History Cw Essay example

Submitted By Meghna-Divecha
Words: 2087
Pages: 9

It can be argued that Terror was the inevitable outcome of the French revolution due to the social, economic and political distress. Power abuse and unfair taxation of the French peasantry forced them into feudal obligation which had an added effect of distress within France. Thus leading to the inevitable outcome of the stages of terror between 1789-1799, more so the rise of capitalism and French revolution, as the French had fallen back on “universalist abstract principles” and new ideas such as enlightenment and had sparked revolutions such as the reading revolution, impacting on the growth of the ‘public sphere’ giving the opportunity for new ideas to spread. However this could impact on the reason that terror was the inevitable outcome of the French revolution or the “Enlightenment rhetoric”as Dr Marisa Linton had stated. More so it could be argued that terror broke out due to weak parliamentary traditions.

Firstly, France’s financial system had an impact on the French revolution, terror being an outcome of it. With its participation in the American revolution, France had drained its treasury as well as in the Seven Years War of 1756-1763. Furthermore the army and navy had caused a high expenditure in the time period which had worsened France’s political and economical situation. It can be argued that the French monarchs’ unstable and expensive expenditures had added distress to the people of France, creating an atmosphere of irritation and aggravation within them. This lead to the terror being an inevitable outcome of the French Revolution as later on, Maximilien Robespierre who was a ‘straight forward liberal thinker’ had put effective economic polices into place thus making France a stronger country and army.

Yet it can be argued that French peasantry were the reason for the outbreak of the French revolution due to their distress, such as the bread scare in the 1780’s due to a bad harvest and unreasonable high tax burdens which were due to national debts which could have been a reason for the outbreak of terror. It can be said that the revolution didn't start due to the French peasantry, more to do so with the bourgeoisie, whom were more educated men, thus giving them an educated opinion and ideas on the French revolution and in the time of enlightenment. Additionally, the bourgeoisie were the reason for the outbreak of terror from the French revolution and that it was inevitable due to the factor that in 1789 they had introduced the declaration of the right of men and citizens which could be seen as the early stages of the French revolution as opinions were being expressed openly. Furthermore leaving a leadership vacuum open such as the one Robespierre had filled and placed his rule of terror to gain the political leadership through France needed to stay content and happy.

Secondly, the Estates-General in 1789 had an impact on the factor that terror was the inevitable outcome of the french revolution.This was because the old feudal assembly was corrupt and caused furthermore political disputes. Therefore making it inevitable that terror would be the outcome of the french revolution as it caused more political and social distress. Furthermore the Third Estate within the Estate-General were becoming more aware of the power of liberty they had. Thus this lead to the realisation that the Third Estate was being neglected and they began to organise themselves independently from the other Estates, which can be argued that terror was an inevitable outcome from the French Revolution as it was used to bring stability to the French parliament and help bring about representation.

In doing so, on June 17 1789, the Third Estate broke away and became the National Assembly. Although it could be argued that terror from the French revolution could have been avoided if the General Estate had some sort of understanding of the moderate policies the Third Estate wanted, instead they undermined this and depended on strict