Economic Causes Of The French Revolution

There were many causes and events leading up to the French Revolution in 1789. Before the Revolution, France had been involved in many expensive wars, especially the American War of Independence, causing financial difficulties and debts which were increased through the expensive upkeep of the Royal Family and their courts. At this time the Age of Enlightenment was occurring and new ideas, challenging the Ancien Regime and the Absolute right to rule, were emerging. The monarch of the time, King Louis XVI, was a weak monarch who was incapable of making decisions and sticking to them. King Louis XIV was also incapable of using his powers in a way to spark fear and gain control of those under his power. As a

A revolution is not an event that comes around every few years. In fact, for an event to be considered a revolution that event must bring about significant political, social, ideological, religious or even technological change. Throughout history there have been some very noteworthy revolutions such as the Agricultural Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution. Of all the revolutions in history, it is perhaps the French Revolution that remains the most romanticized in the minds of the people. The French Revolution was, at its core, a revolution of the masses, for the masses. It was a long, violent affair, lasting from 1787 to 1799. Like most periods of historical importance, the French Revolution was not caused by a single, specific event in history. It was rather the result of the accumulation of many events spread all through the 18th century. Some of the most important causes of the French Revolution were the economic crisis, the rising tensions between the social classes, the shortcoming of the rule of Louis XVI, and the Age of Enlightenment.

The French revolution was a fight to overturn an established social order. It was about who should rule at home. The revolution began with the bourgeoisie, the workers and the poor peasants that disliked the economic turmoil the monarchy was putting the country into distress. A similarity with both of these revolutions is taxation. Funny enough the French were in a lot of debt for actually helping the American colonist during their own revolution, and also from the Seven Years War.

Throughout history revolutions have been essential to making change in governments and countries. The French Revolution of the late 18th century was critical to making France how it is today. The people of France and Europe were the ones involved in the revolution. The people of France were one of the causes for the start of the revolution and the riots throughout. The other Europeans were involved because the French tried to spread their revolutionary ideas to the rest of Europe. The revolution was important to the people of France because the Third Estate or lower class were severely under represented and many lead lives full of poverty, while the upper class lead a lavish lifestyle. The French Revolution was caused by the decline of the French political structure, economic struggles, and debt

At the head of the beginning the French Revolution was the current king, Louis XVI, to whom had little idea of how to solve problems that were increasing very much so in the years before the Revolution. Some of the major problems that Louis XVI could not seem to face included the vast food shortages, so much debt from helping to support the American Revolution (due to the French’s need to lessen England, who at the time was above them from a political standpoint) and that there were certain religious intolerances, not to mention the tensions that were growing between the three estates.

The French Revolution was a time of tension and struggle in France. Peasents had bad harvests and were losing money and starving. Meanwhile, the wealthy were living luxuriously while others were struggling to survive. Times were hard and it was started because of poverty, or so they say. The texts The Origins of the French Revolution by Dr. Peter Campbell at the University of Sussex and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens will help figure out how the revolution started in the first place. There are ideas out there of how the Revolution started and the texts aforementioned will show the possibilties.

The french revolution was primarily caused by the economic problems in France. Back in the 1700 hundreds, France had many problems, their biggest being economics. The biggest issue within economics was that the third estate were the only ones being taxed, the third estate consisted of (merchants, lawyers, businessmen). The second and first estate did not have to pay taxes! Another one of Frances big economic problems was that the whole country was in debt, because of all the wars. France also had a problem with people starving and having no money to buy food.

The French Revolution was a dark time for France as a whole. There were many deaths and horrific actions that left France in shambles. There were many causes of this revolution, all falling under three categories: social, political and economic. The political factors were mostly having to do with the rule of King Louis XVI and his ways and actions. There were also factors having to do with the Three Estates and France’s struggling financial issues. The next category was economic. The economic causes of the revolution had to do with the way France spent their money and how the royals used it. Finally, the social factors had the most impact on the people. It had to with the shortages of food and effected a large percent of the population. However, there seems to be a recurring issue throughout each of these categories, which may be the reason why the revolution finally broke out in France. The French Revolution finally broke out because of the people, their actions and the conditions they were faced with in France at the time.

The economic structure during the french revolution was a crisis.They had an unfair tax system and it made their population decrease slowly.It made it hard for peasents to live and grow for themselfs because the taxes were even more when they tried to grow anything on their land.The same thing happened in the American revolution such as the British and Americans taxes went up a lot higher than it was usally.But the difference was that when the war happened it didnt effect the farmers when they self-grow and it didnt effect any of the local markets.

The peasants decided to not pay taxes. “The crisis came about primarily because of an inefficient and unfair tax structure.” (Historywiz.com) This caused France to go even into more debt. This was also accompanied by the many “mini ice ages” that happened during this time. “Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but two decades of poor cereal harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor.” (History.com Staff) These “ice ages” killed all the wheat crops, so the King decided to increase the taxes on bread. The tax was so high that it would take a peasant's whole week’s pay to buy one loaf. This just added to the fire of the French

The French Revolution was caused by many factors; some were significant and played a large role while others were of minor consequence. France was one of the richest and most powerful nations even though they were facing some economic difficulties. The French Revolution was a pivotal period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. During this period of time there was the formation of republicanism which replaced the absolute monarchy in France.

The French Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1789 was a traumatic movement that had an affect on both France and the world during the late 17th and early 18th century. This Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1814, for it made a large impact on the nation that caused a turning point in the history of the world. During this time, many events occurred like the executing of KIng Louis XIV and the rule of Napoleon.

The French Revolution was a watershed event that changed Europe irrevocably and ended a century of slowly increasing opposition to absolutism and the supremacy of a decadent aristocracy. The causes of the French Revolution are difficult to pin down. Therefore, we will divide them into long-term and immediate causes. Within long-term causes, we will also define intellectual, political and economic causes.

France during the 18th century, was a country that witnessed first-hand the reformation of society and saw the city of Paris become an urban powerhouse. When talking about the causes of the French revolution, many will point to a variety of factors that they believe to have been the root cause of the ordeal. Some might focus on the growing number of the farm employees who were contracted to keep order in areas of business, some might focus on the blurring of class lines that occurred in France as new venues and ventures of income transformed every portion of society, and some might point to the implementation of unfair taxes that were placed on members of the third estate in order to repay debts that had been accrued in previous administrations. The ideas previously mentioned played a key role in the development of Revolutionary Paris, and many other aspects that weren’t mentioned also played a critical role in the changing of France. However, arguably one of the most significant of these causes pertained to the desacralization of the French monarchy and how aspects such as literature and secularization would lead to the eventual downfall of the once great colonial power and transform the nation of France.

In the summer of 1789, the National Assembly was created in Paris, a group where representatives of the Third Estate vowed to abolish the absolute monarchy. The creation of this group marks the start of the French Revolution in which the Third Estate created a new government giving the lower class of France better rights and ending the absolute monarchy. The French Revolution was caused by financial difficulties, the unfair estate system, and enlightenment ideas, as shown by various primary and secondary sources.