Causes of the French Revolution There is no doubt that the French Revolution has had a profound effect on the world. The cause or causes of it have been greatly disputed. Clearly the Revolution's primary cause was the presence of a weak monarchy and a lack of a stable system of government. France's absolute monarchy had many changes toward the end of the eighteenth century. Louis XIV, in his attempts to centralize his authority and also lessen the power of the aristocrats, had planned out an intendant system. The intendants were like governors. They would oversee one region of the country. These intendants did not govern the region in which they lived and were chosen from other than the aristocracy. This insured that their loyalty was pledged to the king and not to their own region. This system caused great disturbances among the aristocrats who felt that the regions should rule them, which in fact, would take away the power from the monarchy. Unfortunately for Louis XVI, this system had been corrupted by the time he had come to power. The intendants had been replaced by nobility and they had no loyalty to the monarchy. Everybody was trying to be more independent from the monarchy. The Parliaments, who before Louis XIV, had the right to veto the king's legislation, all changed when Louis XIV had made it illegal to veto. This had diminished any kind of check or balance that had existed in France. This decision by Louis XIV made the Parliaments rebel against Louis XVI. Louis XVI, who had not been a very strong king to begin with, sat idle while the Parliaments reduced his power. France, who had been in debt, could not raise taxes because the Parliaments would not pass it. Nothing was accomplish... ... middle of paper ... ... control the Assembly, all the members of the third estate and some of the clergy of the first estate walked out of the Assembly of the Estates General, in Versailles. They had declared themselves the National Assembly, the only legitimate legislative body in France, on June 17, 1789. Abbè Emmanuel Sieyès declared, "The third estate was everything, had been treated as nothing, and only wanted to be something." Abbè was a clergyman that was the head of the National Assembly. This statement had summed up the National Assembly's feelings. As you can clearly see, the lack of a stable government, which was proved by the greediness of the Parliaments and the aristocrats, and the presence of a weak monarchy in Louis' XVI indecisive and half-hearted attempt at running the country, had caused the downfall of the French monarchy and an overhaul of the country itself.
The French revolted due to political, economic, and social injustices. Politically, the government was a mess. An absolute ruler can only be beneficial to the people if they cater to
...s on who should have power. Rebellions broke out across France and turned the nation against itself. The major revolutionary revolt was The Storming of Bastille. The third estate demanded for a republic. King Louis was killed, along with his wife Marie Antoinette to pursue the ideas of changing society. Maximilien Robespierre ordered their deaths by the violent and horrific machine, the guillotine. He was also killed shortly after, but provided the Jacobins a leader in his efforts to overthrow the monarchy. Napoleon was the last to save the revolution as it came to a close. The French Revolution has changed history and the lives of everyone in France up to today. Many people sacrificed themselves to change the country for others today. This revolution was life changing and inspired many others around the world to stand up for their beliefs and fight for a democracy.
that contributed to the rise and fall of the French Monarchy. The ideas of the
In addition to this, the cost of running a government in general had gone up and the country needed more money. Because the king didn't have as much power to tax as he pleases, the government could make a firm and accurate taxation of the people. In France, the price of government had also gone up.
The French revolution was also caused by a bad ruler and a bad economy. During the early 1780's a big percent of annual budget went towards king Louis XVI's lavish estate at Versailles. France also had no central bank, no paper currency, no ways of getting more money, and an out-dated tax system which only taxed the poor who had no money to begin with. Signs of revolution first appeared when the peasants stormed the fortress known as the Bastille looking for gun powder.
There were a numerous amount of economic issues. The first was when King Louis XIV left the France in debt. Also known as The Sun King, Louis XIV spent money extravagantly, and especially on building and transforming the Palace of Versailles, because of how much he disliked Paris. The rooms in le château were unbelievably ornate and very costly! All of Louis XIV’s heritors ran the country right into more debt, and when Louis XVI came into throne, his financial mentor, Jacques Necker, helped him make smarter decisions when it came to spending. But, that came to an end when he made a suggestion that taxes should be distributed among each social class, and Louis XVI got offended. The French government was spending more than its revenue, also because of war. The French and Indian war against England from 1756 to 1763 and aiding the Colonists against the English Loyalists in the American Revolution really put a toll on France’s financial standing. The nobles believed that reforms would solve their country’s economic crisis, but they were wrong. People, especially the peasants and workers, were left hungry and unemployed. Bread prices also rose. Obviously, the miserable farmers could not afford it, and their children’s clothing was either worn out in shreds, or non-existent. Even a pair of socks was a treat to peasant children before the French Revolution, and economic trouble was causi...
...search for a way to relieve the national debt, however policies by financial ministers like Jacques Neckler and Charles Alexandre de Calonne increased the debt even more. Louis would attempt to evoke the Assembly of Notables, which consisted of nobles, and later the Estates-General, which consisted of peasants, to ease the economic burden. However, both assemblies were shocked and disgruntled with the poor economy, and revoked the power of the King, leading to the French Revolution and forever abolishing absolutism from France.
In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy social inequality. This oppression of the Third Estate along with the financial problems that fell on the common people would lead to the French Revolution. Overall, the people of France revolted against the monarchy because of the unsuccessful estate system and the inequality it led to, because of the new enlightenment ideas that inspired them, and because of the failures of the monarchy. First, the French Revolution was a result of the failed estate system and the extreme economic and social inequality it led to.
The French Revolution started during 1789, it allowed for the people to have a better government that actually protected the natural rights of the people. This toke a nearly a decade of rioting and violence for the Third Estate to have their way and get the rights they deserved. From all the causes like the famine of wheat, long debts because of wars, the heavy taxes, and their rights not being protected, some causes stood out more than the others. It is noted that these reasons had to play a major role in order for the French Revolution to occur. The three most important causes of the French revolution are the ideas that came from the Enlightenment, the Old Regime not being an efficient class system, and the heavy taxation.
In order to gain the power he desired as an absolute monarch, Louis used a few key techniques that were very successful. His first and most necessary step to get all control was to take all of the nobles’ power, and make it so they were completely under his control. He first did this by taking the nobles’ positions of power, and either getting rid of them by doing it himself, or giving the jobs to loyal middleclass or some nobles who were completely loyal and under his control. Louis had very simple reasoning for doing this, which was that if the nobles had any power or control, they would have a better chance of overthrowing him, and that since there can only be so much total power, the more they had, the less ...
... then a noble. These governors were required to spend a large amount of time at Louis’ extensive palace of Versailles, which allowed Louis to monitor the generalités very closely. Religiously, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared France a Catholic state. Louis hoped that religious unity and centralization would lead to stronger unity in the country as a whole. He expelled or executed any Protestants who refused to convert, and the Catholics supported most of his actions. Although he delegated most of the power in France to himself, Louis did acknowledge the power and authority of the Parlement of Paris, which helped to regulate local administration and taxes, but overall, Louis stripped the nobles and aristocracy of most of their powers. Louis XIV long rule gave France the time it needed to transform from a divided nation to a centralized and powerful one.
Causes of the French Revolution On July 14, 1789, several starving working people of Paris and sixty soldiers seized control of the Bastille, forever changing the course of French history. The seizing of the Bastille wasn’t caused by one event, but several underlying causes such as the Old Regime, the raising of taxes, the American revolution, and the idea and beliefs of the philosophers. The immediate causes of the revolution were the rising price of bread and the locking of the third estate out of its meeting hall. Finally, the spark was the ordering of the Swiss guards to Paris by Louis the XVI. The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime.
An Analysis of the Absolute Monarchy of France in the 17th Century This historical study will define the absolute monarchy as it was defied through the French government in the 17th century. The term ‘absolute” is defined I the monarchy through the absolute control over the people through the king and the royal family. All matters of civic, financial, and political governance was controlled through the king’s sole power as the monarchical ruler of the French people. In France, Louis XIII is an important example of the absolute monarchy, which controlled all facts of military and economic power through a single ruler. Udder Louis XIII’s reign, the consolidation of power away from the Edicts of Nantes to dominant local politics and sovereignty
It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.
Causes and Effects of the French Revolution The Revolution. The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism.