Compare And Contrast French And Latin American Revolutions

Revolution is one word that summarizes complete change. To put the name of a country before the word revolution means complete change in that country's government. In some way, whether it be politically, economically, or socially, the government failed to appease the people. In France and Latin America they stopped at virtually nothing to gain their goal. Latin America literally bit the hand the fed them and France beheaded their own king. This was all done in the name of reformation and change because somehow their government severely let down their people.
The French revolted due to political, economic, and social injustices. Politically, the government was a mess. An absolute ruler can only be beneficial to the people if they cater to

their needs. Louis XVI was a weak ruler and either didn't know, or cared to realize the majority of people were unhappy. Economically, France was in a hole. Food shortage and poor harvests raised the prices of food to insane prices. Deficit spending and costly wars helped France become poorer and poorer. Louis XVI spent money France didn't have on fighting costly wars. Money that could've been spent wisely was used on feasts and things of that nature in the Palace of Versailles. Socially, the people that had the worst of the financial crisis were the least politically represented. The majority of people were in the third estate, but the 2-1 vote crushed any chances of the third estate winning the vote. Taxation without representation also played a big role in the spark of the revolution. Peasants could not afford food, much less the heavy taxes imposed on them. Enlightenment ideas influenced the people of France, but wasn't the tipping of the iceberg. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that children were starving and parents felt helpless. These major points caused the French Revolution.
During the early nineteenth century Latin America revolted. Politically, in Europe many problems were occurring. Napoleon invaded Portugal as well as Spain. He made his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain. While the Spaniards rioted because a foreigner was ruling them, Latin America took this to their advantage and began their revolution. Economically, Latin American colonies were weak. All cash crops and raw materials were sent to the mother country. Everything the people in Latin America worked for was sent away, thus many grew discontent with the way the system was run. Socially, they were all treated different. At the top were the peninsulares, Spanish born people who yielded most of the power. Below them were creoles, pure European blood, but still below the Peninsulares because they were born in Latin America. Creoles were often wealthy, yet didn’t have the same power peninsulares had. Mestizos and Mulattoes, pure Africans, and pure Native Americans were all below in wealth and political power. This created distrust and jealousy throughout the social class. Another social cause is the spread of enlightenment ideas from France to Latin America. These all contributed to the Latin American revolution.
Although, these two revolutions happened in completely different parts of the world they share some similarities.

They were both inspired by previous revolutions. France was inspired by England and America, and Latin America was inspired by them as well as France. Another similarity is that both revolutions were lead by the middle class. In France the bourgeoisie led the third estate, and the creoles led Latin America. Although the bourgeoisie and creoles did not have natural born political power, they were still wealthy and educated enough to successfully lead a revolution. However, France and Latin America do share their differences. France is known for their revolution being very violent and terrifying. Not to say that the Latin American revolution wasn’t violent, but it wasn’t to a savage extent. King of Brazil, Pedro I even declared Brazil independent from Portugal. This was done with very little bloodshed. Also, the revolutions ended completely different. In France the push for democracy wasn’t quite met. They ended up with an absolute monarchy again, however this time around the people's needs were actually met. In Latin America they did fulfill their goal to become independent. Again, these two revolutions are different, but also share some

similarities.
Latin America and France persisted until their voice was heard. They fought and overcame the systematic oppression that kept them down for so many years. Although the ways they went about it and results were different, they still changed history.