History and Revolutions.

A Brief History of the French Revolution

Few world events have had the historical significance of the French Revolution. Quotes like “let them eat cake” or “liberty, fraternity, equality” have been a part of our collective consciousness for well over two hundred years now. But as others have observed in the past, we tend to remember the quotes and forget the cause.

So, what brought about the revolution? While opinions do differ, we know that it had a lot to do with an absolute monarchy. For centuries, France had been ruled by a monarchy that had grown increasingly complacent and less responsive to the will of the people. This last king was a useless faineant by the name of Louis XVI.

Like many domestic insurrections, the causes of the revolution were almost entirely economic. But even though Louis was most assuredly lazy, the financial problems were not all of his doing. It was not as if homes for sale online signs went up only during his reign. In fact, it was his predecessor, Louis XV, who had nearly bankrupted the nation by fighting a series of unnecessary wars.

But when lazy Louis took over he made one fateful decision, he choose to support the American colonist in their war of independence against the British, mainly out of spite, of course. This cost of military aid put the nation into unprecedented debt and the common man could not even afford bread.

What happened next was as predictable as predictable can be. The common people rose up and demanded more of a say in the government. In response, a number of intellectuals and military leaders established a republic, executed the king plus one or two others, and the rest is history.