French Revolution

A detailed Summary of French Revolution

Could the King have averted the revolution? If so how?

The king could have definitely averted the revolution and in a multitude of ways. The following essay will elaborate on how exactly he could have done so.

Firstly, one of the main long term causes of the revolution was the losing of respect and confidence in the government due to the individual personality of the king. If, from the start, the king had behaved in a dignified manner and took his duties seriously, most probably, the revolution could have been averted.

Louis XVI was very timid and refused to give constant support to his ministers’ (example: Turgot) reform plans. This led to a failure of making reforms over a long period of time and making the reforms only when an absolute crisis occurred. It was this sudden change that contributed to the revolution.

Not only that, the king could have discouraged the intriguing of certain ministers to bring others down, but instead adopted a ‘divide and rule’ policy, because he was weak. This undermining of fellow ministers is one of the factors led to Calonne failing in the Assembly of Notables, which le

Furthermore, at the meeting of the Estates-General, the king could have resolved the issue of whether to vote by head or by Estate, and could have hence gained control of the Estates-General meeting. Instead, he didn’t do anything and this culminated in the national Assembly being formed and the 3rd Estate taking the law into their own hands; which eventually led to the revolution.

At the end of the royal Session, the deputies refused to move. The king, as usual, in the face of opposition, allowed them to stay. After being confrontational, he was being irresolute again. At least if he had maintained his stand, the people might have respected his authority.

He was also supportive of feudal dues and privileges in his speech and also said that whatever the National Assembly had done until then was considered null and void. Had he given a more reasonable and less confrontational speech, a revolution could have been avoided.

He then threw the parlement in jail and drew up new laws to take away the ability of the parlement to obstruct justice. This again led the people to think that the king was being despotic and all ov

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Assembly, Duke Orleans, Estates-General Furthermore, Louis XVI, , Assembly Notables, revolution averted, royal session, national assembly, national assembly formed, causes revolution, assembly formed, parlement jail, king despotic, parlement probably, averted revolution, revolution king,

Approximate Word count = 764
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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French Revolution

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