Revolution Essay Research Paper At various times

Revolution Essay, Research Paper

At various times in global history, revolution has often been the vehicle for political, economic, and social change. These changes can be seen in the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the 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.

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 ofLouis XIV. This was the foundation of the revolte nobiliaire in the fact that it formed a basis of mistrust, and anger for the monarch. 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 greedy king. The next king, Louis XVI saw that the majority of France (75%) was peasants and serfs. Consequently, to try to ensure their happiness he had the Estates-General abolish the feudal system, in which they held no ranking. 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. This proved to be unfortunate for the king. The nobles were sick of being treated like low-class peasants so they formed their revolt.

The Revolution was not just one Revolution, it was a “series of revolutions, very different in their aims 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 writers and other such people in

society. Politically, the system had to change to accommodate them. The growth of the middle class was originally stimulated by the commercial prosperity of the post 1776 era, and it threatened the traditional established aristocraticy.

They were getting more power in government, allowed to buy seats in legal

standings and generally getting as powerful as the nobles. Along with the peasants, the bourgeoisie felt the burden of poor economic times in pre- revolutionary France. Prices were rising but wages were not, taxes were steep and this left the bourgeoisie angry toward Louis XVI whom they left responsible. This led the middle class to gather up the less educated peasants on a quest for a better government, which they wanted to be a major factor of. Unlike the American Revolution where everyone was fighting for a noble cause, everyone in France had there own reasons for sticking their neck out. This includes the bourgeoisie who fought because of economic difficulties and hope for a better political standing, but the only group that could be partially excluded from this rule are the peasants.

The peasants had their own simple, non-deceptive reasons for fighting.

That had terrible economic and somewhat political problems. Heavy grape

harvests meant bad times for wine making, and since wine was made throughout the country, this was devastating. The price of wine fell by 50%, and therefore the peasants got less money and subsequently poorer. The next to fall was grain

prices. Combine the fact that grain was scarce in France at the time and there

were heavy tariffs for imports, and you get a bad grain economy. The grain

harvests in France had collapsed a few years earlier and that is why the

situation was so desperate. All of this meant that the French common person had nothing to fall back to when there was no income. The standard of living

dropped and there was a consequent famine. Also, to contribute to the massive

famine the population was growing faster that the food supply. Combine all these factors with the fact that the peasants (like everybody) were being heavily taxed, and you get people who are going to easily manipulated by a more ambitious group: namely the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie would use the peasants as little puppets in their game for more power and control over the aristocrats. The peasants were suffering political problems as well. For hundreds of years, they were being represented in parliament by one vote. That doesn’t look bad when there are only three votes, but then you see that the country is made up of a 75% peasant population. The result is an outcry for better representation that would make the peasants more eager to revolt if the time should happen to come. Mostly, in the eighteenth century, all peasants really had to worry about was the farm crops, or other such things, but at the time of the French Revolution the peasants were affected by economic and political factors; and also a changing, weakening monarchy.

In the feudal system, a kingdom is only as strong as its king. Unfortunately for eighteenth century France, Louis XVI wanted a more equal and democratic nation. He would see that people would not be swayed from tradition easily, however. When they saw that he gave up much of his power in the name of quality, they pounced on him. In the beginning, Louis XVI was an absolute ruler, he was the highest authority, but, as the years progressed he saw that the rights and privileges were to be retained by the provinces, towns, corporate bodies and the nobility. This equal spread of power left himself out of the equation. Additionally, the legal and administrative system could be brought to question by anyone. It used to be that the monarch was untouchable. Seeing as how Louis was to get his head chopped off, that resolution may not have been a good idea. To make things even more equal and just, the commoners had one of the three votes his Estates-General. This meant fair representation, but it also meant that the nobles were upset with their decline of power and the commoners wanted more of their new-found power. All of these ideas seem to be good ones, but ones that would, and did harm his position. One evidently bad move was to heavily tax everyone. The peasants were already heavily taxed, so they were then brought to famine, the nobles were never taxed before and consequently disgruntled and the middle class just did not like it.

This revolution resulted in the end of the old paradigm and the

beginning of the Enlightenment paradigm. The Declaration of the Rights of Man

and the Constitution of 1791 were written. Some of these changes include

freedom of speech , due process under law, equality under law. It also enabled

the creation of a laissez-fairre economic policy, with a free market and free

trade.

The Eighteenth century was the beginning of technological development which affected society, and commerce , in ways that are felt even today. This technological development, known as the Industrial Revolution, was one of the main revolutions of this era. The Industrial Revolution changed manufacturing by changing the way people worked. For one thing, it brought work out of the home and centralized it in the factory.

The Industrial Revolution grew more powerful each year as new inventions and manufacturing processes added to the efficiency of machines and increased productivity. Indeed, since World War I the mechanization of industry has increased so enormously that another revolution in production is taking place. The Industrial Revolution has had far more impact on the world than the political revolutions of the era, because the Industrial Revolution affects on society are longer lasting. For example, today we have automobiles, television, computers, all made possible by this revolution. Without the Industrial Revolution, we would not have the technologies that we have today.

The Industrial Revolution began in Europe and would soon migrate to America with the opening of Samuel Slater’s cotton mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793. With the opening of his mill begins the American Industrial Revolution.

New kinds of machinery and the application of steam energy to running the machinery helped create the factory system. New machinery also meant the standardization of products. The Industrial revolution began in the British textiles’ industry.

The Industrial Revolution had its beginnings in Britain because the English merchants were leaders in developing a commerce that increased the demand for more goods. The expansion in trade had made it possible to accumulate capital to use in industry.

A cheaper system of production had grown up which was largely free from regulation. There also were new ideas in England that aided the movement. One of these was the growing interest in scientific investigation and invention. Another was the doctrine of laissez-faire, or leaving business alone. This doctrine had been growing in favor throughout the 18th century. It was especially popular after the British economist Adam Smith argued powerfully for it in his great work ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776).

The Industrial Revolution resulted in many new inventions. The use of machines enabled goods to be produced in more quantities and cheaper for both producer and consumer. Before the introduction of machines and the factory setting, goods were manufactured by hand, in single homes or cottages, where the owner worked side by side with his employees. This changed with the introduction of machines and mass production.

The major advances in technology, particularly in the use of steam, in the later half of the 18th century has its roots in devices that were invented earlier in the era. There were three major inventions that enabled this advancement and opened the way for the later machines. These were:

1. John Kay’s invention of the flying shuttle in 1733.

2. A crude, slow-moving steam engine built by Thomas Newcomen (1705), which was used to pump water out of mines.

3. A frame for spinning cotton thread with rollers, first set up by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt (1741). Though, not commercially practical, but it was the first step toward solving the problem of machine spinning.

These inventions, made possible James Hargreaves spinning jenny 31 years later, which revolutionized the making of yarn and the weaving of cloth. By 1800 a host of new and faster processes were in use in manufacturing and transportation.

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