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Who Is Voltaire Responsible For The French Revolution

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On the day of November 21, 1694 was the birth of Francois-Marie Arouet, better know as Voltaire. It is rumored that his birth was kept secret and Voltaire himself believed he was born on February 20 and spoke out about this several times. Living a simple middle class life Voltaire lost his mother at the age of seven and believed his father was an officer by the name Rochebrune who was also a songwriter. Becoming a rebel against family authority he grew attached to his godfather abbe de Chateauneuf who was a freethinker and presented the young boy to Ninon de Lenclos during her 84th year.

Voltaire grew to become a french philosopher and one of the greatest french writers. In 1718 the first of his many tragedies came out and acclaimed …show more content…

There he developed moder estate, renovated the church and many other things including meddling with the Genevan politics. With his progress here he had now became known worldwide and was called the “Inner-keeper of Europe”. You may say he was a man of many names.

After his death of being attacked by followers of Rousseau, more and more did he become appreciated and recognized. After the 18th century he was held personally responsible for the Revolution. “He is the necessary philosopher in a world of bureaucrats, engineers, and producers.” says Lanson about Voltaire. Voltaire’s contes are continually published today and the letters he wrote are regarded as one of the great monuments of French Literature. In the end of the 19th century scientific research was put into his life works and was given impetus by a Mr. Gustave Lanson.

Voltaire was an important part of the Revolution and an inspiration to many. He lived a rough ordinary life and turned into so much more than just a ordinary person. Without him I believe the Revolution would not be the same in any way. I was happy to learn about how he changed the people around him and spoke out about what he thought with confidence. Voltaire did not give up even when he was imprisoned he still moved forward and continued to change the world. He was a fantastic writer and philosopher and was an amazing man that had a huge part in the

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Firstly, he created a new government called the consulate which gave absolute power to three individuals (he was one of them). Later on, in 1804, Napoleon declared himself emperor of France. This act directly opposed the revolution’s idea of a constitutional government. During this time, he created a new bureaucracy based on ability and not social class. Anyone had the opportunity to be a noble, one had to only be qualified based on their skill.

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Coming from a middle class family, he knew what it was like to be in a perspective of a commoner, making him more of an elite and more known philosopher of his time, however he did have some troubles with the class system of France. He ultimately denounced the unfair balance of power between the clergy who he heavily disliked, the nobles, and the middle class who were stuck with paying the most taxes as he came from a middle class family. As previously said, in turn, he tried to establish a constitutional monarchy which supported liberalism, however, nothing really came about as a result. On the contrary to this though, in terms of slavery, he believed that it was a practice that did have a place in society as he thought that black people did not have the same entitlements as the white people did at the time. Through his train of thought as a very influential thinker of the time, he thought that the best way to obtain knowledge was through practicing science as evidenced by his admiration for Isaac Newton and the ideas that stemmed from the Scientific Revolution which had a big impact on the Enlightenment.

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