French Revolution in 1789

French Revolution in 1789

French revolution period was a critical step in laying the foundation to the modern European history that began in the year 1789 and ended in the late 1790s. The revolution contributed to significant reforms in both political, social, and economic upheaval in France and its colonies. The revolution changed the old system of governance in France to the new system of governance. Also, the revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a republic, which catalyzed long periods of political violence in the country. Finally, the dictatorship was established under Napoleon who brought many principles and dictatorial culture to the areas he conquered in Western Europe and beyond. The causes of the French revolution were similar to causes of revolutions of the other countries of the West by then. In particular, the roots of the French revolution of 1789 explains why this revolution was the most significant of all the other revolutions the West had ever experienced. Several researchers and authors still differ in their arguments on what were the major causes of the revolution in France of 1789. France had participated in the past revolution in America, and therefore participation of France in the American Revolution is one of the factors which would have fueled the French revolution. Both the French revolution and the American Revolution have a lot of similarities. There are also some differences, which exist between the French revolution and the American revolution. Different philosophers have published papers on the factors which led to the French revolution of 1789 and the impact of the revolution in the country. To understand the French revolution in particular, then there is a need to first know the causes of the revolution and then to analyze the effects of the revolution to the citizens of France. The French revolution in 1789 was one of the important events experienced in the country which was both constructive and destructive. The need of social equality and economic stability influenced the French citizens to demand major reforms.

The causes of the French revolution were common to all the other revolutions in the Western countries in 1970s. However, the French revolution was more violent and had much significance to the state as compared to other revolutions. One of the major causes of the French revolution of 1789 was the social structure of the West. The feudal regime, which had ruled Europe for several centuries where a citizen had no free ownership of their land had been weakened step by step (Petit-Dutaillis,N/A). Full ownership of property was a factor which led to citizen’s quest for major reforms. The professionals, manufacturers, and merchants in the European countries where the feudal regime had been weakened including France were craving for political power to achieve economic developments and the growth of the country. The merchants and professionals in France had attained improved standards of living due to the weakening of the feudal regime, and therefore, they needed to have the ownership and control over their land.

Increased population in France was also one of the significant factors, which led to the French revolution of 1789. Due to the weakening of the feudal regime, people acquired improved standards of living, which included better education facilities and better healthcare facilities. Improvement in the medical facilities reduced the mortality rate by a high number. With the low mortality rate, then definitely the population in the country had to shoot up. The population had doubled, which saw France become the most populated country in Europe by then. The increase in population came with the demand for an increase in food production and consumer goods because with a large population, then more amount of food was required. The people of France thought that with the current organization of the country, the food crisis and country’s economy would not come to an end and therefore they wanted social, political, and more critical the economic reforms. The France intellectuals whose writings inspired the need for changes were motivated by 17th-century theorists such as Descartes and Locke (Lefebvre,19). However, these French philosophers had different ideas on the social, economic and political reforms required in France. The philosophers then decided the revolution will be necessary by applying the concepts of Montesquieu, Voltaire, or Rousseau. The philosophers then spread the need for the reforms to the French citizens and the change now seemed to be inevitable.

The French revolution would not have come without the added political crisis in Europe. Europe had spent a considerable amount of capital during the 18th century on war, and now the rulers of Europe wanted to raise money by imposing high taxes on European countries. France has been the largest country in Europe was being forced to pay a large amount of money to the European rulers. Taxation of Americans by the Britain had caused the American Revolution where America refused to pay the taxes which were then imposed by the king of Great Britain (Tilly,1758). The monarchs tried to stop this aristocracy behavior by the European rulers where the monarchs had termed the European rulers as the enlightened despots, and therefore this kind of resistance between France and the European rulers contributed to the French revolution of 1789 (Popkin,416). France was almost becoming bankrupt because of this tax system, and therefore they required a quick change and this change was the French revolution.

France involvement in the American Revolution was also another factor, which led to the French revolution in different ways. France had suffered bitter defeat and lost land to British empire recent years before the start of the American revolution. Therefore, when France authorities learned that America was in war with Britain during the American revolution, then, France decided to favor the American side over the British team. The involvement of France in the American Revolution started in the year 1775 when France secretly shipped some supplies to the American Army. In 1778, France again aided the American revolution process by supplying America with money and other materials to be used in the war against the British. During the war, French was also involved in the supply of French gunpowder and powerful field guns which helped the Americans to defeat Britain in the cause of the American revolution. This involvement of France in the American war made France spent several billions of money, and the country was also in the glimpse of been declared bankrupt. This situation of France being involved in the American revolution, which left the country in the brink of bankruptcy led to the need for significant reform.

Social inequality contributed to the French revolution. The France population was about twenty-six million and out of this, twenty-one millions of France citizens were a peasant who dependent on Agriculture. The peasants who used to work on large farms as laborers had no enough land for their family and they also lacked enough resources to provide the basic family needs. The peasants were also forced to pay taxes in spite of their low income. Also, the peasants were also obliged to pay tithes from their small salaries to the local churches. The local church leaders and bishops were members of the nobility, and therefore the church members had to pay tithes. The gap between the rich and the poor who were commonly referred to as the nobles had grown too much and the peasants demanded a change. Different regions of the country used to pay various taxes, and therefore there was the need for reforms to ensure that there was equality in France. The members of the community and the French philosophers disliked the nobility hence driving the need of a revolution to end the nobility system.

The French citizens had acquired a lot of enlightenment ideas from the intellectual class and also from the French philosophers. The American revolutionaries had also shared a lot of ideas to the intellectual class of France on the process of revolution. Also, the French philosophers were free to consult Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who were living in Paris by then about the process of revolution (Meyer,817). The France citizens also realized the advantage of a country to be governed by one government as America was progressing quickly immediately after the American revolution. The peasants had been enlightened on the need of the reforms, and therefore they were ready to receive the revolution. This lead the intellectual class and the French philosophers to be motivated to initiate the revolution because they were aware that they would have the greatest country’s support.

France was one of the most powerful countries in Europe, and therefore its members were confident that they had enough resources and all that it takes to undergo a revolution. Of Europe’s 178 million people France had an estimated population of 28 million people, and only Imperial Russia had a higher population than France of 40 million people in the whole of Europe. Also, France boasted of having the most significant number of male peasants in Europe. France was also the most urbanized country in Europe has the most cities in Europe. There was failure crop production in France in the year 1788, and the France leaders thought that the failure in crop production would lower their status in Europe one of the great countries. To keep their status in Europe then France had to undergo a revolution to improve its ability in crop production.

The system of administration in France led to the failure of many simple reforms. The country was divided into several regions where each region had a different form of governance. Different areas had different tax rates and also different methods of collecting taxes. The royal ministers realized that France government had to raise money to maintain their position in Europe. The only way the government would raise the money is by increasing the tax rates. The king had no control over the collection of the taxes as each region had its methods of taxation. Due to this complexity of the administration system, this reform of collecting more money through an increase in taxes could not be implemented. The failure of these simple reforms, therefore, brought the need for major reform in France and that is the French revolution of 1789.

With all those described causes, then the need for change in France was now inevitable and the time for the revolution had now come. On July 14, 1789, there was the storming of the Bastille which was termed as the inaugural moment for the major revolution and series of events to follow (Hanson,1276). Thousands of France members including artisans and laborers assaulted the Bastille de Saint – Antoine and they released many prisoners who were being held there for different offenses. The masses of citizens sent a message to forces about there the start of the social revolution, and they were ready for it. Several events including periods of war and violence took place and late 1790s when the revolution came to an end.

The French revolution is referred to as one of the most critical events in human history. The revolution was both constructive and destructive, but analysis shows that the revolution had more advantages to the history of France than the disadvantages. The French revolution brought a lot of changes in the country and also to entire Europe. One of the significant impacts brought by the French revolution is that people were in other countries in Europe were enlightened on revolutionary ideas. During the revolutionary period in France, the monarchs in Europe were disturbed because they feared that the idea of local people to organize and raise against monarchy would spread to the other countries in Europe. Citizens on the other countries in Europe were enlightened on this idea of revolution, and they realized that they had the power to bring reforms in their own countries. After the French revolution, Russia Italy and Australia people used the French revolutionary idea to bring revolutions in their own countries.

French revolution resulted in the establishment of the Republic of France which saw France shape its politics, society, religion, and this was one of the significant achievements of the revolution. After the revolution a government was established, and Napoleon became the leader of the new formed government(Woolf,1045).  Before this revolution, people voice would not be heard because the king was the overall and he made decisions which would suit him but not the people. The nobilities misused the local people, and local people were being overtaxed before this revolution. After the revolution, the nobility lost power; their land was taken and returned to the owners, the church bishops, farmlands and judges were now being elected by people, and the military power was now under the hands of revolutionary National Guard. Therefore, the revolution was much important event for the people of France because after the revolution people’s voice would be heard. From the social point of view, the French revolution eliminated the feudal regime from the country and people would now get ownership of their land and leave with freedom. On the other side, the revolution resulted in the death of several French men during the war. Also, a significant number of French citizens migrated to the neighboring countries to seek refuge for fear.

The revolution in France established social equality in the country and also the standards of living for people improved. The country was now being ruled by the national government and it equally distributed resources to all parts of the country. Social amenities such as schools and hospitals were constructed in all the parts of the country, and this led to improved standards of living. The ability to have an education to all the people led to more research in the field of agriculture, and the country’s crop production increased. After the revolution peace prevailed the entire country and people were able to engage in businesses which saw the country’s economy grow.

The French revolution and the American revolution had several similarities. However, there were also differences between the two revolutions (arrow,415). One similarity between the French and the American revolution is that in both cases the people wanted freedom and equality. For the American Revolution, people wanted to have liberty over being taxed by Great Britain. This was a similar case for the French revolution where people wanted to have freedom from the French monarchy. Although the two revolution schemes were catalyzed by the same reasons, some outcomes of the French revolution and the American revolution were different. The result of the American revolution is that Americans attained independence over Great Britain while for the French revolution, the French monarchy was overpowered.

Generally, the French revolution was a critical event for the country because after the revolution the voice of the people would now be heard. The nobles lost their titles after the revolution and equality among all the citizens was restored after the revolution. The feudal regime was also abolished, and people’s freedom was restored. The French revolution had a great significance to the country and also to entire Europe. French revolution resulted to revolutions in some other countries in Europe by enlightening the other countries on the revolutionary ideas. One destructive impact of the French revolution was the immigration of people to other countries for safety of their lives during the revolution period. The revolution led about major reforms in the country’s agricultural sector hence resulting to increase in food production. The involvement of France in the American revolution was one of the major factors, which contributed to the French revolution.

WORK CITED

arrow, Sidney. ” “The People Maybe: Opening the Civil Rights Revolution to Social Movements.” Tulsa L. Rev. 50 ):.” ( 2014): 415.

Hanson, Paul R. ” Historical dictionary of the French Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield,.” ( 2015.).

Lefebvre, Georges. ” The coming of the French Revolution. Princeton University Press, .” (2015.): vol. 19.

Meyer, Donald Harvey. ” The democratic enlightenment. Putnam, .” (1976.).

Petit-Dutaillis, Charles. “The Feudal Monarchy in France and England. Routledge,.” ( 2013).

Popkin, Jeremy D. “A Short History of the French Revolution (Subscription). Routledge, .” (2016).

Tilly, Charles. “Popular Contention in Great Britain. Routledge, .” (2015): 1758-1834.

Woolf, Stuart. ” Napoleon’s integration of Europe. Routledge.” (2002).