In the book Les Miserables, during the barricade scene, a group of boys, seemingly senseless, sacrifice their lives without second thought for the cause, the French Revolution. With events that led to the barricade, setting up the barricade itself, and the end of the fight, without doubt the group of young men and women who died for their beliefs were a big part of the story. During the 1800s, many events were happening that made the people of France angry and caused tension between them and the government. During the reign of King Louis XVI in France, he was neglecting the people of his country, leaving them with very little to no sanitation and food. In the quote “There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher,” it says that the differences between rich and poor are great during this time period. While King Louis and his upper classmen were driving their country deeper …show more content…
More and more soldiers come to the barricade, and the resources are getting low. “Comrades, don’t waste the powder. Let us wait to reply till they come into the street,” is said when they see they are low on gunpowder and they are trying to conserve it. Before they could take advantage of the battle, the soldiers were able to overcome the barricade and in the midst of defeat, Marius took a flame and put it close to the barrel of gunpowder, saying “Begone, or I’ll blow up the barricade!” Marius is sick of the fighting, and all the lives being lost. When the sergeant comes up to Marius and sees him with the flame, he calls him a bluff and tells him to blow up the barricade and along with himself. But Marius is far from kidding, and the sergeant sees this and tells his soldiers to retreat, no doubt they will come back with more reinforcements. This is when Marius takes time to check the casualties of the battle, seeing that Epinine has been shot, and they have a little moment before she dies in his
For decades’ historians have worked toward deciding how the consequences of the French Revolution should be viewed across a variety of outlets from textbooks to articles that analyze the developing stages of the French revolution. In this paper the question “Was the French Revolution Worth its Human Costs?” will be justified and answered by two historians by the names of Peter Kropotkins who agrees that the revolution was worth its human costs, he is also the author that I have decided I agreed with. The second historian who does not believe that the revolution was worth the losses earned is Simon Schama. Each historian thoughtfully executed their ideas that support their claim for or against the revolution I will begin by explaining Shama’s.
Was this Violent Period During the French Revolution Necessary? Robespierre, the most famous French Revolutionary, believes that the citizens of France should extinguish the threats inside and outside of France or meet one’s death. Began in 1789, the French Revolution began as an attempt to form a new government in France. This gruesome period, that lasted about ten to eleven months, was the Reign of Terror.
In the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century, France was undergoing major changes. Before the French Revolution, France was experiencing political, social and economic problems. During this time period France was unstable, and wasn’t able to keep up with the new arising Enlightenment ideas. In addition, there were high taxes, unequal power distribution and social inequality. The French Revolution not only impacted the citizens of France, but people from other countries as well.
When the time hit France during the French Revolution there were many rough times for people during the 25 years they were fighting. During the French Revolution the people were living in harsh conditions. People were going poor they couldn’t afford things, the middle class was getting robbed of paying taxes, and the working class couldn’t start the French Revolution.
Pericles then ventured into the heart of the speech. "Thus choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled from dishonor" (31). He discussed the matter of the fallen soldiers, and why they were worthy of their city. Pericles said that the soldiers were men who died for Athens, who gave up everything for the city, and for that, he called them heroes. "Heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own" (31). Pericles was justifying their death, and their killings, to his citizens. He called the soldiers courageous, and how they fought for their forefather's dream of freedom. The soldiers were great citizens that left no room for cowardice within them, for it hindered a man to act upon his duty. That is why Pericles told Athens to take the soldiers as their model for a citizen, therefore bringing honor to the dead.
A common need for a revolution is due to economic oppression among the people of a country. During the French Revolution, the Second Estate, otherwise known as nobles, were privileged compared to the Third Estate, or the lower class. The second estate made up 5% of the population and owned 95% of the land along with the first estate, but paid no taxes. In addition, King Louis XIV and Queen Marie Antoinette were spending more money than the country had on jewelry, residences, and much more. This oppression of the third estate and the weakening of King Louis’ power led to new ideas and small groups of activists to ignite a revolution. Before the French Revolution, the American Revolutionaries were battling against taxes. A popular phrase used as “anti-British slogan” in Boston in 1785 was “Taxation without Representation”. The phrase resonated the frustration of the American colonies “being taxed by a British Parliament to which they elected no representatives”. To fight this oppression, small groups of activists followed new ideas and combated against Britain. In The Farmer Refuted, written by Alexander Hamilton and published in 1775, he wrote, “If that is closed up, no step can be taken but to surrender at discretion. If Great-Britain can order us to pay what taxes she pleases, before we take them away, or when we land them here, we are as abject slaves as France and Poland can shew in wooden shoes.” Hamilton reflects the colonist’s resentment towards the tax, and claims
I feel that the French Revolution was a time of depression for all living in France. Countless innocent lives had been taken because of bad leadership and disagreement. Many deaths occurred during the Reign of Terror and the September Massacre. There were hundreds of thousands of lives that had been lost through all the events of the French Revolution. In the past, people didn't care if they had taken another ones life because their were less people to find out that you had committed murder.
The statement “What begins in fear usually ends in wickedness. Fear as a principle or motive is the beginning of all evil” can be applied to the various stages of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Era. Fear was the cause of many ghastly actions during the revolution.
“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not the one who commits the sin, but the one who creates the darkness” (Hugo 22). This quote was taken from Les Miserables describing the French Revolution. The “darkness” represents the authoritative figures that have the power to rule others. They create misery and pain that leads good people into doing bad things. The French Revolution was a major turning point in French history. It motivated and influenced Victor Hugo to write Les Miserables as a historical romantic novel, which would later triumphantly become one of the greatest novels in the 19th Century (Brombert 92). The French Revolution was ignited by the political and social contention between the Monarchy and the National Assembly. Chaos was the result of the battle, and reformation was needed to address the moral decline of the people due to the decrease in respect for human life and great influence from the Enlightenment philosophers. This would lead to the questioning of the philosophy behind the French Revolution and directed France towards many civil wars and uprisings. The politics, morality, philosophy and war that occurred during the French Revolution formed the foundation behind Les Miserables’ plot.
The French Revolution was a failure because after all of the blood shed, the laws, civil rights, and codes did not get instituted effectively and did not represent the values that the citizens fought for, examples of this were the Napoleonic Code, Declaration of Rights of Man. Another reason it was a failure was because during the revolts and reforms more than 40,000 men and women died, this enormous massacre of people went against Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, all of which the national assembly declared were every man's right. Much of the killing can be related back to Robespierre and King Louis XVI. Although it was mostly a failure, some achievements can be seen through the revolution, the French revolution helped the french people become a more equal and socialist state, this showed Europe that the french
Revolution? The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.<br><br>The French Revolution was spread over the ten year period between 1789 and 1799. The primary cause of the revolution was the disputes over
The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy
Revolutions are a common occurrence throughout world history. With the amount of revolutions in history, there are those that get lost and those that are the most remembered or well known. One of the well known revolutions is the French Revolution which occurred in the years 1789 to 1799. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by an absolute monarchy, this meaning that one ruler had the supreme authority and that said authority was not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs, a definition given by wikipedia.com and the feudal system, which was a system that said a peasant or worker would receive a piece of land in return for serving under a king, a definition given by vocabulary.com. Those who opposed the, then
Social oppression was also a major cause of the French Revolution as well as the Haitian Revolution. In both the French and the Haitian revolutions the class system was the major cause of the revolts. France consisted of three classes also known as estates. Only 3 percent of the population was made up by the 1st and 2nd estate, yet the 3rd estate made up most of France’s population and they were socially oppressed and weren’t given many rights. The Bourgeoisie who were very wealthy people of the third estate were seeking influence in politics and they were dissatisfied with the large amounts of taxes they had to pay. The French government’s debt increased leading up to the start of the revolution. Because of France’s debt the Bourgeoisie was
When the romans arrived at their war camp, they celebrated vigorously. General Julius Caesar reunited with his wife Sarah, and his two kids, Julia and Caesarian. Meanwhile, the warriors drank and ate all night. Finally when the warriors went to sleep and the celebrations had surpassed General Caesar went to sleep. When they awakened they found that their camp was roaring with ferocious red flames.The warriors ran to General Caesar’s tent to awaken him, but found him kneeling over two dead bodies, his children Julia and Caesarian. General Julius was as mad as a raging bull, he tore open the door to his tent and hopped up onto his horse. He told his comrades that he would find and kill whoever had killed his beloved children. When the Romans finally extinguished all of the fire, they packed all of their Armor and gear and rode off to look