Was the French Revolution Successful Despite Its Many Failures

The 1700s was a time where France was known to be greatly admired by the rest of the world because of its progressiveness and superb model of Enlightenment. Although, there was a substantial amount of underlying issues taking place involving taxes, political and social systems, and the type of government. So, the French Revolution began in 1789 in order to address and repair many of the concerns. Was the French Revolution successful? We will find out in this essay.

France was idolized because of its wealth and substantial population but had copious complications due to the structure of society, which improved because of the French Revolution. The French citizens were divided into three separate estates, the First Estate was the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, the Second Estate were the nobles and aristocrats, and the Third Estate was everyone not included in these statuses. Each estate only accounted for a single vote in political matters, even though the First and Second Estate was only about 3% of the population, while the Third Estate made up for about 97% of the population. Also, the First and Second Estate paid little to no taxes and the Third Estate paid almost half of their income in taxes. The Third Estate gradually became more and more enraged about the lack of power they possessed and were ready for change. Eventually, on July 14, 1789, a mob of French civilians rampaged the Bastille, which was French crown property, giving them more attention and seriousness. Soon after, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was written and the French King was forced to sign it. This document stated that every citizen had a right to participate in the foundation of law and all are equal in the eyes of law, allowing the Third Estate to gain more power.

In the late 1700s, King Louis XVI failed to practice much equality, but when Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France in 1804, he created a new legal code that offered new rights. Louis XVI proved to be a weak leader and allowed France to plummet into massive debt. He initially began his rule with inherited debt from previous kings, sat back while his wife spent money unreasonably, and continued to borrow money from other countries. When the debt became too great and bankers denied any more loans, he began to impose brutal taxes and not treat all citizens equally. Years later, Napoleon took up a new title and replaced Louis XVI and the other unprofitable rulers and immediately began to make changes. Napoleon designed a valuable method of tax collection and constructed a national banking system. This maintained better management of the economy and set up a consistent supply of taxes. He then established the Napoleonic Code, which gave equality to all citizens, the privilege was no longer based off of the family name, and expressed religious toleration. Napoleon even started the use of Plebiscite, granting the option of all people to vote on matters. With the introduction to all of his ideas being putting into use, the lower class was more protected and satisfied.

The French Revolution forced France to transform its government from a monarchy to a republic, increase nationalism and identity, and it motivated many other locations to start their own revolutions. France was controlled by the Bourbon family as a monarchy for an extensive period of time, but it was finally put to an abrupt end when this type of government was terminated and replaced by a republic government. With this new and improved government, a new constitution was written expressing the inclusion of equality and liberty, which was very uncommon. In order to protect this constitution and the accomplishments made during the revolution, the National Guard was created and took over the Bourbon’s royal guard. When Napoleon took the title of emperor of France, he quickly began to gain a great deal of territory for France using his skill in artillery and military knowledge. His large expansion and support of equality in his written law code caused the French citizens to boost a sense of loyalty to the country and felt great nationalism. Various areas around the world were also impacted by the proof of benefits that the middle and lower class both received by their revolutions. So, many looked at their actions with admiration and used it as a guide to follow through with their very own revolutions for years.

With this being said, there were definitely many failures throughout the French Revolution, but there was an even more immense amount of impact because of the achievements. The French were able to meet many of their goals for the Third Estate and common people associating taxes, rights, and equality, and were even able to influence the world around them for generations. The answer to the main question is the next one: the French Revolution was successful because the Third Estate acquired more power, the lower class and common folk gained rights and equality, and its ideas influenced various parts of history for centuries.