French Revolution Research Paper

1300 Words6 Pages
In the midst of darkness, the people of France saw a beacon of hope when The Enlightenment gave them a glimpse of how great their life could be. The Enlightenment was a collection of ideas from various philosophers in Europe made to question old views of society and use reason to create a better society. The Enlightenment ideas focused on the people and their needs, prompting for governments to protect their basic rights to liberty, life, and equality. At the time, France was suffering under the weak leadership of King Louis XVI. In addition, there was bad blood between the three estates (the clergy, nobility, and everyone else) as the top two estates held the most power, despite only making up three percent of the population. Fed up with the…show more content…
During the revolution, the famine created an impoverished nation which most deeply affected the poor, working class. There was a rumor that the king was throwing a lavish party in the palace and violence erupted as angered women stormed the palace at Versailles, crying for the blood of the royals. Although they did not kill the king or the queen, they killed many of the guards and nobles in the palace during what became known as the “Women’s March.” Not long after the march, the king was executed, creating more chaos in France. With no king in power, Maximilien Robespierre, a representative for the third estate, took control of the revolution. The revolution was unstable and Robespierre and his men felt threatened by the anti-revolutionaries. This fear drove them to commit mass beheadings in a period called the Reign of Terror, killing all who dared to oppose them. Numerous people lost their lives during this time and many turned against each other. Anyone even suspected of being a traitor was immediately killed which was against the enlightened idea of giving everyone a right to live. These incidents were a frightening aspect of the French Revolution that showed how far from enlightened the revolution was. People wholly disregarded the lives of others during this time, causing the failure to achieve an enlightened…show more content…
When the National Assembly finally gained power by suppressing the king’s ability to make all the rules, they wrote a constitution titled the “Declaration of the Rights of Man.” The constitution was created solely for free men and failed to mention women who play a key role in society. Failing to give them equal rights marked a failure of the French Revolution. Similarly, slavery was seen as a necessity because they were an important source of income and the people of France feared losing their slaves. The incapability to free the slaves and give them the same rights and treatment diminished the hope for a social change through the revolution. In contrast to the social inequality, the guillotine promoted equality because everyone, no matter how rich or poor, was killed in the same, quick way. However, the guillotine, though an enlightened idea, was used for the mass killing of thousands of innocent people. The people of France took advantage of the guillotine to instill fear, which failed to grant everyone equality, because those who opposed the revolution were not treated
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