How Did The French Revolution Contribute To The Enlightenment

Napoleon once said, “If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.” It seemed that he was quite good at following his word as he disappointed the Enlightenment ideas that he promised to follow. The French Revolution was a conflict for equality and new ideas between the lowest social class and the nobility which lasted for ten years from 1789 to 1799. The war mainly stemmed from new ideas that the Enlightenment inspired discussing the natural rights of man. After the bulk of the fighting and political shifts of the French Revolution, Napoleon came to power through his military prowess. Napoleon ruled for nearly 15 years deeming his empire as the outcome of the war. The outcome of the French Revolution disappointed

The third estate in France was considered the lowest and largest class, so there was an educated and uneducated population within the third estate (“French Revolution”). The knowledgeable part of the third estate could read and were advocates for many new ideas from the age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a period of time when many authors such as Rousseau or Voltaire wrote radical ideas based on the assumption that all men should have the same rights. This fueled the Enlightenment as according to Gale the Enlightenment “Inspired both the French Revolution and the American Revolution” (“Enlightenment”). Towards the end of the French Revolution, Napoleon had a series of successful military campaigns which led France to economic prosperity. This led him to “declare himself emperor of France in 1804” (“French Revolution”). Napoleon’s rise to power was the last major turning point in the Revolution and can therefore be accepted as the outcome of the French

The government not being tied to religion meant that the citizens of France would be able to practice whatever faith they would like without scrutiny. The Catholic Church heavily opposed this as at the time it was the main church in the country, meaning that all the citizens of France would have to be Catholic (Cessner 14). The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was a document written in 1789 by revolutionaries. A pushing idea of the document was "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views" (National Assembly of France). In today's terms, this means that the nation was no longer based on one religion and any religion would be accepted. Much of the Revolution was based on Enlightenment ideas, therefore the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was a direct collection of those ideas. Allowing freedom of religion gave power to the citizen instead of the state. The outcome that the Enlightenment would have wanted would allow freedom of Religion and separation from religion to the government. This ideal outcome did not come to fruition as Napoleon openly opposed this. According to Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution by Jack Cessner and Lynn Hunt, Napoleon's first goal as emperor was to bring power back to the Catholic Church. First, instead of just