the French Revolution -> Britain and Pitt’s policies

• Edmund Burke (1729-1797):

  • Dublin born lawyer -> Whig MP in 1765
  • supported the American colonists and opposed the corruption of the East India Company
  • Reflections on the Revolution In France (1790) -> attacked the events in France
  • opposed by radicals like Thomas Paine
• Thomas Paine (1737-1809):

  • most influential radical writer of his generation
  • corset maker and journalist
  • he wrote Common Sense (1776)
  • lived in France and supported the Revolution
  • wrote Rights of Man which was published in 2 parts
  • advocated for the rights of all citizens
  • supported rebellions against tyrannical governments
  • imprisoned
• The Origins of the French Revolution:

  • failure of France to pursue successful financial and administrative reform
  • massive financial deficit
  • National assembly
  • taxing the poor increased
  • violent mob
• The Events of 1789:

  • stormed Bastille prison
  • King was forced to accept a constitution in which power was shared
  • royal family were forced to move
• Radicalism and war:

  • revolution became more radical in 1790-1791
  • nationalisation of the Church and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy
  • call for the monarchy to be abolished
  • Louis XVI was executed January 1793
  • thousands executed
• The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars:

  • invasion of the Low Countries by French forces led to Britain joining a European Coalition
  • 1799 -> political instability and economic problems
  • defeat of Napoleon in 1815
• In Britain, political awareness grew among grew among the population as a whole and the political gap widened between the Whigs who demanded change. Pitt disliked the revolution. Church and King groups attacked supporters of reform and dissenters.
• Fear in Britain of France:

  • dominating the coastline facing Britain
  • stirring revolution in Britain
  • popular unrest leading to revolution
  • fear of the beheading of Louis
• September Massacres and the start of terror:

  • Paris mobs invaded prisons and executed those they suspected of opposing the revolution brutally
  • thousands executed
  • called “revolutionary justice”
• Dissenters -> name given to Protestants not apart of the Church of England