Term Papers on The French Revolution

Term Paper Title	The French Revolution
# of Words	1462
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.85

The French Revolution

     The years before the French Revolution (which started in 1789 AD.) were
ones of vast, unexpected change and confusion.  One of the changes was the
decline of the power of the nobles, which had a severe impact on the loyalty of
some of the nobles to King Louis XVI.  Another change was the increasing power
of the newly established middle class, which would result in the monarchy
becoming obsolete.  The angry and easily manipulated peasants, who were used by
the bourgeoisie for their own benefit were another significant change,  and
finally the decline of the traditional monarchy, that for so long had ruled,
were all factors to the main point that the French Revolution was caused by a
political base, with social disorder and economic instability contributing to
the upheaval.  All of the sub-factors relate with one-another, but are separate
in their own ways.

     For centuries, the French noble was well set in society.  He found
prosperity and security in the old regime, and all he had to do was pay homage
to the king, and provide the king with his services.  This all came to a gradual
stop, however beginning with the loss of the noble's power over their own land
at the hands of Louis XIV.1  This was the foundation of the revolte nobiliaire
in the fact that it formed a basis of mistrust, and anger for the monarch.2  In
that time the feudal system was still being practiced, so social status was
based on the amount of land you could attain. With no land, the nobles saw
themselves to be as common as the common folk.  Even in their arrogance they saw
that they were losing power.  The next blow to the pride of the nobles came from
Louis XV, who passed a bill to let wealthy commoners purchase prominent spots in
political and social positions.  This event shows how corrupt and money hungry
the government had become, by letting anyone get high up in the political chain
just by feeding the gluttonous king. The next king, Louis XVI saw that the
majority of France (75%) was peasants and serfs. Consequently, to try to ensure
their happiness (and prevent the Revolution), he  had the Estates-General
abolish the feudal system, in which they held no ranking.4  This made the
nobility extremely unhappy.  With no feudal system, they no longer were much
higher up politicly than the commoners.  The next noble atrocity came with Louis
XVI making the nobles pay taxes.  Ever since the foundation of the monarchy, the
nobles and the clergy were exempt from paying taxes. The burden was left to the
commoners.  But, with the deficit being so high and France supporting the
Americans in their war, something had to be done.5  This proved to be
unfortunate for the king, however, this proved to the straw that broke the
camels back.  The nobles were sick of being treated like low-class peasants so
they formed their revolt.  Now would be a good time to explain that the
Revolution was not just one Revolution, it was a "series of revolutions, very
different in their aims..."6   and subsequently the revolte nobiliaire began in
1787.  It was a revolt limited to the aristocrats, however, because they wanted
to get all the power of France.  It should also be said that not all the nobles
were against the king.  The young nobles, and some of the old ones, who had not
yet gotten obscene on their own power still supported the king.  These people
were called Royalists, and were beheaded for their faith.  Before their own
selfish revolution, the nobles had lost so much power, that their economic and
political situation affected the other people in France, and led to the French
Revolution and remotely, the rise of the middle class.

     In the obsolete practice of feudalism there is no middle class.  The
simplicity is beautiful; there are the extravagantly rich and the woefully poor.
In the eighteenth century, the rise of a middle class (bourgeoisie) in France
proved to be too much change at one time.  The middle class were the wealthy
land owners, the lawyers, the scientists, the writ...

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