What Caused The French Revolution
The French Revolution is a period in the History of France, covering the years of 1789-1799, in which the monarchy was overthrown and radical restricting was forced upon the Roman Catholic Church. The French Revolution had many causes and affected the entire world in different ways. Some of the main causes of the revolution were the influence of the Enlightenment thinkers, the involvement of France in foreign revolutionary wars, the fall of the French Monarchy, the unmanageable national debt, and the scarcity of food in the years immediately before the revolution.
In the years leading up to the French revolution France was stricken with financial problems caused by the wars of King Louis XIV and the wars that he fought in the 18th century. The reason for the extreme amount of debt was the tax system of France was because France was a society …show more content…
dominated by social status and clergy, and nobility were exempted from paying taxes, and because of this the government they could not levy up enough taxes to cover their deficit. This form of taxation made the citizens and peasant who had small pieces of land angry because they had the heaviest tax weight of all. This taxation system also relied on a system of internal tariffs. (Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/). On the eve of the revolution, France was deeply indebted virtually bankrupt because of the extravagant expenditures by King Louis XIV on luxuries such as Versailles and the heavy spending on the seven years’ war and the American war of independence.
The fall of the French Monarchy was another cause for the revolution. The fall of the French Monarchy is said to be what directly caused the revolution. The influence that Enlightenment thinkers (such as Voltaire, Jefferson, and Franklin) had on the French people was enough to enflame their desire for revolution. In autumn of 1792 the revolutionary government had written of the idea of having a constitutional monarchy elected a national convention of delegates to oversee the country. The majority of the delegates belonged to the Jacobins or the Girondins. The first action of the convention was to abolish the monarchy and form the Republic of France. As a sign of the republic’s new found resolve and contempt for the monarchy, the next proposal before the National Convention was the execution of Louis XVI. He was found guilty of treason and received the guillotine and months later his wife Marie-Antoinette met the same fate. The execution of King Louis XVI caused more wars with European countries. When war went badly prices rose and the Sans-Culottes or poor laborers and radical Jacobins rioted and counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions (Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .) Maximillion Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins and the san-culottes took control of the convention and banished the Girodins and seized power. Another cause of the French Revolution was the influence of the Enlightenment age thinkers. The age of reason or the age of enlightenment influenced the French Revolution, because it brought on a new way of thinking for the people of Europe. It influenced the political, social and cultural policies of the revolutionary period. The enlightenment ideals led to the resentment of royal absolutism; resentment of laborers, resentment by laborers, peasants and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional privileges possessed. ("Enlightenment and the French Revolution" StudyMode.com. 09 2011. 2011. 09 2011 .) Food Scarcity was another cause of the French Revolution.
The majority of the nation’s destitute citizens experienced hunger and malnutrition due to rising bread prices and several years of poor grain harvest due to El Nino rains and volcanic activities at Laki and Grimsvotn. A poor transportation system hindered shipment of bulk foods from the country side to the populous urban centers ("Enlightenment and the French Revolution" StudyMode.com. 09 2011. 2011. 09 2011 .) The scarcity of food caused death throughout France. The scarcity was mainly caused by the high taxes that the peasants and middle class had to pay. The peasants that owned land had to pay more taxes than anyone else, and they had little money to buy food for their family. Another reason for the scarcity was because King Louis XVI loaned a large amount of money to the American Revolution and was never reimbursed. This caused a large amount of debt in France and the large food scarcity that was one of the reasons that the people of France was enraged and ready for a revolution. The scarcity in France continued until the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in
1800.
The reign of terror was a period of violence that occurred during the French Revolution between; September 1793- July 1794. The purpose of the terror was to purge France enemies and protect the country from foreign invaders. It was a rival conflict between the Girondins and the Jacobins that was marked by mass executions of enemies of the revolution. More than 16,000 were executed by guillotine and the guillotine became the symbol of the revolutionary cause, strengthened by a string of executions. The results that the Reign of Terror had on Europe would have impact on the international relations during war. Although the Reign of Terror was a horrendous, historical event, the aims and achievements of this time would help the survival of the revolution. The reign of terror was seen as an emergency response to a crisis situation aimed at eliminating political crimes that threatened the state. It was also a specific response to deal with the food shortages and financial crisis that France was facing. “The French government established the committee of Public Safety, which took its final form on September 6, 1793 in order to suppress internal counter- revolutionary activities and raise additional French military forces.” ( en.wikipedia/wiki/reign_of_Terror). When the Committee of public safety passed the ‘law of suspects’ in September 1793 the government were moving farther away from the liberal ideals of the early revolution, and more towards a more police state. Daton, Marat and Robespierre were influential members of this committee. The people in power believed the committee of public safety was an unfortunate but necessary and temporary reaction to the pressure of the foreign and civil war. On June 24 the convention adopted the first republican constitution of France called the French Constitution of 1793 and was ratified by public referendum but never was put into force like any other laws. “On December 25, 1793 Robespierre stated: The goal of the constitutional government is to conserve the Republic; the aim of the revolutionary government is to found it.” (www.ehow.con/about_4571610_reign_terror-during-french-revolution.html). The sans-culottes paramilitary forces, the revolutionary armies, were established by the convention on September 9 to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. Than on September 17 the Law of suspects was passed which authorized the charging of counter-revolutionaries with vaguely. The guillotine condemned thousands of people to death while the mobs beat the other victims. Of all the people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals about 8 percent of them were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 72 percent were workers of peasants accused of hoarding evading the draft desertion rebellion. On October 21 the enactment of the law made all suspected priests and all persons who hardbound them liable to death on sight. Many of the leaders of the French Revolution were executed in the process. The armies of France were successful against their enemies and the Terror was no longer necessary. “Robespierre wanted to purge France of everyone who was corrupt and the killing ended when Robespierre was executed on July 28, 1794.(https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/kat_anna/terror.html )The repression bought thousands of suspects before the Paris revolutionary Tribal whose work was expedited by the Law of Prairial. The Robespierre was overthrown after the military victory over Austria at the battle of Fleurus. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51( History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013). Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French.
The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798; soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman-ruled Syria, which ended with the failed siege of Acre, located in modern-day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon his army in Egypt and return to France. (History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013). In an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the French Directory. The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading political figure. Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France. He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought to improve relations between his regime and the pope (who represented France’s main religion, Catholicism), which had suffered during the revolution. One of his most significant accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which streamlined the French legal system and continues to form the foundation of French civil law to this day (History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013).
The French revolution marked the beginning of prodigious changes that affected world history. Despite the revolution occurring mainly in France and lasting only twelve years, the effects ate still felt worldwide, with direct repercussions reaching from areas as far as North America. The effects of the revolution range from the spread of the metric system to the shift from absolutisms to republictism. The French Revolutionary government adopted the use of the metric system and it spread to other countries throughout the world. During the French resolution the French national flag changed from the fleur-de-lis to tri-color. This change affected many other national and ethic flags. A more significant effect of the French Revolution was the spread of French cultural by napoleon through the great French war. The great French war also allowed the spread of French fashion throughout Europe. Another effect of the revolution was a stronger, further centralized state with a larger more effective more intrusive administration. Also the abolition of dues owed by peasants to lords; internal tariffs and the establishment of a uniform tax system. It also affected the creation and extension of new civil rights like equality before the law, careers to open talent, and participation in elections based on property qualifications. It also effected political cultural. The formation of a revolutionary tradition centered on the belief that revolutions was a means for bringing progressive change and further excitation of popular participation and popular sovereignty. Overall the French revolution changed the face of France and affected the entire world in some form.
Works Cited
1 .History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013
2. Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .
Website
3. "Union County College Faculty Web Site." Union County College Faculty Web Site. N.p., 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013
4. The French Revolution." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013
5. Schwartz. "Mount Holyoke College." Mount Holyoke College. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
6. Andress, David (2006). The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-27341-3
7. "Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
8. "Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. .
In the years leading up to the French revolution France was stricken with financial problems caused by the wars of King Louis XIV and the wars that he fought in the 18th century. The reason for the extreme amount of debt was the tax system of France was because France was a society …show more content…
dominated by social status and clergy, and nobility were exempted from paying taxes, and because of this the government they could not levy up enough taxes to cover their deficit. This form of taxation made the citizens and peasant who had small pieces of land angry because they had the heaviest tax weight of all. This taxation system also relied on a system of internal tariffs. (Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/). On the eve of the revolution, France was deeply indebted virtually bankrupt because of the extravagant expenditures by King Louis XIV on luxuries such as Versailles and the heavy spending on the seven years’ war and the American war of independence.
The fall of the French Monarchy was another cause for the revolution. The fall of the French Monarchy is said to be what directly caused the revolution. The influence that Enlightenment thinkers (such as Voltaire, Jefferson, and Franklin) had on the French people was enough to enflame their desire for revolution. In autumn of 1792 the revolutionary government had written of the idea of having a constitutional monarchy elected a national convention of delegates to oversee the country. The majority of the delegates belonged to the Jacobins or the Girondins. The first action of the convention was to abolish the monarchy and form the Republic of France. As a sign of the republic’s new found resolve and contempt for the monarchy, the next proposal before the National Convention was the execution of Louis XVI. He was found guilty of treason and received the guillotine and months later his wife Marie-Antoinette met the same fate. The execution of King Louis XVI caused more wars with European countries. When war went badly prices rose and the Sans-Culottes or poor laborers and radical Jacobins rioted and counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions (Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .) Maximillion Robespierre, the leader of the Jacobins and the san-culottes took control of the convention and banished the Girodins and seized power. Another cause of the French Revolution was the influence of the Enlightenment age thinkers. The age of reason or the age of enlightenment influenced the French Revolution, because it brought on a new way of thinking for the people of Europe. It influenced the political, social and cultural policies of the revolutionary period. The enlightenment ideals led to the resentment of royal absolutism; resentment of laborers, resentment by laborers, peasants and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional privileges possessed. ("Enlightenment and the French Revolution" StudyMode.com. 09 2011. 2011. 09 2011 .) Food Scarcity was another cause of the French Revolution.
The majority of the nation’s destitute citizens experienced hunger and malnutrition due to rising bread prices and several years of poor grain harvest due to El Nino rains and volcanic activities at Laki and Grimsvotn. A poor transportation system hindered shipment of bulk foods from the country side to the populous urban centers ("Enlightenment and the French Revolution" StudyMode.com. 09 2011. 2011. 09 2011 .) The scarcity of food caused death throughout France. The scarcity was mainly caused by the high taxes that the peasants and middle class had to pay. The peasants that owned land had to pay more taxes than anyone else, and they had little money to buy food for their family. Another reason for the scarcity was because King Louis XVI loaned a large amount of money to the American Revolution and was never reimbursed. This caused a large amount of debt in France and the large food scarcity that was one of the reasons that the people of France was enraged and ready for a revolution. The scarcity in France continued until the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte in
1800.
The reign of terror was a period of violence that occurred during the French Revolution between; September 1793- July 1794. The purpose of the terror was to purge France enemies and protect the country from foreign invaders. It was a rival conflict between the Girondins and the Jacobins that was marked by mass executions of enemies of the revolution. More than 16,000 were executed by guillotine and the guillotine became the symbol of the revolutionary cause, strengthened by a string of executions. The results that the Reign of Terror had on Europe would have impact on the international relations during war. Although the Reign of Terror was a horrendous, historical event, the aims and achievements of this time would help the survival of the revolution. The reign of terror was seen as an emergency response to a crisis situation aimed at eliminating political crimes that threatened the state. It was also a specific response to deal with the food shortages and financial crisis that France was facing. “The French government established the committee of Public Safety, which took its final form on September 6, 1793 in order to suppress internal counter- revolutionary activities and raise additional French military forces.” ( en.wikipedia/wiki/reign_of_Terror). When the Committee of public safety passed the ‘law of suspects’ in September 1793 the government were moving farther away from the liberal ideals of the early revolution, and more towards a more police state. Daton, Marat and Robespierre were influential members of this committee. The people in power believed the committee of public safety was an unfortunate but necessary and temporary reaction to the pressure of the foreign and civil war. On June 24 the convention adopted the first republican constitution of France called the French Constitution of 1793 and was ratified by public referendum but never was put into force like any other laws. “On December 25, 1793 Robespierre stated: The goal of the constitutional government is to conserve the Republic; the aim of the revolutionary government is to found it.” (www.ehow.con/about_4571610_reign_terror-during-french-revolution.html). The sans-culottes paramilitary forces, the revolutionary armies, were established by the convention on September 9 to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. Than on September 17 the Law of suspects was passed which authorized the charging of counter-revolutionaries with vaguely. The guillotine condemned thousands of people to death while the mobs beat the other victims. Of all the people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals about 8 percent of them were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 72 percent were workers of peasants accused of hoarding evading the draft desertion rebellion. On October 21 the enactment of the law made all suspected priests and all persons who hardbound them liable to death on sight. Many of the leaders of the French Revolution were executed in the process. The armies of France were successful against their enemies and the Terror was no longer necessary. “Robespierre wanted to purge France of everyone who was corrupt and the killing ended when Robespierre was executed on July 28, 1794.(https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/kat_anna/terror.html )The repression bought thousands of suspects before the Paris revolutionary Tribal whose work was expedited by the Law of Prairial. The Robespierre was overthrown after the military victory over Austria at the battle of Fleurus. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of European nations and expanded his empire. However, after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba. In 1815, he briefly returned to power in his Hundred Days campaign. After a crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, he abdicated once again and was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena, where he died at 51( History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013). Since 1792, France’s revolutionary government had been engaged in military conflicts with various European nations. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a French army that defeated the larger armies of Austria, one of his country’s primary rivals, in a series of battles in Italy. In 1797, France and Austria signed the Treaty of Campo Formio, resulting in territorial gains for the French.
The following year, the Directory, the five-person group that had governed France since 1795, offered to let Napoleon lead an invasion of England. Napoleon determined that France’s naval forces were not yet ready to go up against the superior British Royal Navy. Instead, he proposed an invasion of Egypt in an effort to wipe out British trade routes with India. Napoleon’s troops scored a victory against Egypt’s military rulers, the Mamluks, at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798; soon, however, his forces were stranded after his naval fleet was nearly decimated by the British at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798. In early 1799, Napoleon’s army launched an invasion of Ottoman-ruled Syria, which ended with the failed siege of Acre, located in modern-day Israel. That summer, with the political situation in France marked by uncertainty, the ever-ambitious and cunning Napoleon opted to abandon his army in Egypt and return to France. (History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013). In an event known as the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon was part of a group that successfully overthrew the French Directory. The Directory was replaced with a three-member Consulate, and Napoleon became first consul, making him France’s leading political figure. Napoleon worked to restore stability to post-revolutionary France. He centralized the government; instituted reforms in such areas as banking and education; supported science and the arts; and sought to improve relations between his regime and the pope (who represented France’s main religion, Catholicism), which had suffered during the revolution. One of his most significant accomplishments was the Napoleonic Code, which streamlined the French legal system and continues to form the foundation of French civil law to this day (History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013).
The French revolution marked the beginning of prodigious changes that affected world history. Despite the revolution occurring mainly in France and lasting only twelve years, the effects ate still felt worldwide, with direct repercussions reaching from areas as far as North America. The effects of the revolution range from the spread of the metric system to the shift from absolutisms to republictism. The French Revolutionary government adopted the use of the metric system and it spread to other countries throughout the world. During the French resolution the French national flag changed from the fleur-de-lis to tri-color. This change affected many other national and ethic flags. A more significant effect of the French Revolution was the spread of French cultural by napoleon through the great French war. The great French war also allowed the spread of French fashion throughout Europe. Another effect of the revolution was a stronger, further centralized state with a larger more effective more intrusive administration. Also the abolition of dues owed by peasants to lords; internal tariffs and the establishment of a uniform tax system. It also affected the creation and extension of new civil rights like equality before the law, careers to open talent, and participation in elections based on property qualifications. It also effected political cultural. The formation of a revolutionary tradition centered on the belief that revolutions was a means for bringing progressive change and further excitation of popular participation and popular sovereignty. Overall the French revolution changed the face of France and affected the entire world in some form.
Works Cited
1 .History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013
2. Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Www.bounjourlafrance.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. .
Website
3. "Union County College Faculty Web Site." Union County College Faculty Web Site. N.p., 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013
4. The French Revolution." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013
5. Schwartz. "Mount Holyoke College." Mount Holyoke College. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
6. Andress, David (2006). The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-27341-3
7. "Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
8. "Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net." Tgv Reservation: Timetable, Maps and Tgv Tickets Reservation on Bonjourlafrance.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. .