Three Main Causes of the French Revolution
When there is a lack of liberty, freedom, and equality in one’s country, there is a calling, a calling for Revolution. This call occurred in France during 1789, and the citizens of France revolted against their horrible king, Louis XVI. The French Revolution went from 1789 to 1815, ending with the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte, and was one of the bloodiest events that ever went down in history. The French Revolution is divided into four stages: The Moderate Stage, The Radical Stage, The Directory, and the Age of Napoleon. In the end, The French Revolution resulted in the abolishment of feudalism, the consolidation of social order and contractual relations, and the increase of nationalism. The French Revolution, however, would not have occurred without vital
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The three most important causes of the French Revolution were political and social imbalances, financial troubles, and the American Declaration of Independence.
Political and social inequalities dominating France played a major role in the French Revolution. Under the ancient régime, or old order, the citizens of France were divided into one of three social classes. These social classes were better known as Estates. The First Estate was made up of the clergy, the Second Estate was made up of the nobility, and the Third Estate contained the rest of the population in France (Prentice Hall World History textbook, 210). In France, the First and Second Estates were superior to the Third Estate. The First Estate owned about ten percent of the land, collected taxes, and paid no
The French Revolution was caused by social inequality, economic depression,mistreatment from the monarchy, and the new idea of the Enlightenment Era.
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
First, one primary factor of the French Revolution was the Enlightenment. Specifically, the Enlightenment was an age of “scientific and philosophical thought” in the 18th century (An Analysis 1). The ideas that came from this age were natural rights, the sovereignty of citizens, and equal rights for everybody under the law along with questioning the divine right of the king (An Analysis 1). The Enlightenment was one primary factor because it provided ideas that the commoners wanted as it placed them at a fair and basic level in comparison to the other classes alongside questioning the validity of the monarchy. Another example was it inspired the American Revolution, where the colonists fought and won the right to govern themselves from England (An Analysis 1). This proved that a winning a
During the time of the French Revolution in 1789, there were many tensions across political, social, and economic classes. There were extreme divisions between the 3rd Estate and the 1st and 2nd Estate, leading to multiple removals and reinstatements of leaders. While many issues were involved with the French Revolution, there were three that were the most vital to it actually occurring. The three most critical causes of the French Revolution were the Enlightenment, the oppression of the Third Estate, and the general fiscal crisis of France.
In France there were three estates/classes. The first and highest class was the church(clergy and kings), the second class was the nobility(nobles) and the third class and lowest rank was the commoners( peasants, bourgeois and city workers). There is a bar graph showing how unequal the tax structure is and how there is a huge population of poor people. It shows that the third estate is paying most of the taxes and they owned very little land, Doc 2. There is another photograph displaying two men labeled first and second estate standing on top of a rock labeled taxes all on top of a man labeled third estate, Doc 7. This picture is trying to explain how the top estates are all depending on the the third estate because they pay all the taxes and work on the
Social Classes are one of the 3 main causes of the French Revolution. The 2 upper estates paid almost no taxes and also owned most of the land. The cartoon in document 7 shown
The Third Estate, treated unfairly in society, became angered and wanted simple equalities that the other Estates had. In
The First and Second Estate didn’t do nearly as much work for the country as the Third Estate did. This estate consisted of 75% of the country. They were in charge of the distribution of the agricultural products that the country made. As Abbe Sieyes said, “What is the Third Estate? Everything; but an everything shackled and oppressed.” (Abbe Sieyes). The Third Estate is the same as the other Estates, but more poor than them. Abbe Sieyes believed that they deserved more recognition than they ever got. Overall, the First and Second Estate treated the Third Estate terribly, and didn’t give them recognition for their work caused the French
The French Revolution is said to have a number of causes. It was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799, and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the later expansion of the empire. The main causes of the French Revolution was the political, economic, and social problems happening in the society during this time. One of the causes of the French Revolution of the political tension going on during the time.
In France, the social classes consisted of three estates: First, Second, and Third. The First Estate consisted of the clergy (religious officials), who were considered the highest on the social ladder. They only consisted of .5% of the population yet were the most powerful (Doc. 2). The Second Estate were 1.5% of the population and consisted of nobles who held the top jobs of government, army, and courts (Doc. 2). Finally, The Third Estate were 98% of the population and consisted of the bourgeoisie, or the middle class, and peasants (Doc. 2). When the Estates
The French Revolution was a monumental historical event. Somehow, however, the causes of this conflict are often forgotten among all of the chaotic events. However, the causes of this revolution are exactly what will be discussed in this essay. The three most paramount issues which caused the French Revolution were the inequality in estates, the ignorance of King Louis XVI, and the political system.
The second estate consists of nobles who were slightly less privileged than the church and clergy members. Consisting of two to five percent of the population, these members owned a third of all land. Noblemen faced different
One major cause of the old regime were the taxes and laws between the three estates. As seen in Document 2, “the 3rd estate paid 50% of income in taxes while the 1st and 2nd paid less than 5%” (Doc 2). This clearly shows that the most populated estate, the third estate, paid half of their income as their taxes. Larger amounts of taxes the third estate paid versus the lower amount of taxes for the first and second estates. Another significant cause was the unequal three estates and the third estate was overpowered. The third estate had more power in laws and taxes and their relationship with the lower estates were not good. As demonstrated in Document 7, the cartoon of the “The political and social system in France” (Doc 7). This cartoon proves the relationship between the third estate and the two lower estates. The lower estates didn’t have anything to do with taxes and laws and the third estates were all in laws and taxes. The final
As for the long term causes of the French Revolution, the first one would be the social inequality. In fact, the social conflict between the middle class and the nobility had existed in the early seventeenth century. The nobility and the Church had great power controlling the government. With the continuous connection with the outside world and increasing trade opportunity, the middle class of merchants began to raise; they kept building wealth in order to gain more power on market and their social status. However, because the power in France was succeeded by heredity, the middle class, in fact, had no opportunity to get involved in national affairs and their efforts had little influence on the nobility.
The tax systems in France were unjust on the 3rd estate and made it hard for them to survive this lead them to rise up against the government. France was in great debt that led to the collapse of their economy and then the people's Revolution. In France the Third Estate made up most of the people and they didn't get the recognition they wanted so they rebelled against their country. The main cause of the French Revolution was economic issues that lead the to rebelion of the french people.