History through out time has maintained a cause-and-effect pattern with almost all major events; the French Revolution being no different. The philosophes influenced the French society by giving all the estates a chance to be educated by their works. Some of these works also made it to the colonies in American and influenced them enough to bring out an uprising against England in 1775. During America’s battle for independence, French aid was sent, including the leadership of Lafayette, who brought positive ideas of liberty and justice back to France after America gained its freedom. The monarchy of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their incompetence led to inflated prices, growing population, decreased salaries, and overall a decline in …show more content…
Since the third estate had technically no right to alter to the political makeup of France, King Louis XVI threatened to dissolve the National Assembly, using force if needed. The common people then, in response to the king’s threats, rose in many riots including the Storming of Bastille. Bastille was a prison which only was home to seven prisoners, including two insane people, and therefore, it was an easy target for the third estate to attack to gain gun powder. The citizens who tore down the prison had to fight off the troops lined along a path from Paris to Versailles. The success of the Storming of Bastille resulted in the survival of the National Assembly and the collapse of the royal authority. Later that year, the women of Paris took a stand against the monarchy with the March to Versailles. These women were mothers of starving children who needed an affordable way to help their children survive. To fix the problem, they went straight to the source, King Louis XVI at Versailles, with the escort of General Lafayette and the National Guard. When they arrived at the palace, King Louis was forced to come back to Paris to rule there. Years later in August 1792, King Louis ran into trouble with the French citizens again. This time he was held hostage by a mob, who demanded a National Convention. Within a month,
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.
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.
The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy
The American and the French revolutions had many similarities and differences. One similarity being is that they both wanted to escape the rule of their King. Second, they both started by an uprising of people against unfair taxation by the monarchy. The French peasants were not represented by the Parliament. It was mainly composed of middle and upper class people. Now, the American colonists were not represented in England because of their lack of presence. Both wanted to set up a Republic, which provided liberty and justice to all classes of citizens. Just like France, the American colonists were composed up mainly middle and lower class citizens. The American Revolution started out by not wanting bloodshed and violence. France started
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.
During the Great Terror of the French Revolution, chaos erupted everywhere. King Louis XVI had been overthrown and was replaced with the National Convention, causing a large wave of mass paranoia between the people. Such paranoia included being against the National Convention and the Revolution as a whole and the consequence was getting guillotined. Many leaders that tried to step up and take charge were ultimately forced off of power and an example of this was Robespierre, where he was guillotined for being suspected as a rebel even though he was the one the executions. This mass paranoia eventually led to the Dechristianization of France, where Deism was picked up as Frances unofficial religion.
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
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
The French Revolution was a period of time from 1789 to 1799 in France where there was political instability. It officially began on the 14th of July, 1789, when the Bastille, which was a symbol of the King’s harsh policies, was stormed. The King, Louis XVI, the Queen, Marie-Antoinette and about 40,000 people were all brutally murdered. But there was also a positive side, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was formally adopted on August 1789 and feudalism was abolished. This essay will address the issues of the three estates system, food shortages and the fiscal crisis. It will also be argued that the most significant cause of the French Revolution was the social inequality that stemmed from the three estates system.
The French Revolution (1789-1814) was a period that affected the outcome of world history tremendously. This is considered a major turning point in European history which has led to dramatic changes in France and other regions of the world. Various social and political issues led to the start of the revolution. Politically, France suffered under the rule of Louis XVI, who ruled by absolute monarchy. Many people had their natural rights renounced and weren’t able to have a political voice. Socially, France had divided its population within 3 estates (classes). French citizens took it upon themselves to remodel their country 's’ political structure. The French Revolution had encountered both positive and negative effects. However, many Europeans viewed the Revolution as much more than just a bloody massacre. The French Revolution was used to demonstrate new ideology that would emphasize the principles of liberty and equality throughout Europe.
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.
In this way the privileged classes had combined to outvote the third estate, which included more than 90 percent of the population. Another cause was the fall of Bastille. The falling of the Bastille marked a turning point-attempts at reform had become a full-scale revolution. One of the causes was the economic problems of many common people had become worse, because poor weather conditions had ruined the harvest. As a result, the price of bread, the most important food of the poorer classes had increased. Violence grew in both the cities and the countryside during the spring and summer. While hungry artisans revolted in urban areas, starved peasants searched the provinces for food and work. These vagrants were rumored to be armed agents of landlords hired to destroy crops and harass the common people. Many rural peasants began to panic, known as the Great Fear. They attacked the homes of their landlords to protect local grain supplies and reducing rents on their land. Also Lewis XVI gave in so reluctantly, for example, taking months to approve the Declaration of Rights, which made hostility of the crown only increased.