The French Revolution: Journal of Pierre Cadieux

My character is called Pierre Cadieux. A peasant that was suppressed by the government and wanted to fight back. Pierre joined the revolutionary groups starting from the Tennis Court Oath and had also met Francois, his mate that joined and experienced the French Revolution with him.

The French Revolution started from 1789 and ended on November 9th, 1799. Before the revolution, France was ruled by the Old Regime. The Old Regime was the political and social system of France starting from 15th century till the 17th century. France before the revolution had three estates: the first estate were the high ranking members of the Catholic Church and the second estate were the nobles living an extravagant life. Both estate refused to pay tax and France was slowly going towards bankruptcy, the third estate which included everyone else were paying tax for the whole country. The third estate had no luxuries nor privileges and even had to pay extra amount of tax. This infuriated them and a bloody revolution ought to begin. The revolutionaries worked hard and sacrificed a lot for this revolution. They finally got their rights, freedom, liberty, and equality. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Women were established, Napoleon soon created his own empire and expanded territory along with increasing the industry and economy of France, making the lives of many better.

The French Revolution overall was successful since it has brought peace, freedom, liberty, equality to the citizens. Where before, people were suppressed and infuriated by the laws and government. (Absolutism, the Old Regime and the monarchy) But however many thousands of people sacrificed their lives and freedom for this revolution where all the bloody components come from.

The French Revolution In Plain English

Revolutions in general are greatly influenced and by corrupt leadership. For example, the Russia Revolution started with the hopeless Tsar and Tsarina, while in France, it was king Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. All revolutions are a time for new ideas to be created, abolishment of the old political system and government. What I learned about revolutions were all of them ended with hundreds of thousands of people dead and all revolutions are full of sacrifices, loss and pain. the long term effects seem more beneficial and effective than the short term effects. The French Revolution ended with Napoleon being emperor and an orderless country left in chaos. But however, Napoleon had made France into a strong industrial country with strong military power and wealth. But most importantly, all people were free and equalled that they would have never have gotten if it weren’t for the revolution.