The French Revolution
- The Third Estate was fed up by the economic crisis that the corrupt monarchy had caused, so they established the National Assembly. They requested to meet the king, but he refused. They decided that they would not separate until a brand new constitution was written. Their discontent erupted in the form of 800 Parisians attacking the Bastille (the king’s personal prison and the symbol of his power), hoping to find weapons.
- However, the mob did not find any weapons in Bastille. Still, they killed everyone in the jail to show their rebellion.
The Tunisian Revolution
- The Tunisian government, in the form of presidency, was not able to control and manage the country effectively. Because of that, there were issues in Tunisia such as unemployment, poverty, and hunger.
- Because of the following issues, the citizens of Tunisia, especially from the middle class, were infuriated due to their poor quality of lifestyle; college graduates were annoyed for being jobless despite having university degrees, financially unfortunate people were in a hunger crisis due to food price inflations, and the wealth inequality gave richer people more privileges and power over the citizens of the middle class and below.
Similarities and Differences
Similarities
Differences:
- The Starters: Middle class men. (They were the ones who were enraged by their poor lifestyles under the rule of their king/president.)
- Cause: Corrupt government allowing economic crisis (Serious wealth gap/inequality caused the financially richer people to have more power and freedom over the economically unfortunate ones).
Differences:
- The Violence: The violence in the French Revolution started at the very beginning stage of the revolution in Bastille, while the violence in the Jasmine Revolution occurred in the third stage, at the rebellion’s fight in the city of Tunis.
- Creation of New Government: In the French Revolution, angry middle class men gathered and formed the National Assembly, while the Tunisian revolutionaries didn’t assemble and create a new form of government.
- Intellectuals: In the French Revolution, the intellectuals were usually the ones who were educated and fortunate enough to write and publish (such as the Enlightenment Thinkers). But in the Jasmine Revolution, because of the improvement of technology, everyone could have been an intellectual due to all the social networks including Facebook and Twitter.