The French Revolution not only reshaped the
political structure of France but several other regimes were inspired by the
movement to gain some form of independence. The main reason for this revolution
can be identified as the corrupted nobility which the peasants were no longer
willing to support however; an additional factor could be the increasing popularity
of philosophers who wrote about political and social reform.
This revolution gave way to several
political ideas that were not known before. For the first time in history
people became aware of their rights and fought to restore them. They overthrew
the monarchy to gain freedom from oppression and interference. Another concept
that saw the light of day was nationalism. This uprising was headed by Napoleon
under the cloak of national interest but, he ended up making himself the
monarch and the country, a military dictatorship.
How such a massive endeavour concluded is
troublesome. The fervour among the French was such that they could not have
imagined that everything they worked for would end up being futile. The loss of
lives resulting from the dissolution of justice system coupled with the
invention of the guillotine; shows how people had idealist views. Idealism
holds that harmony exists between individuals or groups and that power is
something that can be easily channelled or eliminated for the greater good.
Looking back in time, we see how the
movement was in essence a large scale propaganda however, its revolutionary
aspect made it appealing to a large number of people.
I like how you have linked the french revolution to the idealistic views of people of the time. The french revolution has opened the floodgate for future revolutions in countries where the people are living under the tyranny of corrupt rulers. Recently, i heard someone talk that it highly likely that Pakistan will reach the same fate as french if the rulers do not put an end to their current selfish practices.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like how you linked the failure of idealism in the domestic sphere in France during the revolution, I would have liked to see you link this more to the international environment. For example, can the French revolution be explained by anarchy in the international system? What is the link between the domestic and international environment for France?
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