He introduced a French-style constitution and sold off the property of the church, as expected of a revolutionary Frenchman. ... He went to war with the rest of Europe in order to export these ideals. ... Critics of the Legion of Honour point out that such a move was contrary to revolutionary ideals of equality. The Legion represented the glorification of war in a "society [that] was dominated by military values The glory of war was the supreme good, the measure of character."" ... Its significance lies in the fact that it clarified and codified all the various, confusing and inconsistent le...

• Word Count: 3218
• Approx Pages: 13

The Revolutionary Communes had committees that watched everyone in the neighborhood and special passes were needed to travel from one city to another. ... Now contrast all of this with the American Revolution, more correctly called the War for Independence. ... A war was fought to be sure, and soldiers died in that war. But . . . there was none of the butchery which we have come to accept as a natural concomitant of revolutionary warfare. . . . There was no 'revolutionary justice'; there was no reign of terror; there were no bloodthirsty proclamations by the Continental Congress." ...

• Word Count: 2777
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Lefebvre's work is often presented as the classic interpretation, although arguably the central factor in this was the fact that World War 2 took place after the publication of 'Quatre Vingt', and so nobody challenged his arguments. ... Many historians argue that foreign policies and war significantly influenced the outbreak of the French Revolution by causing great financial difficulties. Since the late 17th century, France had participated in a series of wars: the Nine Years' War (1688-1697); the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713); the War of the Austrian Successi...

• Word Count: 3440
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The French Revolution was a dramatic change in all of European history. The revolution was necessary in the fact that it changed the lifestyles of all humans in France during this time. The revolution was a gateway to new discoveries up until this day. It allowed women to gain some privileges and changed the ways of governing. The French Revolution could have been avoided, but it would have delayed the development of the world that we know. ...

• Word Count: 3516
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

Because of the lost wars such as the War of the League of Augsburg and the Seven Years War with England, France had a war debt of half its annual budget. ... Louis XVI was unable to collect the revenues necessary to maintain the French Government and pay off its war debts. ... A split slowly opened up between the moderate and radical revolutionaries. ... Maximilien Robespierre, the "guiding spirit" of the radical revolutionaries, ruled over the chaos until he was overcome by the moderates, who came back with a fury and finally drove a republican constitution to approval by the National Conven...

• Word Count: 4395
• Approx Pages: 18
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In 1795, he saved the revolutionary government by dispersing an insurgent mob in Paris. ... In April 1803 Britain, provoked by Napoleon's aggressive behavior, resumed war with France on the seas. ... Joseph's arrival in Spain touched off a rebellion there, which became known as the Peninsular War. ... The Peninsular War cost France 300,000 casualties and incredible sums of money and contributed to the eventual weakening of the Napoleonic empire. ... Where French Revolutionary armies had passed before, overturning feudal and ecclesiastical institutions, there Napoleonic rule had a fir...

• Word Count: 2604
• Approx Pages: 10