Comparison Of The French Revolution And The American Revolutionary War
Throughout human history several revolutions have occurred, varying widely in terms of incitement, method, duration and result. But despite their differences most revolutions share similarities, when talking about the mentioned examples as well as the human spirit’s fight against injustice. Two of the most prominent revolutions are undoubtedly The French Revolution (1789-1799) and The American Revolutionary War which is also known as American Revolution (1775-1783).
The French revolution is a captivating and huge subject, with many parallels to the American Revolutionary War, and it would be difficult to explain every aspect of it. However, the American revolutionary war emerged from developing pressures between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the colonial government. At first, they seemed to be loyal to Great Britain but in a period of 10 or 15 years, the dissatisfaction of the people demanded financial independence from Great Britain. Meanwhile, the French Revolution arose due to dissatisfaction of the residents with the royal monarch and its poor economic policies who followed absolute monarchy. The people’s frustration towards the royalty was caused due to two decades of poor harvests, drought, high bread prices, high taxes and most importantly the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) which is also known as the French and Indian War. The French Revolution was triggered by its people who were tired of being treated unfairly and wanted radical changes in order to gain liberty and social equality.
On the contrary, a similarity would be the Seven Year’s War which played a great role in the upbringing of the revolutions in both countries. The Seven Years’ War was the greatest settlement between Europe’s great powers during the 18th century. The causes of the war were, above all, an intensified worldwide power struggle between Great Britain and France as well as the rivalry between Austria and Prussia. The important consequences of this war were Great Britain’s success in North America and Indian but many of the involved countries such as France was affected economically due to the loss in the war. During the Seven Years’ War, Great Britain gained new territories which required more incomes and thus led to high taxes. Consequently, this made the American population upset as well as it led to violence between the colonists and the crown which marked the beginning of a new era. However, for France, it was nothing but a big loss which made its economy more unstable.
The American colonies were more of self-government under the control of Great Britain but yet they searched for even more freedom. This act of unwillingness to be controlled by the British Empire made them refuse to pay the required taxes. However, the colonists showed their seriousness in 1773, with dumping the incoming tea from Great Britain which was later known as the Boston Tea Party. A year later in 1774, a group of colonial delegates gathered in order to vote against the British Empire. This was, however, the first Continental Congress which took place in Philadelphia and gave an announcement of the rights due to each resident, including life, freedom and property by jury. The next Continental Congress took place two years later where delegates decided to form an army to go up against the British crown. By July 4, the Continental Congress documented the Declaration of Independence and it was the start of the American Revolutionary War.
Provided that these Revolutions wanted a change from being ruled by an absolute ruler, both countries suffered an economic instability from the Seven Years’ War which made them go under debt. The battle of the two countries cost the French side a thrown out from North America by Great Britain and the colonists. The Revolutionary War caused a huge economic loss in the United States due to the destruction of equity. The British Empire suffered an economic loss among others. But France suffered the worst by supporting the American colonists as the country fell into bankruptcy and afterwards revolution.
Both revolutions happen to have many parallels with one another. France and Great Britain were two great powers in the 18th century and they generally battled chasing profitable colonies. Great Britain progressively stripped France of a great number of colonies, particularly the dramatic victory year 1759 in Canada where the British army defeated the French forces. During the American Revolutionary War, King Louis XVI of France supported the American colonies in their quest for complete independence from Great Britain. However, the King was unaware of how much this support of the American colonies would cost him. To put it another way, the French military and the economic support of American colonies affected the economy of France negatively. To that end, a similar act of riot crossed the Atlantic Ocean and broke out in France year 1789. The impact of these two revolutions spread far and wide which resulted in the downfall of absolute monarchies in numerous different countries.
The French Revolution officially started on July 14, 1789, where rioters stormed the Bastille in an attempt to collect gunpowder and weapons going against the domestic ruler. The American Revolution officially started on July 4, 1776, with a piece of paper where the continental Congress voted for the Declaration of Independence. The most transparent distinction was that the French Revolution was triggered to overthrow its own government while the American Revolution occurred for a newly independent America. However, the ideas of liberty and freedom were soon spread out from the new United States, and for that matter inspired the French people.
