The French Revolution 2 Essay, Research Paper

Initially, when it is thought that a change is needed within a system,an attempt is made for peaceful reform; this ultimately fails as a result of people s greed outlasting their patience to settle things equitably. When both parties are motivated by self gain, it is the basest of human nature to fight to the bitter, bloody end for what they believe in and see as just. During the French Revolution for example, King Louis XlV brought the Assembly of Notables together in 1787 for peaceful talks of reform to minimize the national debt. This was rejected so the king turned to the Estates General for answers to the many problems plaguing the nation.This may have worked provided the Estates General did not have any problems of their own, but this was not the case. The institution consisted of the three estates, giving each estate one vote. This appears to be fair, but since the first and second estates voted almost always together, the third estate was consistently outnumbered. This was even more unjust because the third estate represented 96% of the population. For obvious reasons, the Estates General was of no help to the king and in fact gave him another problem to deal with. As a result of the inequalities that existed between the first,second, and third estates, the people began to revolt. At this time talk was still civil, but the people had no intentions of relinquishing their demands.The people of the third estate were wanting fair representation and equality in taxation. King Louis would not allow this and in May of 1789, the citizens took the Tennis Court Oath forming the National Assembly of France and

vowing not to disband until the kingdom was fixed upon firm foundations. Still, there was no violence or talk of blood shed, in fact this was not the goal of the National Assembly what so ever. Their aims were not to destroy the monarchy, but to reform it.

It seems that whenever talking and peaceful means of reform fail,

people always turn to violence. Again, this was the case. On July 14, 1789, a mob in Paris stormed the Bastille. This was not a large accomplishment being there were only 7 prisoners inside, but that was irrelevant. The people of Paris had won a victory, no matter the size and their feelings towards revolution started to vacillate. In October of 1789, Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette were taken from Versailles to Paris and were made to stay in the Tuileries which made the king very vulnerable and helpless. The National Assembly also moved to Paris which became the center of the revolution. This movement to Paris marked the end of the moderate phase of the

revolution and the Paris extremists were firmly in control. On the night of June 21, 1791, Louis and his family fled Paris to Varennes, where they were captured and brought back to Paris. As a result of his actions, the people lost any loyalty they had left for him and his life was as good as over; his flight had completely discredited him. In April of 1792, ideas of revolution were spreading throughout Europe and France went to war with Austria and Prussia. This hurt the army very badly, but the people would not give up; they did not want all they had accomplished to be in vain. Georges Danton and Jean Paul Marat, extremist leaders, lead an attack on Tuileries and also

the September Massacre which in total yielded around 5 000 casualties. Around this time executions were starting to become popular, and under the leadership of the Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, there was even more unnecessary blood shed. During the period between the summers of 1793 and 1794, close to 25 000 people were executed on the guillotine. This period became known as the Reign of Terror. This was the event that made the people realize that there was too much violence going on and too many senseless killings. All wars or revolutions ultimately must come to an end, and although not all proposed changes had been instituted, the country s safety

seemed secure and the people of France had grown sick of all the blood shed. It appears that people must also go through a stage of reform when faced with a revolution or a need for change within a system. The people will try to be civil and humane, but ultimately as is found in human nature, their disputes are handled with violence. As the time passes and more and more people are killed, we start to realize that this accomplishes nothing and must end sooner or later. Part of history is learning from past mistakes and trying not to repeat them. So this is what we say, but we have never learned from blood shed and I doubt as a society we ever will. Mankind as a whole is not capable of being that humane because we are naturally avaricious and will use any means necessary to attain a goal. This is why if peaceful reconciliation can not be achieved through reason, logic, and fairness, often circumstances escalate to violence and principles may be abandoned as victory and oppression become the goal and a means to punish.