Imagine this, you are living in France and are part of the current Third Estate which consists of a variety of people with different occupations, levels of education, and wealth. You consisted of around 97% of the people but only owned about 65% of the land whereas the other two Estates, the First and Second Estates, consisted of both the nobility and clergies. The First Estate was only around 1% of the population but owned 10% of the Land and the Second Estate had around 2% of the population and owned 25% of the land. The Third Estate was also the only one of the three Estates who paid taxes, on top of that they had no voice in politics until in 1788 King Louis XVI called for the Estates General when the French Government was close to collapsing due to the Depression France suffered through from 1778-1787 as result of a loss of overseas markets and overproduction. Upon the King's request, the Estate General gathered together for the first time since 1614. When the decision was made, on what they were going to do, again the Third Estate felt they were being treated wrongly since they consisted of close to all of the people but still only got one vote. They revolted and created the Tennis Court Oath which signified the first time that French citizens stood up against Louis XVI. This was just the beginning of the Revolts, one individual who had a great impact on the French Revolution went by the name of Maximilien Robespierre who was a member of the Estates General, politics was his life, and he was dedicated to using power to benefit the people. His definition of power is often looked over to not just be power but severe violence and some ask if he destroyed the principles of the Revolution or if he preserved them. I believe that he destroyed the Principles of the Revolution by murdering thousands of people who didn’t support every idea had and by making his idea of virtue and representing it as pride in their own country but then killing his people.
On June 21, 1791, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to flee Paris appalled by the growing radicalism of the revolution, particularly its lack of respect for them. The royal family traveled within 30 kilometers of their goal before the king was recognized by a local. That's when King Louis and his family were promptly detained and hustled back to Paris under guard. This escape plan is now known as The Flight to Varennes their attempt to escape was seen as a lack of virtue. He was convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention on January 21, 1793 he was executed via guillotine, and following that, his wife was executed around 6 months later on October 16, 1793. These people who at one point were on top of the social class suddenly are treated the way that the Third Estate was treated but I believe that Robespierre made it go a step or two too far, I think he would have benefited better if he had just forced them to live the way people did all these years, instead of viciously and brutally murdering the Monarchy.
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The Monarchy is not the only people who fell victim to Robesspierre's vicious Reign of Terror. In Robespierre's time of rule, he led the execution of over 40,000 people who didn’t agree with the Revolution. Robespierre says “If the basis of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the basis of popular government in time of revolution is both virtue and terror: virtue without terror is murderous, terror without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.’’ now in this quote he relays the message that without terror the idea of virtue, or pride in one's country, is vicious but later states that terror without virtue is powerless so he believes that you can’t have power without pride in one's nation. Now I see this as the opposite, you should be able to have power without terror, you should inspire people not scare them so much they feel they still don’t have power. Although much of Robespierre's followers were of the Third Estate in the past I would like to believe that some people felt a sense of pity for the people of the two other Estates or people who just didn’t have the same idea on how the country should be run. One should be able to live in a country that is controlled by morals and a steady government, not a place where they are terrified of doing something that may not be up to their ideas on virtue. In addition to showing Nationalism, many people would dress in Red, White, and Blue but those who were caught not wearing it were seen as not being prideful of their country and were assaulted for not supporting the Republic.
During the French Revolution the idea of Total War, warfare in which all of a nation’s resources including civilians at home as well as soldiers in the field, were mobilized for the war effort, was brought into effect to try and spread Revolutionary ideals to Europe. All of the Nationalism that this country had is what fueled much of the war effort, in 1793 The War of Vendee which was led by the Catholic and Royal Army in reaction to rising taxes on land, the brutal murdering of King Louis XVI, the constant attacks on the Catholic Church, and the expansion of the Revolutionary War. During this war, the use of tactics such as guerrilla fighters is what ultimately won them that war and left around 20,000 dead. Around a year later, many deputies in the National Convention feared that they were not safe if Robespierre was free to act. An anti-Robespierre coalition in the National Convention, eager to destroy Robespierre before he destroyed them, gathered enough votes to condemn them. Robespierre along with his followers were guillotined on July 28, 1794, which brought an end to the radical stage of the French Revolution
Although the end of the French Revolution wasn’t until around 5 years after the execution of Robespierre he had a huge impact on how the French Revolution is remembered in history. The gruesome and terror tactics that he used to achieve his goals are what make me remember him as a key person in the murdering of tens of thousands of people during the French Revolution. He destroyed the principle of the French Revolution solely by using the power he achieved to do awful things for the people of France, he used people's fear against them which caused many of the people to be fearful in a sense of the government for the next few years.
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