The French Revolution

               Remember the Middle Eastern Revolution? Well, there have been other revolutions in the past, such as the French Revolution. This was a 10 year revolution from 1789 – 1799, which is quite a long revolution. The King and Queen were Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Although it was long, the length does not matter, it is the effects, the impact on the humans of today.

France was not the best place to live in. The people were treated very poorly, yet they still put up with all of the unfairness they had to endure.  There was no such thing as happiness among the villagers. That was the cause of the revolution though. The villagers had to pay in three ways, money, labour, and kindness. They had to pay the fee to live in the house with the gold they earned from working. They also had to manage farms for the landlords, and last of all, they had to send the landlords corn, and other food they produce. When there was a problem at night, the villagers who lived in the house of the landlord being disturbed had to get up, and resolve the problem. Such as if the frogs were croaking too loudly they would have to get up and beat the waters. If the villagers did not complete any of these three payments, the police would come to their home, and pay a very heavy fine. Then the police would take all of their possessions, send them to jail for them to be flogged, and possibly tortured. I was as if that if they did not pay one out of three payments, they got at least three punishments. The way the French were treated was awful, which is the reason why they started a revolution; the landlords did nothing while they did everything. It was as if the French were slaves. Not only were they paying heavy fines, they were paying heavy taxes as well, and they couldn’t even get much food. Imagine a villager standing in a small house while hungry, and taxes need to be paid. They have to pay, but they don’t get much of a benefit except that they get to live. Their well beings were thrown out of the way to make the landlords happy, and then when they need help while hungry, the landlords turn their backs on them and treat them like animals.

                The three things the French wanted out of the revolution were liberty, equality, and fraternity. Equality was wanted because while they were doing the work and being treated like dirt, the landlords sat at the castle getting their demands. The French believed that everyone should be doing an equal amount of work, which is the case of today. They also believed that it was not fair that they had to make three payments, otherwise they lose everything.  As well, they wanted to be free, they didn’t want to be slaves, they wanted to get paid well, and they wanted to live in prosperity with each other. The landlords/rich did not pay the villagers well which sis not make them feel happy.They didn’t want fights; they wanted to be like family. Notice a pattern being portrayed?

The thing that initially set off the revolution was the short-wages, and shortage of food. This caused the “Réveillon” to riot. 25 deaths were caused by the troops. From there, the French Revolution started. On July 14, was “The Storming of Bastille”. Bastille was a prison which represented authority, and by the end of it, Bastille had fallen. On the 14^th of July there is now a holiday called “Bastille Day” for the French. This was only part of the introduction of the war.

The French people fought like the Syrians: they didn’t give up unless they achieved their goal. They died fighting, instead of happy like the people of today. They wanted freedom so bad that they put their lives on the line to get a better way of living. It was either win it, or die trying. This is why the French of the 1700 deserve a lot of respect: they wanted it bad enough to die for it. It brings a whole new meaning into “It’s to die for”. It is the true meaning of that saying. In fact that just might be where it came from.   Louis XVI dies on January 21 1793, being accused of destroying the liberty of the French. He had his head cut off by the executioner, in which after the executioner lifted it up by the hair, and showed it to the whole crowed who all yelled “Long live the republic!”

                During the revolution, something began called “The Reign of Terror”, spooky huh. In this time that was the war between the Jacobins and the Girodins. There were a bunch of death by a lot of executions. 16 594 people were killed by the guillotine (the thing that holds a blade up with rope, and when the rope is cut, it comes down and slices the victims head off.) 2 639 of them were in Paris. 25 000 others were killed by summary executions. This occurred from the 5^th of September 1793 – the 28^th of July 1794. This is almost a one year war. It is also after the death of Louis XVI.

At the end of the revolution in 1799, the French had achieved everything they fought for. They were treated equally. In fact, this is the long term effect. This revolution is the reason why there is actually something called “human rights” right now, this is why there is peace among others, friends are made, this is why everybody to this day has lived in peace. So when someone says “I have human rights”, they should be sure to look back on the fact that it wouldn’t exist without the French Revolution. The French Revolution is an important part of history, and without it today, almost nobody would be happy, everyone would still be working for landlords, and paying for their houses in three ways. A message to all those who fought for their rights: “Thank you for helping shape mankind to this day, and giving everyone else what almost nobody had in the 1700s. Rest in Peace.”