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Find out more Support us. Conflicting Interpretations of the Revolution: Causes, nature, outcomes. A revolutionary situation emerged first and revolutionary thinking came out of that situation. The role of the people and violence :. The French Revolution demonstrated the power of the common people in a manner that no subsequent government has ever allowed itself to forget --if only in the form of untrained, improvised, conscript armies, defeating the conjunction of the finest and most experienced troops of the old regimes.
When the common people did intervene in July and August of , they transformed conflict among elites into something quite different, if only by bringing about, within a matter of weeks, the collapse of state power and administration and the power of the rural ruling class in the countryside. This is what gave the Declaration of the Rights of Man a far greater international resonance than the American models that inspired it; what made the innovations of France--including its new political vocabulary--more readily accepted outside; which created its ambiguities and conflicts; and, not least, what turned it into the epic, the terrible, the spectacular, the apocalyptic event which gave it a sort of uniqueness, both horrifying and inspiring.
Hobsbawm, Echoes of the Marseillaise , The Revolution as a tragedy vs. In other words it transformed men's outlook. The writers of the Enlightenment, so revered by the intelligentsia who made the Revolution, had always believed it could be done if men dared to seize control of their own destiny.
The men of did so, in a rare moment of courage, altruism, and idealism which took away the breath of educated Europe. What they failed to see, as their inspirers had not foreseen, was that reason and good intentions were not enough by themselves to transform the lot of their fellow men.
Mistakes would be made when the accumulated experience of generations was pushed aside as so much routine, prejudice, fanaticism, and superstition. The generation forced to live through the upheavals of the next twenty-six years paid the price. Already by a million French citizens lay dead; a million more would perish under Napoleon, and untold more abroad. How many millions more still had their lives ruined?
Inspiring and ennobling, the prospect of the French Revolution is also moving and appalling: in every sense a tragedy. It represented an unprecedented effort to break with the past and to forge a new state and new national community based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. After the old government was replaced, differences over the meaning of those principles and the ways they were to be put into practice grew more salient and serious.
Thus the revolution continued until a stable state organization was consolidated, in part through the use of military force. Shaped and driven by passionate ideological differences, violence, and war, the revolution bequeathed to the French and to the World a new and enduring political vision : at the heart of progress lay liberation from the past, egalitarianism, and broadly based representative government.
The French Revolution was, essentially, the invention of a new political culture : "In my view the social and economic changes brought about by the Revolution were not revolutionary. Nobles were able to return to their titles and to much of their land. Although considerable amounts of land changed hands during the Revolution, the structure of landholding remained much the same; the rich got richer, and the small peasants consolidated their hold, thanks to the abolition of feudal dues.
Which of the following rallying cries best describes the second stage of the French Revolution? Which of the following lists of events is in correct chronological order from earliest to latest? Which of the following did not occur? Robespierre eliminated all economic controls and allowed prices to rise sharply Louis XVI attempted to flee France The Jacobins took control of the National Convention away from the Girondins For a time, the French government was a limited monarchy.
Which party wanted a limited monarchy in France? Moderates Monarchists Jacobins None of the above. Who issued the Civil Constitution of the Clergy? Which of the following would not have been grouped under the Third Estate? Priests Merchants The bourgeoisie Peasants. Which of the following is probably not a reason why the French Revolution turned violent? Severe food shortages The fact that the peasantry was in control The heavy tax burden on the poor The threat of foreign attack.
When did the people of Paris storm the Tuileries Palace? October 5, June 17, August 10, September 22, Which document effectively nationalized the French church? Which document created a limited monarchy? Which document declared that all men are free and equal? Why do some historians consider the passage of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy to be a mistake?
It increased the size of the clergy and reduced the number of available soldiers It empowered the conservative institution of the church against the Revolution It turned France into a Protestant state It created a dilemma for the devout masses of France, forcing them to choose between the Revolution and God. Which group was most likely in favor of a limited monarchy?
Which group was most likely in favor of the principle of privilege and feudal obligations? Which group was most likely in favor of absolute rule by dynasty? Which group was most likely in favor of the system of one vote per estate in the Estates-General?
In which position did Napoleon begin his career?
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