School Writing

French Revolution Essay

Since long ago, terror and war have existed in this world, affecting people on how they act socially, mentally, emotionally, and physically. War has been in this world, ever since colonies of people begun to form empires, and then, expand those empires, creating strong armies. Three empires that lasted for many years include the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire- an empire that lasted almost up to the present day, had it not fallen. One specific time, in which people were affected the most, was in the French Revolution- and even more specifically, the Reign of Terror.

The French Revolution started because of one main reason. Over taxation was caused by only the third estate getting charged with taxes, because the first, and second estate were "special." The estate essentially tried to make all taxations fair and equal within all three estates, but in the end, with a two-thirds vote, it was denied- the one-third of the vote being the third estate being for the taxation over all estates, and the rest against. This caused for the third estate, or the peasants, to be extremely stressed to the point where they don't even worry about living, but they only worry about getting the taxes paid. In document 3, it states that a woman was so stressed about getting those taxes paid, that she was exhausted, and so, so very poor. Any animals she had with her husband were unhealthy, and she didn't even have the money to get any others. They were taxed both by the king and by the first or second estate. This caused the first and second estate to be very wealthy, while the entire rest of the population (96-97%) lived in complete misery and poverty as seen in document 2. The woman's back was bent from labor, and she was so wrinkled and tired looking that she seemed to be in her sixties or seventies. This, however, was not the case, as she was only twenty-eight. What was one reason for the dissatisfied lives of the third estate? As stated before, they were so focused on getting all the taxes paid to get by, that they were weary, and had no money to really provide for themselves. This is extremely important, as the people no longer had any reason for enjoyment, didn't even bother to do anything other than work and rest when they only if it was one hundred percent necessary, and even then, probably not. This could have happened somewhere else in the world, bringing another country down, but it didn't. So it's best to learn about the past on how the people were treated, so people can now learn over, and over, and over, throughout generations to not make the same mistakes as France had.

During the Reign of Terror, fewer people certainly lived in poverty, however that doesn't mean it was any better whatsoever. Throughout the Reign of Terror, Robespierre was acknowledged as powerful, and to be feared. This was for a very good reason. In document six some people were released from prison. The people throughout Paris, and even possibly the entire country of France, were scared. The flood drains were full of both guilty and innocent blood, mixed together without justice. People were scared to talk, to socialize, and they were often arrested just for seeming suspicious, or dangerous. So many people, innocent or guilty were kept in prison during the Reign of Terror. Not only were the prisons practically a death sentence for most people, but the people inside were tortured, and it also served as a storage house for some weapons, and gunpowder (OI). In the second stage of the revolution, before the Reign of terror, the people raided the prison to show the king at the time (who attempted to flee the country) that they didn't want to be oppressed anymore, even if he was chosen by God. Considering how poor the third estate was, that they had no positions in power or office, they learned that the majority could actually win over power. This helped them show others that the king shouldn't be choosing people he's friends with or just the people of the first and second estate for positions in power. Rather, he should choose people by the ability they have in that area.(Document 1, OI). As the king fled the country, that was a large indication that the third estate had gotten what they wanted, and so they started to form new rules, and laws that they had previously been asking for over, and over. One of these things was for all men to be created equally, and all had the same rules. This actually redefined the relationship between the king and the estates (prior to his attempt to flee) in multiple ways. Two of these being, that he is now considered equal, and not of higher rank. He still had his throne and crown, but because the people didn't want the oppressiveness, they refused to obey many of his orders. Another way, that the third estate previously redefined the relationship is that the king is no longer the judge, jury, editor, censor, and so forth. They had asked for the freedom to write and speak as they pleased (Document 5). This is important because the people learned that they have power, and this helped create the more modern society we have now all over the world. Granted, here and there, there are still places that still choose friends or people who will boost the popularity of the company, but it has gotten better than it previously was in the time of the French Revolution.

Before the reign of terror, the third estate pleaded multiple times to have laws changed. They had written a list of grievances, and the king rejected them. The people then decided they would fight back for what they wanted and decided to hold meetings. However, in the end, they were forced to meet in an indoor tennis court. On that day, the people wrote about the laws they wanted(as stated in the last paragraph), and continued with the revolution up to the point of Napoleon. Napoleon became the ruler of France after Robespierre had been beheaded (the same way he had beheaded so many others) and had both positive, and negative influences on France. The negatives consisted of things such as; he'd re-established slavery in France when it had been demolished previously, limited some of the rights once again, and put the woman back on the lower ranking powers. Meaning, they, once again, we're working at home and taking care of the house. Of course, however, before Napoleon became in charge, people weren't sure what to do and started to become out of control once more, with no laws in place. Napoleon, before he was banished, and imprisoned, he helped build up the government once more. However, the government was still quite weak, as it had not been able to fix all the mistakes of the French Revolution. Many things in the revolution, were quite inspiring, and good, but the thousands of people killed in those long months, left a large scar (Document 8, OI).

Since long ago, terror and war have existed in this world, affecting the way people have acted. War has been in this world for so long, and even still, is around, affecting millions of lives. In the past, many changes occurred from empires and kingdoms in revolutions. The Scientific Revolution, the American Revolution, and so forth. A specific time, in which people were affected greatly and even killed in a large number of numbers, was in the French Revolution, in which was also greatly influenced by the enlightenment thinkers.