Enlightenment and the French Revolution Thesis

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Rather, corruption continued and the widespread execution of revolutionaries by Maximilien Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just of the Committee of Safety was largely justified with the radicalized views of Enlightenment philosopher Rousseau with regard to the revolution (Church; Lefebvre; Rude). Robespierre's distorted perception of Rousseau's views lead to an adamant and unwaivering desire to drive the revolution forward at any cost, including that of substantial human life. Robespierre was similarly influence by Rousseau to strive for the decree establishing the existence of a Supreme Being (Lefebvre; Rude; Church). These concepts of Rousseau-like deism that were modified and manipulated by Robespierre were an attempt to usurp Christian control over society (Torrey; Cassirer; Church; Lefebvre; Rude).

Ultimately, the Reign of Terror empowered the incumbent government to maintain political and social power within France and eventually the social uprising began to curtail (Rude; Lefebvre). Those revolutionaries who survived eventually attained significant enough level of power such that Robespierre and Louis de Saint-Just were executed in 1974 (Rude). In 1975, the French constitution known as the Directoire was ratified and provided the first steps toward the goal of French liberty with the establishment of representative bicameral legislative government (Rude).

Relationship between the Enlightenment and Revolution

While the Enlightenment ultimately provided the foundation for the subsequent French Revolution, the Enlightenment itself was not simply "a movement dedicated toward the ideological undermining of throne and altar" (Outram; Church). Nor was it inherently or simply a class struggle. The revolution was instead an expected, though inevitable, culmination of political and philosophical discourse which empowered the populace to engage in reasoning and desire for personal and civil liberty (Cassirer; Church; Gay).

The enlightenment opened the discussion and debate on the nature of man, God, freedom, and government within society (Cassirer; Church; Outram; Gay). It was a period exemplified by not just social elites and philosophers but also proletarian engagement (Gay; Outram; Cassirer).

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The spread of reasoning and skepticism engendered a climate ripe for the public challenge of political, social and religious oppression (Cassirer; Church; Outram; Gay). It represented a climate which ultimately fulminated in the advent of the violent political and social upheaval of the supervening French Revolution.

Conclusion

The period of Enlightenment was a necessary and important political and philosophical phenomenon which marked the intellectual movement of society into the modern world. The Enlightment empowered the individual through an espousal of knowledge, reasoning, and freedom and subsequently seeded widespread discontent with the concomitant oppressive and tyrannical rule of the period. The inevitable and eventual conclusion of the newly empowered populace was a violent rebellion against an oppressive regime and the eventual, though painful, attainment of democratic freedoms. Without the philosophical and political discourse of the Enlightenment, there could have been no French Revolution of the nature which occurred, because there would have been no widespread drive toward the goals of personal liberty and freedom which grew from the Enlightenment. As a result, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution are inextricably linked by bonds of philosophical discourse and the efforts to achieve realization of that discourse.

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