One of the most pivotal time periods in France took place back in the late eighteenth century. This period was called the French Revolution, a time where France was suffering greatly. With “foreign invasion(s), the civil war in the Vendee, the Federalist uprisings, the grain shortage in Paris, and hyperinflation” , the country was striving desperately for a positive change. However, changes take time and considerable effort, which the French Revolution proved to be true. Citizens from all classes contributed in the events that took place during the revolution, even occasionally women and children. Many documents were written where the citizens would list their complaints hoping that the King would accept them. In addition, there were many
The meeting of these three estates was known as the Estates General. The estate with the most complaints for the King happened to be the Third Estate. Their grievances spanned across three main subcategories being justice, finances, and agriculture. However, at the beginning of the document there were a few grievances focused on gaining rights that should have been naturally in place. The first complaints focused on the delegates of the Third Estate, which are “equal by such status to all other citizens, [to] present themselves before the common father without other distinction which might degrade them” . Meaning the delegates for the Third Estate would be seen and treated just like the members of the First and Second Estates, not of lower class. This grievance was significant to Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès who was a delegate for and “identified with the third estate - that represented the common people of France” . Sieyès is one of the most important clergymen within the French Revolution as he fought intensively for the Third Estate to be finally recognized and treated fairly. In his pamphlet What is the Third Estate the most important quote states “the Third Estate embraces then all that which belongs to the nation; and all
When a group of Parisians “attacked and captured the royal armory known as the Bastille” . The Bastille was known at the time for also being a prison. When they were advancing toward the Bastille, “five to six thousand armed bourgeois penetrated the Bastille 's outer courtyards” . Seeing their advancements the enemy began firing at the bourgeois, while their “cannon fired on the town, and the people took fright; a large number of individuals were killed or wounded” . Yet this did not stop the riled up bourgeois who proceeded in taking over the Bastille. As they went further inside women and children of the town began to help in ways they could. The children would “after the discharge of fire from the fortress, ran here and there picking up the bullets and shot” , showing that they were willing to do anything they could to help win the revolution. After finally reaching the inside of the building, the bourgeois broke out in happiness, knowing that they have now successfully taken over the Bastille. On their march out, the bourgeois “anxious to avenge themselves, allowed neither De Launey nor the other officers to reach the place of trial. They seized them from the hands of their conquerors, and trampled them underfoot one after the other” . The overall purpose of the bourgeois attacking the Bastille was to save the “Third Estate from [King] Louis XVI 's attempted
Historian Albert Mathiez states that “The middle class… was sensitive to their inferior legal position. 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.” The middle class were not able to have a class on their own; they were still considered peasants. In the illustration it showed how much people and land each estate held, the Clergy was one percent of the population which owned ten percent of the land. Nobles were two percent of the people that owned thirty-five percent of the land. The middle class, peasants, and city workers were ninety-seven of the people owned fifty-five percent of the land. This means that if the third estate were to riot, this would cause havoc. There was a lot during that time; the website Macrohistory and World Timeline shows that “The population of France had grown to between 24 and 26 million, up from 19 million in 1700 without a concomitant growth in food production. Farmers around Paris consumed over 80 percent of what they grew, so if a harvest fell by around 10 percent, which was common, people went hungry. There was insufficient government planning and storage of grain for emergency shortages”. If there were approximately 26 million people, there would be 25,220,000 people in the third estate, 520,000 people in the second estate, and 260,000
The three main contributory factors that I am going to focus on are the aristocracy, rising debt levels and inequality amongst the people of France. The role that King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette had before and during the revolution was a key factor in starting the revolution. His attitude towards his role as king was poor. He was shy, indecisive and disinterested in politics from a very early age and this continued throughout his reign. During the years leading up to the revolution, France was in massive debt after the Seven Years War. Combined with this, there was a famine which increased the price of bread and brought a lot of the country to the brink of starvation (Kinser, 1999). Louis and Marie Antoinette's eating habits did not help reassure the French people of Louis' competency as a ruler. They gorged themselves on fine cuisine as their people starved all around the country (Cavallaro, 2001).
The French revolution may not seem like it did much for the world, but in reality it helped mold a lot of nations into what they are today. The French revolution started in 1789 and ended in 1799. The revolution started off small but quickly changed into a major thing. Some important things in the revolution are its people, battles, and how it affected the nations that we have today.
There were a major divided on the status of classes and the Aristocrats Revolt. Louis XVI puts the French into debt and tried to submit a package reform to the Assembly of Notables and they denied the request. When Louis XVI suggested more uniform land tax the nobility refused and became heroes to the people. Marquis de Lafayette wrote, “The Representatives of the people of France, formed into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect, or contempt of human rights, are the sole causes of public misfortunes and corruptions of Government…”
“A leading cause of social stress in France during the Revolution was its large population… 90 percent of the peasants lived at or below the subsistence level, earning only enough to feed their families… Many impoverished peasants blamed the tensions between the rich and poor on the country’s vast social differences” (Exploring the Revolution, 2001). To understand the difference between the importance of the Tennis Court Oath and the storming of the Bastille for the course of the Revolution, the proceedings beforehand prior to these events must be understood. Unrest was building between the rich and poor in the late 17th century and something needed to be done to help the poor peasants in the countryside. The importance key events: The Tennis
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
The French Revolution proved to be an era that centered around the people. Following the Enlightenment, French citizens found themselves questioning ideas and concepts that were previously considered traditional. A major disagreement formed between the French people about the ruling government of France. In Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791 author Gary Kates states that “Furet [claimed] the Revolution embraced a radical ideology of popular sovereignty so that any abuse of power could be excused so long as it was achieved in the name of the people” (175). Citizens of France used the previous writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Edmond Burke to gain power. The French Revolution was built upon this concept that the French
During the summer of 1793, the radical phase of the French Revolution was intensified by the Terror, created by The Committee of Public Safety. The Terror successfully preserved the Revolution by weeding out counter-revolutionaries to eliminate corruption within the government and giving equality to all social classes which untied France under one government. However, these successes were undermined by the many failures of the Terror due to the oppression of citizens which would lead to many executions and the paranoid slaughtering of citizens from all social classes which led to the changes in support of the Revolution.
The Age of Revolutions was roughly the time period from 1750 to 1850. During this time there were many changes in society. The biggest revolution in this time was the French Revolution. This revolution really sparked change across Europe, which then eventually spreads across the globe. The effects that the French Revolution had were very important, shaping politics, society, religion, mindset, and politics for more than a century. It brought liberalism and the end of many feudal or traditional laws and practices. Two of the most important transitions in this time were the loosening of religious authority and also a cultural infatuation with science and technology to ensure human progress. Revolutionaries didn’t like how Christianity made
During the eighteenth century, France was one of the most richest and prosperous countries in Europe, but many of the peasants were not happy with the way France was being ruled. On July 14, 1789, peasants and soldiers stormed the Bastille and initiated the French Revolution. This essay will analyze the main causes of the French Revolution, specifically, the ineffectiveness of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the dissatisfaction of the Third Estate, and the Enlightenment. It will also be argued that the most significant factor that caused the French Revolution is the ineffective leadership of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
Robert Darnton's, The Kiss of Lamourette, is a wonderful essay that explores the complexities of the French Revolution (1789-1799). Pondering the question “what was so revolutionary about the French Revolution?”, Darnton depicts the long withstanding effects of the French Revolution. A blood-soaked social upheaval, the French Revolution transformed every aspect of life--from dress, language, and to the very concept of time and space. Using the story of the kiss of Lamourette (a seemingly minor event in which France’s members of the Legislative Assembly hugged and kissed), Darton reveals the long-lasting effects of the French Revolution.
This was one of the major motivating reasoning for the ‘Bourgeois Revolution’ against the monarchy. Jacques Necker was appointed finance minister by King Louis XVI, and won the people over with his tax reforms and transparency with the crowns finances. He prompted the king to take the nobles and clergy too, to help bring France out of their mounting debt. The king ordered a meeting of the Estates-General to decide on this issue, the first meeting in 175 years. Regardless of the Third Estates size compared to the two others, it only held a single vote, ”insuring that the Third could never outvote the two other orders”, Reminding people of this injustice helped politically charge the Third as “the bourgeois demanded to vote ‘by head’ and not ‘by order’” (Rudé 1988, pg.31). This demand was denied and so the Third Estate broke from the Estates-General to form the National assembly. The king was a supporter of this new movement, urging the other estates to meet with the assembly, however at the same time Louis dismissed the popular Jacques Necker. This prompted the famous storming of the bastille and the first wave of violence. Many officials and nobles were not only killed, but beheaded, and paraded around on the end of pikes for all too see. Whilst this premeditative strike on the Bastille was justified and vital to the revolution, as the
Assessment of the French Revolution The radical phase of the French Revolution was the time when the Reign of Terror began. The radicalism (change in political and social condition of France) started with the emerged of republican (a system of no king) view among the people of France especially the Jacobins. Those who wanted republican became more active aiming to overthrow the king by finding faults on him.
The third estate (made up ninety-eight percent of the population) was the people who wanted to be equal to the nobles and clergy. The clergy and nobles made up the First and Second Estate. They first two estates had overruling power in the government than the Third Estate. This was one of the reasons of the Storm of Bastille. They were knowledgeable of the ‘existing conditions.’ The social class was the main thing separating the people of France. There was a lack of social mobility also, causing people to be based on lineage, rather than wealth.
Causes and Effects of the French Revolution The Revolution. The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism.