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The impacts of the French revolution
Causes And Background Of The French Revolution
The impacts of the French revolution
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During the late 18th century, the French Revolution took place which completely changed France. French society was in it's worse condition with poverty, unfair systems both socially and politically, and economic declines. The third estate became overwhelmingly unsatisfied of the unfair laws and the privileged classes. With economic failures, the monarch began to tax harshly to the third estate which brought rage among the third estate. From then on powerful and effective actions were taken to rebel against the French government. The French Revolution took place and went through many phases to settle the social, political, and economic problems. The ideals of the French revolution, Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite were a reflection of the breakdown of the Ancien Regime because of the change and reform of politics, social classes and systems, unfair tax systems, and the economy that occurred during the French Revolution.
The inequalities of the estate system was one of the main causes of the French Revolution. In France, the estate system divide the people in three groups. The first estate are made up of clergy men, the second estate are made up of nobles and aristocrats, and the third estate consisted of the bourgeois, peasants, and urban workers. The estate system made it impossible for the third estate to have equal or fair rights as the first and second estate. A political image was created showing a weak older man, representing the third estate, carrying two well dressed and fed males, representing the first and second estate which are clergy men and the nobility (Document 1). This image shows that the third estate does all the hard and painful work for these clergy men and nobility. This image was created to show how un...
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...iven the third estate reasons to rebel and take actions for change. In France the economic failures are one of the main causes of the French revolution, unfair taxing and bankruptcy has gotten the people of France irritated by the government. Gradually the privileges of the nobility were eliminated by the revolution. Many groups of people had help make the revolution successful such as the National Convention, they have passes many statements and documents to mark their every steps of successful during the French revolution. Over time many things happened and changed prior to during and after the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a large change and reform of the Ancein Regime. It has dramatically change France politically, economically, and socially. Without the French Revolution, France wouldn't have evolved in such way to become a equal and just nation.
From 1754-1763, Britain fought the French and Indian war. Although Britain had won the war, they still had a lot of war debts to pay off. Britain turned to the colonies to pay off their debts by taxing them. The taxes angered the colonists because they believed it violated their rights. Benjamin Franklin had initially proposed the Albany plan of Union to unite the colonies, however this law was rejected by all of the colonial governments. It wasn't until after all of the British laws and taxes that the colonies would unite and write the Declaration of Independence.
During the 1700’s the Britain Colonist decided to declare war against Great Britain. The war began due to friction between the British colonists over the King's policies. The colonist eventually lost their patience and started a revolution. High taxes, and no religious freedom led the colonist to fight for self government.
Beginning of the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans began to explore in the Atlantic Coast of Africa. They were mainly lured into the excessive trade in gold, spices and other goods without knowing about slaves in Africa. Nonetheless, Europeans had no success of taking over these African states to achieve all of these goods but later they did take over various regions in other areas. Africans seems to be willing to sell as many as 11 million people to the Atlantic slave trade to the Europeans. Thus, this makes them the first people to have slaves not the Europeans that forced them into this trade. Furthermore, at the start the Africans seems to have full control of the slave trade, but the Europeans came in and slowly dominated the trade without the Africans knowing. Later on, the trade was overturned and everything went back orderly.
This oppression of the Third Estate along with the financial problems that fell on the common people would lead to the French Revolution. Overall, the people of France revolted against the monarchy because of the unsuccessful estate system and the inequality it led to, because of the new enlightenment ideas that inspired them, and because of the failures of the monarchy.
The French revolution was a significantly dangerous time period because of the chaos and conflict that took place in the streets of France, resulting in the mass slaughter of thousands of innocent people. Within the revolution, there were many characters who took part in resolving the conflicts that had arisen. One thing that sparked the revolution was the shortage of food caused by a drought which lead to the bread prices going up since most were too poor to afford food at the new price people started revolting against their government in hopes to be heard and treated fairly while many were still dying of hunger. Within the revolution, there were figures such as George Danton, Jean Bailly and Reine Audu who contributed in the development and the recognition of the 3rd estate.
Some people like Emmanuel Sieyès, middle-class writer who was taken by the Enlightenment ideas, believed that all of French Society lay on the backs of the third estate. On the contrary, Robespierre, the monarch at the time, believed that the third estate did not have the power to do anything important to society. The third estate had to pay taxes like the Gabelle and Taille while the first and seconds estates did not have to pay any taxes to the king. Also, the third estates had less of a representation in voting. The first and second estate could outvote the third estate every time and this was a huge inequality. The condition of the third estate was horrible but a good portion of this third estate was the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie had some wealth and social class, so they influenced the rest of the third estate about their rights, while also inspiring some lower clergies and provincial nobles and thus led to a group of rebellious people to fight the monarchy. This fight for political representation and political rights was only one cause of the French Revolution. Another causes lies in the French Monarchs: Louis XlV, Louis XV, and Louis XVl. When Louis XlV was ruling, the monarchy had unlimited power and was known as a
During the eighteenth century, France was one of the 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 was the ineffective leadership of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The first and main reason for the French Revolution was the terrible leadership of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, this was the motto of the French Revolution. It was coined by Pierre Leroux in 1838. The years 1779-1789 saw everything from the first constitution of France being drawn up, to the “Reign of Terror” in which the symbolic guillotine proved to be both the judge and the executioner. The Revolution initially started in an attempt to make the king answer to the people, in an attempt to overthrow the absolutist role and in an attempt to gain equality in all areas including taxation. The financial crisis was a burden to heavy to bear for the Third Estate. The people grew hungry which swiftly turned to rage. The lack of results led to the end of the monarchy and the execution of both King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. However, despite the bloodshed, the ideals that the French were fighting for were alive in their hearts. Liberty is the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force. In France, people were seeking liberty from the tyrannical rule of the monarch in which the Queen was using taxes to endow herself in riches. The second ideal, equality, consists of rights, treatment, quantity, or value equal to all others in a specific group. This meant getting rid of the hierarchical system and ensuring that nor the Church or nobles were exempt from taxation. The last ideal, brotherhood, means a group of people with feelings of friendship and mutual support between them. The French lacked this during the Revolution. Civil disobedience was present and very few showed camaraderie towards one another. Ten years of hardship, striving towards one common goal, sacrificing thousands of lives the French achieved what they set out to do. With great willpower and with the help of a benefac...
The third estate consisted of the remaining 23.5 million French people who were 90% peasants. The third estate was the only estate that paid taxes. Their taxes ensured the financial well-being of the clergy, state, and nobles (French Revolution Overview 6). The Enlightenment was a major influence of the French Revolution. The Enlightenment caused the revolution in three ways.
Hierarchical power, prestige, and wealth within the French government were divided into Estate General’s three groups: the First, clergy of the Catholic Church, and the Second Estate, Nobility. The first and second estates were approximately 1% of the French population. The first estate included the bishops and priests, and the second estate included large wealthy landowners. These two groups were set above the Third Estate due to their social status, and is a prime example of sociology’s concept of social stratification. Author of sociology textbook, Nijole V. Benokraitis, “Social stratification is the hierarchical ranking of people in a society who have different access to valued resources, such as property, prestige, power, and status” (Nijole). The government was a part of that prestige social class and was one of the significant reasons for the Estates General and the French Revolution. Because the government was in severe debt, they taxed the poor instead of inflicting taxes on their high social classes, the first and second estate. Thus, creating larger economical troubles to the country because the rich are expecting the poor to pa...
The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime. The people of France were divided into three estates. The first estate was composed of the highest church officials. They held about ten percent of all the land in France. They paid no direct taxes to the royal government. The second estate was made up of nobles. They were only two percent of France’s population, but owned twenty percent of the land. They paid no taxes (Krieger 483). The third estate accounted for ninety-eight percent of France’s population. The third estate was divided into three groups; the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes, and the peasant farmers. The third estate lost about half their income in taxes. They paid feudal dues, royal taxes, and also owed the corvee, a form of tax paid with work (Krieger 484).
Revolution broke out in France as a result of a weak monarch, operating an unfair system that did not account for the majority of his people. The influence of the revolutionaries and the thinkers during the Age of Enlightenment gave the people new ideas and made them question the Church and absolute monarchy as well as the Ancien Regime. The increasing financial difficulties and the high rise in the price of flour made the Third Estate desperate for food, and the high taxes placed on them in order to fix the financial difficulties prevented the Third Estate from having enough money to feed themselves.
In France in the late 1700s there was an obvious separation between the citizens based on their social class. An Estate System was used to divided the people; the First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate were the nobles, and the Third Estate were the commoners. There were many troubling times for the people of the Third Estate in France. The commoners, merchants, and peasants were often treated unfairly by the government and people of upper classes. The Third Estate normally had to carry the weight of others shown in Document 1. They were always on the bottom out of all people and had to stay that way due to a rigid social system. If they were born into a class they must stay in that class. There was zero social mobility for anyone. The
...s on who should have power. Rebellions broke out across France and turned the nation against itself. The major revolutionary revolt was The Storming of Bastille. The third estate demanded for a republic. King Louis was killed, along with his wife Marie Antoinette to pursue the ideas of changing society. Maximilien Robespierre ordered their deaths by the violent and horrific machine, the guillotine. He was also killed shortly after, but provided the Jacobins a leader in his efforts to overthrow the monarchy. Napoleon was the last to save the revolution as it came to a close. The French Revolution has changed history and the lives of everyone in France up to today. Many people sacrificed themselves to change the country for others today. This revolution was life changing and inspired many others around the world to stand up for their beliefs and fight for a democracy.
It motivated the Third Estate to want change. France was divided into three estates. The First Estate consisted of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Estate consisted of rich nobles. The Third Estate consisted of the middle and lower class. France was the center of Enlightenment, as a matter of fact the Enlightenment reached its peak in the mid 1700s in France. The Third Estate supported the Enlightenment ideas of equality and freedom. Using Enlightenment ideas the Third Estate began to demand equality and freedom.Their views consisted of Enlightenment ideas and thus they wanted to make changes to the government. Enlightenment ideas such as natural rights were expressed in the French Revolution by the National Assembly. The National Assembly wanted to make commoners have equal rights as the clergy and nobles. Revolutionary individuals had the expression “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as their slogan. This reflects major ideas of the Enlightenment. It reflects ideas of Voltaire, his idea of natural rights was the foundation for the “Declaration of the Rights of man” which was a document of the French Revolution. A Legislative Assembly was created that was able to create laws; however, the king still had executive power. This is similar to the separation of powers, an idea raised in the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, many philosophers hoped for a democratic style of government. They wanted to change the government. Influenced by that France transformed the monarch to a Republic. This also represents Rousseau’s ideas of individual freedom because a republic government represents individual freedom. Conclusively, the French Revolution was affected by Enlightenment