Fench Revolution

The French revolution was a very violent and brutal uprising that ultimately overthrew their absolute monarchy and replaced it with a government by the people for the people. The revolution happened from 1788-1789. It was not a single event but rather a series of events that’s why there is not a specific date. Before the revolution there was a social class system that consisted of three estates, the first estate contained the members of the clergy and religious leaders of the church and the second estate consisted of the nobility who were wealthy landowners both the first and second estate enjoyed many privileges such as being exempt from taxes and implementing taxes of their own. The third estate contained the vast majority of the population and the people were heavily taxed and compared to the first and second estates had a very low standard of living because they were treated very unfairly. The monarchs at the time was King Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette were arguably the most hated king and queen in French history their blatant showing of wealth and poorly spent money which was evident in the palace of Versailles coupled with the hardships the third estate was facing created a very hostile environment. The French Revolution was a very significant in terms of world events because it showed the destruction of a monarchy was possible and nearly complete restructuring of a society that abolished privileges of nobility and church members inspired other European countries. Premier of China Zhou En-Lai also said it was one of the first examples of the people’s army (leeve en masse) which was very significant in terms of setting an example. The French revolution is very controversial because of the violence and the reign of terror. This was not the only way to get rid of a monarchs power Britain choose evolution opposed to revolution and has a limited monarchy with virtually no power. The French revolution was preventable [continues]

Read full essay