New Ideas: The French Revolution

The initial impulse of the French revolution was destructive. For those who lived through all, or even part, of these vast upheavals, the shock was overwhelming. Maximilien Robespierre was a proud disciple of the enlightenment and declared that no political writer had foreseen this revolution. Robespierre (1758-1794) was one of the leaders of the Committee of Public Safety, the effective governing body of France during the most radical phase of the revolution. The leaders of this revolution attempted, perhaps more than any other revolutionary leaders before or since, to totally transform human society in every way. (Supreme Being) Although Robespierre began with patriotic intent he still was the face of the Reign of Terror and was viewed as being a radical person.

Between 1789 and 1814 the French Revolution astonished and impacted the world. The Revolution has been talked about for years because of its contributions and the way it affected the world. The significant figures from the Revolution also played important roles in history and in areas outside of France. King Louis’ absolutism and the unfair treatment between classes were political, social, and economical causes of the French Revolution. This Revolution impacted the people of France by terrorizing and affecting their rights, yet at the same time the French Revolution served as a template for other countries when it came to radical changes and Revolutions.

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.

First, one primary factor of the French Revolution was the Enlightenment. Specifically, the Enlightenment was an age of “scientific and philosophical thought” in the 18th century (An Analysis 1). The ideas that came from this age were natural rights, the sovereignty of citizens, and equal rights for everybody under the law along with questioning the divine right of the king (An Analysis 1). The Enlightenment was one primary factor because it provided ideas that the commoners wanted as it placed them at a fair and basic level in comparison to the other classes alongside questioning the validity of the monarchy. Another example was it inspired the American Revolution, where the colonists fought and won the right to govern themselves from England (An Analysis 1). This proved that a winning a

One cause of the French Revolution was the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment had many different philosophs, a well known one was John Locke(1632-1704). The philosophs would go to salons and talk about how they felt to the lower class. “The philosophs were not directly responsible for the outbreak… but they sparked that change of thought into action” Doc 5. John Locke would go to these salons and he would say how he felt about freedom and equality. “ All mankind… being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possession” John Locke. The Enlightenment also

The Declaration of Independence, which talked about Independence sparked the French Revolution. From the Declaration of Independence, French citizens realized how much better they could be treated and thus wanted to follow the American’s example of how their citizens were being treated. A quote from Albert Mathiez is, ‘The Revolution had been accomplished in the minds of men long before it was translated into fact…’ (Document 7). Another quote that goes with this subject from Lord Acton is, ‘…the spark that changed thought into action was supplied by the Declaration of Independence…The American example caused the Revolution to break out…” (Document 7). Those two quotes show how the French wanted to gain more independence and to have more rights. The Declaration of Independence helped them to do that. Also, it is shown from another quote from document 7, that since the lower class had a very low literacy rate, the upper classes helped them gain more independence and rights. The quote from Document 7 is, ‘The Revolution came from them-the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read’ (Document

And Enlightenment criticized Christianity oriented values and they argued that people should look at the world with rationality that only the human have. And after the scientific revolution (16th ~18th century), Enlightenment began to provoke people, in earnest. Through out Scientific revolution, people started to believe real things (scientifically proved things), then the people started to stay away form supernatural things, and view of world also changed into rationally. There were 3 famous scientist existed during the revolution, who are Galileo Galilee, who claimed that Earth is rotating, Earth is not a center of the universe, William Harvey who presented circulation of blood, blood from heart send to other veins and come back to the heart again [7] and Isaac Newton, who presented Universal gravitation, which was things existed in the world can move by themselves without God’s interference, because each of them has gravity [8]. All of these happened during scientific revolution and it helped pave the way to the Enlightenment in the 18th

Throughout History the Age of Enlightenment refers to the age of where people brought up new ideas, and thinking. In that period of time, they was philosopher, politician and intellectual. So people adapting to the idea lead up to the French revolution. During the Enlightenment they was a reinforcement on the political conflict between the monarchy and the nobility. The nobility are the people who belonged to the noble family, and the monarchy are people in the throne (King and Queen). Therefore the conflict between the head of the monarch and the nobility was about taxation. The French government was in a deep debt after fighting a war with the American, their king Louis the XVI forced the noble and the clergy to pay tax in order for them to pay their dept. As a result the nobility revolted. During the French revolution political, social and economic conflict is the events leading up to overthrow the king Louis the XVI and Marie-Antoinette which mark the reign of terror. First of all I will talk about the French revolution political, social and economic cause, then I will talk about the role of the Enlightenment then finally I will talk about the reign of terror how everything how everything ended.

The routes of the french revolution is a cyclical incline toward the pinnacle of blood and death. Each peak of uprising was sparked by enlightenment creators highlighting the injustices of the economic and social injustices caused by the French monarchy. With a quick google search of , “Which came first, the American or the French Revolution?” many will say that the American Revolution inspired The French. However the documents that cause the American people to revolt are many of the same writings and ideas that cause France to re-evaluate their civil system. The French revolution is a product of the free form creators of The Enlightenment; without the philosophers, writers, and thinkers, the population of france would continue to live the

The French and American Revolutions were pivotal in setting up new societies. Economic, social, and political tensions leading up to the revolutions caused citizens to want change in the way their government worked and functioned within society. Those who wanted the most change within the government were called the radicals; those who wanted the least amount of change were called the conservatives (Baradat 19; 24). The amount of change in their government was a part of the political spectrum which grouped events and people into five groups according to how much change they wanted. Both of the changes resulting from the two revolutions can be classified within this political spectrum as well. While the changes in government resulting from

These intellectuals significantly influenced the world leaders and institutions of the time, although the Catholic Church refused to accept most of the newly discovered scientific laws/theories as legitimate, as they opposed the fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith. An example of the bigotry of the Catholic Church in this time, is the persecution of Galileo Galilei, which occurred due to his discoveries regarding a heliocentric solar system conflicting with the geocentric views of the Church. This conflict of beliefs led to the Church convicting Galileo of heresy, sentencing him to banishment, despite ample amounts of evidence and the approval of a variety of intellectuals supporting his

France had a crippling government and other countries wanted to take advantage of them, forcing them into The Seven Years’ War. The colonies in North America were taken by the British, so when the colonies fought for freedom in the American Revolutionary War, France aided the colonies. France had a Revolution after the country became finically unstable from it efforts in the American Revolution. The Revolution was led by the middle, and lower working class. The working class had them most success when they murdered the King and restored Christianity.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the scientific revolution brought about a slow change in societies’ thinking regarding math, earth science, physics, and astronomy. Early on, new ideas about our universe were not widely accepted, especially from the church. This soon changed due to the hard work and perseverance of several scientists and philosophers who unbeknownst to them brought about an era known as the Enlightenment.

Enlightenment had an impact on the American and French Revolution in many ways. There were 3 main Enlightenment thinkers who affected the revolutions the most. John Locke believed people were reasonable and moral. He also thought we should have natural rights instead of a powerful government. This idea would eventually lead to the creation of a democratic government instead of a monarchy. The best way to protect liberty, Montesquieu believed, was to divide the power and jobs of government to 3 areas or branches: the

Liberté, égalité, fraternité was the cry of freedom that countless people used to propel them through, and to the end of the French Revolution. This long period of social, political and economic change in France lasted 10 years, starting in 1798 and ended with Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Revolution greatly affected all of Europe at the time and continues to represent the embodiment of revolution to this day. This constant struggle between the heavily taxed, burdened, and unrepresented third estate and those higher created an environment of monumental change for everyone. In the years leading up to the French Revolution, new beliefs and ideas were reaching every corner of Europe creating the thought that men should live free of oppression. However, in France the leader Louis XVI lead like a tyrant leaving the people impoverish and angry. Through the analysation of numerous circumstance present during the Ancien Régime, such as an inferior fiscal leadership, massive debt, and the forthcoming of new ideas during the Enlightened period, it can be concluded that the means for this revolution were justified as it is in our essence to revolt for a change.