Comparing The Westernization Of Russia Under Peter The Great And The Reign Of Terror

Governments often implement policies in an attempt to change society. There are many reasons as to why a change may be brought about and the extent to which this change is achieved depends on a variety of factors. The westernization of Russia under Peter the Great and the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution under Robespierre are keen examples of this situation. In both instances, the government of each nation strived to change society by both implementing new policies and using force for a variety of reasons and their success depended on the actions they took.
In 1789, France, like the rest of Europe, still clung to an outdated social system that had emerged in the Middle Ages. Under this ancien régime, or old order, everyone in France
was divided into one of three social classes, or estates. The First Estate was made up of the clergy, the Second was made up of the nobility, and the Third Estate comprised the vast majority of the population. The French clergy enjoyed enormous wealth and privilege. They owned about ten percent of the land, collected tithes, and paid no direct taxes to the state.
The nobles help top jobs in government, the army, the courts, and the Church. They were also exempt from paying taxes, though they resented the royal bureaucracy that employed middle-class men in positions that had once been reserved for them. Both rich and poor members of the Third Estate resented the privileges enjoyed by their social “betters.” Wealthy bourgeois families in the Third Estate could but political office and titles, but the best jobs were still reserved for nobles. Urban workers earned terrible wages. Even the smallest rise in the price of bread, their main source of food, brought about the threat of hunger or even starvation. Peasants were burdened by taxes on everything due to traditional privileges exempting the First and Second Estates from paying any. Enlightenment ideas led people to question the inequalities of the old regime. The Third Estate demanded that the privileged classes pay their share. Economic troubles also added to the social unrest and heightened tensions. One of the causes of the economic troubles was deficit spending, due to the debt left by the Seven Years’ War and American Revolution. Most, if not all, economic reforms failed. Fueled by
feelings of nationalism and from the American Revolution, parisians stormed the Bastille, setting the French Revolution in motion. Soon after, the monarchy was abolished, Louis XVI was executed, and the Convention was placed into power.
To deal with the threats to France, the Convention created the Committee of Public Safety. Maximilien Robespierre, a lawyer and politician, quickly rose to the new committee’s leadership. He embraced Rousseau’s idea of the general will as the source of all legitimate law. He also promoted religious toleration and wanted to abolish slavery. He was popular with the sans-culottes, who hated the old regime as much as he did. He believed France could achieve a “republic of virtue” only through the use of terror. Robespierre was on the chief architects of the Reign of Terror, which lasted from September 1793 to July 1794. In order to try to bring about this change in government, revolutionary courts conducted hasty trials. Robespierre explained that terror was necessary to achieve the goals of the revolution. During the Reign of Terror, about 300,000 people were arrested and seventeen thousand were executed, all suspected of resisting the revolution. Many were victims of mistaken identity or were falsely accused. The guillotine was the “engine” of the Terror. Members of the Convention soon turned on the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre was arrested and executed.
After his death, the executions slowed dramatically. The Convention then created the Directory and a two house legislature. Being weak and dictatorial, the Directory faced growing discontent. The rise of bread prices and loyalist feelings threatened the Directory. As chaos increased, politicians turned to Napoleon Bonaparte. He later assumed absolute power of France. Although the people were successful at abolishing the French monarchy and achieving their freedom, many innocent people were killed during the Reign of Terror and France was later taken over by another monarch.