Revolution Project Summary
By: John Larsen and Dave Acciardo Jr.
“What does the word revolution mean?” While a seemingly basic question, our project reviews both what the term means, and applies it to three separate revolutions. John began the project with explaining how the term revolution initially meant any overthrow of government, ranging from something as small as a change in Senate to something large scale like the French, Russian and Libyan revolutions. He wrote about what causes revolutions, relating it to the American Revolution which is the most familiar to students in the United states today. Lastly, the Hunger games: Catching Fire is introduced as a fictional revolution that was caused for many of the same reasons as those in real life.
The First revolution discussed was the beginning of the French revolution of 1789. John wrote about how the common people thought their current king, King Louis XVI,was ill suited for the position as he taxed the poor heavily, led the country to bankruptcy because of wars overseas, and spent thousands of dollars on his palace in Versailles.In order to regain popoularity, the king called the Estates-Genral back into session, but that would prove to be his grave mistake. Each of the three estates was comprised of a single social group (clergy,nobles, and all others respectively), and had a single vote each. The first two typically voted similarly and would outvote the common people. easily. In retaliation, the third estate created the general assembly, which pledged the change how France was governed. On July 14,1789 the General Assembly invaded the Bastille, thus sparking the French revolution. Within five years, the monarchy saw its influence dwindle, until the monarchy’s abolishment in 1792. King Louis XVI was executed, as was his wife, Marie Antoinette. France struggled with how it should govern itself for several years, until Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself emperor of France. Much of the French Revolution relates to the film, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as the common people wanted to defeat the tyrannical Capitol and live fairer lifestyle.
The Russian Revolution was the next revolution discussed in our project. Dave wrote about how their were two smaller revolutions that overall contributed the entire revolution. The first revolution, which began in 1905, was caused by an embarrassing defeat during the Russo-Japanese war, and rising food prices with declining wages. This related to HUnger Games: Catching Fire as the Russians realized that,“The Odds Never are in Favor.”The revolution itself began on Bloody Sunday, when a group of peaceful protestors were mistaken for violent ones, and massacred. However in the years following, little was done by the commoners to change the form of government. That is until 1917, after the Great War hurt the Russian economy. The people decided that their was no around their problem, and that eliminating the czar was absolutely necessary. The common people were capable of weakening the government drastically and Czar Nicholas II was forced to give up the throne. Later on, his family would be brutally murdered, completely ending the reign of the czars. During this time, Lenin also gained control and formed Russia into the first Marxist state.
The other revolution Dave wrote about was the Libyan Revolution. The Libyan revolution which began with the Arab Spring movement, revolved around how Libyans wanted Gaddafi, their leader, out of power. They found him as corrupt, and did little to better the lives of others. He had ruled for many years, and like what Katniss said about the districts, waited too long before they fought against an unjust power. When he announced that he wanted to pass on his power to his sons, the people refused. The military turned against Gaddafi, as they too had been enlightened by the “success” in Tunisia. Within time, a new council, recognized by the United Nations, gained power in Libya, and Gaddafi was assassinated.
Overall this project was something that both John and Dave learned a great deal from, and felt as if the work was separated fairly.
P.S. John wrote the paper and wrote in third person.