The Crench Revolution : The Reasons For 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.

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 French Revolution was a bloody civil war that lasted from the years 1789-1799. [1] The revolution arose out of hard economic times that had befallen France. Widespread famine and hunger, due to a grain shortage, rampaged through sections of the country. The economic crisis led to an increase in taxes on the lower classes, known as the third estate, to upkeep the lavish lifestyle of the nobility. [1] All of these are the known factors that led to the rise of the French Revolution.

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

The first reason the French Revolution occurred, was because the king and queen were spending too much money on unnecessary items that the country could not afford. The king was gambling with money that the country did not have. Also, he was staging plays while the country was 40 billion dollars in debt. This made the people despise not only the king, but the queen too because they both were spending money on clothes and

The French revolution started in 1787 and ended in late 1799 with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This was also known as the Revolution of 1789, the reason it is called that instead of the Revolution of 1787 is because the climax was 1787. Some of the reasons for the French revolution are; international, political conflict, the Enlightenment, social antagonisms among two rising groups: the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, the weak ruler: Louis XVI played a big part in it and economic hardship. The revolution seemed necessary for the idea of the enlightenment era. The main people who the French were trying to meet the ideas were Montesquieu, Voltaire, or Rousseau.

The French Revolution was a failure because after all of the blood shed, the laws, civil rights, and codes did not get instituted effectively and did not represent the values that the citizens fought for, examples of this were the Napoleonic Code, Declaration of Rights of Man. Another reason it was a failure was because during the revolts and reforms more than 40,000 men and women died, this enormous massacre of people went against Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, all of which the national assembly declared were every man's right. Much of the killing can be related back to Robespierre and King Louis XVI. Although it was mostly a failure, some achievements can be seen through the revolution, the French revolution helped the french people become a more equal and socialist state, this showed Europe that the french

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.

There were three main reasons for the French revolution. The first one is the political cause, the French Monarchs had unlimited power. They arrested anyone at anytime and imprisoned them. Louis XIV, was a powerful monarch. He was hardworking, efficient, and a confident ruler. He was involved in many wars. He was also known as the Sun King. He was known for many things. He built the palace of Versailles and held court there. He kept the nobles out of politics. He had a desire for religious harmony. He wanted to increase his power by putting together an army. He built new industries. He improved communication. Louis XIV foreign policy weakened the economic condition of France. Louis XIV fought the seven year war against England which in the end didnt bring

They gained little attention and may have fizzled out but for the Catholic Church, they had been annoyed at the privileges given to protestants and wanted an end to the revolutionary committee. Tension had been rising slowly among the leaders of the revolution, they had started radicalism and now it had grown stronger and threatened even their own position. So in a quest to oversee this they went into talks with Louis xvi, when nothing could be gained from this, Louis felt it was time to flea and with his anti-revolutionary army he was going to gain back his power just as it had been taken from him. Louis failed miserably and was caught, this arose tension in Europe as the end to a monarchy in one country could spell disaster in other countries raising ideas. Louis was however restored to the throne under the revolutionaries' terms, however this threat from Europe would not go away and war with France was imminent. Revolutionary ideology would have to be dealt with. European monarchs did not want their stature threatened.

During the eighteenth century there was one central political cause for the French Revolution. King Louis XVI was a weak ruler who endured a lavish lifestyle. He disregarded the people’s needs, leaving much of the French population in discontent. Prior to the revolution the form of government was Absolute monarchy led by Louis XVI. The problem with absolute monarchy was that people were denied basic rights, and a say in government because the divine right theory was abused. The King ruled by the divine right of theory which

The French Revolution had both long-range and immediate causes. One long-term cause was the inequalities that were present in the social structure. There were three estates. They were the clergy, nobles, and commoners. The commoners, specifically the peasants, didn't get to share in the prosperity of the nation. France faced food shortages and bad harvests. Although Enlighteners didn't advocate for a revolution, the ideas of the philosophes continued to spread. This was especially true after witnessing the American Revolution that resulted in the American Declaration that included natural rights. At the time, France had parlements or twelve judges. They failed to make the reforms that were needed and put their own interests above others. One

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.

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

The French Revolution (1789) introduced great social and political changes. In the European warfare it incorporated significant changes; rather than monarch against monarch, war became a fight between nations, namely nationalism. Intense nationalism influenced citizens to accept great personal sacrifice, included military service, for the commitments and objectives of the State. The Napoleonic model, epitomized in the writings of Jomini and Clausewitz, masterly managed the rise of nationalism to succeed in warfare. Perfectly applied the Clausewitz’s trinity: “the first of these three as¬pects [violence] mainly concerns the peo¬ple; the second [chance] the commander and his army; the third [rational purpose] the government.” In the advent of the First World War (WWI), the huge increase of the European industries supposed a vast growth in iron and steel production. Moreover, the technological advances in explosive shells and artillery, the improvements in communications, and the steady professionalization of armies and their leaders posed radical changes to the character of war. Although firepower and technology contribute to the carnage and the calamitous number of fatalities, the nature of the war continued unchanged. The interwar period, military strategists sought to find an approach that would avoid a repetition of the bloody trench stalemate in the First World War. Many of them recognized the potential of armored warfare. J.F.C. Fuller claimed that the tank could