Personal Decisions: 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.

Fate works in mysterious ways, everyone makes choices out of their own free will which affects their

Life is constantly changing, like clouds in the sky; always shifting and turning. People never really know which way life will turn next, bringing them fortune or failure. When you look at how things change it is best to compare it to something that you can relate it to. The changeable nature of life can be related to the novel 'The Bean Trees.' This is a book written almost entirely on dealing with changes in the characters lives.

For my book review, I have read and evaluated Sylvia Neely’s history book entitled A Concise History of the French Revolution published in 2007 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Neely’s purpose is to gives an overview of the French revolution with the most important events, the most prominent people and the essential terms. We can see that the author proved her thesis by explaining the background causes of the revolution such as the ancient regime with Louis XVI. Also she described all important events in chronological orders which made it easier for the reader to understand. Neely’s book is at the same time an history book, but also an kind of encyclopedia because she included all essentials terms which were use during that time period, such as “dérogeance”, which means the loss of nobility.

The person you are today, is simply result of external interactions. Every decision or event that mentally or physically influences you, influences who you are to become. I find it healthy to occasionally, sit back in the mixt of our crazy gadget obsessed, overly crowded, busy life styles, and contemplate the decisions and obstacles, (both good and bad), that brought me to where I am today. Although, I have a very positive outlook on life, there are certainly things that I wish I could change.

An individual's destiny is controlled by one thing and that thing is fate. During a lifetime fate plays a role that many people won't recognize. One's destiny is always controlled by fate like in the story of Romeo and Juliet, situations that we face everyday and the way that other cultures see fate. Fate is always playing along.

to get all the power of France. It should also be said that not all the nobles

An author once wrote, “I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” Some people say that the human experience is governed by fate, yet in reality, our lives are controlled by the choice we make. You chose how to act, you chose who you consider a friend, you chose to use your resources, knowledge.

People go through ups and downs in life and those changes cannot be predicted. Every detail of a person's life influences them in some way or the other. The result could ultimately be good, bad, or a combination of both. However, in one's lifetime some events are more significant than others. Choking drastically at a state level math competition definitely influenced my life in unimaginable ways and was a low point in my life. This inspired me to improve based on those results. Since that happened to me six months ago, I realized how this event changed my life and totally changed my perspective on everything.

Ruling and governing both have something bad when it comes to taking care of a nation, but both have an up side too. Ruling is a hierarchical system. There is usually one main person in power who elects people to rule over territories or a certain area in their stead if their kingdom is big enough. When the French Revolution started the ruler was King Louis XVI. He was the final judgment call, he was the irrefutably the king of France. Most of the time rulers would get their position through their bloodline, and to keep their bloodline pure they would often marry other people in the aristocrat society; sometimes it would be cousins, and in extreme cases they would marry their own siblings. Kings and other nobility would also live an exorbitant

Definitely our character will have an important role to play in determining the outcomes of our lives, but from this idea we can draw the idea that although character controls our life, we can’t control our fates: our fates are predestined. We can call these omnipotent force God, devil, providence or chance, but the fact is that our fate has already been planned for us and even if we could change our character (making us believe that we are changing our fate), we are only changing direction into a fate we think is new, but in reality is the fate that was always predestined for us. Furthermore, character is not the only factor in determining our lives. We must consider external factors such as the environment, nature and fortune. For example, in the novel ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ by Thomas Hardy, the main character, Mr. Henchard organizes a fair for the townspeople in order to show the people that despite what he appears to be, he is really kind and humane. Everything turns out wrong for him because heavy rain ruins the event (Nature intervenes) and

Certain events have a tendency to create a so-called domino effect. One choice or decision by anyone could ultimately lead to a tremendous change in the course of history. It could be a circumstance that would lead to an innovation, a development or unfortunately a tragedy though all of these events are helpful in shaping history. These events could then provide a possible picture of what may happen after and what future generations could look forward to. They could become the lessons that would be embedded in our lives.

Sometimes small or big things could change our minds, thoughts or even our lifestyle. Sometimes a huge thing could change the whole world. Likewise the changes could be by a person, invention or an event. The World War II is a huge event that changed the whole world.

Revolutions are a common occurrence throughout world history. With the amount of revolutions in history, there are those that get lost and those that are the most remembered or well known. One of the well known revolutions is the French Revolution which occurred in the years 1789 to 1799. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by an absolute monarchy, this meaning that one ruler had the supreme authority and that said authority was not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs, a definition given by wikipedia.com and the feudal system, which was a system that said a peasant or worker would receive a piece of land in return for serving under a king, a definition given by vocabulary.com. Those who opposed the, then

Albert Einstein said it best, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them” - Albert Einstein(58 Quotes). Social change is an opportunity for positive growth in today’s world, however it may sometimes take a tragedy to get there. Many big events in history such as The French Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement have caused social change, but our world is stronger because of those events. It takes leadership and a desire for growth to make a positive change in today’s society. Many philosophers have theorized social change through functionalism, conflict theory, and punctuated equilibrium.