By Calvin L. Robinson

Why Does the French Revolution Involve More Bloodshed Than

the American Revolution?

I was interested in trying to understand why the American

Revolution went so smoothly in comparison to the French

Revolution.

I chose this topic because….

It is well known that in the American Revolution we fought for our freedom or our liberty against the British to gain our independence as our own country, while on

the other hand the French Revolution was a lot different than ours. The French Revolution was not against an

outside country, but against itself inside its own borders, mainly against its own monarchy. Why though,

one may ask, was their revolution bloodier than the American Revolution, or why did America not fall into a

“Reign of Terror” like the French? One said answer could be the simple fact that the Americans were united

in a common goal to drive out an opposing force and had a type of preset government as to be led by the people in certain terms while the French were in a

turmoil against themselves and therefore did not really have any governing ruling and had no type of

enforcement to enforce the laws.

The French Revolution was bloodier that the American

Revolution, because unlike the American Revolution the French

were in turmoil against themselves and did not have any governing ruling and did not have

any type of way to enforce the laws that were attempted to be

passed.

Thesis Statement

The French revolution was due to the unfair taxation of the lower class French citizens; this was due

to financial crises that the French was dealing with at the time which made them tax the lower class even heavier, than enforcing taxation on the middle class and upper class citizens . These financial crises were like military

expenses and aristocracy, while in comparison, America had a boasting economy due to the selling and trading of

slaves along with sugar and tobacco.Once the taxes kept coming and becoming heavier,

tensions began to run high among lower class French citizens and a revolt was inevitable. This was soon

realized by King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette and they tried to make an escape and flee the country but were captured and ultimately killed. During the time they

were killed is about when the French nation ran amuck and the so called “Reign of Terror” began.

What led to the French Revolution anyways?

“The "Reign of Terror" lasted from September of 1793 to July of the following year. Simply put, the Reign of Terror was a dictatorship mainly by a group of leaders

called the Committee of Public Safety, and at the head of them was a man by the name of

Maximilien Robespierre. They were known for being responsible all of the executions of

counter revolutionaries and so called enemies of the Republic. Over 40,000 people lost their

lives to the guillotine in these years during this time. Despite all of the killings, almost all

of them were done without due process.”

“Reign of Terror”

Both the end to the Reign of Terror and the end of the French Revolution were brought on by the rise in power of the general Napoleon

Bonaparte. He grew in power with the military and gradually began to have the country in a

full 180 degree turn and set it to a republic, yet he still named himself emperor, though not in

the traditional sense of the word.

An End to the Reign of Terror and the Rise of Napoleon

In all I learned that the French in general did not know what they

wanted once they were rid of the monarchy and in consequence fell into a nightmarish frenzy of lawlessness; this in comparison to the Americans

who all in general had a common thought and goal on what they wanted even before they were

completely free of a monarchy rule.

What did I learn from my research…?

Clark Atlanta University History Department, A History Reader. Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press, Ltd., 2010Hunt, Lynn. "History Workshop Revolution in France". 15. (1983), 78-94, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4288460. (accessed March 3,2011).

Hooker, Richard. "The Radical Revolution." 6/6/1999.http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REV/RADICAL.HTM (accessed March 3rd 2011).

Kiser, Edgar and Linton, April. "The Hinges of History: State-Making and Revolt in Early Modern France American Sociological Review". 67. 6 (2002), 889-910, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3088975. (accessed March 3, 2011).

Upshur,Jiu-hwa L.. World History. 4 ed. Clark Baxter. Wadsworth, 2005.

World History International. "The French Revolution." http://history-world.org/french_revolution1.htm (accessed March 3rd 2011).

Zuckert, Michael P. . "Self-Evident Truth and the Declaration of Independence The Review of Politics". 49. 3 (1987), 319-339, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1407839. (accessed March 3, 2011).

Bibliography