Elizabeth Mitchell

The French Revolution

The French Revolution was a war that would change France forever. The citizens of

France were not happy with the way their country was being a ruled and decided to stand up for

what they wanted and take the situation into their own hands. The French Revolution lasted for

ten years from 1789-1799, within those years there was many different wars, treaties, and deaths.

Many researchers have said that the French Revolution followed in the footsteps of the American

Revolution. The people of France’s lives were changed forever after this Revolution from the

poorest peasants to the King and the Queen, France would never be the same again.

The royal family had many struggles throughout their reign of France. It started when

King Louis’s father died, and he had to become king on short notice. King Louis was not

prepared to take the throne with his newly wed, Marie-Antionette. The family moved to

Versailles and stayed there until they were over ruled. The people of France decided that they

were not happy about the royal family living in Versailles rather than living in Paris. They felt

that the royal family couldn’t truly see what it was like to live as a poor peasant in France

without them living in the capital. The people revolted and practically forced the royal family to

move to Paris. The royal family felt like prisoners of their own country and were very unhappy.

The royal family decided to try to escape Paris by moving to a palace right on the border of

France. They dressed up as servants and rode away, but they only made it a few miles before

being caught and taken back to Paris by officers. The people accused Marie Antionette of talking

to the Austrians, her family. The citizens got angered and led a mob into the castle where they
captured the king, but the queen barely got away from the mob. The queen was eventually taken

to prison and was executed not long after the king. The king and the queen were both executed

by the national razor and that officially marked the end of the reign of King Louis and Queen

Marie.

An important execution device during the French Revolution was the Guillotine. The

guillotine was France’s standard execution device and was especially useful during the

revolution. The guillotine was a large wooden machine with a slanted blade that would fall down

right on the victims neck and cut their heads off. On the day of an execution, people from the

town would gather around the guillotine and watch the criminal have the heads cut off by the

blade. The guillotine eventually became so popular that it was officially declared “the national

razor”. The time from June 1793 to July 1794 were considered the reign of terror because so

many people were being executed by the guillotine. The victims of the guillotine even included

King Louis and Queen Marie Antionette. During this time, the executions were happening in

Paris at the Place de la Revolution and the guillotine stood on the corner of the Hotel Crillon. A

very important factor in the French Revolution and in executions were the guillotines. The

device killed many people in the seventeenth century.

The Queen of France, Marie Antionette, was part of the reason the revolution had

happened. Her husband, King Louis, was not prepared to become king when he did but was

forced to after his dad died when he was young. The young couple was forced to take control of

the country even though they were not ready for that kind of responsibility yet. Queen Marie

Antionette was born on November 2nd, 1755 and was the youngest daughter of her family. Marie

Antionette’s child hood was cut short when she marries Louis the XVI when she was just fifteen.

When her and her husband become the king and queen of France, Marie Antionette was quite
popular. That popularity didn’t last long because townspeople started spreading vicious gossip

about the queen and how she just sat around and spent France’s money. Marie Antionette was

known for spending money on valuables that she didn’t need. Marie Antionette was never seen

without a gorgeous dress on, a full face of makeup, and a huge wig of hair. After the revolution

had started, the royal family was forced to live in Paris under the watchful eye of the

revolutionary officers. Marie didn’t seem to worried about the revolution because she thought

nothing would happen to her because she was the queen. One day, Marie Antionette was told

there was a mob of people coming towards the palace and this is when she said her famous quote

“let them eat cake”. The people had taken the king and had had him executed and Marie

Antionette was executed not long after her husband. Many people didn’t even recognize Marie

Antionette the day she was executed because she was wearing rags with no makeup or nice hair.

She was taken to the guillotine where people watched their once beloved queen get beheaded.

Marie Antionette is a famous figure in the history of France but she is not remembered in a

positive way.

The French Revolution was a revolution that would change France’s history forever. The

citizens of France hated the way their beloved country was being ruled and decided to stand up

for what they believed in. The revolution lasted ten years and then ended with many lives lost.

Many researchers say that the French Revolution was “inspired” by the American Revolution

when people decided that they wanted to stand up for their freedom. The ten year revolution was

all started when a few citizens disagreed with the way the royal family ran the country and they

decided to change the way the country was being ruled.

WORK CITED

www.history.com/topics/frenchrevolution

www.newworldencyclopedia

www.history-world.org