Causes of the French Revolution

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  Causes of the French Revolution     

During the 1780’s, France was facing growing anger from its people especially the third estate. Then on the the 14th of July 1789 the people of France finally cracked and than stormed the most hated prison in France , the Bastille. This was considered the start of the French Revolution. The main causes of the revolution was the actions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the three estates, tax, absolute monarchy , ,the calling of the estates general  and the crop failures.

Historians suggest that the actions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the most important cause of the French Revolution.  Many people at that were angered about the luxurious life of the King and Queen which they had to pay from their taxes. Marie Antoinette was hated by the French people because of her wasting money such as on a diamond necklace. This was one of the main causes of the revolution as many people were unhappy about her wasteful attitude whilst many people in the country never had enough to eat. She was also seen as a gambler. Louis’s bad governance and involvement in wars e.g. the 7 year war had caused a massive national debt. This caused a drastic increase in taxes , so the peasants found it increasingly difficult to pay for basic necessities.

The Three Estates was an old and unfair system in France. In which the 1st estate was the priests and bishops and had to pay no taxes at all. In fact they received a massive church tithe. The 2nd estate was the noblemen . Most of them owed a lot of land and peasants. They paid hardly any taxes and enjoyed many luxuries. The 3rd estate was the commoners . Most of them were quite poor and were very hungry. The third estate had to pay the most tax even though they were the poorest estate. The estate system might have not been a trigger cause but it had contributed to the revolution.

Another crucial cause to the revolution was the unfair and poorly run tax system. During the 1780’s the tax that the peasant had to pay had drastically increased . This was true in both direct and indirect tax. This caused the cost of living to rise by 45% during 1730 and 1789 , whilst wages rose by over 22% during the same period of time. However the 1st and 2nd estates hardly paid any taxes so this caused tax burden on the 3rd estate.The majority of French people found their lives getting no better. If increasingly desperate people don’t get changes they wish they often take desperate actions. France was no exception. Also the taxes were collected by private companies so unsurprisingly much of the tax was lost through corruption. A reason for the high tax was the money that Louis used for his personal life.This was criticised a lot by the French public. Also much of the tax was spent on debt interests which Louis had borrowed.

During 1776 American colonist declared independence from Britain. This caused a war in which Louis sent many troops to help America win against their rival Britain. King Louis was hugely credited for this win. However the returning French soldiers remembering the American declaration of Independence said that everyone was born free and the government should act on the interests of their people. The soldiers who fought for these ideas in America . Yet they were being ruled by an Absolute monarchy which  did not listen to the people. Many people started to say  that the country should be ruled by a government which is to be elected by the people. These new ideas were a vision of how the nation should be.

In August 1788 the French government was bankrupt. The King was forced to call an estates general. The assembly had not met since 1614. It consisted of the three estates. The nobles hoped that the king would lower taxes and that they will receive more power. The people of France had great hopes that this meeting would help solve all of their problems. When the Estate General met on the 4th of May 1789. Louis had made some terrible mistakes . The main one being he did not bring in any major reforms. At that time he was more concerned  about the health of his son, who was dying of tuberculosis. Representatives of the Third and some of the First Estate were very disappointed by Louis’s approach. They joined and declared themselves to be a national assembly. The next day, members of the assembly swore an oath in which that they will not disband until their aims have been achieved . This was called the tennis court oath. Many historian believe this was the main trigger point for the revolution. Historians believe that this is when the French public’s anger cracked.

One of the other triggers was the crop failures. During the few years prior to the revolution, France was facing terrible harvests. Many people were forced into starvation. The staple food for the peasants was bread and due to bad harvests the price of bread dramatically increased.This combined with high tax was too much for the people to cope. Even though the government tried handing out some bread, it just wasn’t enough. The people demanded that the monarchy and nobles give them cheaper food. This was a important trigger that led to the revolution.

Some of the problems with French society had been their for many centuries but the reasons it happened during Louis XVI reign , due to the mistakes caused by Louis XVI and the frivolous behaviour of Marie Antoinette, the French people were not satisfied. Even though one of the main trigger points, the crop failures, were not their fault if they would have dealt with it better . So when their hopes got destroyed at the Estate General meeting, the French people had enough and they wanted change, so the revolution began. In conclusion due to the actions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette , the French revolution took place.