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Question: Questions on the French Revolution!?
This really great idea I have for a book is going to include the French Revolution as a historical backdrop!. Here's a brief summary (please tell me if it makes sense):
A family--the mother a Frenchwoman, the father a retired officer in the British Royal Navy--are living in France!. The Revolution starts to pick up, and they move to England in order to avoid the craziness of it all!.
Does this make sense!? also, I have some questions regarding the Revolution!.
1!. What was it all about!?
2!. Were any other countries involved!?
3!. What was the ultimate outcome!? (I know it's sounds really stupid!.!.!.but I'm only in 8th grade and know nothing about this time in history)!.
4!. What other events in history were also happening during that time!? (Just so I know)
5!. Who are some famous people I would recognize from this era!?
6!. What were some of the styles women wore back then!?
Thanks so much!!! Most thorough (and clear) answer gets 10 points! :)Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
True, many upper class French ran to England but many were sent back cause the British hated the French!. This could be an interesting plot element in your book!.
1!. The lower class (and middle class) were rebelling against the Monarchy which had grown useless to them and more of a hinder than a help!. The royalty was also seen as oppresssive and bad!. It was inspired by the American Revolution for Democracy!. Unfortunatley the French Revoltuion gave rise to the Napoleonic Empire and many other bad things!.
2!. No, unless you count America as an influence!.
3!. The King and Queen were beheaded!. and the monarchy was overthrown (breifly!.) Soon the group which had caused the rebellioin grew tired of who they had set up instead of a king and killed him too!. They also killed many of their fellow revoltuionaries for not holding the same beleifs as they did!.
4!. 1789-1799, America was a new nation, England was still the most powerful navy and Army in the world and Germany was going through some horrid economic recessions!. (Germany was known as Prussia/Holy Roman Empire at that time)
5!. Marie Antoinette, Marquis de lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, King Louis XVI, Napoleon later on!.
6!. Think big! hair, dresses, makeup big corsets to amke small waists and big bottoms as well as big capes and uniforms for kings and soldiers!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
You might want to read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities!. It uses the French Revolution as a backdrop, and it involves French and English characters!. And it is a great book,
Do some research on the Divine Right of Kings and contrast that notion with Locke's noble savage!. That was basically the paradigm shift occurring in the French, American, and a bit later Russian revolutions!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
French Revolution was about people taking control of their lives over the nobles that ruled them!.
All of Europe was terrified by the revolution!.
Ultimate outcome!? The end of feudal Europe
Mozart, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre
For styles research the Rococo, it was the art of the time period
Some interesting trivia for you!.
Marie Antionette was Austrian and she is famous for saying "let them eat cake" when the peasants had no bread!.
Mozart's Opera The Marriage of Figaro was a social conduit of revolution!.
Marie Antoinette did not care for any of her kids!. She made her servants dress like sheep so she could play shepherd in the fake farm that Louis XVI built for her in Versailles!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
That is not much of a plot!. But I suppose you are just transplanting the brother vrs brother of the civil war to a different period!.!.!.
Anyway!.!.!.
1) Equality and liberty for the peasant class!.
2) Depends on your definition of the revolutionary period!. Great Britain declares war fairly early, and it escalates with the Napoleon fighting almost everyone (and conquering most) in europe!.
3)France's first republic, Napoleon's rise to power, The end of American and French alliance, the end of the first French Empire!.
4) Just wikipedia the years starting with 1789 that will give you a decent list of events!. end around 1815 with the end of Napoleon!.
5) Mary Antoinette, King Louis XVI, King George III, Nelson, Napoleon, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams, Monroe, Madison, Jackson
6) Read a regency novel, you will get some similar costumes!. For pictures, you can easily find some on the internet, look up french revolution reenactment, I am sure someone makes money selling costumes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
It was about the dire economic situation in France (food shortages, spiralling prices etc) and the disatisfaction of the Third Estate (the bulk of the population) at not having any voice in the government!. The leaders of the revolution were not actually peasants, they were educated middle-class professional men, mostly lawyers, who wanted a political voice!.
Other countries did become involved when Austria and Prussia went to war with France in 1792!. There was also civil war raging in France throughout the period, as some regions of France were opposed to the revolution!.
The original aims of the revolutionaries were fairly moderate, they wanted a constitutional monarchy, a parliament (known as the National Assembley) , reforms of the tax system, redistribution of land etc!. Land that had belonged to the clergy was sold off to peasant farmers!. However, as the revolution progressed, the revolution was taken over by more extreme leaders, who did away with the monarchy altogether, and introduced many much more radical reforms!. Anyone who did not support the increasingly radical government was ruthlessly suppressed!. The King and Queen, many aristocrats, and other people who had fallen foul of the government, were executed!. Eventually there was a counter-revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte took power in 1799!.
In America the revolutionary war was over and the United States of America had become quite independent!. In Britain, the Industrial Revolution was getting underway, with steam engines, factories, canals etc being created!. In Ireland, some of the harsh Penal Laws that had been imposed on the Irish Catholics a hundred years before were lifted!. Attempts were made in the British parliament to abolish the Slave Trade, though these did not succeed until 1807!.
Famous people of the era in France would include King Louis XVI, queen Marie Antoinette, and revolutionarly leaders Mirabeau (in the beginning) Robespierre, Marat, Danton!. Charlotte Corday, a patriot who wanted to save the revolution, was famous for murdering Marat in his bath!. David was a famous artist who painted revolutionary subjects, including the murdered Marat in his bath!. Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun was an admired portrait painter and a friend of Marie Antoinette, she went into exile in Italy after the start of the revolution!. Marie Grosholtz (later Madame Tussaud) was a famous artist in wax who created realistic wax sculptures of famous people of her day!. The waxwork exhibition she ran in Paris with her uncle Dr Phillippe Curtius was famous!. After the start of the revolution, she was obliged to make wax masks from the severed heads of people who had previously modeled for her live, and who had been her friends, including members of the royal family!. She managed to keep her own head, just!.
In England, the King was George III, and his Queen was Charlotte!. The Prince of Wales, (afterwards George IV) was the leader of fashionable society!. William Pitt was the Prime Minister, with Charles James Fox as the leader of the opposition!. The political cartoonists Gilray and Rowlandson produced savagely satirical cartoons during this period criticising the monarchy, the prince of Wales, politicians etc!. In 1791 the publication of Thomas Paine's 'Rights of Man' caused quite a stir, as did th epublication in 1792 of Mary Woollstonecroft's 'vindication of the Rights of Women'!.
Mozart was composing during this period, but in England Haydn was a much more popular composer!. William Cowper, Robert Burns and William Blake were popular poets!. Mrs Radcliffe's 'Gothic' novels (full of dramatic incidents, sinister secrets etc) were immensely popular during this period!. Many other writers immitated her style!. In the theatre, the famous tragedienne Mrs Sarah Siddons was the most admired actress of her day
The seaside was becoming fashionable with the aristocracy, replacing the old spa towns like Bath etc as fashionable places to visit!. the Prince of Wales had a fantastic home built for himself at Brighton, the Royal Pavilion (it is still there) which was built in fabulous oriental style!. Sea air and sea bathing were thought to be very beneficial to the health!.
Styles of clothing for women became much simpler as a result of the revolution!. The elaborate dresses and high-piled hairstyles that had been popular with women were replaced by high-waisted straight dresses modelled on classical styles,a nd hair was either worn short or worn up in curls!. Simple fabrics like muslin became more popular than the more luxurious silks and velvets that wealthy women of the pre-revolutionary times had worn!.Www@QuestionHome@Com