French Revolution: A Totalitarian Regime

The French Revolution began as a quest for equal representation in government, and ultimately ended as a totalitarian regime. After incurring heavy debts following the French and Indian War, absolute monarch Louis XVI first asked an Assembly of Notables, which was comprised solely of nobility, to aid in repaying the debt. When they declined the demand, Louis XVI was forced to reinstitute the Estates General, in order to involve the entire nation in the repayment. According to historian Lynn Hunt, The Estates General, comprised of three “estates,” was a collection of representative deputies. The First Estate included the clergy members, the Second Estate included the nobility, and the Third Estate encompassed the remaining population; while the first and second estates owned about 35% of the land, they only represented 5% of the
Since each estate was granted the same amount of deputies, this disparity in representation of the population was a cause for major distress among the Third Estate. Following the king’s demand for funding by the Estates General, the people engaged in a series of both political and social revolts and reforms, which turned into a revolution from 1789-1794, reaching its peak as The Terror (1793-1794), a totalitarian regime intended to enforce republicanism through radical and violent measures. The Oxford English dictionary defines a perversion as “the action of turning aside from what is true or right; the diversion of something from its original and proper course, state, or meaning.” Although the intended ideals and goals of the revolution remained constant throughout, the tone as well as the spoken content of those who directed the Terror did not embody those goals, thus manifesting a