The spread of Enlightenment Ideas played a big role in The French Revolution and French culture.
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Thomas Hobbes and his Ideas
Thomas Hobbes shows his ideas through his written work of "Levithian" which showed how society needed government. He also created the idea of the social contract. The French Revolution should have followed in Hobbes's ideas in the way that if they had a good government that was not a "man on man" fight, they could have kept running the country the same way. Due to King Louis XVI not following these ideas, it led to an uprising that took down his government. (Beck 551) -
Montesquieu Writes "One the Spirit of Laws"
Baron de Montesquieu was a famous and influential writer to the Enlightenment who wrote mainly about political liberty. He concluded that "Rome's collapse was directly related to its loss of political liberties". This relates to how in the French Revolution, the lack of decency in political liberties caused the uprising/downfall of France and King Louis XVI. (Beck 553) -
Diderot Makes First Encyclopedia
Denis Diderot created a large set of books called the "Encyclopedia" which expressed many other articles and essays and enlightenment from European Scholars. (Beck 558) -
Uprising Over Catherine The Great
Catherine the Great ruled Russia between 1762 and 1769 as a "well-educated empress". Catherine believed in ruling using ideas of philosophe to better help her people and rule her country in a more controlling way. Her people and servants did not like this idea and uprose against her causing many civilians to die. Catherine the Great, however, had her mind change and went back to original ruling patterns. King Louis XVI had his own people rise against him due to outrageous ideas. (Beck 562) -
The French Revolution Starts
The French Revolution officially starts this year due to social structure and political culture within France. Due to recently helping with the American Revolution, France's social structure took a tumble down. France was in political downfall with King Louis XVI ruling for his own demands and not to help the people of his country. Land owners and educated people wanted to end his disaster of rule and awful ideas and start an uprising. (History 1) -
Meeting of the Estates General
During the French Revolution one key event was this meeting which discussed financial issues with King Louis XVI. Social issues were also discussed and with this meeting being a private one, the public was not a fan of it. If they had followed the idea of government rules government (Locke). -
Dissolution of the National Assembly
The long waited for constitution comes to action on September 30, 1791 which gave power to King Louis XVI with a constitutional monarchy. This also replaced the National Assembly with a new political branch called the Legislative Assembly. (Britannica 1) -
Execution of King Louis
After a trial and many arguements, King Louis XVI was sentenced to execution by decapatation. With the downfall of Louis also came the downfall of society and the rise of Napoleon. Because King Louis was no longer monarch of France, there was little rule for a short time and mobs and fights broke out. Without enlightenment of honesty and kindness to one another, France experienced a rough time until rule was back. (Britannica 1) -
Poland loses the last of its territory
Poland had been losing major parts of its land during the 1700's and finally lost the last of its territory in 1795 to France's neighbors. Whilst the French Revolution was happening, since there was enough conflict in France itself, they could not gain any land to further advance their society but instead got lost in itself with battle. (Beck 562) -
The French Revolution Ends
The French Revolution ends with King Louis XVI "resigning" and Napoleon Bonaparte becoming his successor. (History 1) -
Works Cited
History.com Staff. "French Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 01 Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "French Revolution." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016. Beck, Roger B. "Enlightenment." World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005. 545-62. Print.
