preview

French Revolution Research Paper

Decent Essays

The French Revolution was a period of social and economic reform that was brought forth due to the many financial problems and the public’s unhappiness with France’s social structure during the late 1700s. The French revolution started in 1789 as a revolt for equality amongst the classes. There were many groups unhappy with the revolution in France that made efforts to stop it from spreading. One group was the nobility of France who prior to the revolution had a number of privileges that they refused to give up and were unhappy when the privileges were eventually stripped. Another group largely effected by the revolution was the church. Initially in favor of the revolution churches had a change of after feeling betrayed by the revolution when …show more content…

Girondists at first were the more favorable party, their leader Jacques Pierre Brissot had plans to spread the revolution using the military. Girondists opposed the monarchy and fought for a National Convention and once established they were the dominate party. At first Girondists had views that could be considered more republican but once they dominated the convention they were labeled the conservatives of the revolution. The Girondists leaders could be classified as thinkers. Most of the men who represented the party were lawyers. The Girondists had good ideas due to being educated but lacked in execution. The public realized this when the promises the Girondists had made about social reform were not being realized as quickly as the other more radical parties were able to convince the public of …show more content…

However Jacobins believed in taking extreme measures of violence against those who opposed the revolution, especially other countries. Once Jacobins were in control they increased the size of France’s army and fought against foreign enemies. They were able to win these battles but most were not happy that this Reign of Terror was taking away from the issues the French Revolution had set out to change. In one his speeches Robespierre said, “If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible...It has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Does your government therefore resemble despotism? Yes, as the sword that gleams in the hands of the heroes of liberty resembles that with which the henchmen of tyranny are armed” (Robespierre, 1794). In this quote Robespierre owns up to the fact the Jacobins are out to create peace and virtue but in order to do that they must terrorize. His reasoning for terrorizing both foreign and domestic enemies, and executing thousands of people is summed up by wanting an unrealistic utopia. Robespierre in this quote is also admitting to using the same tactics as tyrants to achieve victory for

Get Access