The Root Cause Of The French Revolution
Conflict arises every moment in the world. Disputes over land, power, and pride have consumed human civilization from the beginning. However, as the world has grown to over seven billion people, the root cause of disputes has remained the same, nationalism. Nationalism, defined by Britannia as an ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests.. Despite the belief that nationalism can unite people groups as seen through the formation of the euro, or that other issues lead to conflict, as seen in the French Revolution, the truth is that nationalism inevitably leads to disaster as seen through history in every circumstance imaginable: the Crusades, Jihadists,
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Although geographically, France was one country, it had two different people groups within it that stood for their own state. These two groups were the revolutionists, made up of the sans-culottes, or peasants, making up 90% of the population, and the upper class, consisting of varying titles of nobility and gentry, along with other rich families. The national ideas between the two groups varied so dramatically, that it inevitably led to conflict between them, resulting in the French Revolution. As written by Robert Schwartz, “It [the French Revolution] represented an unprecedented effort to break with the past and to forge a new state and new national community based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.” The national ideas of the Revolutionists included equality and opportunities, and they were willing to fight to the death for what they believed in. They would not stop until everyone in France would have these core values of the Revolutionists. On the other hand, the upper class formed a group that believed that some must be successful, while others must fail, and the continuation of the traditions held by past leaders. “The revolution bequeathed to the French and to the World a new and enduring political vision: at the heart of progress lay liberation from the past, egalitarianism, and broadly based representative government.” (Schwartz, “History 151 The French Revolution: Causes, Outcomes, Conflicting Interpretations”). Nationalism, is therefore, the cause of the French Revolution, the two separate identities held by the people of France led to the
Although geographically, France was one country, it had two different people groups within it that stood for their own state. These two groups were the revolutionists, made up of the sans-culottes, or peasants, making up 90% of the population, and the upper class, consisting of varying titles of nobility and gentry, along with other rich families. The national ideas between the two groups varied so dramatically, that it inevitably led to conflict between them, resulting in the French Revolution. As written by Robert Schwartz, “It [the French Revolution] represented an unprecedented effort to break with the past and to forge a new state and new national community based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.” The national ideas of the Revolutionists included equality and opportunities, and they were willing to fight to the death for what they believed in. They would not stop until everyone in France would have these core values of the Revolutionists. On the other hand, the upper class formed a group that believed that some must be successful, while others must fail, and the continuation of the traditions held by past leaders. “The revolution bequeathed to the French and to the World a new and enduring political vision: at the heart of progress lay liberation from the past, egalitarianism, and broadly based representative government.” (Schwartz, “History 151 The French Revolution: Causes, Outcomes, Conflicting Interpretations”). Nationalism, is therefore, the cause of the French Revolution, the two separate identities held by the people of France led to the