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Why Was France on the Brink of Revolution by 1789?

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By 1789, France was on the brink of revolution, due to the problems caused by the Estate Structure, Money, Bad Harvests, the Estates General and the National Assembly. This all resolves around the huge differences between the classes of people during the 18th century, while the Clergy and Nobles were enjoying a life of privilege and money, the peasants and bourgeoisie were suffering from hunger and unemployment. The longest cause, and possibly the mot important, was the Estate Structure. There was a huge gap in wealth and rights. The majority of the first and second estates where very rich as the typical salary of a village priest was 750 livres a year, while a Paris parish priest would earn 10,000 livres a year and the Marquis de …show more content…

In August 1788, King Louis called he 1100 deputies for the first time since 1614, in order to have them approve the new taxes. They represented all three states, 550 deputies to represent the 130,000 clergy in the first estate and the 400, 000 nobles in the second estate, and 550 deputies to represent the 28 million peasants and bourgeoisie in the third estate; not that this pleased the educated bourgeoisie who thought there should be the same ratio between the amount of

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