Richard Hu 9A - Assessment Task 1 Word Count: 908

Explain why the French Revolution was a significant event in the making of the modern

world.

The French Revolution was a significant turning point that inspired political, economic and

social changes that continue to shape the modern world. The achievements of Enlightenment

philosophers and progressive movements in eighteenth-century Europe influenced

monarchies and nobility around the world, questioning feudal ideologies in the hope of

freedom and liberty for the middle class. Through the rise of republicanism, socialism and

liberalism, the Ancien Regime was overthrown in support of human rights and equality,

resonating significant messages that influenced change around the world.

Primarily, the influence of Enlightenment philosophers during the eighteenth century

introduced ideas of republicanism, socialism and liberalism that ignited the French

Revolution. Following the Renaissance, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe

were the epitome of philosophy and change of beliefs, sparking new scientific theories and

rationalism that opposed traditional religious ideas. As philosophers disputed superstitious

beliefs, they helped spread new political movements, especially in France and Italy, meeting

in casual gatherings called salons where ideas were discussed, exchanged and debated.

Gradually, new progressive beliefs including republicanism, socialism and liberalism were

proposed, and philosophers championed these ideologies that would lead to the French

Revolution. Mary Wollstonecraft was a prominent Enlightenment philosopher who helped

transform France during the French Revolution and emphasised the need for freedom and

equality for women and the working class. In her political pamphlet ‘A Vindication of the

Rights of Men’, Wollstonecraft supported revolutionary changes for social and gender
equality, criticising the French monarchy and political structure of hereditary privilege that

oppressed the power of the middle class, who were unable to afford education and

necessities. By describing a utopian world where families had sufficient money and rights,

Wollstonecraft attacked the constitutional monarchy and aristocracy supported in Edmund

Burke’s ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’, and advocated for the French Revolution

to bring drastic changes for working class citizens. Thus, the French political system known

as the Ancien Regime was challenged and overthrown by the French Revolution, resulting in

the development of a pivotal constitutional document called ‘The Declaration of the Rights of

Man and Citizen’. Written by Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson and finalised by Abbé

Sieyès, the document outlined a set of seventeen universal human civil rights based on

equality, freedom and liberty sparked by Enlightenment thinkers, thus leading to republican

and socialist ideologies that shape our modern world.

Furthermore, the dramatic differences between the life of the nobility and the middle class in

eighteenth-century France spearheaded the need for equality and liberty that led to the French

Revolution. Before the Revolution, French society consisted of three separate classes, known

as Estates, which varied drastically in rights and power. Despite making up only around five

percent of the French population, the First and Second Estates, composed of clergymen and

the nobility, had significantly more power than the Third Estate, who worked tirelessly for

minimal wages, paid numerous taxes and had limited rights. Thus, in 1789, Abbé Sieyès, a

French clergyman, wrote a political pamphlet called ‘Qu’est-ce que le Tiers-Etat?’, or ‘What

is the Third Estate?’ that summarised the Third Estate as ‘everything’, but has the power to

do ‘nothing’. Through this influential document, Sieyès emphasised the need for rights for

French citizens in the Third Estate and not just the nobility, and believed that the treatment of

different classes in French society was unjust. Through the support from progressive leaders
like Sieyès, the French Revolution successfully brought better treatment towards middle class

French citizens and overthrew the feudal society and French monarchy, giving them better

treatment and liberties such as property rights and suffrage. Another momentous event of

eighteenth-century France was the storming of the Bastille, that struck major obstacles for the

French monarchy. On the fourteenth of July in 1789, thousands of Parisians stormed the

Bastille prison, a symbol of the monarchy’s despotic rule, demanding better treatment for

French citizens. In Jean-Pierre Houël’s 1789 painting ‘Prise de la Bastille’, he captures the

violent moments of the attack and depicts the middle class’ fight for equality which was an

essential part of the downfall of King Louis XVI and the French monarchy. Thus, the

mistreatment of the Third Estate was an important aspect that led to the imminent end of the

French monarchy and new progressive movements.

Subsequently, the French Revolution significantly influenced other countries around the

world to change their own feudal systems for more liberal and equal governments. A civil

code known as the Napoleonic Code was instrumental in shaping legal systems throughout

the world. Written by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Napoleonic Code created a framework of

secular laws, such as property rights, freedom of religion and marriage laws, which formed

the basis for other legal systems, including Italy, Spain and Belgium. Furthermore, through

the French Revolution, many countries and colonies were influenced, and demanded freedom

and rights from their government as well. Most notably, through the principles of freedom

and liberty, the French Revolution inspired the Haitian Revolution, the first ever slave revolt

in the world, bringing greater rights and freedoms for Haitians and independence from

France. Thus, the French Revolution ignited a dissemination of progressive ideologies that

improved the lives of middle class citizens around the world.

and liberty which form crucial pillars in our society today. Through the introduction of

socialism and republicanism, feudal monarchical regimes came to an end, profoundly

changing the rights and lives of middle class citizens for the better.
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