French Revolution Justified Dbq

The three words of the french Revolution were liberty, equality, and fraternity. was the Reign of Terror Justified? The Reign of Terror was not justified because of human rights, internal threats, and external threats.

Just about any country that one can name has some history of civil unrest, class issues, rioting in the streets, and outright warfare. These patterns of behavior are common denominators for most civilization in the world. The names, faces, and places may change, but the motivations are generally the same, because of the need for change and the willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve it. In contrast to the United States, which was in the process of freeing itself from British colonial rule, France was working to free itself from royal absolutism. This period is historically known as the French Revolution. Many scholars do not agree on the chronology of the French Revolution; some scholars suggest that the Revolution took place between 1789 to 1799 while others feel that it did not end until Napoleon lost power in 1815. To better understand the history of the French Revolution it is necessary to discuss the causes, major events, significant figures, and the outcomes associated with these political developments. Without this uprising, that changed the face of the entire country and influenced local political life in many countries in Europe, in all likelihood the France we know today would never have existed.

The external thread of foreign armies on French soil and the internal threat to the french revolutionary government , which

The French Revolution is arguably the bloodiest period in French history, with men such as Maximilien Robespierre leading the country into a situation of state sponsored terror. Originally being quite a liberal thinker inspired by the works of Rousseau, Robespierre quickly gained a reputation for being a radical throughout the course of the Revolution, especially during the Terror. Early on terror was justified as a means to root out foreign and domestic enemies of the Revolution, however; once the foreign threat had been taken care of it became increasingly difficult for Robespierre to rationalize his use of terror to bring about a supposed Republic of Virtue. In his speech, the “Justification of the use of Terror” which he presented to

Between 1789 and 1799, France went through one of the most dramatic events of modern European History: the French Revolution. The French population went through economic chaos, a dictatorship, and a civil war as well as other dramatic changes. During these years, the French decided to speak up for themselves and they became enemies of the French revolution. Internal enemies included the King, Louis XVI, Monarchists and Royalists and the Churches that were run by refractory priests. External threats were caused by aristocrats who had fled the Revolution; more specifically known as “émigrés”, Austria and Prussia. The latter were the more dangerous threats to the Revolution.

The French Revolutionary wanted all the foreign countries to have the same government as them with no liberty and equality. In June of 1794, it says, “Two thirds of all executions during the Reign of Terror occur in June and July” (Doc A). I think this is when everyone started to die because everyone was being sentenced for saying bad things about the government. Also, in Document B it states, “in August 1792, an 80,000 man army marched into France.” (Doc B) The army consisted of half Austrians and half Prussians. They were going against France because they were frightened that the revolution would spread to their countries. Due to this France declared war and the French army unfortunately won the famous Battle of Valmy. While fighting in war they had three things on their mind which were, “to protect the new government at home; to spread the revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity beyond its borders; and to punish the French émigrés. The French émigrés were people, mostly nobles and/or aristocrats who fled during the Revolution between 1789 through 1792. In my opinion, I don’t understand why it was necessary for them to try and overthrow any monarchy that fought with them like they did to the Austrian

The internal threats against France were minimal because when someone did disagree with the revolution they were punished and more than likely, executed. When these executions took place, people would see what would happen to them if they acted the same way. This shows that there was not many people that rebelled against the government; however, people still did, which is one of the reasons the number executions and murders was so high. People had a right to be angry with the government, nevertheless. Many citizens of France were drafted to the levee en masse, the military draft during the revolution. (Document C) They were very mad about this because they were forced to fight even if they didn’t agree with the method France was using to protect itself from internal and external threats. In Document D, a local government official from Western Europe sends a letter to the National Convention asking for more soldiers because the 3,000 men army wasn’t enough. In the letter, the official says that the men sent by the government have failed to stop the “rabble”. Adding to the many reasons the Reign of Terror was unjustifiable, this leads to the official asking if he can kill the men for not doing their job. Killing nearly 3,000 men because they cannot stop the multitude of soldiers is greatly insensitive. Robespierre overreacted when he believed that the internal threats were serious, because on the contrary, they made little

The second reason why the Reign of Terror was not justified was because they threatened them any many ways. They made people fight involuntary and there was a huge inside threat involving the vendee. Document C states that in the spring of 1793, a counterrevolution against the Republican government broke out. Not only there's a war outside now its inside.

The Reign of Terror was justified in that it put fear in people against the French revolution. In Document C, The map shows that the area that was French territory (which covered most of France and the land around Brussels) dwarfed the amount of land of the rebellion had. The reign of terror scared the people against the French Revolution that they had significantly less land controlled then the French. Document E showed a paragraph about the Tribunal, a group that tried all crimes against the state. The people who on the Tribunal were not elected pn but appointed, any criticism against the government of France the person responsible was put in jail or killed. During the Reign of Terror everyone new that saying against the revolution would probably be their death, so there for no one spoke out.

This document is significant because it shows social protection for the people of France. Robespierre had ideas on illuminating royalists, and the conspirators because they were not supporting the Revolution. He was also planning to illuminate any internal and external enemies of the French Revolution. Document C explains that the counterrevolution was an inside threat against the Reign of Terror. When the French won the battle of Valmy; they wanted to protect the new government at home to spread the ideals of : liberty, equality, and fraternity.

King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette were two people that should not have been ruling a country. King Louis was always gone on hunting trips and Marie Antionette spent every dime of French money. Once the Monarchy ran out money, they started to tax the Third, and poorest, estate. The third estate took up 97% of the population. 97% of the population was starving and the royal family kept spending large amounts of money until the people revolted. The people of France tried to reason with King Louis, but he refused to change his ways and kept taxing the third estate. When the people revolted, they stormed the Bastille and took all of the weapons they could. The people then went to the King’s palace and demanded he fix the way he was ruling before they killed him. The King didn’t listen and was executed along with his wife. Of the three kids that Marie Antionette had, the two boys died of Tuberculosis in jail and the daughter was sent to live the remainder of her life in exile in Austria. It may seem as though the people of France had successfully overgrown their monarchy and could begin a life of freedom, however this is not the case. The French had rushed into combat too fast and did not have a plan for what to do after they had killed their rulers. The right of Terror begins where Maximilian Robespierre beheads 40,000 people in the span of ten months for speaking against the revolution. In the end, Robespierre ends up getting

The French Revolution was spreading and Prussia and Austria had grown fearful; therefore, to stop the spreading of the revolution the countries waged war against France, gaining land, troops, and power bringing fear to the French. The neighboring countries in the awakening of the revolution, August 1791, formed an alliance wreaking havoc in the French cities. (Doc A) When the guillotining of Louis the 16th occurred Austria became fearful and angry hoping for the safety of the queen and beloved sister Marie Antoinette. (Doc A) The raging war went on for many years but in 1794 the invasion of foreign enemies grew short and the French are close to stopping them. (Doc A) In the words of Robespierre “We must smother the … external enemies of the Republic or perish.”(Doc G)

In many revolts and reforms the people were fighting for three things Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. These rights of every frenchman fueled the revolution so well that it ended up burning up. The achievement of uniting hundred of thousands of people for a ideologies is still unimaginable in today's world. Even though some of these ideologies did more harm than good does not make the achievement of unitation null because success is only a measurement that every person has their own definition for. An example of this is when the national convention abolishes the monarchy and declares France a republic. Although this is than overruled by napoleon it still shows how france united under one main cause. The abolishment of the monarchy makes every man closer to Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity because it gives everyone a chance to voice their opinion to a representative instead of being ignored by one superior being. All in all the french revolution was a minor success due to the improved socialistic ideologies and abolishment of the three

The Reign of Terror was one of history's symbolic events that have changed the world for the better. Have started with King Louis XVI's reign in 1789 to 1793 (document B); which lead France down a rabbit hole of poverty, starvation of the people, and an unfair tax system (background essay). All of France's problems have manifested into something that King Louis has done, but cannot stop. With the help of Maximilien Robespierre, the Reign of Terror was declared to fix a corrupted government. The Reign of Terror was justified to rebuild the government that problems that Louis XVI created. With the help of Robespierre and the death contraption known as the guillotine, the Reign of Terror served it's purpose and helped France with its

Twenty thousand to forty thousand died; it is still unknown exactly how many people were lost through the blood drenching event of the Reign of Terror.[Footnote] Throughout the French revolution, specifically the eleven month, 1793-1794 Reign of Terror, revolutionary leaders, such as Maximilien Robespierre believed in enforcing fear to resolve the instability of France. “Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue”-Maximilien Robespierre.[Footnote] This period in history signified great atrocities of massacres, and a time where fear was evoked within every French civilian. The National Convention of France was a great factor in encouraging the start of the Reign of Terror; they continued on