French Revolution
Pre-revolutionary government and society provided the appropriate factors to bring the nations of France and Russia to revolution. To say that they provided the necessary ferment we must analyse society and government in their own right to reveal the pressures that were placed upon the people of both nations through society's structure and autocratic nature of their rulers. The parallels we can draw between the French revolution of 1789 and the Russian revolt beginning in 1881 are paramount in giving us a sense of the necessary ferment/breakdown. The structure of pre-revolutionary French society and Russian society are remarkably similar, they can be broken down in to three separate groups. In Russia they were known only as classes and they could be split in to three; 'the ruling class' included the Tsar and his various forms of court and government (although the Tsar's power was absolute), 'the upper class' which contained the nobility, higher clergy and military officers and 'the working class' which made up roughly eighty seven and half percent of the population and included peasants, merchants, factory owners, land dwellers and agricultural workers. The French system of social class was almost identical except they called it
Leaving they poor minority to fund the country. The governments strong arm tactics had boxed their countries in leaving the people no choice but to violently oppose the those oppressing them. The idea of a free nation in France was brought home with returning soldiers from the war of independence in America. In Russia the secret police was known as the 'Okhrana' who were responsible for the exile of Stalin, who later returned with communist ideals of reform. The third estate or working class were responsible for the push for revolution, the government and society provided the necessary ferment to bring the public to the brink. Tsar Nicholas had also attempted reform his country but failed to modernise the masses political rights, leaving right wing "revolutionaries" popping up all over the nation. Although a high percentage of both countries population were oppressed and discontent with their quality of life, they needed a model for reform and democratic influence to successfully revolt. The working class or the third estate was heavily taxed in both Russia and France and provided the luxurious lifestyle that the people 'classed' above them entertained. King Louis had attempted reform of the tax system in his own manner, but not French society and when reform failed he was left with a country open to outside influence with no faith in their own ruling power. There was no way the respective rulers could expect the people of their countries, the majority, to live under the harsh set of living standards placed upon them. The Russian and French countries had brought themselves in to a downward spiral and as population increased the masses moved in to the cities, as poor weather and famines reached a peak, change was imminent. Although it was food shortages in France which eventually led to the riots and in turn the violent end of the monarchy, this was just an excuse. In France the method of taxation was appaling there was no sense of being taxed on what you made, only on what you used or bought and the first an second estates were exempt from many different taxes. The oppression towards the third estate/working class was obvious in both France and Russia however due to the influence of the church and belief in devine right the third estate could not question the kings rule and had no means of a voice to mould a better life. A prime example of this is when a group of peasants led by the Russian orthodox church marched on the Tsars winter palace with a list of grievances and were pushed back and slaughtered by the imperialist guard.
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Acceptance Essays
