This was a period in which industry, technology, and science were celebrated with renewed vigor. Because of the rapid extension of colonialism England became a very powerful empire and preeminent center of world power. The comparison of these two periods is not easy, but I will try to discuss and compare a couple of, in my opinion, most important aspects like: political background, daily life and work conditions, inventions, women rights, and literature of these periods. The beginning of the Romantic Period was very dramatic. The King Louis XVI and his wife were executed; revolutionary France declared war on England.
For instance, Tom Paine who was revolutionary in America was seen as a moderate when he went to France. French Revolution was ecumenical--its armies set out to revolutionize the world. It became a landmark in all the countries it touched: Belguin, Austria, Spain, Prussia, Italy and Russia r France had to declare bankruptcy after the American Revolution--war and debt helped bring down the monarchy. King, in 1787, called the Estates General, an assembly of noblemen buried since 1614. Thus the Revolution becan with an aristocratic attempt to recapture the state.
From the despair of the radical phase of the French Revolution emerged a great military hero who would overthrow the extremist Directory and build a formidable empire out of the struggling nation of France. After gaining publicity for his military victories, the young general swiftly rose to power. The rule of Napoleon Bonaparte signified the end of the Revolution and the start of a new age for France and the whole European continent. During his rule as First Consul and later Emperor of France, Napoleon completely overhauled his revolution-strained country with a new law code that would later be recognized as his most prominent contribution to history. But this law code did not grant women any of the fair rights which men were granted in excess.
Old ideas about tradition and hierarchy succumbed to new enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights” (World News). People of the 1700s lived through the storming of the Bastille, multiple constitutions, and changes in the role of women, the system of government, and the hierarchy of the Estates- General. The French Revolution became a symbol of change, of ideals, a mark on history. Through deeper explication of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, the intersections of the ideals of society, government, class, religion, and individuality, extremely prevalent throughout the French revolution, clearly manifest themselves in the actions of the marginal characters often overlooked. Through his setting and minor characters, Mademoiselle Baptistine, Madame Magloire, the Bishop, and Javert, Hugo clearly expresses his beliefs on the interaction of ideals in one’s life and the resulting effect on one’s character.
This meant that smaller states who suffered under French rule started to turn to Prussia in their common hatred of the French. In this way it can be said that Germany was already starting to unify of her own accord. As the people continued to suffer during several decades of repression there came a strong desire for reform. Although at first this was only among the educated, wealthy bourgeoisie, unemployment among small artisans encouraged them to join the revolution in hopes of secure jobs. When an uprising occurred in France, the German liberals decided that they too would start to push their own claims.
Chapter Nine Effects of the French Revolution The French Revolution had a lasting effect on the country. There was no longer a feudalist government, however, social order and important necessities were carried out by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Third Estate which had once been filled with angry townspeople, they then became the dominant power and was all the more unified. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, similar to that of America’s Bill of Rights, was created. The Napoleonic Wars and Revolutionary Wars destroyed the ancient structure of Europe, nationalism was beginning to influence the French, things became more modern, and total warfare was progressed.
French Absolutism and the French Revolution During the period between 1589 through 1783, the French Monarchy had risen to its height of absolute power and then was destroyed by the French Revolution. The reigns of Henry IV, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI each contributed to the strengthening of the French Monarchy as well as the destruction. Class struggles were a major problem throughout the reigns of each king. France was broken into three estates that were; the clergy, the nobility, and the common people. They were each striving for more power.
In this search, manufacturers needed to find new raw materials in order to better equip themselves to sustain against the newly rising competitors. This caused competition with foreign market systems all around to begin pursuing an imperialistic empire. The European powers responded with aggressive nationalism when expanding their empire. This concept began trending internationally as other nations adapted the new concept of maintaining a steady nation through the new ideals of expansions. After the conclusion of the Civil War and the Reconstruction, the American economy rapidly increased as it developed in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Louis Philippe sought out the absolutist rule of the old regime of France, and widened the income gap between the working class and bourgeoisie which brought civil unrest and opposition to the throne. This income inequality and social injustice caused by constitutional monarchy was one of Hugo’s major critiques in Les Misérables. Victor Hugo’s opinions and beliefs about the monarchy were clearly reflected his novel, especially with the characters. Hugo saw the corruption of the government and the toils of the poor abundant in 19th century France and those realizations are what influenced his novel. Louis Philippe came into power after Charles X.
Edith Wharton and Charlotte Gilman use different point of views to emphasize how eternal forces, such as entrapment, powerlessness, and subordinance of women ultimately lead to their overwhelming confinement in the nineteenth century society. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman immediately gives readers the most important elements at the beginning of the short fictional story. At the opening of the story, the narrator states how her husband John has brought their family to live in an ancestral home for the summer. The narrator considers the house to be strange, but John is quite too practical to see things the way that she does. He already fails to believe that the narrator is actually sick.