Saturday, February 2, 2013

French Revolution


Whenever I look back at the past history classes I have taken I realized that I don’t know much about the French Revolution. While reading about the change of power in France it was shocking to hear how the people revolted to the point where they would execute their own King and Queen. The clergy of the Catholic Churches must have been fearful of their lives because they had as much power as the King and Queen did. It was very disappointing to read about how much violent action the French counterpart participated in. Strayer mentions but doesn’t go in much details about the Reign of Terror, and it made me think about the lives that were all lost. If the French participated in the American Revolution, then they would have seen all the lives that were lost. The French should have learned from the mistakes of the Americans and try to preserve as much life as possible.
            It was really heart breaking to read that the French started destroying all things that once belong to the King and the Catholic Church. The reign of the King and the Churches must have been that terrible that the French citizens wanted to destroy all evidence. I would like to think that the French were people that prided themselves in their culture and they would have wanted to preserve what they had. One thing that I found very surprising in the reading was the leadership of Napoleon. I have always seen him portrayed as the bad guy, the person that is running people out of their homelands. But Strayer points him out in a positive view, he was a man that was expanding the French Ruling and he was fighting for equality in France. It was surprising to read about the positive facts of Napeople when I have always heard negative things about him.

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