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About the time when the Americans were fighting to gain, as they put it, their right to 'life, liberty and pursuit of happiness ', another revolution was taking place in france .
The peasants and the ordinary people in the towns had to pay heavy taxes to the state and so they became poorer and poorer . During the eighteenth century, even heavier taxes were imposed to help pay off the crippling debts that had resulted from the war against Britain in India and Canada.
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But it was the very poor who were taxed; by the beginning of the eighteenth century, a poor farmer who earned, say, 100 francs had to part with as much as 80 francs of his income in various forms of taxes. But rich people, who owned a great deal of property, paid little or nothing in taxes.
There were some taxes from which they were free altogether. As time passed, it became clear that the ordinary people could not bear their poverty any longer.
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About this time learned men were pointing out that all men were at first made equal. Through greed, some men acquired great wealth and position, which gave them power over the rest of the people.
These writers suggested that the only solution for the poor people was to overthrow the old system or , ancient regime as it was called .
Volunteers who had gone from France to fight in the American War of Independence brought back with them new ideas about freedom for the people.
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In the year 1789, Louis XVI, King of France, called a meeting of the State-General . This body had not met for about 150 years. Now Louis summoned it only because he wanted to find ways and means of raising more money to pay the national debt.
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When the State-General met, some of the representatives refused to give in until changes had been made in the way the country was governed.
They declared themselves the national assemble of france . now the people stormed the bastille, a great prison in paris. Paris became independent of the king, and the national assembly passed many laws to end the old privileges
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people who oppose the new changes were beheaded by the guillotine. among those who suffered this fate were the king and queen in 1793.
in 1791 they had attempted to they hand been captured and brought back to Paris. in 1792 the French people decided to do away with monarchy.
they declared the country a republic. ( later in 1814, the monarchy was restored for a short time only, but the privileges of the nobles were not restored.)
despite the cruelty and bloodshed that accompanied the ' reign of terror ', a name given to the most violent period of the revolution, the French revolution had many good and long- lasting effects.
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For the effects of the revolution were felt not only in France but all over Europe. This was the first time that the people had attempted to govern themselves.
Although the revolution did not immediately bring freedom to all the poorer people in France, the ideas, which had stirred the revolutionaries to action, spread through out Europe. The rulers of other European countries feared that the revolution would spread to their own peoples. This led to war in 1792.
Until 1810 the victorious French armies, with their cry of 'freedom, equality, and brotherhood', carried with them the ideas of the revolution to peoples outside France.
Until now, Kings and nobles had held great power. sometimes they ruled wisely, and sometimes , as in the case of the France Louis XVI and his nobles, they wasted the country's money and resources.
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Very gradually, governments all over Europe came to see that the people ought to have the right to elect their own representatives to Parliament and so have a voice in the government of their country. So we may say that the French Revolution was the first step in modern times towards the ideal of democracy government by the people.
Among those who played a very important part in the revolutionizing of France was Napoleon Bonaparte. He is important in France history not only because of his great military victories, but also because of the lasting changes which he made in law and trade.
Napoleon was born in Corsica in 1769. When the revolution started, he was only 20 years old. He joined the army and soon rose to a high position. He was given command of the armies fighting against the Austrians in northern Italy.
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His fame grew through several successful campaigns. When he returned to France, he overthrew the government by force, and made himself one of three rulers called ' CONSULS ' .
Napoleon was first Consul, and as such became the absolute ruler of France. Then in 1804, he became Emperor of the French. He made many useful changes in the government of France.
He set up an efficient local government system, improved education, and brought about many changes in the money system.
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Napoleon was powerful and ambitious : he was determined to be emperor of all Europe. He had defeated nearly every country in Europe, when in 1812 he set out with his army to march to Russia.
But here he was heavily defeated , The long march and the bitter northern winter were too much for the army, supplies ran short and the men became weaker. Napoleon was force to return to France.
The French army was also fighting in Spain and Portugal. The 'Peninsular
War' , as it was called, had begun in 1808. But again Napoleon was unsuccessful, and at the end of 1813, the French army was driven out of Spain.
The nations of Europe joined together against Napoleon. In 1814 he was defeated and sent into exile on Elba, which is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea.
He escape from Elba, and raised an army, but he was finally defeated by British and Prussian armies at Waterloo in 1815.
Napoleon was captured and deported to the remote island of St. Helena, in the west Atlantic, off the coast of Nigeria. He remained there until his death in 1821.