NARENDRAN SARIAM

YALE
FRENCH PROJECT

THE F RE NCH
REVOLUTION

April 9 , 2008 th

The French Revolution was a period in time during which France, previously

an absolute monarchy, under went radical changes and became a republic. During
this time many men sacrificed their time and effort to make this a possibility.

People like Robespierre gave their lives in order for the French Republic to be

born. Another cause of the French Revolution is the Enlightenment. The

enlightenment gave the common people a sense of support and reinforced the

belief that kings were not chosen by God but by the people. The women at this

time also played a very important role.

One of the causes of the French Revolution was the Enlightenment. The

Enlightenment was a period in history during which people began thinking out of

the box. Up till this point people believed that everything happened according to

the will of God alone. Now people had begun experimenting with chemistry,

biology, mathematics and physics. Until this point people also believed in the

Divine Rights of Kings which says that the king is chosen by God and has absolute

power. People now, began to believe this to be false. This supported them to raise

a revolution against King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

King Louis was a very kind man but he was raised in the confines of the

palace and knew very little about the common people when he ascended the

throne. When he married to Marie Antoinette in the April of 1770, he was clueless

as to how to run the country and as to how to use the money he had just received

from Marie's family. So he decided to use it to patronize art. This was not taken

well by the people. In 1789 King Louis really went over the line. He had begun

inviting his aristocratic friends and having parties while outside the peasants were

facing the harsh effects of a terrible winter that had ruined all their crops. At one

point there was no bread in Paris and the commoners complained. The attendant

told the queen about the complains and she said, “If they have no bread then let
them eat cake.” She never really said this but this is a dialog that shows how

ignorant she was.

Meanwhile Maximilien Robespierre, born 7th May, 1758, was giving speeches

in the assemblies representing the People. He wanted the aristocratic people to

be beheaded by the guillotine. Once the had been gotten rid of he moved on to

killing anyone who went against his policies. He believed himself to be

unstoppable and people in turn believed him to be incorruptible. But unfortunately

he was corrupted. In fact when King Louis was tried for treason Robespierre

argued for the king to be a thrown to the guillotines. He had it his way in the end.

It is because of his accomplishments as an orator that this period is called the

Terror because of the number of people it killed. Robespierre added to the Terror

by executing 600 people in a month within Pairs alone. With this bloodshed the

Great Terror was born and Robespierre would end it by literally paying the price of

his head.

Once the King lost his head to the guillotines, the People formed something

called the National Constituent. This was like a parliament where the people had

the representatives debate on stuff. Originally this was under Robespierre before

his death. All these representatives wrote the first constitution called 'le droit de

l'homme' . It was signed by all the representatives under Robespierre.

Another important figure in the French Revolution was Jean-Paul Marat, a

significant figure. He was a scientist, philosopher and political theorist. He is best

know as the radical journalist that printed a free newspaper outlining the present

situation of the government. He was in fact a supporter of Robespierre. He said,

"To ensure public tranquility, two hundred and seventy thousand heads more
should fall." This was one of the reason he was assassinated. But overall he was

the main source of political information available to the People.

At this time there were two sides in the National Conventional, the Girondins

led by Danton and the Jacobins led by Jean-Pierre Brissot. When the Convention

found out about the paper the Marat was publishing, they called him in for trial

and the Jacobins wanted his head while the Girondins defended him. Some

historians describe Danton as the 'chief force that led to the overthrow of the

Monarchy.'

Another factor of the French Revolution were the women. Women

participated in virtually every aspect of the French Revolution, but their

participation almost always proved controversial. Women's status in the family,

society, and politics had long been a subject of polemics. In the eighteenth

century, those who favored improving the status of women insisted primarily on

women's right to an education (rather than on the right to vote, for instance,

which few men enjoyed). The writers of the Enlightenment most often took a

traditional stance on "the women question"; they viewed women as biologically

and therefore socially different from men, destined to play domestic roles inside

the family rather than public, political ones. Among the many writers of the

Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau published the most influential works on

the subject of women's role in society. In his book Emile, he described his vision of

an ideal education for women. Women should take an active role in the family,

Rousseau insisted, by breast-feeding and educating their children, but they should

not venture to take active positions outside the home. Rousseau's writings on

education electrified his audience, both male and female. He advocated greater
independence and autonomy for male children and emphasized the importance of

mothers in bringing up children. But many women objected to his insistence that

women did not need serious intellectual preparation for life. Some women took

their pleas for education into the press.

Overall I think that the French Revolution was a total failure because one

person. After shedding the blood of nearly 16000 people to get rid of the

monarchy, the French ended up having a king anyways. Napoleon Bonaparte was

a General during the French Revolution. After he was crowned king of France, he

made many successful campaigns and regained the glory France had lost under

King Louis XVI.