Violence In The French Revolution
One of the biggest issues with the French Revolution was the acceptance of popular violence, which began during the Moderate Phase with the Storming of the Bastille. Though violence is often necessary to overthrow an oppressive government, the people of Paris became obsessed with it. After Jacques Necker, a man of the people, was fired by Louis XVI, the masses rose and tore the Bastille apart brick by brick. Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Minister to France, describes how the Parisian rioters took “the Governor & Lieutenant governor to the Greve (the place of public execution) [and] cut off their heads” (Jefferson). Violence can also be seen in the Women’s March on Versailles and the September Massacres. Even the Night of August 4th, which saw the