Underlying Causes
Reasons How The Revolution Started
Social
France was a feudal country with class divisions, including the first division which was clergy . The clergy take care of the churches, monasteries and the education of France, they also do not pay taxes to the monarch and live luxurious. Then the second was nobility they are the second highest in the church and is involved in money such as finance, insurance, and manufacturing. The third was bourgeoisie also known as the common people. The first division was like an enemy and upset the lower divisions and they wanted change the system. This was one of the reasons the revolutions started. Ineffective Ruler The french people thought that King Louis XVI was a poor ruler because he did not follow his responsibilities as king. Instead he did what he wanted to do like go hunting, lock making and wrestling. He was very shy, lacked confidence and was immature. He was very easily to persuade at making laws, usually the last person he talked to could persuade him into making a law. These qualities made the King an ineffective ruler. Political The political cause of the revolution was the conflict between monarchy and nobility over the reform of the tax system. This lead to bankruptcy, hunger and an economic contraction in the society which lead to poverty. |
Leaders of the Revolutions
The leader of the French revolution was Maximilian Robespierre. Robespierre was born on May 6, 1758 in Araas, France and died on July 28, 1794 in Paris, France by guillotine. Robespierre was a french lawyer and politician. When Robespierre first met the king, he greeted the him with a Latin poem, but the king thought nothing of it. But, years later the young lawyer tried to kill the king. He sent letters, threatening the king and telling him about the Versailles that he created. The people in Versailles were going through a big economic collapse of bankruptcy at the time. The king decided to rise the price of flour. Bread was a staple in the peoples diets, but they couldn't afford it. A bag of flour would cost them a months pay. This has what sparked the revolution. People were furious at the king, and started to break into bakeries to steal bread and flour. After all the commotion, there was one man who spoke for the people. That man was Maximilian Robespierre. He never had a hair or phrase out of place. He spoke his mind for the people he represents, the 3rd estate. He spoke on many different occasions but all for the same reason, he wanted to discard all reminisce of the medieval era. His role in the revolution was creating the reign of terror. The reign of terror was to purge France of enemies of the revolution and to protect the country from foreign invaders. Maximilian Robespierre wasn't the only leader of the french revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte was also a leader after the revolution ended. Bonaparte was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Napoleon then rapidly rose through the ranks of military from captain, to commander and then general during the french revolution (1789-1799).After seizing political power in France in 1799 coup d'etat, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. He invaded almost every country in Europe and started dozens of wars that costed millions of lives. But when he started losing the wars, his enemies closed in, the french got fed up and handed him into the English. Then he got sent to St. Helena a very small island far away from France. Napoleon lived there for 7 years under guard, then died at the age of 51. Even though Napoleon was small in structure he left behind a huge legacy. He brought an end to Frances post revolution chaos, he re built Paris to a beautiful city full of parks and boulevards, he founded the french banking system and created a fair modern legal code that's still in place today.