Successful, Enlightened, But Excessive - 1197 Words

Josephine Joliff 11/23/15 Period 5 Ms. Green Successful, Enlightened, but Excessive Throughout history, revolutions have occurred for many different reasons all around the world, in many different ways. But, there is always a certain extent to which each revolution can be successful, and also enlightened. The word successful is defined by Oxford Dictionary as accomplishing an aim or purpose, and enlightened is defined as having or showing a rational, modern, and well-informed outlook. During the 18th century, a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems, called the Enlightenment was highly influential in†¦show more content†¦Before the revolution, king after king ruled over France with full power, and often did not take into consideration the people’s thoughts, beliefs, and opinions. Throughout the revolution, citizens from the third estate began bringing attention to themselves and fighting for what they wanted, starting to let their voices be heard. On July 14th, 1789, many suppressed f rench peasants intensely stormed the Bastille, an important prison in France, and also captured, imprisoned, and killed french royalty to show their anger against how they had been previously treated. This act forced King Louis VI to pay attention to these threats from the lower class, and minimize power in the high society. Also, this was one of the first key events that led to the french revolution’s success, and the abolition of the monarchy. Later, on October 4th in 1789, an important march took place, in which a great amount of hungry, angry women marched towards Versailles demanding bread. The king and queen were once again forced to recognize this event led by unhappy lower class parisians, and moved from Versailles to Paris on October 6th. Both of these events led to the legitimization of the National Assembly, which eventually caused the writing of the constitution and France becoming an official republic in 1972. This matters because it marked the end of an unfair g overnment where the third estate was