¶ … French Revolution. There are three references used for this paper. The French Revolution was known as a Reign of Terror. It is important to understand why it began, how it was justified, its goals and whether the goals were accomplished.

Beginning of Terror

The first stage of the Revolution was from 1787 to 1789, and was mainly a "legal debate between monarchy and aristocracy over the financing of the state and the political authority which each claimed to enjoy and exercise (www.britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html)." Aristocrats known as an Assembly of Notables demanded "political authority in return for tax reform. This assembly achieved nothing but further aggravation between monarch and aristocracy (www.britannia.com/history/euro/1/2_2.html)."

The major phase began in 1789 as competing classes encountered each other, and when an extension of the nation's political base was "demanded and obtained by the bourgeoisie. This initiated an aristocratic protest...