What Is The Cause Of The French Revolution

959 Words4 Pages

In just a five day period during the height in violence in The French Revolution, nearly 1,400 people were executed in the streets of Paris in attempts of establishing a democracy. While the justification for this violence was the expansion of basic human rights and the establishment of a better form of government, the eventual outcome did not live up to these lofty goals. The cultural approach best describes how The French Revolution ultimately missed its mark because it failed to achieve both a democratic government and equal rights. Instead, it led to massive violence and a weakened France. The first and biggest failure of France’s revolution was that it did not directly result in a democratic government and ended up leading to the rise of a dictator. The French Revolution was a violent mess of senseless …show more content…

Eventually, this led to Napoleon Bonaparte coming into power via a coup at the brink of the 19th century. The formation of a new government saw the leadership of three consuls - Napoleon being far and away the most powerful, as well as two former directors who both had a hand in the coup. In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France. With this new form of government in place, Napoleon was given full executive authority over the government, army, appointed members of the bureaucracy, and all foreign affairs. Napoleon’s domestic policies took part in preserving and destroying different aspects of The French Revolution. His newfound regulations included shutting down the majority of France’s newspapers, as well as requiring the remaining manuscripts to be read by the government before being printed. This effectively removed the freedom