¶ … Revolutions
The history of modern human civilization reflects the gradual evolution of thoughts, ideas, political reform, and technological progress. At various times, specific periods of change were important enough to have been recorded as revolutions. Some of the most significant of these revolutions contributed to human history and societal development individually as well as in conjunction with other simultaneous or nearly simultaneous changes.
The Scientific Revolution was responsible for fundamental changes in the understanding of the physical world, chemistry, biology, and of human anatomy and physiology. The French Revolution represented the recognition of the fundamental rights of citizens to fairness and humane consideration on the part of their respective monarchical governments. The Industrial Revolution increased the availability of information and provided new modes of transportation and mechanical processes that radically changed the lives of large numbers of people throughout Europe and the North American continent.
The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was part of a period referred to as the Enlightenment era in Europe. Some of the most important aspects of the Scientific Revolution included the manner in which printing and paper manufacturing lead to the easier spread of intellectual ideas and the education of ordinary people (Bentley, 2005). Without these advances, the intellectual ideas that emerged from the period would have not spread very widely or inspired the types of demand for social...
More generally, this new awareness of the acceptability of questioning ideas led directly to the introduction of other novel concepts in philosophy, religion, artistic expression, and in the natural rights of the individual in society (Kishlansky, Geary, & O' Brien, 2009). In that respect, the Scientific Revolution also inspired the beliefs and values that led to the French Revolution.
The French Revolution
Toward the end of the 18th century, the French population had grown tired of their oppression under the French Monarchy. Practically all of the French population were members of the lowest peasant class of the so-called "Third Estate" (Bentley, 2005). By 1789, their demands for fairness in rights and privileges had resulted in almost no meaningful changes and they began to challenge the authority of King Louis XVI. They declared a new French Constitution in 1791 and under the leadership of Maximillien Robespierre, eventually overthrew the French Monarchy just before the turn of the 19th century (Kishlansky, Geary, & O' Brien, 2009).
Today, the French Revolution is studied as one of the pivotal periods of political reform but, arguably, it was more the result of a gradual evolution of individual rights,…
