Causes of the French Revolution Essay

The French Revolution of 1789 had many long-range causes. Political, social, and economic conditions in France mad many French people discontented. Most disaffected were merchants, artisans, workers, and peasants. The ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers brought new views of government and society. The American Revolution also influenced the coming of The French Revolution. Therefore, The French Revolution of 1789 had several causes not only due to political, but also due to social and economic issues and problems as well that made France ripe for revolution. The most important long-range causes of this revolution, however, were the ideas of the Enlightenment, the unfair taxes, the gap between the rich and poor, and the American Revolution

King Louis XVI and Marie Antionette were two people that should not have been ruling a country. King Louis was always gone on hunting trips and Marie Antionette spent every dime of French money. Once the Monarchy ran out money, they started to tax the Third, and poorest, estate. The third estate took up 97% of the population. 97% of the population was starving and the royal family kept spending large amounts of money until the people revolted. The people of France tried to reason with King Louis, but he refused to change his ways and kept taxing the third estate. When the people revolted, they stormed the Bastille and took all of the weapons they could. The people then went to the King’s palace and demanded he fix the way he was ruling before they killed him. The King didn’t listen and was executed along with his wife. Of the three kids that Marie Antionette had, the two boys died of Tuberculosis in jail and the daughter was sent to live the remainder of her life in exile in Austria. It may seem as though the people of France had successfully overgrown their monarchy and could begin a life of freedom, however this is not the case. The French had rushed into combat too fast and did not have a plan for what to do after they had killed their rulers. The right of Terror begins where Maximilian Robespierre beheads 40,000 people in the span of ten months for speaking against the revolution. In the end, Robespierre ends up getting

France was now under the rules of the National Convention and Louis XVI was put on trial for treason. He was later found guilty

First off, leadership was very important and in the case that the king was better, the revolution could have been avoided. King Louis was a big spender and lacked the leadership necessary to be a king. He was already in huge debt from helping the American Revolution, as well as participating in the 7 Years War, and his debt kept increasing due to his pursuing of personal pleasures over serious governmental affairs. This is clearly shown in Ellis’ and Esler’s World History when it says, “Louis XV, who

The French Revolution was a period of long ending causes and it led to many long-lasting conditions in France including political, social and economic conditions. The French revolution was significant because it led to the end of the old monarchy. The important causes of the French Revolution were the old regime, economic hardships, and the American Revolution. Thus, economic hardships, the old regime and the American Revolution were the important causes of the French Revolution.

In June of 1791, the French revolution witnessed one of its most dramatic events. King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the Austrian born queen, escaped there parisian palace, the Tuileries. They fled Paris on the night of June 20th, dressed in rather inadequate disguises heading towards France’s eastern border. Prior to the escape, Louis had entailed a telling declaration in which he essentially renounced the constitutional monarchy, contradictory to previously expressing his support. However plan turned into a blunder. It was poorly compromised even before it began resulting in unavoidable like demise. The Kings flight came to a halt in Varennes where the royal family had their papers inspected after suspicion arose from some locals. Louis gave up the disguise to Jacques Destez, before the royal family was coercively returned to Paris. This dramatic occurrence resulted in a series of events that began to unfold and had a huge influence on the play out of the revolution.

All the moms and woman decided to put a stop to this there were six thousand of them in total. They marched to the palace of Versailles where the kin and queen were staying. They shouted and demanded that the king come back top Paris with them. They made him promise that he would give them the bread and food that they need to survive.

On August 10, 1792, the wretched monarchy of France was finally overthrown. All of the king’s guards were thrown into prisons, any mention or idea of loyalty to him got ordinary citizens thrown in, too. The Parisian people believed that the loyalists would plan to help the king return to the throne. On September 2nd, an armed group of people attacked a bunch of prisoners who were being transferred from their original holding cells to Abbaye Prison. During an interview with one of the original attackers, it was said that “They were plotting against us. We heard it from their carriage, the traitors were going to go find the king! Insane, I tell you, these people were our friends, but we had to do what was best for our country.”

There are five reasons of why the French Revolution happened. The first reason was absolute monarchy. The king was spending too much money on extravagant things. He also made it that each estate gets only one vote. They had ineffective leaders.

July 14, 1789, rumors were going around the next town over in Paris that troops from the Capital sent by the King were going to attack and invade the citizens of France. Frantically, citizens began to assemble outside the Bastille, an old fortress and prison. A prison was a place where bad people are held in confinement from the outside world. The 800 parisians surrounding the old building believed they would find defensive supplies and demanded weapons and gunpowder, a chemical explosive used in firearms. The commander of the Bastille refused, which resulted in battle. As I heard the screams of joy, I assumed the citizens had won and found out they killed the commander and the guards blocking the entrance, while also

The Old Order: During this time France was separated into an outdated class system, which were called Estates.The first Estate was made up of the clergy which was about 1% of the population. The clergy were nuns, monks, priests, and bishops. The clergy still enjoyed the wealth the church had gathered had gathered during the middle ages however despite their immense wealth they did not have to pay taxes. The second Estate consisted of the titled nobility of France. They made up about 2% of France’s population. These nobles had their military power removed by Louis XIV but they received other rights in return like top standings in the government, army, court, and the church. These people were also wealthy but did not pay taxes. The third Estate

It is also believed that food was being intentionally withheld from the people in order to bring about a more radical political course. The result, these bread riots in the city were leading to a breakdown of social discipline in the countryside. Throughout France, revolutionary committees were taking control. The National Guard was formed to try and repress the subsequent threat of pillage . As already stated, the association of an aristocratic plot responsible for the break-down of the whole system in France, put about by nameless brigands, was to set a pattern for what was to be a terrible revolution. Then on the 6th October, the iron gates of the chateau were forced and a gang, led by d’Orleans, made their way to the palace. ‘The mob demanded that the Queen come to the balcony’ . The

King Louis XVI was a nervous, conservative monarch. He was, however, a little too eager to please his people. And so he spent the first part of his ruling years attempting to bring Enlightenment ideals to the extremely traditional France. As was previously mentioned, King Louis XVI advisors and fellow ruling nobility were completely opposed to this, and so very few of his ideas managed to be passed by the nobility. One idea that was passed by Louis XVI, was the deregulation of grain market, which sadly created a great food scarcity among his people soon after the bill was passed. (HarDman, 1994) This caused a series of powerful revolts around France in response to such a large amount of France's' population starving openly in the streets. This period of economic unrest and turmoil resulted in a deep hatred for the monarchy, understandably, and a hatred for conservative ideals; both of these ideas wrapped up into one represents the core of King Louis XVI. His plan completely backfired, and he was left with a country of people who despised him, his family, and the entire

After five hours of marching, the group of five thousand arrived at the king’s palace in Versailles. As they crowd stormed the castle, the noise they created woke the king and queen. They tried to flee the palace, however they were too slow and the mob caught them. They were put in carts and taken back to Paris.

The women of France were enraged with the outcome and marched 12 miles in the pouring rain to the king and queen’s palace. Seeing another huge rebellion composing of 60,000 people this time marching directly to the King Louis XVI gave me hope for they deserved. The king and queen ran to the their bedroom huddling together praying they won’t be mobbed and killed, but the citizens got through to them. However, the citizens of France instead were planning to force them to live in Versailles Palace to be closer to what they are experiencing. They surrendered and left the palace signaling a dramatic change in power.