Revolution in France in 1789

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Revolution in France in 1789 The causes of the revolution in France can be divided it to long-term causes and short term causes. The main long-term cause was the way in which the country was run. The 'ancien regime' was the period in France before the revolution of 1789. There was royal despotism, heavy taxes, the parlements had no real power and the church was also exploiting the peasants. The main short-term causes were the American war of Independence, the financial crisis in France and the unwillingness for the King and church to change. During the 'ancien regime' the country was divided into estates. The first estate was the clergy, the second estate were the nobles and the third were the peasants, the King was its head. The idea of having estates is that all of the estates represent different things, but none of the estates can work together without the other, which was partially true. The King apparently controlled all of the estates and was the most vital part of the machine that was the estates. The First estate was extremely rich and powerful, far more than the Monarch. The members of the first estate generally had good lives and were opposed to the ideas of reform from the king and the 'enlightened nobility'. This had a detrimental effect on the ability for the regime to modernise and 'abide' with new ideas. The Second estate made up 1-2 % of the population of France. They were not always as wealthy as they would like to portray but they usually had large estates and many peasants that worked for them. The nobility were generally satisfied with regime in the country, although this was understandable because they w... ... middle of paper ... ...ral to be passed. The estates general was called in 1789, were Necker is recalled, but no real solutions are formed. The third estate started to decide that it deserved more power and respect than it got, the second estate was divided between agreeing with the reforming 3rd estate and the traditional 1st estate and the Kings role becoming ever less important. After answering the question, 'Why was there a revolution in France in 1789?' I have come to the conclusion that the primary reason was the social and political structure in France during the ancien regime and the fact that nobody was willing reform when they should have. Instead they waited until it was too late and the inevitable happened, there was a revolution, which was also turned out to be long lasting and damaging to every aspect of French society.

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