Ap Euro Dbq French Revolution

In France during the French Revolution in 1787 to 1799 there were many struggles between the government and its people. King Louis xiv ruled under absolute monarchy and divine right, his actions angered the third estate sparking a revolution. The revolution lead to many changes and views in the world that stand even today.
In the economy with the taxing of France it only effected the third estate, the first and third estate weren’t touched by the government. Not only was the third estate the only taxed they were severely taxed. The third estate made up ninety eight percent of the population yet they only owned sixty five percent of land, also the commoners paid one hundred percent of taxes while nobles and clergy collected them (Doc. 2). Peasants

It involved the whole population of France and impacted everyone. The peasants fought for and received equal rights.Before the revolution, the peasants had little to no power within the government and were oppressed by the rich; this event helped put an end to this and significantly changed their lives. The country created a declaration similar to the colonies in North America, This document was called the Declaration of the rights of man. The first article states "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights."(Doc. 5). Slavery was abolished leaving equal rights for all except women. However, this revolution came with a price. Execution, emigration, violent deaths exile – these were some of the fates people, both peasant and nobles, met during the revolution. Robespierre was one of the first to power at the time, he created the Committee of Public Safety. This was the caused the reign of terror. Both nobles and peasants hid in fear from the spies, officers and even their own neighbors. Anyone accused of believing in monarchy was automatically sent to the guillotine, many were wrongly accused and executed (Doc. 6). Nobles did there best to flee the country to escape, king Louis tried but was

Napoleon impacted both Europe and the world in a number of ways. When thinking about Napoleon’s impact, we have to realize that he did not necessarily intend to have the impacts that he did. Napoleon had less of a direct impact. He did indirectly impact the Americas in important ways. When his armies conquered Spain and Portugal, they disrupted those countries’ ability to rule their colonies in Central and South America. This helped cause the wars of liberation in those areas in the 1800s. In addition, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States, thus making the US much larger and eventually much more powerful. The nationalism that Napoleon fostered also had its impact in other countries of the world, eventually leading many colonized countries to rebel against their colonial rulers (Doc.