Causes of the French Revolution
France was considered to be the most advanced country in Europe during the 1700s. This
is because it had many foreign trades and a large population. It was also the center of the
Enlightenment. Because of these factors, it was intimidating to the rest of the world. But, dont
be fooled by the outer appearance, because on the inside, there was great unrest caused by bad
harvests, high taxes, high prices, and some disturbing questions raised by the Enlightenment
ideas of Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire.
There was a social and political system in France during the 1770s called the Old
Regime. Under this system, the French people were divided into three large social classes, or
estates. The first estate consisted of clergy of Roman Catholic Church. The second estate
consisted of nobles and people who held the highest offices in the government. The third estate
consisted of the commoners and the rest of the people. The population overall consisted of 97%
of the people being in the third estate, 2% in the second estate, and 1% in the first estate. The
thing is, that, the people who were in the first and second estate had special privileges that the
third estate did not. For example, they had to pay high taxes, while the first and second estates
did not. They were extremely unhappy and resented the first and second estates because they had
to work hard with little pay and had to pay extremely high taxes to them while, the first and
second estates had unfair privileges and special treatment. This growing resentment soon will
lead to a revolution along with some other factors.
By the 1780s, Frances economy was declining. This caused great alarm to the people,
especially the factory owners, merchants, and bankers of the third estate. In addition, there was
bad weather which caused an increase in crop failures. Because of this, bread prices, a staple
food, rapidly increased. The effect of this is that many French people starved because they could
not afford to buy bread and food. Next, Frances government had sunk deep into debt because of
the extravagant spending of Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette. Part of this debt was
also inherited from previous kings. When he realized that he was in some serious trouble with
the debts, he needed to do something about it.
Well, first off, Louis XVI was a weak king. Even though, he sincerely wanted to improve
the lives of common people, he couldnt make good decisions. In addition, his wife, Marie, gave
his horrible advice that he followed which worsened Frances condition. People also didnt like
her because she was Austrian, as Austria was the enemy of France. His advisors had actually told
him to let the first and second estates pay taxes, but instead rejected that proposition and let the
third estate pay even higher taxes. (There was a raise of taxes in order to help pay for the debts.)
Thus, concludes the main cause of the French Revolution. The most important cause was
perhaps with heavy taxes that were put upon the third estate. After all, it is 97% of the
population. So, if you upset that many people, it would mostly like lead to a huge dispute. In
conclusion, all of these factors add up to the French Revolution, which would change France
forever for the better.
By Varindhorn K. // Period 5
