The Relationship between the French Revolution and Economic Depression

The closing days of the 1920’s were a start of what would be the worst economic disaster that had ever been witnessed. The effect that the Great Depression had on capitalist countries such as Germany and the United States, was that their stocks and shares heavy economy plunged, leaving businesses unable to trade, and poverty throughout the nation. In the case of France, the depression initially did not suddenly bring the economy down drastically as it had to the more industrialised nations. Although relatively unscathed at first, by 1931 the ripple effect had hit France which steamrolled the economic downturn of the French economy. With France following the gold standard, the economic downturn lasted much longer than other affected

Another country that suffered just as much as the United Kingdom had was France. Causes of their downward spiral were due to an underdeveloped economy. France’s industry was far inferior to Great Britain’s, particularly in farming. Tourism was also a big part of France’s economy, and during this time, many individuals simply did not have the money to travel around the world. France, like the United Kingdom, also suffered to recover from World War I. While not as bad, France relied heavily on German reparations, to pay for reconstruction. Once reparations had ceased, the Depression in France took place. Starting in 1931, France did not recover from the Depression until the remainder of the decade. During

There were three Estates during the French Revolution. The First Estate was, the Clergy, it consisted of those employed by the Catholic Church. They had great influence in France, controlling vast amounts of land and were exempt from taxes. The Second Estate, the Nobility, were also exempt from most of the king taxes. They had the best and highest paid jobs in the army, church, and legal professions. The Third Estate, encompassing all the other people not in the other classes. This held the biggest percent of the population and had the greatest economic and social diversity. The vast amount of people in the Third Estate were starved and ragged because of the ever-increasing taxes they had to pay. Because the other two estates did not have to pay taxes, this made it even more difficult for the peasants to survive. The constitution also made the king the absolute

French society was ingrained with the ideology of a three class or estate society. The First Estate consisted of clergy who owned approximately ten percent of France’s land. The Second Estate contained the rich nobles who only occupied two percent of the French population, but had ownership of twenty percent of the country’s land. The Third Estate encompassed ninety-seven percent of the French population. The First and Second Estates had many privileges in French society, and they paid little to no taxes. Unfortunately, the tax burden fell upon the Third Estate, which caused them to yearn for political change. Hefty taxes fell upon business owners within the Third Estate who were unable to conduct a profitable business. On top of the tax crisis,

The first underlying cause of the French revolution was the Old regime. This divided France into three estates. “The First Estate was the clergy, who were people, including priests, who ran both the Catholic church and some aspects of the country. In addition to keeping registers of births, deaths and marriages, the clergy also had the power to levy a 10% tax known as the tithe. The Second Estate consisted of the nobility of France, including members of the royal family, except for

During 1789, many people in France were suffering. Due to the money spent on wars and Versaille France was in debt. Along with France’s debt, a mini ice age caused a season of a terrible harvest, creating an increase in food prices, leaving many people starving. Political, social, economical, and intellectual clauses contributed to the start of the French Revolution.

The absolutist monarchy, along with the Catholic Church, was in danger. The commoners had enough of all the privileges the clergy and the nobles had and started to revolt. During the Ancien Regime, France was divided into three different estates, the First, Second, and Third Estate. The First Estate was composed of all the clergy, while the Second was the nobility, and Third, those who were not included in the First or Second. The clergy was the first estate among the three because they were the ones who were closest to God, not including the king because he is not a part of the Estates.Benefits the Catholics and the nobilities were able to have from the government were apparent in the way the Estates were organized. The discrimination against the Third Estate could be seen in ways that, although the third estate constituted over 90 percent of the population, they had the equal amount of votes with the clergy and nobility. That means, because both the clergy and nobility are content with what they have, the third estate would always be outvoted by the two. First of all, the First and Second Estates did not have to pay tax. The burden was completely on the Third estate, and in addition to that, the First estate received tithes from the commoners. The First Estate owned the most land collectively. The First Estate, while being only .5 percent of the population of France, owned around ten percent

Prior to the beginning of the French revolution, the Catholic church was enormously powerful and very controlling, as it divided society apart and into estates. The first estate was the clergy, the second was the nobility and they accounted for only 500 000 of the country's population. Whilst the third estate was made up of the rest of society, all of which had to pay hefty taxes. As one of the three estates, the church had considerable political power that did not match their number of

In the centuries preceding the French revolution, France was an absolute monarchy renowned for its power, wealth and efficiency. The French kings maintained this power by establishing the Estates General, an assembly composed of representatives from the French nobility, church and mercantile classes. All three classes served a key role, in exchange for a complete tax emption the French nobility provided professional soldiers to protect France’s vulnerable borders while the Catholic Church administered the legal system and the lower class merchants financed the government with their tax money. By cooperating with these groups, the French monarchs ensured that their power was never is jeopardy (Fields, O’Neil and Share 155-156). However, by the fifteenth century the French monarchy had grown increasingly centralized, allowing the king to expand France’s borders significantly while greatly boosting his own popularity and influence. As a result, the French monarchs where able to

Another country that suffered just as much as the United Kingdom had was France. Causes of their downward spiral were due to an underdeveloped economy. France’s industry was far inferior to Great Britain’s, particularly in farming. Tourism was also a big part of France’s economy, and during this time, many individuals simply did not have the money to travel around the world. France, like the United Kingdom, also suffered to recover from World War I. While not as bad, France relied heavily on German reparations, to pay for reconstruction. Once reparations had ceased, the Depression in France took place. Starting in 1931, France did not recover from the Depression until the remainder of the decade.

The French government spent more money than it collected in taxes. By 1787, the country was bankrupt. The amount of tax each person must pay is unfair. The first and second estate members did not have to pay some taxes. Landholders found in the nobility were taxed less than the landholders found in the commoners. The nobles and the clergy hardly paid any tax. The Church, who owned one-tenth of the land in France, did not pay any taxes at all. The peasants were heavily taxed. King Louis XVI tried to change the taxation system but the nobility and the clergy refused to accept the new reforms. Therefore, he was unable to make any financial

The Effects of Financial Problems on the French Revolution The French Revolution, which broke out in 1787, was perhaps the most violent upheaval in the western world due to the extensive participation of peasants and common people, not only the aristocracy. Even thought in other parts of Europe revolutionist movements were taking place, they were usually between aristocratic rulers and other privileged groups. Regarding the causes of the French Revolution, several versions are proposed and debated. Some versions say that the causes were basically social and economical; while others say it was the rise of one particular class, the bourgeoisie.

The first estate, the clergy, included all church officials, from bishops to monks and nuns. They owned 10 percent of French land and collected 150 million livres a year. They also paid no tax to the state other than a voluntary “free gift” every five years. Their high standing officials also acted as governmental advisors. Priests who supported the poor were viewed poorly, paid drastically less, and forced to live moderately.

In the 1789, France had many problems in the society and it was on the brink of collapsing. The issues eventually led to the need to change the government was run. The first issue was the social hierarchy, it had three estates: the clergy at the top with 1% of the population, the nobles at the second estate making up about 2% of the population, and the middle class, peasants and city workers at the third estate making up 97% of the population. The problem was the taxes, people in the third estate were the only one paying taxes to the government when the first and second estates who owned about 35% of the land and was rich didn’t pay, so how was that fair? The second issue was the economic crisis.

I feel that the French Revolution was a time of depression for all living in France. Countless innocent lives had been taken because of bad leadership and disagreement. Many deaths occurred during the Reign of Terror and the September Massacre. There were hundreds of thousands of lives that had been lost through all the events of the French Revolution. In the past, people didn't care if they had taken another ones life because their were less people to find out that you had committed murder.