The French revolution Research

The French Revolution and its aftermath

The social and political unrest in France caused by the French revolution continued for almost ten years. Despite violent political turmoil during the peasants’ overthrow of the monarchy, the nation eventually became a dictatorship under Napoleon. Edmund Burke is credited with foreseeing the effects of the French Revolution, which he thought would only result in chaos and terror, in his well-known work Reflections on the Revolution in France.

Burke’s criticisms of the Revolution

Burke criticized the Revolution, claiming it was an assault on the nation’s established institutions, property, and faith. In his opinion, the rebels’ attempt to build a society from the ground up without using common sense was a fruitless endeavor. He posed, “what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils, for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.” He argued that leaders make prudent decisions based on prevailing conditions. Creating a new political regime, therefore, is not practical. The revolution was thus bound to fail because the theory and practicality behind it were not sustainable. It was based on abstract foundations that ignored the complexities of human nature and society.

The importance of tradition in a successful nation

In this work, he implies that tradition is important in establishing a successful nation because it informs the politics of present governments stating ”people will not look forward to prosperity, who never look back to their ancestors.” This critique shows that he was a proponent of allowing continuity of policies and customs from the past as they not only due to their maintaining tradition but also his having believed they have endured generations because they are good. According to him, traditions and culture are more long lasting and ought to be protected more than the natural rights of individuals. They are an invisible link that connects generations but were being destroyed by the revolution.

Bibliography

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France: And on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris. [Hamilton, Ont.]: [Department of Economics, McMaster University], 2004.

Cobban, Alfred. The Debate on the French Revolution, 1789-1800. London: Adam & Black, 1990.

Crowe, Ian. An Imaginative Whig. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005.

Freeman, Michael. Edmund Burke and the Critique of Political Radicalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.

Gough, Hugh. The Terror in the French Revolution. Basingstoke, Hampshire [u.a.]: Macmillan [u.a.], 1998.