Changes

Why was there a Revolution in France?

It was because the French citizens didn't like the way the country was being run. They did not like the idea that some people paid taxes when others didn't.

During this time period there were great changes in France and indeed in the rest of Europe. One was the way that the law and punishments were run.

This was changed when one man, Voltaire, looked at a story and then thought why had this happened and did something about it. This is known as the Calas affair.

Jean Calas, a cloth merchant, was a protestant, living among Catholics in the city of Toulouse. In 1761 one of his sons hung himself in his father's warehouses. When the body was found, local Catholics gathered outside. A rumour spread that Jean Calas had murdered the boy to stop him from becoming a Catholic. This seemed believable because another of his sons had already become a Catholic. The magistrates accepted the rumour as true and condemned Jean Calas to death.

In public, Calas was tied to a cartwheel and had his limbs smashed with an iron bar. He was then strangled and his body burned.

"Taken from 'Revolution in France'"

Voltaire believed that Calas was innocent. Over the next three years he campaigned that they had found him guilty because he was Protestant. This and other similar events caused the law to be changed and the punishments to be more humane and torture free. This was only one way in which France changed during the revolution.

Another great change was a political change. King Louise XVI and Marie Antoinette were once very popular in France but they lost their popularity. People disliked the way things were run, they did not want a royal government. Because of this King Louis XVI was sentenced to death. They firstly de-throned Louise and declared France to be a republic. Two months after that he was put on trial for treason. He was found guilty and beheaded in public on the 21st of January 1793.

Religion and belief also changed in France and many more people became Catholic or Protestant. People claimed that Christianity was just superstition. As part of the campaign against Christianity there was a new calendar introduced. This calendar was abolished when people disagreed with it and the leader of the committee, Robespierre, that was in charge for this changes was put under the guillotine along with another twenty-two the following day and a further ninety-six the next. The terror and the French revolution came to an end leaving deep scars all over France.

By Kayleigh Hembrough and Chris Mackle