Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - European History French Revolution1 French Revolution1 The French Revolution was essentially a class war between the emerging Bourgeoisie against the Privileged class, this meant they saw the Privileged class as the only hurdle between themselves and equality within French society. Many of the ideas they pursued stemmed from the enlightenment and they believed that in order to gain their full economic, social and political potential and gain equality, the Bourgeoisie had to eradicate the privileges that were halting their rise in society. To do this they had to seize power for themselves and gaining power within the government and making badly needed changes, such as, improving the tax system, creating a fair system of production where profits went to the producer, improving the whole fiscal system of the government, improving the geographical divisions of France and the problems they caused, plus many more. The revolution was a fight for equality and recognition by the Bourgeoisie, it was not a revolt against poverty, for many of the French people had been living in poverty for centuries and France had prospered in the Eighteenth century. France had had no major famines or plagues, its population had increased, there had been no wars on its soil, industry such as textiles was doing well and offshore trading had increased enormously. It was the Bourgeoisie that had enabled this abundance of wealth and they were emerging as the economic power inside France. But their new found power was being smothered by the privileged class. The privileged class of nobility and clergy, who owned the bulk of the land, were using their ancient rights to plunder most of the profits that were made by the lower classes. This meant that the; ìProsperity came only to those who held fairly large estates, who exercised feudal rights, or who could manipulate farm rents.î1 The only people who fell under these categories were the Nobles of the robe and the clergy. So in order to get the prosperity equally divided in society and thus profit themselves, the bourgeoisie had to get rid of the privileged classes ancient rights. To do this they had to revolt against the government, that supported the privileged classes and which was reluctant to make the necessary reforms. It is seen here that it was the Bourgeoisie were struggling against the Privileged class for their rightful share of profits that was taken away by the privileges of the upper class, not a fight by the peasants who were living in poverty. Taxes and prices were another battlefield for the Bourgeoisie and the Aristocracy to fight on. The tax base in France fell on the middle class who were the producers. Some of the taxes in France were: the Taille which taxed commoners, nobility exempted, the Capitation which was a poll tax on where you lived and what services you used, nobility exempted, the Vingtieme was a five per cent tax on all income, again the nobility didnít have to pay. There were also taxes on salt and a tax whenever a person passed over a provincial border, these taxes meant that a large cut of their profits from their work went to the government. This was made worse when the government found itself in major debt. Because the government supported the Aristocracy, who didnít pay taxes, the middle class was taxed even more. This created resentment for the Aristocracy because they were the ones who were getting all the money through their privileges yet it was the lower, poorer, classes who were getting taxed. This spurred an even bigger will for equality. To solve this problem their had to be an equal society where taxes were paid according to wealth or land and most importantly by everybody. To achieve this the Bourgeoisie had to be able to voice their views and opinions, thus they had to be able to hold office in government. But the privileges of the nobility stopped them from doing this. Therefor it is shown that the Bourgeoisie were fighting the Privileged class against their privileges which were making their taxes rise and stopping them from being able to make the necessary changes through the government. Again it is seen that poverty was not a factor in this issue because the Bourgeoisie was fighting against privileges that made them the highest tax payers, not because they were living in poverty due to the taxes they had to pay. The prices of goods such as bread, were increasing rapidly. This was due to numerous reasons, the governments debt problem being the major one. Prices were rising faster than the middle classes wages due to tax increases. The solution to this was that taxes had to be paid by all and they should be measured by wealth. This would mean a lot more revenue for the government and thus a lower tax rate for the middle class and wages would increase and prices drop. It would also allow the Bourgeoisie to profit from price rises rather than suffer because they were the producers. But because the government still supported the Aristocracy the Bourgeoisie had to get into the government to change things. In order to do this they had to abolish the privileges that were stopping them doing this in order to get rid of the privileged class that was not paying tax and taking a cut of the middle classes profits. So it is seen again that in order to make changes the Bourgeoisie had to eradicate privileges, so it is shown that the Revolution seeds from a battle against the Privileged class, not a battle against poverty. The way the government was run also helped the Privileged class help itself to the middle classes profit margin. France was divided into provinces and districts. Many of which overlapped each other, this caused problems for the Bourgeoisie who were trading and had to cross these borders. The Aristocracy put dues on anyone who wished to cross the borders and the goods they had. This in itself caused outcries because there was not one single system of weights and measures operating in France so costs varied. When a trader was travelling they had to pay on-costs every time they crossed a border. This plus the tax and the ancient dues taken by the aristocracy resulted in little or no profit for the producing class, instead the profit fell on the consumers. To solve this the governments structure had to be changed, from an the ancient structure in place at the time to a more modern structure. But again the Monarchy was reluctant to do so. So the middle class was left with two way of getting the changes they needed, getting into positions within the state or force. The problem was though that one had to be of noble birth to be able to hold a government post. This left force as the only way to solve the problems. Poverty again played no part in the issues in the build up to the revolution, it was a struggle against ìThe commercial and industrial Bourgeoisie had been growing in importance in the Eighteenth century and had become stronger economically than the nobility.î2 If this was the case then surely the government should have seen that if they made a capitalist society France might begin to find her feet again. To gain their full economic and social potential the Bourgeoisie had to have a capitalist society. But the Monarchy was still not making reforms to move in that direction, even though it would be backing the strongest class, economically, in France. The only way was to revolt against the King in order to get rid of the privileges that were stopping them from entering government offices, to try and do something themselves, and from having to pay ancient dues that were cutting into their profits. Once again poverty had nothing to do with this issue. Another reason why the middle class was heading towards a revolution was because the nobility had used its privileges to broaden the gap between the two classes and thus create discontent. The Bourgeoisie saw its fight as ìA struggle for equal rightî3 and freedom from the harsh deal the privileges dealt them. They were discontent because the profit was landing with the consumers and not the producers. Also the nobility didnít have to pay taxes where as the middle class was losing a lot of money through tax and watching prices soar and wage values plummet. They were also angered at the fact that they were unable to change this because they were stopped from entering the government departments and they were not listened to by the King. They saw no way of getting what they needed peacefully so they could only do one thing and that was to revolt against privilege and that Most of the Bourgeoisie were unhappy at the way the country was being run. They were given little or no freedoms and were being held back in their rise to social, economic and political power by the privileges of the Privileged class. Although they were unhappy they didnít really have an ideas to solve the problems they faced. The Enlightenment was the thing they were after. It gave their struggle direction and something to aim for. The Enlightenment was a period where philosophies were written about personal freedoms etc. The Philosophes who wrote of such things were not spreading revolutionary ideas but were stating what the rights of every human being should be. The Bourgeoisie looked what they had and looked at what they should have and from this revolutionary ideas grew. The freedoms they aimed for included freedoms such as freedom of the press, speech, trade and justice for all. They saw that they werenít getting these and saw that it was the Privileged class that was stopping them from getting them. It is shown again that the privileges were at the heart of the issues the Bourgeoisie wanted to change, not Finally the third estate were allowed to take a step towards its goal. The Estates-General was opened. This was a representative body that was used to pass or veto laws that the King put forward. But the King continued to reflect the interests of the first and second estates. This caused a lot of mistrust and discontent within the third estate. The King made reforms but they were still beneficial to the upper classes. The Bourgeoisie stormed out of the meeting and made a stand against the King and the aristocracy in the tennis court next door. The King got rid of the Estates-General. The Bourgeoisie saw this as more support for the privileged class by the king. They realised that even though they had a say in government through the Estates-General they still couldnít change things. They received support for their stand from the Sans Culottes and some nobles. Demonstrations caused the King to reopen the Estates-General. The Bourgeoisie took control of the third estates interests and had the majority when voting by head was introduced. The Bourgeoisie was now on the road to getting power and getting rid of Privileges. Poverty played no part in the events and issues surrounding the Estate-General, it was fuelled by the Kings continuing support for the Privileged class that put the middle class on the road to The French Revolution was a middle class uprising. It was an uprising against the privileges that were crippling the middle classes rise to social, economic and political power. It was caused as a reaction against privileges but was fuelled by greed for power and money by the Bourgeoisie, not to solve the poverty in which thousands of French people lived. This was seen after the revolution when the rich Bourgeoisie and the land owning Bourgeoisie held the same level of power and influence the nobility had before The French Revolution was a struggle between the Bourgeoisie and the Privileged class. To gain the economic, social and political power they deserved and desired the Bourgeoisie had to get rid of the Aristocracy and the privileges attached to them, because their privileges were taking large percentages of profits, adding on-costs to goods, causing massive inflation and reducing the wages of the middle class. In order to do this though they had get the reforms they wanted by having a role in government and take some of the power from the king, because he supported the Aristocracy. At no point in the build up to the revolution did poverty become an issue, the Bourgeoisie were looking after their own interests and trying to create a equal society in which they would become the most 1. Johnson, D. (1970) The French Revolution, Wayland, London. 2. Townson, D. (1990) France in Revolution, Hodder and Stoughton, London. 3. Townson, D. (1990) France in Revolution, Hodder and Stoughton, London. Bibliography: Bibliography 1. Microsoft Encarta, USA, Funk and Wagnall's, 1994 2. Ergang, R. Europe From the Renaissance to Waterloo Third Edition, USA, Heath and Company, 1967 3. Townson, D. France in Revolution, London, Hodder and Stoghton, 1990 4. Fisher, H. A History of Europe Volume 2, G Modern European History - French Revolution Essay - Jonah Haines - 1293 Word Count: 2159
Copyright © 1998-2008 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved. DMCA Notifications and Requests