French Revolution Causes

In 1789 the French Revolution began with King Louis XVI being the king of France. Before the revolution began there were many problems within the country of France. There was a brutal winter which made the lands bad which caused a shortage of crops like wheat. Bread was a staple food in most homes and when the flour got expensive so did the bread. The cost of bread rose so high that it equalled a month’s earning. In addition to this there was an increase of robbery and crime. The economy fell. There were many causes such as King Louis spending an enormous amount of the budget on the palace of Versaille and the fact that the first and second estates did not have to pay taxes. France had an estate system with clergy members being in the first,

King Louis XVI was the ruler at the start of the revolution. The French Republic was created at the National Convention in September 1792. This eliminated the absolute monarchy but to make it official the revolutionaries decided to execute the king by guillotine. “The execution of the king created new enemies for the revolution, both at home and abroad” (Spielvogel). This quote shows the destruction this had on France. By 1795 the French created the Directory. It was a five man directory and a two house legislature which was elected by male citizens. In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte participated in a coup d'etat which is a sudden overthrow of the government. “Although theoretically it was a republic, in fact Napoleon held absolute power” (Spielvogel). This shows that France traded in a absolute ruler for another absolute ruler. While France technically got rid of their absolute government gaining it back would not count as them achieving their goal. For example. If someone has a dirty shirt and they wash it yet it gets dirty again, is the shirt still dirty? Yes. Therefore, the French Revolution failed to attain its goal of forming a new non absolute

In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen the freedom of religion is granted. “No one should be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not trouble the public order as established by law” (Declaration of the Rights). This quote demonstrates that the people with different religious belief should not be disturbed. Yet, in 1793 the government dechristianized France. This meant street signs with saint would be changed and any thing involving Christianity would be removed. The calendar was changed with each week having 10 days so that no one would know when to go to church. Each day had 10 hours, each hour had 100 minutes, and each minute had 100 seconds. “The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man; every citizen can then speak, write, and print freely, save for the responsibility for the abuse of this liberty in the cases determined by law.” (Declaration of the Rights). This quote portrays that the freedom of speech and press is the most important of all. Napoleon restricted freedom of speech and the press. He shut down 60 of France’s 73 newspapers. Consequently, the goal of freedom of religion, speech, and press were not