FRENCH REVOLUTION 4
Essay Question: The French Revolution
There have been moments in history that have profoundly changed the course of world events, and the French Revolution is one of the most important. The overthrow of an oppressive monarchy by champions of freedom and democracy after many centuries of feudal rule and classism became an instant symbol of the eternal fight for liberty. The Revolution had numerous specific effects on history, three or more of which will be discussed here.
First, the French Revolution had a great effect upon contemporaries in Europe. The goal of the triumphant rebels was to build government from the ground up, substituting reason and equal rights for tradition and privilege. The poet Wordsworth visited France
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Freedom fighters came to hearken back to 1789 and even adopted names, ways of speaking, and rituals from the period, and produced songs, poems, music, and art celebrating the new ideals and the overthrow of the terrible old regime. The Americans, though their revolution had predated the French and had been to a great extent a model for it, were strongly influenced by the French Revolution, which reinforced their own new form of government and strengthened their alliance against Britain. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen borrowed significantly from the U.S. Bill of Rights. Most Americans were generally for the Revolution, though that was weakened by all the executions and the Reign of Terror. There was a big split in the U.S. between those who supported and opposed the events of 1789. In the coming years, the Americans soured to the new French government, partially due to border and land …show more content…
Because the control went from Lafayette to Robespierre to Napoleon, it shows how the highest ideals and intentions pursued through violence led finally to the ruthless and autocratic rule of a dictator. This was a lesson for modern revolutionaries who might believe that nothing can corrupt their dream, to ask questions such as: Do revolutions always start with idealism and end in corruption? These are arguments that political activists and scholars debate even today. While some thinkers merely denounced the French government for erecting guillotines across the country and striking terror into its citizens, others such as the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel developed theories of history out of