“After she was dead one of the assassins ripped out her heart and ate it while another stuck her head on a pike and paraded it beneath the Queens window” (Gautreu). The queen there talking about is Marie Antoinette. She was the archduchess of Austria and when she married Louis the king tension started to grow between Austria and France . This eventually lead up to the September massaacre. In this the author is speaking of Princess de Lambelle. She accompanied the royal family to the Tuileries; she was the daughter of King at the time, Louis the 16th. This is a description of what happened to the princess during those awful days in September. This is some of the ways people were murdered during the year 1792. Therefore The September Massacre was the most important part of the French Revolution because it had many events leading up to it, the largest number of fatalities during, and had many consequences afterwards.
In the nine months leading up to that fatal day, tragedies no man can fathom happened starting with the first few months in which the turmoil began. March 9th and 10th of 1792, the king of France at the time, Louis the 16th formed a monarchy government, but most citizens were forcing a government change since 1789 (Brown). However, other citizens and prisoners of France disagreed with his choice and began to rebelle. As soon as April came along Paris went to war with Austria (World Book Ink, “Encyclopedia” 414). This happened because Paris was trying to go back to the former government solely based on agriculture even though they agreed they would keep it as it was with the new monarchy government. Later, on April 20th 1792 Prussia joined sides with Austria in the war against France (Brown). After a large amount ...
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...onaparte came up from his military and political position then took over France declaring himself as emperor of the country from 1804 to 1814. Although the year 1793 was the most important part of the Revolution; it could've never happened without the tragedies in the year 1792, especially the September Massacre.
This is why the September Massacre was the most important part of the French Revolution because of the many months leading up to the tragedy, the five days of complete turmoil, and the two months afterwards. "A sensibility that wails almost exclusively over the enemies of liberty seems suspect to me. Stop shaking the tyrants bloody robe in my face, or I will believe that you wish to put Rome in chains." (Gautreu) This was said by Robespierre which earlier in this year made the plan to take the king off of his throne and takes over in the year 1793.
Aside from giving the guillotine a purpose, the Reign of Terror stands as a necessity in the story of French independence. It might not have been the proudest of times, but the Reign began on a strong premise: holding together a new government by purging the bad apples for the betterment of the whole cart. While the Reign of Terror developed into an overly excessive bloodshed, it was justified by the war stricken circumstances and necessity for the support of the ongoing revolution. Despite the extreme heights the Reign of Terror reached, it was necessary to maintain the fragile presence of the government and preserve the new liberty a majority of the population had been denied before. In a 1793 letter from Vendée —a major counterrevolutionary hub— local government was fending off on-going riots and rebellion while being invaded from the north by Prussia.
A rather ominous name for the unaware; “The Reign of Terror”. An oblivious person could completely bypass the horrifying events related to the French Revolution, had it been named differently. The title for these events is appropriate from my perspective. Those four words could easily interest a curious, ordinary person, and so the history can survive, along with the information transferring to yet another carrier. Of course, everyone can benefit from knowing a few terms that can increase your understanding of the topic. An absolute monarch is a person that has absolute power among his or her people. The Estates General is a representative body drawn from the three ‘estates’ into which society had been theoretically divided. A fraternity is a group of people sharing a common profession or interests. A radical person is a person who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform. The device used to execute most people was the guillotine: a machine with a heavy blade sliding vertically in grooves, used for beheading people. The Reign of Terror is generally defined as a period of remorseless repression or bloodshed, but in particular, it is the period of the Terror during the French Revolution. Conservatives are people that hold to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation. Now that we can speak of our topic with more knowledge of terms typically used for this subject, we can address the pending question. Was The Reign of Terror justified? An outstanding amount of people died for good and bad reasons. Every system was corrupt, there was practically no right and wrong; no order, just rebellion. Several conflicting arguments can be made, but there is a definite decision to make in this situatio...
Was the Terror of 1793/4 inherent from the revolutions outset or was it the product of exceptional circumstance?
The fact that she was going to be executed by that man and she said sorry for simply stepping on his foot shows about her character. Her execution was a major turning point in the revolution. One major myth about Marie Antoinette is about her "famous" saying; "Let them eat cake!" There is no proof that she ever said that.
Edmund Burke was criticized by stating that the Queen fled her dwelling “en deshabille” (Blakemore, 514) which means nearly naked. Although there were several occurrences where people may have broken into the Queen’s dwellings, there was no physical proof of her running out of her room in less than acceptable attire. This shows how determined the French were to diminish the reputation of the Queen, even if it went as far as being almost satirical. Another great rumor during the time was that a “mob, frustrated that they could not find the queen, ‘pierced the mattress with pikes and committed other indignities’” (Blakemore, 520). Even though these things have next to no evidence, the mere fact that the French would go to the lengths to make up such elaborate and extreme stories that could possibly incriminate those mentioned in it if ‘witnesses’ said that the accounts were true, shows how much the French despised the Queen. This sheer amount of hatred towards the Queen and her Austrian heritage was the backbone to her demise and how Queen Marie-Antoinette lost her
Thomas Jefferson himself had once said that he believed without the Queen the Revolution wouldn’t have unfolded during the time it did. The Monarch surrounded herself with luxury and excess, which never goes over well when the citizens are struggling. Had it not been her lack of subtlety in her lavish affairs, the French Monarchy may have lived to see another day. However, it cannot be dwelled upon what could have been, instead the focus should be on the horrific end to a regal woman’s life. A gruesome public execution served right for the woman who was never out of the public’s
The Bastille incident set off revolts all over France and Louis was soon deposed afterwards. A democratic government was set up in place of the old monarchy.
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.
The French Revolution started in 1787 because the country was going through financial difficulties and there was unrest between the classes of citizens in the country. The differences between the lower class citizens and higher classes, being nobles and the monarchy were great. The citizens had heard of the revolution that went on in the colonies and they also wanted freedom and independence. The real start of the French Revolution was on July 14, 1789, with the storming of the Bastille. Between 1789 1793, a constitution was written, feudalism was abolished, war had broken out, and King Louis XVI was put to death. In late 1793 and early 1794, Maximilien Robespierre became the head of the Committee of Public Safety in France. This was the new governing body in France; it could be compared to the executive branch of a government. Robespierre was a great leader, he ins...
The French Revolution began after some of the great philosophers such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Rousseau were establishing contracts and trying to create a way for people to have a government without a king or at least without a king being in control. The king during that time was King Louie XVI and his queen was a young woman by the name Marie Antoinette. The royal couple was not well liked due to the careless spending and lack of concern for the citizens beneath them. France was on the verge of becoming bankrupt and the crops did very poorly leaving people suffering, starving and fighting for food.
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
. King Louis XVI's decision to leave Paris in 1791 had a significant effect on the course of the revolution and on the accumulating terror that was growing across the countryside of France. To be fair, there are possibilities that the course of the revolution combined with the accumulating terror prior to the Kings decision that is well known as The Flight To Varennes that could have already determined his fate before being killed by the guillotine. When discussing the accumulating terror and course of the revolution, it affected more than just the city of Paris, it affected the entire countryside of France. Through the course of the revolution, it’s important to keep in mind the subjects of these cities and towns feelings towards the monarchy because they will have a say in determining King Louis XVI fate later on in the future.
The Reign of Terror was a time during the French Revolution hundreds of thousands of people were executed by various means: guillotine, shot, and drowned. The Committee of Public Safety, lead by Maximilien de Robespierre, were in charge of these executions, and with the job of finding anti-revolutionaries forces. Many thought that what Robespierre was doing would just lead to a greater anti-revolution movement, which would in turn increase the number of executions. Others did not take action against the terror; for fear that they themselves might be executed. Those who were still loyal to the revolution saw the terror as a noble cause; they saw it as a way to rid France of anti-revolutionary forces. While the terror started as an advantage to the revolution ridding anti-revolution ideals from France it began to change in to a disadvantage; it was a disadvantage because, it showed just how radical the revolutionaries could be.
On July 14, Royal Troops approached Paris. The citizens decided to fight back but they were loosing and hundreds of citizens were dying. Then the French guard joined in with cannons. The garrison surrendered on honorable terms resulting in riots of the citizens.
The French Revolution, which occurred from 1789 to 1799, was a time where the monarchy was overthrown, a republic was formed, and limits were put on the church. The French Revolution ended with the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The French Revolution created France’s legislative assembly, which is still in place today. Many would argue that the Enlightment was a cause of the French Revolution, but the Enlightment was not one of the main drivers for the Revolution. The bad living conditions, France’s monarchy, and the involvement in the American Revolution and other wars caused the French Revolution.