style. One of the reasons for the calendar consisted on the rejection of numerous holidays, religious and politic oppressiveness and some reactions included people honoring to the new adoption while other arguing over the cruelty they were brought upon.
During the 18th century, the flow of Enlightenment ideas helped spark many political movements. The French Revolution refers to a period in which citizens call for reforms due to the political, economic and social differences between them and the monarchy. The absence of political representation and empathy from the nobility, the financial crisis and the desire for equality between all the classes inspired the people of France to start a revolution. In France, the third estate had almost no political representation while the first and second estate had totally power over everything that happened.
In my view no one should be under one ruler because the one ruler only cares about himself. The British did not care about the colonist. The British wanted the colonist to pay for the debt they had after the French and Indian war. The only way to do that was by making Acts, taxes, so the colonist can pay for the debt the British were in.. The colonist had every right to push for revolution, even though they were subjects of the British crown. King George III did not do very well in protecting their interests. The colonist had every right to push for revolution especially, when the British had George Grenville, one of the ablest men in Great Britain, to make Acts, the Currency, Sugar, and Stamp Acts so the colonist could pay for them.
A revolution is the outcome of a spark, a spark to improve economic standards, espouse new ideas of life, to obtain an equal position in society, and to have an improved political system. Both France and the 13 Colonies had been through various economical crises’ which resulted in citizens to rebel. France had lost lots of money in expanding Versailles and by losing numerous expensive wars. In order to recover from this debt, the third estate of France had to pay more taxes, despite the farmers going through a series of crop failures, while the higher estates were exempt from taxation. Increasing this debt was Queen Marie-Antoinette who continued to spend lavishly on herself and did not care to think about the third estate. In the 13 Colonies, citizens were restricted to sell their goods to
During the reign of King Louis XVI, France was going through severe economic crisis. France was in debt from war and helping America in the American Revolution, and poor harvests inflated the prices of bread, causing poor people to starve. Most importantly, the unfair tax system forced the lower class to pay all of the taxes. On June 20, 1789, powerful men from the third estate walked out of a meeting with the Estates General and vowed to create a new constitution (BE). Many people, like the nobility, Catholic Church, conservative, and foreign monarchs, disliked the reforms. To deal with the opposition, the French Revolution made a radical turn under the control of Maximillian Robespierre. Robespierre was the chief prosecutor who got Louis
the French revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1799. Louis XVI was King of France in 1789. Louis was a kind man, but he was raised to be a king and had little knowledge of common people. There was a story in France that when Louis' wife, Marie Antoinette, heard that the people had no bread, she said, "Let them eat cake." Marie Antoinette never said that, but it shows how little she knew (and some say cared) about life for the common people of France.
How do we classify the French Revolution? The French Revolution inspired many different events in European history and became a turning point. There were many flaws within the French Revolution, although there were ideas that left a huge impact in the lives of many. In the end, the French Revolution ended up taking many lives, destroying and weakening a powerful country. The French Revolution was not revolutionary because the French people never rid the country of the unwanted ways of governing, the goals of life, of liberty, and of brotherhood were never achieved, and the country's government kept going back and forth between multiple types of government.
Robespierre, the most famous French Revolutionary, believes “We must smother the internal and external enemies of the Republic or perish…”(Document G). Began in 1789, the French Revolution began as an attempt to form a new government in France. This gruesome period was the Reign of Terror. This was where the people of France, which was consisted of peasants and workers and was led by Maximilien Robespierre, rallied for “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.” To put it differently, was the French Revolution necessary? In my opinion, the Reign of Terror in France was not justified based on the threats, methods, and ideals of the revolution.
“Against us tyranny's, Bloody banner is raised, Do you hear, in the countryside, The roar of those ferocious soldiers?They're coming right into your arms,To cut the throats of your sons, your women!” -French National Anthem. In the late 1700’s France, the three estates are stirring with injustice. During this time the king, King Louis XVI was in power over the nation. Consisting of middle class and peasants, the Third Estate people were growing frustrated with the unfair taxes and treatments towards them. This continuous feeling of anger eventually led to what is known as the French Revolution. But how exactly did it start? Although both political and economic causes to the French Revolution occurred, the paramount cause appeared to resigate from social issues. This is because the main problems were from the groups and social classes of
The French Revolution, I my opinion can be summed up in really two words a “human bloodbath”. It begins with King Louis the 16th not noticing the problems of his people. Backing the American Revolution caused France to go into debt that they could not get out of. Therefore, by not making the proper reforms to solve the issues of the King’s subjects. Accordingly, one of the issues that were facing King Louis and his subordinates were two years of bad crops in 1787-1788. Further causing higher food prices, one-third of the population is poor, starvation and death for many of his people. Additionally, the essential staple of the French’s daily food source is bread. The French had further issues to contend with as the years passed.
Radical nationalists quickly took control of the government and country and made very radical acts, that dug France into a bigger hole (French). One of the first things the radicals did when they gained power was “declared war on Austria and Prussia, where it believed that French ẻmigrés were building counter revolutionary alliances; it also hoped to spread its revolutionary ideals across Europe through warfare,” which caused not only a war inside of France, but also a war against countries outside of France (French). Soon a group of extremist Jacobins attacked and captured the king in Paris (French). The next month, citizens of Paris started massacring many accused counter revolutionists and got what they wanted; the establishment of the French Republic (French). Soon after the establishment of the republic, “Jacobins seized control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, … They also unleashed the bloody Reign of Terror, a 10-month period in which suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined by the thousands,” which were put out by the order of Robespierre, the leader of the Committee of Public Safety (French). Soon after this radical phase a moderate phase came in and the French people revolted against the radicals because of their actions (French). The French revolution finally ended when a group of Girondins approved a new constitution that
The French Revolution (1789-1814) was a period that affected the outcome of world history tremendously. This is considered a major turning point in European history which has led to dramatic changes in France and other regions of the world. Various social and political issues led to the start of the revolution. Politically, France suffered under the rule of Louis XVI, who ruled by absolute monarchy. Many people had their natural rights renounced and weren’t able to have a political voice. Socially, France had divided its population within 3 estates (classes). French citizens took it upon themselves to remodel their country 's’ political structure. The French Revolution had encountered both positive and negative effects. However, many Europeans viewed the Revolution as much more than just a bloody massacre. The French Revolution was used to demonstrate new ideology that would emphasize the principles of liberty and equality throughout Europe.