Demetrios Zioulis AP European History, Period E 12/19/14 France During the Revolution or Revolutionary France The French Revolution occurred throughout the years of 1789-1799. This revolution played a huge role in the lives of the French people and at the same time influenced other parts of Europe as well. Society changed dramatically after the corrupt King Louis XVI fell, followed by the collapse of the French monarchy. Now, the French people don’t want the rich to have an over abundance of power. The tradition of control by the monarchy, aristocracy, was simply out-dated and had to be changed. The French people sought equality, humane laws, and civil rights. These changes were soon all made possible once the corrupt monarch was overthrowed. The Estates General was the catalyst for the revolution in May 1789. Members of the Third Estate were locked out of a meeting that was held by the Estates-General on June 17th, 1789. Members of the Third Estate would then meet alone and adopt their title, The National Assembly. Just a few days later the same members would meet in a nearby tennis court, thus esablishing the Tennis Court Oath. The oath would basically outline that: meetings would be held in order to resist the pressure of the corrupt nobility. (“Tennis Court Oath,”) This oath symbolized the end of the Third Estates’ allegiance to the monarchy. Another influential event of the revolution was the storming of a medieval fortress and prison located in Paris, known as the
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
The old Regime in France has three estates. The first estate consists of the clergy, the second is the nobility and the third is the middle class to peasantry. After all that happened during the Regime such as the French economic crisis, Storming the Bastille, The Political Crisis that revolted in Paris, The Great Fear, The National Assembly, Declaration off the Rights of men, and the Reforms of the National Assembly, the French Revolution entered a radical phase. France experienced one of the bloodiest regimes as leaders sought to extend and preserve the Revolution. In 1792, disastrous battles overseas quickly inflamed revolutionaries in Paris. Parisians stormed the royal palace and slaughtered the king’s guards. In reaction, the royal family fled to the Legislative Assembly. Radicals then elected a new legislative body called the National Convention. This convention extended suffrage to be to all male citizens, not just property owners. It also abolished the monarchy and established a republic. King Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a single vote. The Queen, Marie Antoinette was also executed. By 1799 the French Revolution dramatically changed France. It removed the
The French Revolution was a chaotic time of blood, death, and fear. Though there were many negative outcomes and events of the Revolution, it big change to sweep across France. The Revolution began in the middle of 1789 with the swearing of the Tennis Court Oath, in which members of the third estate, as well as some from the first and second estates, swore that they would not go anywhere until they had written a constitution for France. Then, the Revolution really took off, and continued on for years. Many people influenced the Revolution, such as Marat and Robespierre. The death of Marat was another event that had a large influence on the Revolution, as though he had caused lots of deaths, he was stilled viewed as a hero by most. Looking at the two paintings “The Tennis Court Oath,” and “The Death of Marat,” “The Tennis Court Oath” depicts a more significant and relevant event, as this was the event to really cause the French Revolution to take off.
← Doyle, William. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001
Unfortunately for France and the cause of freedom, resistance from the Court and special interests proved too powerful, and Turgot was removed from office in 1776. "The dismissal of this great man," wrote Voltaire, "crushes me. . . . Since that fatal day, I have not followed anything . . . and am waiting patiently for someone to cut our throats.? Turgot's successors, following a mercantilist policy of government intervention, only made the French economy worse. In a desperate move to find money in the face of an uproar across the country and to re-establish harmony, Louis XVI agreed to convene the Estates-General for May 1789. Meanwhile, the king's new finance minister, Jacques Necker, a Swiss financial expert, delayed the effects of mercantilism by importing large amounts of grain. On May 5, the Estates-General convened at Versailles. By June 17, the Third Estate had proclaimed itself the National Assembly. Three days later, the delegates took the famous Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to disband until France had a new constitution. However, the real French Revolution began not
The revolution developed rapidly in the months May to October 1789, sparked by the King’s refusal to put forward a programme of reform in order to satisfy the Third Estate during the meeting of the Estates General on the 5th May 1789. Consequently, the Third Estate assembled in order to take the Tennis Court Oath agreeing not to disperse until France had a Constitution. Fearing his position was being threatened by the radical Third Estate, Louis contemplated using military force and ordered the stationing of 20000 troops round Paris in preparation to dissolve the National Assembly by force if necessary. On the 11th July 1789, Louis made the mistake of dismissing Jacques Necker, who was not only popular with the Third Estate but
The French Revolution began in the year of 1789, which would soon change the course of history for both France and surrounding nations. During this time, peasants were rebelling because they were being treated unfairly and changes needed to be made for the future of the country. While rebelling, the people used some of the ideas from the American Revolution, which had a positive impact on the people. The revolution did not only affect the French people, but it also had an impact on the countries watching. One can argue that the French Revolution wasn’t effective, however, the members of the third estate rebelled because they weren’t given social or economical equality and their rebellious actions lead to a change in government and the Declaration
“Give me liberty, or give me death,” proclaimed the revolutionary activist Patrick Henry as he and his fellow Americans fought towards an independent nation free from the monarchical Britain. With the American revolution, King Louis XVI sent French soldiers to America to purposely aid the new country, but accidentally implanted the idea for revolution in France, too. As the rising debt and unjust taxation of France climbed even higher, the Third Estate of France declared themselves the new lawmakers of France with these French soldiers from America instituting key revolutionary ideas. In June 1789, this Tennis Court Oath started the monstrously long attempt the French made to institutionalize their own freedom, liberty, and equality. Parisians
The French revolution which is also referred to as the Revolution of 1789 was a period characterized by both social and political upheaval that span close to a decade in France. It was during this period that the country’s political landscape was redesigned and it involved
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
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was the product of an oppressed people who were tired of living under a government in which they had no voice. During the Ancién Regime in France, there social classes, called estates, greatly divided the people on the basis of power and wealth. The first estate being the clergy, the second nobility, and the third estate being everyone else in the country of France (“The French Revolution” 23:20). The first two estates made up 3% of the population, while the third estate made up 97%, yet the first two estates held all the power. The French government at the time was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king derived his power from god and could exercise it without other constituted bodies having a right to challenge him (Introduction: Louis XIV and French Absolutism p.205). However, France was in such a state of crises in the late 18th century that Louis XVI called together the estates general, an assembly where all three estates were represented, for the first time in one hundred years (“The French Revolution” 23:00). Robes Pierre, a representative of the third estate, insisted that the nobles and clergy begin to pay taxes, but since the first and second estate held two thirds of the vote, he was quickly dismissed. After six weeks of meeting without achieving anything for the state, the third estate representatives become silenced by the first two estates. Enraged, they move next door to a tennis court and make “The Tennis Court
The French Revolution is an event that impacted Europe forever. There was a great amount of debt that the French treasury owed in the 1700s, so King Louis XVI established the Estates-General in 1789, in order to find a tax solution. The Estates-General was an assembly of three estates that consisted of: The clergy, the nobility, and the general French public. The general French public was the largest compared to the other two estates. Since the clergy and nobility were exempt from paying taxes, it made it extremely difficult to establish a solution. The Third Estate, seized the opportunity of the difference and established itself as a sovereign body called the National Assembly. The peasants began to rebel and participate in attacks known as the “Great Fear” that ended in the formation of a more improved judicial code for the French. The Thermidorian Reaction’s, also known as The Thermidorian Convention, was formed on July 27, 1794 and the purpose was to kill the Jacobin Club’s leader Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. Members of the Jacobin Club would interrupt meetings that the National Convention would hold and accuse the Girondin members of participating with members of higher societies. Another leader of the Jacobins, Maximilien Robespierre, attempted to banish the members of the Girodins so that the Jacobins could rule. That attempt resulted in the removal of
Before the Revolution, the Bastille was a fortress that represented the power of upper-class members of french society. On July 14, 1789, a group of revolutionaries stormed the Bastille. This was the first sign for First and Second Estate members that the revolution could succeed in getting their rights. On August 4, 1789, several liberal nobles met and renounced the privileges that they had been given by birth. At this same meeting, they referred to the years prior to the revolution as the “Old Regime”.
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.
In essence, the Estate General members converted themselves into a National Assembly and issued the ‘Declaration of Right of Man’, which stated ‘men are born free and equal in rights’. As a result, this facet gave the French Revolution its solang of ‘Liberty, ‘Equality’ and ‘Fertunity’. This meant, that France will no longer be ruled on an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and churches. Furthermore, the Estate General now known as the National Assembly seized all the wealthy churches properties and took the king and queen captive. Thus, the city was left in their hands.