Effects of French Revolution WWI and WWII to the Social Fabric - Essay Example

Effects of French Revolution (1789-1799), WW I and WW II to the Social Fabric Introduction French revolution which started in 1789 marks one of the most prominent periods in the history of western civilization and French as a state in particular. By use of the slogan "Libert, galit, fraternit, ou la mort!" French words for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity1 the revolutionary bourgeois overthrew dictatorship governments and replaced them with republics where the sovereignty of the country was put in the hands of the people. French revolution is seen by many as the turning point of history of western democratic ideals. (McPhee, 2002) French revolution was caused by a number of socioeconomic factors that pushed the lower class people to rebel against the government. These factors included, heavy taxation meted on the ordinary citizen by the royal monarch that made the people resent the absolutism, the aspiration of the bourgeois class for freedom and republicanism, general poverty caused by low wages and high unemployment rate. Another major reason behind the revolution was resentment of religious intolerance and influence from the age of enlightenment. The rise of enlightenment ideology that advocated reason and rationality over the traditions, irrationality and superstition of the time forced the Roman Catholic Church to restructure itself to accommodate the changing world of enlightenment ideology. (McPhee, 2002) The end of French revolution marked the beginning of The WWI (1914-1916) after a long political upheaval in what was widely known as "The long 19th Century1789-1914". During the WWI, almost the entire world mighty countries were involved in war with each other. Germany and Austria-Hungary were to be later seen as initial aggressor thus responsible for war outbreak. American president Wilson blamed the war on the militarism where European countries were seen competing with one another to prove their military prowess. WWI was considered on of the worst disaster of the 21st century, 4 empire collapse, "Broken hopes, broken families, and broken lives." The war "became a war without end." (Hibbert, 1981, p256) After the WWI ended with the defeat of Germany and its Allies, the countries that were involved in the war experienced mixed fortunes. Germany was fined a carousal amount of money which forced it to borrow from USA. It also led to increased hostilities between the nations and races. Moreover, the war was a huge economic burden to the nations involved and the world in general. Failure of the world nations to learn from the WWI lead to the emergency of the WWII in 1945. The WWII was later followed by the Cold War that led to collapse of Soviet Union and USA emerging as the sole super power. (Mugambi, 2005, p15) Effects to the social fabric of the Western community. The French revolution led to the transfer of power from tyrannical monarchs to republicanism and democracies of the 21st centuries. The uprising characterized by modern society against any oppressive government is much as a result of French Revolution political ideological influence. Secondly, separation of church and state as two entities and subsequent emergency of secular states in western societies is traced back to French revolution. Thirdly, French revolution is the genesis of popularization of Civil Rights, equality, toleration, individual liberty and freedom which later had liberal influence in USA and Britain. French revolution is more or less linked with the origins of political factions for instance left wing, centre and right wing and conservatives versus liberal/ democrats the political characteristic of the western societies. Moreover, French revolution and culmination of events that followed will always be remembered as the origin of the monumental French constitution that define human rights that stand to be the point of reference in almost every country bill of rights as defined by United Nation (UN) and separation of powers that is still being the essence of western societies political arrangement. Above all, French revolution promoted the idea of change and progress as good things. This has become a very distinctive mark of the modern western world. French revolution built the western society on tenets of liberal solutions; upon the assumption that human nature was essentially good, mankind essentially rational, and the purpose of life the "pursuit of earthly happiness." And conservative solution; to respect the past, to work within the social structure that now exists so that it is modified, not destroyed. It ended a world based on tradition, on blood-right, on fixed social status. In principle and by legislation, it made the individual citizen the center of a new social order. The social order should, therefore, be designed to maximize this freedom, this personal liberty. (Mwikamba, 1992, pg89) On the other hand WWI led to the increase in women struggle for voting rights. This happened coincidently when husbands were killed in wars and women (wives) were forced to take up the responsibility of being the bread winners and working in the factories. Consequently, lack of enough manpower saw women being employed in large number sin factories. This Women struggle for equal rights is still a major phenomena in the western influenced society while most of the western countries having women fully integrated in the social structures. (www.wikipedia.org/WWI.htm) It also led to increase in genocide and civil wars. In fact it is argued that the results of WWI led to the emergency of WWII. Civil war is uglier than international war because there are no limits. There was rapid expansion of technology of warfare than the capacity of political leaders to control it. Consequently arm trade proliferated as the states power was pegged on the acquisition of the most sophisticated armoury. U.S.A became the world super power. Fascist regimes also immerged where some human race viewed themselves as a special race over others. A good example is the Nazism that perpetrated one of the worst holocausts in the history of the Western countries. These aspects of racialism continued to haunt the western community to date.(Mwikamba, 1992, pg 56) However, atrocities meted against humanity during the WWII led to the creation of many alliances and political realignment. This brought many nations together thus contributing towards globalization where the world started tackling issues as a block or world community. Another positive development is the establishment of peace building initiative bodies such as NATO and UN so as to foster peace and conflict resolution to prevent human-made catastrophes such as WWI and WWII from happening. In a nutshell, the above events in the history of western societies led to the emergency of a society that promotes human justice and social equity. In addition western countries come together and engaged in peace building and conflict resolution. This led to creation of UN, NATO and international tribunals to handling the war crimes related evils. Moreover there was increase in diplomacy and public relations in the west all meant to promote mutual coexistence and check the rogue governments so as to prevent wars from happening. Another key influence related to the above events is the emergency of welfare states in western societies. Western government took upon themselves the social responsibilities of providing their citizens basic necessities. Above all, promotion of democracy and human rights has become synonymous with western political ideals. A government for the people by people and of people where the government in power is put in place by the majority vote through fair and free election. Lastly, the wars saw western countries embracing provision of humanitarian assistance during humanitarian crisis such as war, civil strife and natural catastrophe. Reference Hibbert, Christopher. The Days of the French Revolution, New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1981 Lyons, Michael J. World War I: A Short History (2nd Edition), Prentice Hall, 1999. McPhee, Peter. The French Revolution, 1789-1799, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 Mugambi J, K (2005), Theology of Reconstruction, Acton Publishers, Nairobi. Mwikamba C, M (1992), "Socialism Revisited", Unpublished PhD Thesis, Read More