The French Revolution 2
Initially, when it is thought that a change is needed within a system,an attempt is made for peaceful reform; this ultimately fails as a result of people's greed outlasting their patience to settle things equitably. When both parties are motivated by self gain, it is the basest of human nature to fight to the bitter, bloody end for what they believe in and see as just. During the French Revolution for example, King Louis XlV brought the Assembly of Notables together in 1787 for peaceful talks of reform to minimize the national debt. This was rejected so the king turned to the Estates General for answers to the many problems plaguing the nation.This may have worked provided the Estates General did not have any problems of their own, but this was not the case. The institution consisted of the three estates, giving each estate one vote. This appears to be fair, but since the first and second estates voted almost always together, the third estate was consistently outnumbered. This was even more unjust because the third estate represented 96% of the population. For obvious reasons, the Estates General was of no help to the king and in fact gave him another problem to deal with. As a result of the inequalities that existed between the f
the "September Massacre" which in total yielded around 5 000 casualties. Around this time executions were starting to become popular, and under the leadership of the Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, there was even more unnecessary blood shed. During the period between the summers of 1793 and 1794, close to 25 000 people were executed on the guillotine. This period became known as the Reign of Terror. This was the event that made the people realize that there was too much violence going on and too many senseless killings. All wars or revolutions ultimately must come to an end, and although not all proposed changes had been instituted, the country's safety It seems that whenever talking and peaceful means of reform fail, vowing not to disband until the kingdom was "fixed upon firm foundations." Still, there was no violence or talk of blood shed, in fact this was not the goal of the National Assembly what so ever. Their aims were not to destroy the monarchy, but to reform it. revolution and the Paris extremists were firmly in control. On the night of June 21, 1791, Louis and his family fled Paris to Varennes, where they were captured and brought back to Paris. As a result of his actions, the people lost any loyalty they had left for him and his life was as good as over; his
Some common words found in the essay are:
Reign Terror, Assembly Notables, National Assembly, , Paris Varennes, Maximilien Robespierre, Assembly France, September Massacre, Austria Prussia, Versailles Paris, blood shed, third estate, national assembly, human nature, king louis,
Approximate Word count = 872
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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