THINGS ABOUT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION YOU PROBABLY OVERLOOKED

PRIOR TO THE BEGINNING OF THE FRENCH

REVOLUTION PEASANTS WERE SO POOR AND

THE COST OF FOOD SO HIGH THAT MANY

STARVED TO DEATH. A LOAF OF BREAD WAS

EQUAL TO A WEEK’S PAY

THE RICH WERE BORN RICH AND THE POOR WERE

BORN POOR. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PERSON

WHO WAS BORN POOR TO BECOME WEALTHY

SINCE THIS COULD HAPPEN ONLY BY BIRTH.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION CHANGED THIS

DISMAL FATE FOR FRANCE’S CITIZENS

WHAT WAS EVEN MORE FRUSTRATING IS THAT THE

POOR WERE THE ONES WHO HAD TO PAY TAXES,

WHILE THE RICH DID NOT

THIS WAS THE SITUATION THROUGHOUT EUROPE AT

THE TIME, NOT JUST FRANCE. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT

NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT OF EUROPE’S PEOPLE

STRUGGLED TO SURVIVE, WHILE THE REMAINING

THREE PERCENT LIVED A LIFE OF WEALTH AND LUXURY

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE SIGNING

OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ON JULY 4 SENT

SHOCKWAVES THROUGHOUT EUROPE, GIVING

HOPE TO MANY POVERTY-STRICKEN PEASANTS

IN FRANCE WHO WANTED TO SEE THE POWERFUL

ARISTOCRACIES OF EUROPE FALL

ALTHOUGH SCHOLARLY DEBATE CONTINUES ABOUT

THE EXACT CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION, THE

FACT THAT FRANCE WAS THE MOST POPULOUS

COUNTRY IN EUROPE AND CROP FAILURES IN

MUCH OF THE COUNTRY IN 1788 CAME ON TOP

OF A LONG PERIOD OF ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES

APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN THE STRAW

THAT BROKE THE CAMEL’S BACK

ON JULY 14, 1789, THE PEOPLE OF PARIS WERE AFRAID

THAT THE ARMY HAD BEEN ORDERED TO ATTACK

THEM. THEY ARMED THEMSELVES AND MARCHED

TO THE BASTILLE, A ROYAL FORT USED AS A PRISON,

IN SEARCH OF GUNPOWDER.

THE REVOLUTION HAD BEGUN

BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE POWERFUL EXPLOSIVES,

THE MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN WHO STORMED

THE BASTILLE TORE IT DOWN BRICK BY BRICK.

THE BRICKS WERE GIVEN AWAY OR SOLD AS

SYMBOLS OF THE BREAKDOWN OF TYRANNY

WHEN THE BASTILLE WAS EVENTUALLY CAPTURED

ONLY SEVEN PRISONERS WERE FOUND INSIDE