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Enlightenment during the French Revolution
Primary causes of the french revolution
The causes and course of the french revolution
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Recommended: Enlightenment during the French Revolution
The French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1792, though certain people include Napoleon’s reign as part of the revolution, stating it ended in 1804. It was a time of confusion, disorder, and bloodshed. The commoners of France decided that they were being treated unjustly and planned to overthrow their king. The French Revolution was a long and terrible war, which promoted democracy and equality for the people of France and resulted, not only in the death of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, but with France becoming a more liberal country. This essay will investigate causes of the French Revolution such as enlightenment ideas, taxation and economical problems, and the political system of the time. It will be shown that there is not a single direct cause for the occurrence of the French Revolution, but many different reasons of varying importance. The first and less important cause of the three was the enlightenment ideas of the time. Christianity was the dominant religion at the time and the clergy had a lot of power and were a heavy political influence as well as very wealthy. However, the church and most of the higher clergy were ignoring the problems of the poorer people of France, who they were supposed to be serving, and were criticized by Enlightenment writers like Voltaire. Enlightenment writers challenged the ways things had worked for years. The ancien regime was the political and social system of France before the French Revolution. Under the system, everyone was a subject to the king and people were sorted into three estates. Enlightenment writers and philosophers would question the old order and write about new political systems and a society where everyone would have equal amounts of power. Because of this, ... ... middle of paper ... ... Soon, King Louis XV had bankrupted the national treasury of France and had left the country in debt. By this time, the monarchs were being frowned upon, so when France was passed onto Louis XVI, people judged him quickly and deemed him a bad king who did not know how to deal with the country’s affairs. The people of France were tired of having kings who repeatedly ignored their problems and needs and were turning against the idea of absolutism, making it one cause of the French Revolution. The last and most important cause was taxes. France’s involvement in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence depleted the national treasury and left France with multiple debts. Queen Marie Antoinette’s love of the extravagant lifestyle and the large sum of money used to keep the palace at Versailles in good condition did nothing to help with the debts.
Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country.
The French Revolution was a major event in modern European history. The causes of the French Revolution were many: the monarchy's severe debt
The people of France overthrew the king of France Louis XVI and that is why the French had won the American Revolution. “The French Revolution had reached its pinnacle of violence, the French Revolution had been a point in time where you could re-create everything in a society, through political action. French Revolution had been an important event that had occurred in Western history. It had been an important revolution that upset the most. It had gotten rid of the Catholic church, Christianity, nobility, and even the king. There had been so many things that the French Revolution had gotten rid of. The revolution would bring bread to the poor and
In all of the documents listed, liberty and equality are described with regards to the French Revolution. These concepts are shown to have evolved over the course of the revolution, and this is proven by the documents chosen. Liberty and equality were emphasized as either major or minor ideas in the documents, and although some were only alluded to, it is evident that the ideas of liberty and equality changed during the years of the French Revolution. Also, some of the terms used connoted different things at the end of the Revolution than the original Revolutionaries of 1789, which demonstrates the transformation of the use of words which were symbolic at that time.
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.
The French Revolution had straight forward causes. For many years the French had endured inequality and exploration, under a social hierarchy that required them to carry a taxation burden. France was the most expansive and profitable empire yet it is domestic wars. The French were roused by action by political propaganda that took many forms: from high-minded Enlightenment philosophy, to populist pamphlets about the right of people. The noble class wanted autonomy and to share the royal power where the high class, also known as the wealthy bourgeoisie, wanted political representation in France. The middle class wanted food and taxes at a lower cost. Also the middle class wanted the feudal bond and restrictions to stop so they can have relief. Harvest failures, food shortages and price rises in 1788-89 were dangerous exclamation points at the end of this turbulent decade (Llewellyn,
(Paris-architecture.info, 2015). The display of wealth that was Versailles resulted in indignation throughout the country, the 1780’s were particularly poor years for agriculture and whilst the King and Queen lived in a golden cage the populations starved. These shortages led to nationwide inflation, the price of bread rose to 14.5 sous which was 70-90% of the daily wage of an unskilled worker. (French Revolution, 2012). For the revolutionist Marie-Antoinette became a symbol of the opulent nobility they were trying to bring down and they dubbed her “Madame Deficit”, France financial crisis was unjustly blamed on her lavish
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
As one can see from this description of the social structures that were in place during the ancien regime, just why so many people were unhappy with it. The majority of the people were being heavily taxed and were granted few rights, while the rich minority continued to stay rich. The social structure of France during this period of time was clearly an issue to the vast majority of subjects. However the social structure of the nation wasn’t the only
The French Revolution of 1789 is an extraordinarily complicated and complex time period. The country was having financial, social and political problems all of which contributed to the outbreak of the war. France, had two Kings each of whom ruled the country in different ways but both were effected tremendously by the people. When an absolute monarch is in control the king is supposed to have complete control over the country and therefore in order to be a successful or well-liked King he must be able to connect to the people.
France was in debt at this time because of losing the wealth in the Seven years’ war; this is the same situation as the American Revolution. In 1788, the French government went bankrupt. The lower class were getting annoyed with the upper class wasting money while the poor go hungry and are offcourse poor. The peasant was also hungry because all the harvest was wiped out by bad weather and all that was left was expensive food and very little of it.
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.
The third underlying cause was the American Revolution. The French had incurred an enormous debt by helping the Americans. The French also saw how the Americans overthrew an absolute monarch and obtained freedom (Krieger 484).
...roblems and turned a great number of people against the monarchy. These events lead to the resentment that was another key factor in beginning the French Revolution. The end of King Louis XIV’s rule was especially disastrous. After the death of his advisor Colbert, King Louis XIV made even more horrible and costly decisions. He further enlarged the military and entered into many wars in which he lost a great deal of her newly acquired territories and increased the national debt even more.
There are several factors that led to the Revolution. King Louis XV and King Louis XVI both led extremely extravagant lives. They spent a lot of the government's money on luxuries even while the government had some financial problems. One of the government's main jobs back then was to protect their country from, and manage wars. In the Seven Years War against England, France spent large sums of money on the war effort but they still lost the war and had to give up their colonies in North America. Many French citizens regarded this loss as a major humiliation.