The French Revolutions Influence

Wold History 10th Grade

The French revolution’s influence
Who would’ve thought that such a small man like napoleon Bonaparte would bring such a big change on the political and economic structure of France? By the 1780s France once prosperous economy was seriously in decline. People were very desperate those times and their government was very unstable. By then, people weren’t concerned about their rights and equality anymore, they were desperate for someone to come in and establish order in their country. This was exactly what Napoleon Bonaparte did when fate handed him an opportunity to defend the delegates of the revolution. In 1780s Frances economy was in danger due to the 7 years of war and all the territories lost. This issue was leading to new ideas about the government and creating desire for a change. The resolution to this economic problem, according to King Louis XVI was to impose taxes on the nobility. Their reaction was to call out for a meeting of the state’s general, where they proclaimed for the end of absolute power and the beginning of representative government. Later on, the third estate pledged for a new constitution through the tennis court oath. In response to these events, King Louis stationed an army surrounding the Versailles, causing a mob of people to destroy the Bastille while looking for gunpowder to defend their city. None of this events make any positive changes on the economic structure of France, instead it kept getting worst as years passed by. For the next few years, France’s political structure was very unstable. In early august 1789, the national assembly adopted the declaration of rights of man, and later handed the power to the legislative assembly. Despite the new government, economic problems still remained, which caused the legislative assembly to split into 3 general groups for a change; the radicals, moderates and conservatives. The European monarchs feared that people would revolt against their own countries, so they urged France to restore its position with an absolute monarchy. Later on, France developed into a constitutional government, and ended up as a republic when the legislative assembly called for a new legislature. In order for economy to get better there had to be a change in the government, which is exactly what Napoleon Bonaparte did when he crowned himself emperor. He dissolved a directory and established a group of 3 councils, where he took the rule of a dictator. The first thing Napoleon did was creating a new constitution through a plebiscite. His goal was to strengthen the government, so he dismissed corrupt officials and created a Lycees that would train the officials who would later make the right economic decisions. All this new changes on the French government made a positive influence on the economic crisis of France. This was until Napoleon found himself in financial trouble during the Revolutionary war and so he decides to sell Louisiana to the USA, using the money to finance his war against Britain. Due to all this new changes made by Napoleon, France had developed a stronger political and economic structure for their country. After so many years of having economic financial problems during the French revolution, France finally got a wise leader to solve their issues. Due to the unstable government of France, it was very hard to establish a strong economic structure, until Napoleon became to power. At the end of the revolution, the government and political structure of France had changed into better. France went from being a monarchy, to a constitutional government and ended up as a republic. In conclusion, the French revolution changed the government and the political structure of France into a better country, due to the governmental changes made by Napoleon.