Why Did The French Bourgeoisie-Led Revolution

The French Revolution has been studied since its end in an attempt to determine and understand the causes of it and its duration. Different schools of history attempt to provide different explanations, such as Marxist schools examining whether the French Revolution amounted to a class struggle or the ‘maximalist’ school in which the cultural transformation of French society is examined, including attitudes about monarchy, privilege and religion. This essay will contend that fundamental divisions of attitudes towards privilege began the revolution, with disagreements about religion and the Catholic Church making the revolution longer in duration. Monarchy is linked to privilege as the King was part of the privileged Second Estate. Thus, the revolution as a

France during the 18th century, was a country of great progress of society and established Paris as 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 of income transformed every portion of society, and some might point to implementation of these unfair taxes that were placed on the people to repay debts that had been occurred in previous administrations. The ideas previously mentioned played a key role in the development of revolutionary Paris and many other topics that weren’t mentioned also played a critical role in the changing of France, but arguably the most significant of these causes was that of 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.

The French Revolution was a time of period where social and political was a disruption in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799. This time of period affected Social Structure of France prior to the French Revolution. The factors that caused this revolution was due to having a bad government system, weak superiority, and inequality of the classes of people in France during the war. In this research, I will define and explain how Social Structure contributed to the French Revolution Resentment of royal authoritarianism. The three estates that social structure consists of are first estate which are the clergies, second estate known as the Nobleman, and third estate which are the Bourgeoisie, peasants, and workers. The Revolution did not omit sharp distinctions among the social groups, neither did it alter the distribution of wealth. This caused them to divide into these three groups called as estates.

The eighteenth century revolutions predate the Marxist framework which would ultimately changed the way in which revolutions are understood; as highly participatory mass-moments which sought to change some kind of social order. Gordon Wood acknowledges this as he states; “The social distinctions and economic deprivations that we today think of as the consequences of class divisions…were in the eighteenth century usually thought to be caused by abuses in government.” Skocpol also acknowledges the difference between modern and what the “liberal revolutions” of the eighteenth century. She writes that all revolutions that occur within the modern capitalist systems accomplish nothing but a more concentrated and centralized state bureaucracy. However Skocpol’s analysis takes a retrospective structuralist approach to understanding these eighteenth century social revolutions. Her analysis does not rely on the deprivation hypothesis nor any kind of ideology, but instead highlights the importance of the “revolutionary moment” where elites and peasants unite (through an “equal powers” negotiation) against the state (Stevens 10/16/17). By applying Skocpol’s model to the French, Haitian, and American Revolutions, we can see how well it holds up when applied to these various intertwined 18th century revolutions despite their drastically different outcomes.

The revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in France and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes, the most important of which were the inability of the ruling classes of nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie to come to grips with the problems of state, the indecisive nature of the monarch, impoverishment of the workers, the intellectual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment, and the example of the American Revolution. Recent scholarship tends to downplay the social class struggle and emphasize political, cultural, ideological, and personality factors in the advent and unfolding of the conflict. The Revolution itself produced an equally vast complex of

During the 1700s, France’s government was run by a three system estate system. The First Estate was made up by the powerful clergy members, while the Second Estate was made with nobles. Peasants and working men made the Third Estate, also the largest estate. In this large estate there was a little class named the Bourgeoisie was a part of the Third Estate. Though the Bourgeoisie was highly educated and always had stable professions, they were not set aside from the peasants. The Third Estate was treated very poorly during the 1700s. Life was not suitable for the working class. The mistreatment and inequality led to the French Revolution. Inequality during this time period meant that things were not the same throughout each class. Unequal power between the estates, abuse of the Third Estate, and the taxes and price raises were the three reasons that outweighed the many political, social, and economic factors that led to the French Revolution.

In 1789, an event would take place that would shake a nation. This event further altered the country of France’s history and drastically changed its future. This event was known as the Storming of the Bastille, the first violent instance to instigate the French Revolution and the formation of a rebel alliance to overthrow French monarchy. However the motives of the renegades is far and wide. The question must be asked; What were the major reasons for the French Revolution? Many elements of France’s infrastructure were created to suppress the qualms of the people. However, the major influences that caused the French Revolution were the new ideas of the enlightened thinkers, powerlessness of the Third Estate, and famine crises. Without these factors within French society, a governmental collapse may not have occurred.

The first cause of the revolution to be discussed: the inequality in estates. To understand this, one must first understand the meaning of the word estate. An estate was a form of social classes made up of the first estate (clergy), the second estate (nobles), and the third estate (peasants and bourgeoisie). The problem with these estates was that the third estate was taxed much more heavily than the second estate, while the first estate was not taxed at all. This led to poverty and starvation as “the price of bread has risen above people’s ability to pay” (Doc A). Even worse for thee third estate, while they were starving and fighting to provide for their families, the first two estates were going on about their lives without concern for those dying of preventable causes.

One of the economic issues that caused the French Revolution is financial difficulties because in document A it states, ¨ The First Estate were the Clergy which meant that 1% of the people owned 10% of the land and paid no taxes.” It also states, “The Second Estate were the Nobles which meant 2% of the people owned 35% of the land and paid 2% of income in taxes.¨ Finally, it states, ¨The Third Estate were the middle class, peasants, and the city workers which meant 97% of the people owned 55% of the land and paid 50% of their income in taxes.¨ This shows that they were doing unfair taxes and soon they realized they were unable to meet their needs and becoming more poor.

The French Revolution was a period of time from 1789 to 1799 in France where there was political instability. It officially began on the 14th of July, 1789, when the Bastille, which was a symbol of the King’s harsh policies, was stormed. The King, Louis XVI, the Queen, Marie-Antoinette and about 40,000 people were all brutally murdered. But there was also a positive side, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was formally adopted on August 1789 and feudalism was abolished. This essay will address the issues of the three estates system, food shortages and the fiscal crisis. It will also be argued that the most significant cause of the French Revolution was the social inequality that stemmed from the three estates system.

The socioeconomic conditions that provided the catalyst for the French Revolution and the conditions that existed in19th century imperial Russia, are strikingly similar. Both societies for better or worse functioned under the authority of an absolute monarchy with an inherent structural inequality between the ruling class, and a majority disenfranchised agrarian peasantry. Russia and France differed significantly in economically due to the fact that both revolutions were separated by more than a century of industrial development. However and interestingly both events have as a foundational basis the oppression and reaction of a lower class to spark revolutionary upheaval.

The French Revolution (1789-1814) was a period that affected the outcome of world history tremendously. This is considered a major turning point in European history which has led to dramatic changes in France and other regions of the world. Various social and political issues led to the start of the revolution. Politically, France suffered under the rule of Louis XVI, who ruled by absolute monarchy. Many people had their natural rights renounced and weren’t able to have a political voice. Socially, France had divided its population within 3 estates (classes). French citizens took it upon themselves to remodel their country 's’ political structure. The French Revolution had encountered both positive and negative effects. However, many Europeans viewed the Revolution as much more than just a bloody massacre. The French Revolution was used to demonstrate new ideology that would emphasize the principles of liberty and equality throughout Europe.

Marxism is a clear-cut view of the French revolution. It gives a central role to the Bourgeoisie for being the main inspirators for its cause. This is due to the fact that it was widely believed to be them who stood to gain the most. Lefebvre was the main and most revered of all Marxist historians. His belief is that the year 1789 was the one in which the Bourgeoisie took power. They had been waiting for centuries in order to do this, according to Lefebvre, and when they had finally reached sufficient numbers and wealth they took the initiative. They owed most of their success to a shift of what was considered important in society. In medieval society, the landed Aristocracy had dominated. They owed much of their success and wealth to the land. This is not the case in the eighteenth century when the impetus changed and economic power, personal abilities and confidence became more desirable than land.1Although the Bourgeoisie was growing in vast numbers, the Nobility had one thing over on them, Social Status.

During the 1780s, the French underclass rioted and revolution was born. The French Revolution was considered one of the most decisive determinants leading to the development of a theory of society that was officially separate from philosophy. By the time the revolution ended, it had delivered three distinct blows to society, history and politics. First, in asserting the reality of individual rights and freedoms, the revolution shook individuals in their political and social foundations. Second, the economic and political consequences of the revolution rocked the foundations of feudal society in its social and economic existence. Third, the political and social changes of the revolution shook the framework of philosophy in its inward looking and introspective existence.

The French Revolution of 1848 was a great disappointment to both Karl Marx and Alexis de Tocqueville. To Marx, the revolution should have been a step along the way to socialism, with the bourgeoisie capitalists overthrowing the previous landed feudal society. In turn, the proletariat would arise and bring both the end of class antagonism and the beginning of the socialist state. To Tocqueville, the revolution was about the reduction in the power of the aristocracy as the lower classes were in ascendance. The resulting broadening of equality would give rise to democracy, with all its hopes and shortfalls. Yet the revolution ended not in socialism or democracy, but with a President who became an Emperor. Marx and Tocqueville may have had different ideas about how and why a society should conduct itself, but both found the outcome of the Revolution of 1848 a misstep on the path of social evolution.