Why Was There a French Revolution?

Why was there a French Revolution?

Between, 1789 Ð'ÐŽV 1799, many events occurred in France that caused an outbreak within the people thus leading to a revolution. This culminated in the France becoming a democratic government. This essay will argue that the resentment of absolute government, financial difficulties, the famine, rise of philosophes and the ongoing feud between the estates are all the major causes of why there was a revolution in France.

Firstly before going into the topic, the word Ð'ÐŽÐ'§revolutionÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ё must be defined. Ð'ÐŽÐ'§A revolution is a relatively sudden and absolutely huge change. This may be a change in the social or political institutions over a relatively short period of time, or a major change in its culture or economy .Ð'ÐŽÐ'Ё

In eighteenth-century France, as we have seen, the philosophes came forward and gave their views, which were taken seriously by the public. The views of the philosophes contrasted from teaching maths to teaching about how the world was created. France was in desperate need for help with the country in deep financial trouble and much controversy over the monarchy yet the philosophes were anything but revolutionaries, as they never tried to force one . This is because they did not intend to create harm but to give the people French new ideas on topics.

The enlightenment was an intellectual establishment . Diderot's Encyclopedia, banned in the 1750s, was reprinted in a less expensive format with government approval in the 1770s. Among the younger generation, the great cultural hero was Rousseau whose Confessions caused a sensation within the public and changed their minds to free thinking by writing books that were very appealing to the people. These books taught people of different ideas. From this, we can see the beliefs of the philosophes were a main factor in the cause of the French revolution.

Eighteenth century France was an absolute monarchy , mainly because of the effort of Louis XIV. The French king had absolute control over all aspects of French political, social, and economic structures. The Estates General, which was a representative institution in that it was composed of representatives from each of the Three Estates, was the only voice the people of France had ever had. The king could do whatever he wanted without being asked as the punishments were severe if anyone complained. An example is the change of the royal palace from Louvre to Versailles. The amount of money used was as much as an airport . The Estates Generals were not part of the government, and had only been created to exist as an advisory for the king. If the king was interested in the opinions of the people, all he had to do go to the Estates General and ask for their vote on any issue he put forth. The last time the Estates General had been in meeting was in 1614, therefore it is evident that by the late 1700s, that the king was no longer interested in the influence of the French people . This sort of ignorance to the people was a major factor in why there was a revolution in France

The famine killed many people during the late 18th century and was caused by the other underlining factors such as financial trouble and arguments between the estates. Different crop failures in the 1780s caused these shortages, which of course led to high prices for bread and other food substances. With the prices going up people grew angry with the government and waged for a revolution . There were poor conditions in the countryside which made residents to move into Paris, and the city was overcrowded and filled with the hungry and disaffected people who desperately needed more food to live. The peasants, who were the worst of the lot, suffered from the economic and agricultural problems . With all this added up, there was no other way to fix these problems but to have a revolution

Another cause of the French Revolution was in the financial difficulties of the government. King Louis XV and King Louis XVI both led extremely extravagant lives . They spent lots of the government's money on luxuries even though the government had some financial problems. This was hated by the people as there was little money spent on them. The government's main job back then was to protect their country 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. Also inefficient methods of government led