The French Revolution of 1789 Essay

DBQ Practice The French Revolution was caused by many problems within France. During the 18th century, France participated in wars such as the American Revolution and the 7 years war. With France participating in those 2 wars, they became bankrupt. France had to somehow make money so they decided to start heavily taxing the 3rd estate and made them work harder for their own food and wealth.

The three main focuses of the French Revolution were liberté, égalité, and fraternité. Napoleon’s action show that he supported liberté and égalité, and therefore Napoleon supported the revolution.

The high costs of maintaining the army and navy exacerbated the situation, along with the lavish lifestyle of King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie-Antoinette. Louis appointed Charles de Calonne as comptroller-general to solve France’s financial crisis. Calonne knew that the only way to get France out of debt was to fairly distribute the tax burden among the three estates. Of course, this did sit well with the nobility and Calonne was dismissed after giving his presentation at the Assembly of Notables. In a desperate act, Louis called the Estates General. The Estates General was an ancient practice that had not been called since 1614. Events there would prove to be the beginning of the revolution proper. France suffered under years of inept and self-serving monarchs. Louis XVI was preceded by his grandfather, Louis XV. It was his loss of public opinion and war spending that put his grandson in such a precarious position in the years after his reign. The rule of Louis XVI would prove to be a doomed one. He was ousted after a comparatively short 17 years. The outdated political system gave way to a constitutional monarchy, and when that failed, the French Republic. This Republic however would not prove to last. Feudalism was the whole of existence for rural commoners in the time before the revolution. Farmers had no right to the land they worked and lived on. Serfs were beholden to their manor lord

Before the revolution France was ruled under the Ancien Regime system, meaning the country and all its people were under the reign of an absolute monarch. This was a tradition that had been upheld through the years and the Royal family had enjoyed a life funded by the people of France, the royal family’s lifestyle unaffected by the situation outside their palace. The Palace, Versailles, was built by king Louis XIV and the expenses for building this “village” was very high, and in later years the cost for its upkeep would play a significant role in Frances financial difficulties. In order for these difficulties to be overcome France needed a tax reform. The government had a very high tax rate on the poorest of their people, the Third Estate, and they were still not getting enough money to get out of their

The French Revolution was a period of social and political turmoil in France from 1789 to 1799 that greatly affected modern and French history. It marked the decline of powerful monarchies and the rise of democracy, individual rights and nationalism. This revolution came with many consequences because of the strive for power and wealth, but also had many influential leaders attempting to initiate change in the French government and the economy. In 1789 the people of France dismissed King Louis XVI of his title, took apart his monarchy and executed him, his wife Marie Antoinette and thousands of nobles. The French set up a new system of government with specific revolutionary ideals, including liberty, equality and fraternity. This was a

The French Revolution were influenced by many factors such as the Enlightenment ideals, concepts of popular sovereignty, and unchallengeable rights. France’s costly involvement in the Revolution and excessive spending by King Louis XVI and his predecessor had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy. Not only were the royal coffers exhausted, but two decades of poor cereal harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. (history.com).These actions played a critical role in shaping modern nations. As

During the late 1700's, two great revolutions occurred, the American Revolution and the French Revolution. These two historical events happened at the same time, but had a great number of differences and very little similarity. When French Revolution occurred, it turned into a very violent and bloody event, while the American Revolution was almost nonviolent, aside from the war. In 1774, King Louis XVI made a decision that could have prevented the French Revolution by breathing new life into the French economy: he appointed Physiocrat Robert Turgot as Controller General of Finance.

The American Revolution was of a progressive nature and had a world-historical significance. The American Revolution had several features that distinguish it from the English bourgeois revolution, and the French Revolution. The first feature of the American Revolution is that it occurred in the territory, which actually did not know feudalism as a socio-economic system. The American Society of revolutionary period did not know the hereditary aristocracy, lords and serfs, the state bureaucracy (except the British administration), shops, guilds, privileged clergy and other attributes of the feudal Europe. This society was democratic in spirit, in their sentiments and beliefs. Social contradictions in it were less severe than in the continental Europe. The second feature of the American Revolution was that it pursued the national liberation. This revolution began as a struggle - initially peaceful, and then armed - with the British colonial rule.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military leader and eventual political leader in France who was able to seize power during the end of the French Revolution of the late 1790's and early 1800's. Napoleon was the leader of France from 1804 to 1815 and mostly remembered as a leader in a cycle of European battles. He institutionalized the changes brought about by the French Revolution and sought to spread them throughout Europe. It has been long debated the factors that allowed Napoleon to seize power and eventually crown himself emperor. Such factors that have been considered have been Napoleon's personality, his military exploits, the failings of the Directory, support of the people and army and even sheer luck.

One major cause of the old regime were the taxes and laws between the three estates. As seen in Document 2, “the 3rd estate paid 50% of income in taxes while the 1st and 2nd paid less than 5%” (Doc 2). This clearly shows that the most populated estate, the third estate, paid half of their income as their taxes. Larger amounts of taxes the third estate paid versus the lower amount of taxes for the first and second estates. Another significant cause was the unequal three estates and the third estate was overpowered. The third estate had more power in laws and taxes and their relationship with the lower estates were not good. As demonstrated in Document 7, the cartoon of the “The political and social system in France” (Doc 7). This cartoon proves the relationship between the third estate and the two lower estates. The lower estates didn’t have anything to do with taxes and laws and the third estates were all in laws and taxes. The final

Voltaire was born on 21 November 1694 in Paris, France, the most youthful of five youngsters in a working class family. His dad was François Arouet, a legal official and minor treasury official; his mom was Marie Marguerite d 'Aumart, from an honorable group of Poitou territory. Voltaire (real name François-Marie Arouet) (1694 - 1778) was a French rationalist and essayist of the Time of Edification. His knowledge, mind, and style made him one of France 's most noteworthy authors and savants, regardless of the discussion he attracted. He was a candid supporter of social change (counting the resistance of common freedoms, the flexibility of religion and organized commerce), in spite of the strict oversight laws and cruel punishments of the period, and made utilization of his sarcastic attempts to scrutinize Catholic creed and the French foundations of his day. Alongside John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, his works, and thoughts impacted essential scholars of both the American and French Revolutions. He was a productive author and delivered works in practically every artistic frame (plays, verse, books, expositions, chronicled and logical works, more than 21,000 letters and more than two thousand books and leaflets). This essay will cover, Voltaire 's life and Candide 's production, the explanation of the optimism, how Voltaire uncovered the absence of ladies rights and the unfairness against them. (Cunegonde, the old lady, and Paquette) stories, and Voltaire

During the 18th century, the Enlightenment ideas were flourishing in both the American and French Revolutions. The Enlightenment perspective consisted of people searching for their social prestige, questioning authorities and believing they could create a new republic. The Americans aimed for independence and the French desired to overthrow their monarchy. The objective in both revolutions were relatively the same, to overthrow and recreate in efforts to achieve national sovereignty. However, the outcomes of the two socials worlds were radically different. The French citizens emerged more enlightenment thinkers demanding their equal rights despite regressing back to a monarch. In contrast, the Americans formed a successful democratic republic but continued inequality within their society. Furthermore, the French were significantly more revolutionary, as opposed to reactionary, than the Americans.

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

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

There is no doubt that the French Revolution has had a profound effect on the world. The cause or causes of it have been greatly disputed. Clearly the Revolution's primary cause was the presence of a weak monarchy and a lack of a stable system of government.