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Women's March On Versailles Essay

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The Women’s March on Versailles began on October 5, 1789 in the streets of Paris (Sherman 494). The event, also referred to as the October Days or the October March (Racz 160), would play an important role in the French Revolution as the women of Paris rallied against the French government. What began as a demand for a steady source of nutrition became a way for the women of France to take political action of their own. Ultimately, the march, which included an eleven-mile journey to Versailles, ended in the transfer of King Louis XVI and the rest of the royal family to Paris (Sherman 494). With the leaders of the French monarchy in captivity, the march would have a lasting legacy that not only advanced the French citizens’ uprise against their government. The Women’s March on Versailles struck a conversation pertaining to women’s rights beyond traditional roles in the household setting. Following the National Assembly’s “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” in August 1789, tensions between the French government and …show more content…

Many factors such as a poor harvest, caused the price of bread to rise, keeping working class Parisians from feeding their families (Rose 46). Despite efforts made by the French government to have grain imported, Paris suffered a bread shortage, causing families to wait in long lines outside of bakeries (Kropotkin 149). Rumors for the bread shortage spread, and one newspaper even claimed that ‘the aristocrats destroyed corn before it was ripe, paid the bakers not to work, suspended trade, and threw flour into the rivers’ (Rose 47). Thus, the women in Paris were infuriated—not only were the women unable to eat, but traditionally, it was a woman’s responsibility to keep her family fed. However, with the bread shortage, they were unable to do this. This, along with with rumors of the aristocrats sabotaging the sale of bread, caused the women in Paris to revolt alongside the

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City-dwellers within the eighteenth century were captivated with a continuing provide of grain from the country. The "sans-culottes," or urban poor, had to pay over half their financial gain simply to urge enough food to survive in 1788, the year before the Revolution began. when remarkably weather condition ruined the harvest, associate degree unskilled working person in 1789 might expect to pay ninety seven p.c of his wages on bread, in step with student Gregory Stephen Brown. The high worth of bread fueled the rising anger of the urban lowercategories As the Revolution continuing, early expectations for a fast resolution to the food shortage issue weren't met.

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80,000 Austrian and Prussian armies were marching towards France to end the revolution (Doc C). It is true that the French forces stopped them at the Battle of Valmy in 1792, a year before the Reign of Terror (Doc C). But the goals of the revolution was to spread the new ideas of liberty, equality, and male suffrage (the right to vote) across Europe. In 1791, Austria and Prussia officially expressed their support for the French monarchy (Doc B). Furthermore, France faced internal threats in the Western region of Vendee, where emigres or nobles conspired against the young republic.

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Due to the high prices of bread, many problems occurred. People that couldn’t afford for bread would die of starvation over time and there were many riots over bread. In addition to high prices on bread, King Louis XVI also raised taxes on the commoners. This made the commoners extremely upset because they were paying far more taxes than the clergy and nobility. As mentioned in document 3,“Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little.

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In the book Revolutionary Mothers, author Carol Berkin discusses women’s roles in the American Revolution. She separates out the chapters so that she can discuss the different experiences and roles of women during the period. She utilizes primary and secondary sources to talk about how women stepped into their husband’s shoes and maintained their livelihoods and how they furthered the war effort on both sides, as well as how classes and race effected each woman’s experience. Berkin’s main goal was for the reader to understand that although women’s roles aren’t traditionally discussed when talking about the American Revolution, nevertheless, they played a major part in it.

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This made the French Revolution really kick off. The Third Estate community now understood that they were being taken advantaged of. They began raids such as The Women’s March on Versailles. “After meeting with a delegation of these women, who tearfully described how their children were starving for lack of bread, Louis XVI promised them grain supplies for Paris, thinking that this would end the protest. But the women’s action had forced the Paris National Guard under Lafayette to follow their lead and march to Versailles” (569 Spielvogel)

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