Neel+Atawala

Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born on September 23, 1865 in Tamaros, Heves County, Hungary. She was the daughter of Baron Felix Orczy and Countess Emma Wass. Her family fled Hungary in 1868 because there were threats of a peasant revolution. The family lived in many places such as Budapest, Brussels, and Paris before finally settling in Great Britain in London. Orczy met her true love at art school. His name was Montague MacLean Barstow, and they were married in 1894. Together, they had one child, John Montague Orczy-Barstow. Orczy died in Henly-on-Thames, Great Britain on November 12, 1947. Orczy's most famous book was //The Scarlet Pimpernel.// The book was originally a play, until the novel was published soon after the play's opening. The play and the novel were huge successes in London, and many people enjoyed it. //The Scarlet Pimpernel// is set during the French Revolution. It is about a mysterious man named The Scarlet Pimpernel who would save aristocrats that were fleeing France during the Revolution. The picture below to the left is of Baroness Emmuska Orczy. [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Emma_Orczy#Name_pronunciation]
 * The Author of **//** The Scarlet Pimpernel **//** and Plot of **//** The Scarlet Pimpernel **//



The French Revolution was a war that took place in France between 1789 and 1799. It took place to overtake the oppressive French government. At the time, the French government was a monarchy, but it was failing. Economic, political, and social factors contributed to the start of the French Revolution. The cost of living was too high, pertaining to the economic causes. During this period in France, most of the French population was in poverty. Working wages were too low to support a family or even one's self. Bread prices and basic necessities were way too costly for the French. The working class was forced to pay heavy taxes to the government to keep it running. This made the French people resent the government even more. Also, the French government kept on spending money, putting them and the people in great debt. The second cause of the French Revolution was politics. Many people believed King Louis XVI was a tyrant and that he abused his power as a king. One thing that made people angry was the King's "sealed letters". These were documents of execution or imprisonment signed by the King. He would send them to his ministers, and they could fill in any name they wanted to. The person whose name was written down would be executed or imprisoned. People feared for their lives. Around 14,000 of these letters were sent out by King Louis XVI. The last cause of the revolution was social problems. Before the revolution, the way a person lived depended on their social status or ranking. Higher class citizens and the church payed little to no taxes and had many privileges. On the other hand, the lower class payed heavy taxes and had no control over their lives. These three factors contributed greatly to the start of the French Revolution. []
 * The French Revolution**

May 5, 1789 - An Estates General meeting was called by Louis XVI to discuss a new tax plan. June 17, 1789 - Three Poitevin curés leave the Chambers of the Clergy to join the Third Estate. July 7, 1789 to July 13, 1789 - A committee of thirty members is appointed by the National Assembly to draft a constitution. July 14, 1789 - The Storming of the Bastille takes place. This marks the start of the French Revolution. August 4, 1789 - Feudalism and serfdom is ended in France. August 27, 1789 - The National Assembly issues the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. October 5, 1789 - Parisian women invade Versailles and force the royal family back to Paris. July 12, 1790 - The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was established. 1791 - The Constitution of 1791 is accepted. June 20, 1791 - King Louis XVI and his family was arrested while trying to flee France. April 20, 1792 - War is declared on Austria by France. September 20, 1792 - The National Convention is founded. December 10, 1972 to December 11, 1792 - The trial of King Louis XVI starts. January 21, 1793 - King Louis XVI is sentenced to death by guillotine. August 1793 - A National Draft is issued calling all able men to enroll in the army. September 1793 to July 1794 - 20,000 to 40,000 people are sentenced to death by the Reign of Terror court. July 27, 1794 - Robespierre is arrested by the National Convention. July 28, 1794 - Robespierre is executed. 1795 - France adopts a new constitution. 1799 - The Directory falls, marking the end of the French Revolution. []
 * Timeline of the French Revolution**

The Bastille was a state prison used by many kings of France. It not only served as a penitentiary, but the Bastille was also a symbol of Louis XVI's absolute power. Most of the prisoners here were either political or aristocratic prisoners. It was located in the east end of Paris. The Storming of the Bastille was an event that set off the French Revolution. On July 14, 1789, a huge, cruel mob marched to the Bastille looking for gunpowder and weapons that had been taken away by the King. The prison was governed by a man named Marquis de Launay. Seven days before the 14th, thirty-two Swiss soldiers had arrived at the Bastille to help defend the prison. There had been rumors flying around that had apparently gotten to the governor. They had spent days reinforcing the Bastille from a mob attack, but they did not know that it would be more than just a small mob. At three o'clock on July the 14th, a large group of protesters comprised of French guards and citizens tried to force their way into the Bastille. The mobs easily made it into the arsenal and the first courtyard because the guards had left their posts earlier in the day, fearing the rumors were true. They cut the drawbridge down and crashed through the wooden door. The protesters insisted that the bridges be let down, but de Launay refused. He said he would surrender if his troops were allowed to leave without harm, but the mobs refused the offer. They wanted him dead. The Marquis de Launay sent a note to Hulin, the mob leader, saying that he possessed twenty thousand pound of gunpowder and that he would obliterate the entire Bastille. The mobs still refused to leave. Eventually, the bridges were lowered, and de Launay and his soldiers surrendered. They were dragged through the streets of Paris and were killed. The picture below is the Storming of the Bastille. []
 * The Bastille**

France is a country located in western Europe. It is bordered on the north and west by the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Bay of Biscay. France shares boundaries with Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, and Andorra. It is the largest country in western Europe and the third largest country on the continent. France's area, including the island of Corsica, is 212,935 square miles. Its dimensions are 605 miles from north to south and 565 miles from east to west. Plains and hills cover about two-fifths of the country. They stretch from the Belgian border to the Pyrenees Mountains and separate into two unique regions, the Paris Basin and the Aquitaine Basin. Plateaus skirt the plains on the east. The Alps and the Pyrenees Mountains cover most of southern France. The Pyrenees stretch from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea. The Alps stretch across from the Italian border westward into the Rhone valley. The Jura Mountains are located north of the Alps on the French-Swiss border. They are generally lower than the Alps and Pyrenees. France has four major rivers which are the Rhone, the Garonne, the Loire, and the Seine. France does not have any natural lakes, but they have been created by dams. The country of France has an oceanic climate, similar to England and the northwest coast of the United States. The Atlantic coast has mild winters and cool summers. Temperatures range from 40 to 45 degrees in January to 60 to 65 degrees in July. 30 to 40 inches of precipitation is found every year. Inland climates are different than coastal ones. Winters are generally much colder and the summers are warmer. The Mediterranean coast of France has a climate that is like southern California. Much sunny weather is found here. Temperatures average from 45 to 50 degrees in January to 75 degrees in July. Precipitation totals to 20 to 30 inches annually. One-fifth of France is covered by forests. Conifers are found growing on the mountain slopes while deciduous trees are found at lower elevations. Wildlife consists of foxes, hares, a variety of birds, bears, and deer. The picture below is the country of France. [] []
 * Geography of France**



The guillotine was a tool for killing many French people during the French Revolution. The inventor of the guillotine was Dr. Joseph Guillotine. The guillotine was created as a means of efficiency and quickness. Even though Joseph made this vicious killing tool, he invented it as an act of kindness on the people being killed. Usually, a skilled swordsman would have to be hired to slice the head off with very good accuracy so that the head comes off in one slice. With the guillotine, a person was placed with their face down between two vertically suspended beams. A large blade weighing forty kilograms would be suspended 2.3 meters above the person's head. The blade would come down in less than a second and would cleanly sever the head from the body. Up to 40,000 people, including royalty and military, were killed by the guillotine. The guillotine became a symbol of terror for the French. The guillotine was often called the "National Razor" during the French Revolution. The picture below is a sketch of an execution by guillotine. []
 * The Famous Guillotine of the French Revolution **



Before the French Revolution, fashion in France was very vibrant and exuberant. After the Revolution, fashion in France became the simplest it could be. The reason behind this is because the Revolution was directed at dissolving the class difference among people. The most obvious way of identifying class difference was the way people were dressed. The richer the clothes, the higher the class. Fashion became simple because nobles dropped their flashy clothes in order to escape the guillotine. They blended in with the equals in France, and nobody knew the difference. Because life was becoming simpler, silk, ribbons, velvet, and lace were all dropped. Cotton became the dominating clothing material. This is because equality was required in dress, and cotton was the cheapest material for anybody, nobles or working class. Without the display of uniform, lives would be at stake. The picture on the left is a peasant family. The picture on the right is of two French nobles. []
 * Fashion during the French Revolution **



The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a fundamental document of the French Revolution. The document defines the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. The estates of the realm were the broad social classes of society during the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. It says the rights of man are also universal. The document sets the basis for fundamental rights for French citizens and the entire social body, but it does not set rights for women or slavery. The document opens by asserting "the natural and imprescriptible rights of man" to "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. It also called for the eradication of aristocratic privileges by announcing an end to exemptions from taxation, freedom, and equal rights for all human beings("Men"). The document also announced an end to access to public office based on just talent. The following is text of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
 * The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen**

"The Representatives of the French people, organized in National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole causes of public miseries and the corruption of governments, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man, so that this declaration, being ever present to all the members of the social body, may unceasingly remind them of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, and those of the executive power, may at each moment be compared with the aim and of every political institution and thereby may be more respected; and in order that the demands of the citizens, grounded henceforth upon simple and incontestable principles, may always take the direction of maintaining the constitution and welfare of all.

In consequence, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and citizen: 1. Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be based only on public utility. 2. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 3. The sources of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation; no body, no individual can exercise authority that does not proceed from it in plain terms. 4. Liberty consists in the power to do anything that does not injure others; accordingly, the exercise of the rights of each man has no limits except those that secure the enjoyment of these same rights to the other members of society. These limits can be determined only by law. 5. The law has only the rights to forbid such actions as are injurious to society. Nothing can be forbidden that is not interdicted by the law, and no one can be constrained to do that which it does not order. 6. Law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to take part personally, or by their representatives, and its formation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, art equally eligible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacities, and without other distinction than that of their virtues and talents. 7. No man can be accused, arrested, or detained, except in the cases determined by the law and according to the forms it has prescribed. Those who procure, expedite, execute, or cause arbitrary orders to be executed, ought to be punished: but every citizen summoned were seized in virtue of the law ought to render instant obedience; he makes himself guilty by resistance. 8. The law ought only to establish penalties that are strict and obviously necessary, and no one can be punished except in virtue of a law established and promulgated prior to the offense and legally applied. 9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been pronounced guilty, if it is thought indispensable to arrest him, all severity that may not be necessary to secure his person ought to be strictly suppressed by law. 10. No one should be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not upset the public order established by law. 11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man; every citizen can then freely speak, write, and print, subject to responsibility for the abuse of this freedom in the cases is determined by law. 12. The guarantee of the rights of man and citizen requires a public force; this force then is instituted for the advantage of all and not for the personal benefit of those to whom it is entrusted. 13. A general tax is indispensable for the maintenance of the public force and for the expenses of administration; it ought to be equally apportioned among all citizens according to their means. 14. All the citizens have a right to ascertain, by themselves or by their representatives, the necessity of the public tax, to consent to it freely, to follow the employment of it, and to determine the quota, the assessment, the collection, and the duration of it. 15. Society has the right to call for an account of his administration by every public agent. 16. Any society in which the guarantee of the rights is not secured, or the separation of powers not determined, has no constitution at all. 17. Property being a sacred to and inviolable right, no one can be deprived of it, unless illegally established public necessity evidently demands it, under the condition of a just and prior indemnity." The picture below is the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. [] []



The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen was written by Olympe de Gouges in 1791. She was a French activist and playwright. This declaration seeked to show the failure of the French Revolution. The Declaration of the Rights of Woman was based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. de Gouges dedicated the declaration to Marie Antoinette. de Gouges described Marie Antoinette as "the most detested" of women. The French Revolution did not help recognize women's rights, so Olympe de Gouges decided to publish the declaration. []
 * The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen**

Literature under the reign of King Louis XVI was highly restrained. It only focused on the lives of the upper class people, like nobles and the clergy. The working class was of much less importance, and their lives were much more boring. Literature and art during this period reflected only the upper class, while a lower class went unnoticed. Art and literature took a turn when the revolution started. Writers unleashed creative ideas when they were triggered by the revolution and the freedom of the common people. There were many Romantics involved in the start of the Romantic Movement in Europe. Vigney played a major role in the development of the Romantic Movement with his play, Chatterton. Hugo, Joseph de Maistre, and many others played an important role in the Romantic era. []
 * Romanticism during the French Revolution**