French Revolution Nationalism

The spread of ideas of democracy and nationalism were very important for the French Revolution to take place. There were 5 main causes and it happened in different stages. The population of Europe in the end of 1700 was divided into a very wealthy minority of about 3% and a poor majority of about 97%. The rich people did not care very much about the poor. This inequality created a lot of discontentment in the population while the clergy and nobles lived enjoying their wealth. The King and the Queen ruled for the rich and forgot about the poor. The bourgeoisie and the merchants struggled to survive, paid high taxes and had no quality of life. This revolted the majority of people who fought for their rights and changed France ever since.

In 1789,

Philosophers influenced with new thoughts. The English philosopher John Locke impacted with his ideas about the natural rights, which are the rights of the human being outside of law. The french thinker Montesquieu published “The Spirit Of Loss” which was a book that talked about how the government should be. He was responsible for the discussion about separating the government into three power: legislative, executive, and judicial. Another influential philosopher was the french Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote the Bill Of Rights. It protected the people's right from the government. These new ideas influenced in the French Revolution just like other revolutions did too. In 1776 the American revolution took place and inspired the French people. The British colonies in the America’s declared their independence from the English Court and the lower class in France saw the possibility of throwing down the French

It started with the Tennis Court Oath. The third estate declared themselves a group called The National Assembly and they had a meeting in a tennis court making an oath to stick together until they achieved their goal. They kept meetings going on and sometimes they had violent rebellions to show the king they were not satisfied. This group went to Bastille to try to get weapons. Then the Great Fear took place where the revolutionary ideas were spreading and bringing fear all around Europe. Many peasants were revolted because of the many years of inequality and exploration of the government. They made riots and strikes and fought for more equal rights. A radical called Maximilian Robespierre, which is opposite of the French King, decapitated many nobles. This was the Reign Of Terror. After this, an era of more moderation finally started. Because of the weak and inefficient government the general Napoleon Bonaparte took over the power. The Emperor had good ideas about human rights and invested the money of France with it’s population. He made railroads and public schools for the poor. Now everybody had food, money and education. But in 1805 he was defeated in the battle of