Why Did The French Revolution Fail 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.

A revolution, by definition, is the overthrow of one government followed by replacement with another. The American Revolution against the British during 1775 to 1783 and the French Revolution pitting the French people against their own government during 1789 to 1799 were both very important political and social turnovers. This movement towards the establishment of a constitutional government influenced political thought throughout the world. By closely examining three of the main causes of these revolutions, it is clear that although the two revolutions have their differences, the basis of cause for the revolutions have, overall, much stronger similarities.

The American Revolution had many more causes than the French Revolution. Both Revolutions were generally caused by taxation without representation; meaning the colonist and the third estate did not have a voice of opinion in these new laws. The stamp act and smuggling passed parliament, and those laws were placed on the colonist. Everything was being taxed; that money paying off the debt of the French and Indian War, also being sent to England. King Louis XVI raised the third estates taxes to pay off the debt of wars and deficit spending. Both the third estates and the colonist didn't have a say in the new laws or work they were now having to follow. The French and the Americans had a rebellion that lead them into the revolution. The colonist had the Boston tea party where the colonist dressed as Native Americans to board ship that help the highly

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.

There were many causes and events leading up to the French Revolution in 1789. Before the Revolution, France had been involved in many expensive wars, especially the American War of Independence, causing financial difficulties and debts which were increased through the expensive upkeep of the Royal Family and their courts. At this time the Age of Enlightenment was occurring and new ideas, challenging the Ancien Regime and the Absolute right to rule, were emerging. The monarch of the time, King Louis XVI, was a weak monarch who was incapable of making decisions and sticking to them. King Louis XIV was also incapable of using his powers in a way to spark fear and gain control of those under his power. As a

The American and French Revolutions were both fundamentally based on the Enlightenment ideas. The main ideas that they followed were by John Locke. His ideas inspired the Americans and the French to have a revolution. In these revolutions, the Americans had success and the French failed. The success that the Americans experienced wad due to the protection of rights they had. These rights are 'Life, Liberty and Property.? In America a constitution was put together that provided for a stable government and also a representative government. In France failure was caused by chaos, terror, fear and war. The French were unsuccessful because they failed to create a democratic

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

After Robespierre and the Directory, Napoleon came to power. Though he is criticized for being a militaristic dictator, Napoleon was able to spread Enlightenment ideals, in the form of the Napoleonic Code, throughout Europe. This shows the progression of ideas throughout Europe, and also that France succeeded in using the ideals that the revolution was based on. In this way, the French Revolution was extremely successful.

Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité were the main principles of the French revolution. However, it was a time where these three ideals would be twisted into nothing more than moral and physical violence. The revolution was ultimately a failure which spun out of control and began to murder itself. The French wanted Freedom from its absolutist ruler, but in turn saw themselves being governed by the devil. These citizens wanted a sense of brotherhood amongst their country, but saw their nation being torn apart by violence. Furthermore, the third estate sought to benefit from a new government that promised equality; however, the result was a further imbalance in an already corrupt society. Ironically, the gruesome reign of terror which was

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

The French and American revolutions are both very significant in the world’s history. The American Revolution happened first, around the last half of the 18th century where the Thirteen Colonies became the United States of America, and gained independence from the British Empire. The French revolution on the other hand, was from 1789 until the turn of the century 1799. For the French people this was a period of political and social turmoil. The idea of Enlightenment stuck a large population of the French people and led to many changes in society. These two individual revolutions have many comparisons and although they are not identical they become intertwined with separate philosophies on politics and economic expansion.

The French and American Revolutions were started all because of one thing, The Enlightenment, The Enlightenment was a time where people were thinking about the corrupted government in their countries. Monarchs were becoming way too powerful, they were taxing the third class people so much they could barely afford to eat. Even when the topic was brought up to the King nothing ever changed. The Declaration of Independence was another thing that brought the American Revolution to life, the whole thing was telling about how America wanted freedom from England, and it angered the King George greatly. The Declaration of the Rights of Man was the French document that told about all the changes that needed to be made to the French government.

The American Revolution of the 1770’s was fueled by the ideas of social equality and political liberty as well as the desire for justice and the creation of democratic institutions. This movement as well as the writings of authors, such as Rousseau and Voltaire, speaking human rights, led way to the French Revolution. With King Louis XVI reign there was much careless spending and overindulgence leaving France in a very poor financial state when he passed away. His rule had caused the majority of French people to have distinct and feelings of resentment towards the monarchy when Louis XVI came into rule. At the time, France had three basic social classes. At the top were the royals’

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

The French have an illustrious history of Revolutions. Ever since the revolution of 1789, it seems as if the French cannot maintain one system of government. They are often caught between the interests of the people and liberalism, while fighting against the self-interests of the elite. Often the revolutions would run countercurrent to the previous one. The revolutions of the 20th century were no different. Karl Marx had said that each revolution is merely a re-imagining of the original revolution of 1789. That does not seem to be evident in the revolutions of the 20th century. Why did the French ultimately need three revolutions merely to return to their liberalist ideology? The answer seems to stem from French political reality after the