How Did Marat Influence The French Revolution

Words: 630
Pages: 3

The French Revolution divided France with a line of blood. During this period of radical social and political upheaval, from 1789 to 1799, France and modern history were profoundly affected, marking the decline of powerful monarchies and churches and the rise of democracy and nationalism. The French government had gone into debt through frivolous spending and financing wars. Jean Paul Marat, more than any other individual, has remained the focus of the passionate emotions unleashed by that great social upheaval. Jean Paul Marat had an influence on the French Revolution through his newspaper, L'Ami du peuple ("The Friend of the People"). Marat was one of the more extreme voices of the French Revolution and he became a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes; he spread his views through public speaking, essay writing, and newspaper journalism, …show more content…
He was the son of lower-middle-class parents and acquired an education in medicine. For some years was a successful physician in both England and France. Marat’s writing and publishing of a pamphlet entitled Offering to the Nation initiated his transition from physicist to journalist and politician. Beginning in September 1789, as editor of the newspaper L’Ami du Peuple (“The Friend of the People”), Marat became an influential voice in favour of the most radical and democratic measures.
Writing a newspaper was an ideal way to spread Marat’s opinions. This newspaper was a daily paper with initial press runs of about 2,000 copies. Individual copies of the paper were distributed by hand and read aloud in public squares to reach a larger audience. In this paper he particularly advocated preventive measures against aristocrats, whom he claimed were plotting to destroy the Revolution. The future of the French government and the future of the people were the consistent themes of his articles; he thoroughly expressed the aspirations and focused the fury of the parisian