the underlining reasons for the french revolution
The French Revolution is known as one of the bloodiest revolutions in all of history, it claimed the lives of thousands of Frenchmen. The question that remains to be answered is, what was the cause for all this carnage?? It was during the years of 1789-1795 that turmoil arose and an outcry came from France, and in place of one of the oldest civilizations stood a new one filled with uncertainty, and the need to reform and build what remained of France. To reflect upon the reasons as to why such a revolution occurred, one must focus upon the main aspects troubling the country and it's people at this time. A society so great that the problems accumulating before their very eyes were ignored. France had fallen beneath it's own weight; it was in debt and dearly bankrupt, yet still wars were fought and increasingly the people of France (the peasants) were subjected to various taxes. Droughts and natural disasters left the people desperate for food, while landowners, and nobility taxed them heavily. The country was in recession and the growing thoughts based on equality and a society run for the benefit of all, surfaced during the pre-post revolutionary years in France. This disturbance in France, drew closed a chapter in French
Louis XVI intended to propose to the nobility that they must pay taxes in order to create equality among the people. This was Louis's main purpose in calling the Estates General, and he avoided conveying this notion to the three estates that all thought their grievances were to be heard at this meeting. The Estates General were to meet at Versailles May 5, 1789 with great enthusiasm from all estates, particularly the third estate who had with them les cahiers de doleances which they hoped to bring light upon at this meeting. Louis XVI warmly greeted the Estates General with the opening speech "Sirs, this day that my heart awaited since a long time has finally arrived and I see myself surrounded by the representatives of the nation that I am honored to command." This was then followed by Louis's main purpose in having called the meeting, "The debt of the state, already immense on my coming to the throne, has accumulated during my reign...The increase in the tax has been unavoidable result and has been rendered more painfully their unequal distribution." Until this point the Nobles and Clergy were never been directly taxed, leaving only those of the lower classes to pay the taxes, obviously this came as a shock, and was then preceded by the following, "A general anxiousness in and an exaggerated desire for change, have taken over the public mind...if we didn't hasten to stabilize it. It is with my confidence, gentlemen, which I have gather you tighter...(for) the first two orders to renounce their financial privileges." This was Louis's way of balancing the inequality placed on the lower classes that paid 70 percent of the taxes. Another problem soon rose as the first two estates wished to vote on the matter, his brought about opposition as the Third Estate wanted to vote by head, rather than by order, so that the issues concerning the poverty and inequality might not go unheard, if voted individually then the two other estates might vote against it, two to one. The result of the calling the Estates General were many unsatisfied people, particularly the Third Estate, who on June 20th, 1789 found the door of the Hotel des Menus locked, a meeting had been called here to sort out the conflict between the three estates, the third estate then found a tennis court where they took the "Tennis Court Oath." Copyright 1989 Oxford University Press, New York. http://margaux.ipt.univ-paris8.fr/droit.html#declaration Declaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen, Louis can be seen as the figure that had caused the revolution to occur, but it was not completely his fault. Louis XVI had inherited the throne after the death of his father and older brother. The country Louis had come to be ruler of had many problems that would soon become more evident and prominent during his reign. It can be argued that Louis was responsible for the revolution and had he handled things differently the outcome might have been another one (he might have kept his head). The truth is Louis was not set out to be a good ruler, he had inherited the throne by default, and when faced with chaos and a starving country in dire need for help a poor ruler hasn't the ability to maintain peace let alone stabilize a country. Thus after years of repression, the anger of a people rose and accumulated, until through a revolution all the burdens and inequalities that had long existed were put to a rest leaving a country stained in blood. From this blood rose a new country one, which tried to embody all that, had been fought for in the French Revolution, and though it had abolished some things from the ancien regime it had created new problems that can be reflected in the works of the late eighteenth century novels. Whatever the case on the 14th of June the people took the Invalids, the Bastille, and beheaded the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the latter, and Prevost des Marchands. From there on in the destruction and carnage which entaile
Some common words found in the essay are:
Louis XVI, French Revolution, National Assembly, Citoyen August, War Independence, Arthur English, Austria Holland, Forcing Free, Court Oath, Nobles Clergy, french revolution, louis xvi, people france, third estate, tennis court, pay taxes, revolution copyright, french revolution copyright, ideas enlightenment, court oath, found themselves, tennis court oath, declaration des droits, des droits de, nobility pay taxes,
Approximate Word count = 3702
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)
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