French History of the 19th century essays

French History of the 19th century essays There were numerous events at the turn of the nineteenth century. They can be best characterized as the French Revolution, Napoleons reign, and the Congress of Vienna. The French Revolution consisted of the numerous revolts of the Third Estate against the monarch, Louis XVI. Napoleons reign consisted of numerous conquests, totaling in most of Europe, and ending in a few tragic errors and miscalculations on his part that would cause him the throne. The Congress of Vienna was a one-year convention in Vienna, Austria, amongst leaders of European empires who gathered in an attempt to reorganize and restructure the European continent. I strongly believe that these events did not meet the goals of the French Revolution set by the people of France. During the late 1700s, Frances people were divided into three so-called Estates, First being the clergy, Second the noblemen, and Third, making up 97 percent of the total French population, the lower-middle and lower class. These social rankings hereditarily, meaning one could not move around them, at least higher up the scale. Some of the members of the Third Estate, everyone but the artisans and peasants also belonged to a group known as the bourgeoisie, or the middle class. This group included lawyers, merchants, and business managers, who lived in the towns and cities. They were very well educated, but lived in ridiculous conditions, sometimes in slums. During this period there were a few rules and principles enforced that seemed unfair to the Third Estate. First of all, the First and Second Estates, three percent of the population, owned thirty percent of the land. They worked based on the feudal principles, forcing the peasants to give up their last penny to pay rent to the n obles. In addition, the Third Estate was the only ones paying taxes at the time, when they had the least amount of money and property. Also, the Third Estate did not have any say in which laws and ru...