Terror and Viln during the French Revolution - Essay Example

Name: Instructor: Date: Course: Was the French Rеvоlutiоn сhаrасtеrisеd more by terror and viоlеnсе rather than equality and liberty? French revolution is a historical period in France which covers the year 1789 to 1799. During this period, the monarchy was overthrow, and there was a force for a drastic restructuring of the Catholic Church. (Frey) The revolution deposed the old regime by overthrowing Louis Xvi who was the king of France in those memorable years. This rebellion was partly caused by the rising of the middle class people who could not be controlled by the old regime, the ideas implanted in the mind of people by the theorists who aimed at enlightening people and also the financial disarray of the governing body causing high taxes. The revolution aimed at abolishing these kinds of problems and condition to all of humanity by fighting for the rights of each person including the poor. However, the big question still remains and therefore it is important to analyze critically if the French revolution characterized more by terror and violence rather than equality and liberty. (Hibbert) During this great era of revolution there were different schools of thought that emerged to characterize this period. One of these many schools of thought was the Romanticism which characterized this period with violence and terror. They claimed that the period had a strong influence of the spirit of the revolution and the optimism with the ideology of liberty, fraternity and equality. However, their conviction was just short lived for it was clear to them that the French Revolution regime of terror and Napoleon had the critiques of colonialism, sensibleness and simulatedavariciousness specifically to the industrializedhumanity. For instance, there was a distinction among the citizens stemming form the fact that the French society was heavily dominated by the clergy, status and nobility who were even excluded when it came to paying taxes. Therefore, the Old Regime consisted of three levels of the social system; the first estate of the clergy, the second of the nobility and the third comprising of anyone else’s’. It is important to note that the common people (third estate) were overtaxed by the monarch, and this was the chief causes of the French Revolution. To be precise the leaders of the Third Estate were mostly the upper middle class in particular the lawyers who were simply known as the bourgeoisie. These lawyers were very educated they had the ideaof enlightenment, and so they were able towrite books which supported democracy. For example there was a book by the nameRousseau book authored by Jacques Rousseau which mostly spoke against the nobility titles. The content of this bookencourage the people to demand a radical change which will support equality for all people. However, their revolution which was supposed to be smooth and successful could not fully materialize due to the violence and terror emerging from within and outside the country. This was especially seen while many revolutionists and their leaders were executed by the guillotine. Furthermore, not everyone in the French territory was ready to fight for equality and liberty and hence they caused so much terror for the revolutionists were not able to know who was for them and who was against them. This made some of the things that they were fighting for in the Old Regime to continue until now. One of this was the hostility towards Christianity which still exists even at this present moment. Given the above background it is clear that before the revolution, those belonging to the Third Estate, were not happy with how things were with the Old Regime. Therefore, through their leaders they were able to call for changes in France through a Revolution. They had high hopes that this revolution will bring liberty and equality.Most importantly, it will reduce the tax which was causing so much pain and suppression to many citizens and especially the poor. However, some of those who seemed to be so outspoken while fighting against the old regime did not deliver what they promised to the common citizens but instead brought terror and violence. For instance, the French Revolutionary ideals the like of the Napoleon inspired liberal and the democratic movements known as the “movements of the nineteenth century.” During this year of revolution terror and violence dominated. This is because there were so many wars and radical changes creating tension and unrest as well as bankruptcy in France. One of these terrors and violence was brought by the rejection of some proposals which were aiming to bring equality and liberty to all. One example was the rejection of the Declaration of the rights of women proposed by Olympe de Gouges which was strongly rejected by the National Assembly. The national assembly went even to the extent of executing Olympe by guillotine just like numerous leaders of that time.Terror and violence intensified those in Third Estate did not understand why such kind of inhuman acts could take place. In addition, it was detectable that in the year 1971, there was a divide in politics between the Girondins and Jacobins. This caused even more terror and violence for these two groups through trying to bring equality and liberty in the country had no common interest. Nevertheless, the Jacobins were led by Robespierre making stronger speech in favor of public. Robespierre was so keen in the revolution for he was able to detect what is really taking place in the underground while the Girondins just remained confident. For instance, the German invaded the country performing atrocities and encouraging the reaction against the National Assembly and atrocity which was associated by the lower class democracy. Robespierre was optimistic for he detected that the royal family were in support of war using the Prussian and Austrian force aiming for French to be defeated. This was more cause for terror and continuity of violence for the royal kings just fought to retain their power and autonomy rather than redeeming the citizens from oppression. This use of royalty in the undermining the defense of France provoked strong reactions. For this reason, the demonstrators marched to the royal palaces taunting the king.This was not taken very lightly by the Monarchy and those in the royal apartment and hence there were many deaths by execution a practice that the revolutionists aimed to abolish. (Barber) Despite the execution, some volunteer groups continued to march to the royal apartments trying to redeem the France. They were determined in fighting to restore the monarchy as the main controllers of the country. Goethe changed the spirit in French when he told the citizens that they can win the battle. Therefore, the revolutionists fought strong battles to bring normalcy and equality in the country. However, this brought even more terror and violence as the execution of many revolutionists and the fighting took place. Moreover, it was clear that not all in the revolution were fighting the same battle this could be seen in many provinces whereby the revolutionaries instead of redeeming the country continued to close churches and haunted down the priests. This was the start of persecution of every religious even the protestant and the Catholics. This forced many churches to be converted into the Temples of Reason. They also added that the disturbances caused by the followers of any religion will lead to punishment in accordance with the rigor law.The ruling intensified terror and violence for the citizens were not given the freedom of worship an ideology which could have brought liberty in the country. It is therefore, perceptible that the French revolution was spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment. This was to limit the power of nobility and clergy thus ending the absolute monarchy. However, those in support of French revolution were so disappointed with its results which caused a lot of executions to the innocent people and terror. This triggers an idea that France could not fully recover because the French Revolution initiated the hostility to those practicing Christianity, but the initial idea was to bring the freedom of worship. (Ross) During the French revolution, it is clear that many things brought terror and violence. This made this period be baptized as the reign of terror. Therefore, the question still remainswhether the main ideology of French revolution fully and successfully implemented. However, it is easy to say that instead of characterizing this period with liberty and equality it can be categorized with terror and violence. This is because everything that was done by the revolutionists encountered so many challenges and was faced by so many enemies especially from within the country. These challenges were emerging from the Monarchy who was trying to retain the status quo and become the main controllers of all the happenings in the country. (Frey) To conclude, we can see that the French revolution was characterized more by terror and violence rather than equality and liberty. This is because the main ideology of this revolution was to fight inequality especially the over taxation of the Third Estate made of every country man excluding the clergy and the nobles. However, even though the French revolution brought some radical changes the desired outcome was not perceptible. This is because terror and violence reigned in France which was caused by even the execution of many innocent people in the guillotine. In my opinion, I can therefore, make a conclusion that the French Revolution originally had good and well structured purpose. However, it encountered so many problems because the leaders were not aggressive enough. This can be drawn from the fact that Girondins and Jacobins had divided interest. Moreover, the royalty wanted to retain their power and hence they had to create terror and violence to the citizens to continue the ideology of divide and rule. Thus, the dilemma still remains for the French revolution which had a great impact in the world.This stems from the fact that, French revolution caused a lot of disappointment instead of hope to other countries suffering from tyrannical and dictatorship leadership. Works Cited Frey ,Marsha L. The French Revolution.France: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.print. Hibbert, Christopher. The Days of the French Revolution. New York: William Morrow, 1999. Internet resource. Ross, Stewart. The French Revolution. London: Evans, 2001. Print. Barber, Nicola. The French Revolution. North Mankato, Minn: Smart Apple Media, 2004. Print. Read More