Abstract---

Ever since the beginning of global history, there havebeen major political, economic, social, and cultural revolutions.A revolution is the overthrowing if a government or ruler by thegoverned and then substituting another. This paper examinesthe issues which can lead to a revolution, and illustrates howthese issues were prevailing in France prior to the outbreak of the revolution. The paper outlines the social, economic andpolitical problems in France in the years preceding therevolution which resulted in a change of the whole governmentperspective in France. The French Revolution (1789–1799) wasa period of political and social upheaval in the political historyof France and Europe as a whole, during which the Frenchgovernmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy withfeudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy,underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenmentprinciples of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights.The French Revolution brought about great long term changesin the society and government. Throughout global history, therevolutions have had complex causes and left long lastingimpacts on people’s lives as well as the nation in general. FrenchRevolution was one of them.

Index Terms---

Revolution;

Ancien regime

;

Parlement

; Danton;Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen; Estates-General; Montagnards; National Assembly; the Republic.

I.INTRODUCTIONHE significance of this paper is that it attempts tohighlight the causes that led to the French Revolution.The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the mostimportant events in the history of the world. The Revolutionled to many changes in France, which at the time of theRevolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. TheRevolution led to the development of new political forcessuch as democracy and nationalism. It questioned theauthority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution alsogave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.

By examining the social, political, environmental, andeconomic factors that led to the French Revolution, the reader will develop an understanding of how major political changeoccurs. As the revolution proceeded and as power devolvedfrom the monarchy to legislative bodies, the conflictinginterests of the initially allied groups became the source of conflict and bloodshed.The first part of this paper describes the three differentEstates which were present in France. The primary cause of the revolution was the disputes over the peoples' differingideas of reform. Before the beginning of the Revolution, onlymoderate reforms were wanted by the people. An example of why they wanted this was because of King Louis XIV'sactions. At the end of the seventeenth century, King LouisXIV's wars began decreasing the royal finances dramatically.This worsened during the eighteenth century. The use of themoney by Louis XIV angered the people and they wanted anew system of government. The writings of the

philosophes

such as Voltaire and Diderot were critical of the government.They said that not one official in power was corrupt, but thatthe whole system of government needed some change.Eventually, when the royal finances were expended in the1780’s there began a time of greater criticism. This sparkedthe peasants’ notion of wanting change.The second part of this paper describes the social and political factors, many of which involved resentments andaspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals.The Economics which had been greatly disturbed by themisruling of Louis XIV and his advisors have been discussedin the third part. Various aristocratic and bourgeois reformmovements spun out of control. The movements coincidedwith popular movements of the new wage-earning classes andthe provincial peasantry, and any alliance between classeswas contingent and incidental.Various other factors like Material Conditions whichinclude widespread famine and malnutrition etc. have beendiscussed in the last part of this paper. Finally, perhaps, aboveall, was the almost total failure of Louis XVI and his advisorsto deal effectively with any of these problems.

II.THE ORIGINS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The statement citing the essential cause of the FrenchRevolution as the "collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges" has great pertinence in summarizing the conflictof 1789. The causes of the French Revolution arecomplicated, so complicated that a debate still rages amonghistorians regarding origins, causes and results. In general,the real causes of the Revolution must be located in the rigidsocial structure of French society during the Ancien regime.As it had been for centuries, French society was divided intothree Estates or Orders. The First Estate consisted of theclergy and the Second Estate the nobility. Together, these twoEstates accounted for approximately 500,000 individuals. Atthe bottom of this hierarchy was the vast Third Estate which basically meant everybody else, or about 25 million people.This social structure was based on custom and tradition, butmore important, it was also based on inequalities which weresanctioned by the force of law. So, we must have a look atthese three Estates more carefully.

A.The First Estate

Causes of the French Revolution

Last Name, First Name

The First Estate was the Church. During the Ancienregime, the church was equal in terms of its social, economic,and spiritual power. The First Estate owned nearly 10 per cent of all land in France. It paid no taxes but, to supportchurch activities such as school running and caring for the poor, they collected a tithe, or a tax on income. About one-third of the entire clergy in France served as parish priests.Also included in this estate were the nobles. Some of thenobles lived in luxury in major cities in France, such asVersailles or Paris. Parish priests usually lived a hardworkinglife. This Estate was the minority of the people in France,having approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the population. TheFrench Catholic Church maintained a wide scope of powers;it literally constituted a state within a state and it hadsustained this position for more than 800 years. The clergywas divided into the lower and upper clergy. Members of thelower clergy were usually humble, poorly-paid andoverworked village priests. As a group, they resented thewealth and arrogance of the upper clergy. The bishops andabbots filled the ranks of the upper clergy, men who regardedtheir office as a way of securing a larger income and thelanded property that went with it. Most of the upper clergysold their offices to subordinates, kept the revenue, and liveda luxurious life. Their responsibilities included theregistration of births, marriages and deaths; they censored books; served as moral police; operated schools and hospitals;and distributed relief to the poor. They also owned 10-15% of all the land in France. This land, of course, was all held tax-free.B.

The Second Estate

The Second Estate in French life was the nobility. Theyenjoyed extensive rights and privileges. They made up lessthan 2 percent of the population. They, like the First Estate, paid hardly any taxes. Economically, the nobility wascharacterized by great land wealth. Nobles were generally therichest members of the society. Typical sources of incomewere rents and dues for the use of their farms or estates. TheFirst and Second Estates were grouped together because theyhad similar political beliefs.The nobility held the highest positions in the Church, thearmy and the government. As an order, they were virtuallyexempt from paying taxes of any kind. They collected rentfrom the peasant population who lived on their lands. Theyalso collected an extraordinary amount of customary duesfrom the peasantry. There were labor dues (the corvée), aswell as dues on salt, cloth, bread, wine and the use mills,granaries, presses and ovens. Collectively, the nobility ownedabout 30% of the land. By the 18th century, they were also becoming involved in banking, finance, shipping, insuranceand manufacturing. They were also the leading patrons of thearts. It is interesting that the nobility would offer their homesand their salons to the likes of Voltaire, Gibbon, Diderot andRousseau. After all, these were the men who would end upcriticizing the Second Estate. Of course, it must also be thatthe

philosophes

could not have existed without their aristocratic patrons.There were, like the clergy, two levels of the nobility (350,000 individuals in total). The Nobility of the Sword carriedthe most prestige. The served their King at his court inVersailles. Many members of this order were of ancientlineage - their family history could be traced back hundredsof years. But there were also members of this estate who wererelative newcomers. The Nobility of the Robe also had prestige but much less than did the Nobility of the Sword. Numerous members of the Nobility of the Robe had beencreated by the monarchy in the past. French kings neededmoney so it seemed logical to offer position and status tothose men who were willing to pay enough money for it. Butmore important, perhaps, was that by giving these men royal positions, the king could keep an eye on their behavior. Inmany ways, this is one reason why Louis XIV built Versaillesin the first place. Originally a vast hunting lodge, Louis builtup Versailles in order to house his generals, ministers andother court suck-ups.Some of the lesser nobility were partial to the

philosophes

of the Enlightenment and during the early days of the2

Fig.1. This figure shows some of the major events which occurred during theFrench Revolution.

Revolution would be considered "liberal nobles." Theywished to see an end to royal absolutism but not necessarilythe end of the monarchy. These liberal nobles tended to look to France's traditional enemy, England, as a model for whatFrance ought to become, a limited or constitutional monarchy.

C.The Third Estate

The Third Estate consisted of the commoners. It includedthe bourgeoisie, peasants and city workers. The bourgeoisie,or the middle class, were by far, the wealthiest. In the bourgeoisie, there were the merchants and manufacturers,lawyers, doctors and others similar to those types of professions. Peasants made up the largest group within theThird Estate. They were forced to pay hefty taxes, tithes tothe church, and rents to their landlords for the land that theylived on. The last group within the Third Estate was the cityworkers. They were servants, apprentices, and householdmaids.As a class, the bourgeoisie - merchants, manufacturers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, intellectuals - had wealth; in somecases, enormous wealth. But, wealth in the

Ancien regime

didnot mean status or privilege and it should be clear by nowthat "success" in 18th century France meant status and privilege. Wealth was nothing without status. The bourgeoisiewere influenced by the nobility and tried to imitate themwhenever possible. So, they tried to improve their status by becoming land owners themselves. By 1789, the bourgeoisiecontrolled 20% of all the land. They were upwardly mobile, but they felt frustrated and blocked by the aristocracy, anaristocracy whose only interest was that everyone maintaintheir place in society.By 1789, the bourgeoisie had numerous grievances theywished addressed. They wanted all Church, army andgovernment positions open to men of talent and merit. Theysought a Parlement that would make all the laws for thenation. They desired a constitution that would limit the king's powers. They also desired fair trials, religious toleration andvast administrative reforms. These are all liberal ideas thatwould certainly emerge after the summer of 1789.The peasantry consisted of at least twenty-one millionindividuals during the 18th century. Their standard of livingwas perhaps better than the European peasantry in general.However, the French peasant continued to live in utmost poverty. Collectively, the peasantry owned 30-40% of theavailable land but mostly in small, semi-feudal plots. Most peasants did not own their land but rented it from those peasants who were wealthier or from the nobility. They triedto supplement their income by hiring themselves out as daylaborers, textile workers or manual laborers. Peasants werevictimized by heavy taxation - taxes were necessary to payfor the costs of war, something that had already consumed theFrench government for an entire century. So, the peasants paid taxes to the king, taxes to the church, taxes and dues tothe lord of the manor, as well as numerous indirect taxes onwine, salt, and bread. Furthermore, the peasants also owedtheir lord a labor obligation. And throughout the 18th century,the price of rent was always increasing, as did the dutieslevied on goods sold in markets and fairs. By 1789, the plightof the French peasant was obvious. Taxes were increased aswas rent. Peasants continued to use antiquated methods of agriculture. The price of bread soared and overall, pricescontinued to rise at a quicker rate than wages. To makematters worse, there was the poor harvest of 1788/89. Theurban workers or artisans, as a group, consisted of all journeymen, factory workers and wage earners. The urban poor also lived in poverty, a poverty that was intensified by1789. By that time, wages had increased by 22% while thecost of living increased 62%. The major cause of theRevolution was the differences these three groups had.However, there was another important factor during thesetimes. France suffered from harsh economic problems. Poor farm harvests by farmers hurt the economy, and trade rulesfrom the Middle Ages still survived, making trade difficult.However, the most serious problem was the problem facingthe government during this time. The French government borrowed much money to pay for the wars of Louis XIV.Louis still borrowed money to fight wars and to keep French power alive in Europe. These costs greatly increased thenational debt, which was, at the time, already too high.

Political disorder:

Politics itself was another major cause of the revolution.The political institutions were so bound up with social andfiscal privilege that reform was a dangerous enterprise likelyto arouse fierce opposition. A divided political elite whosefactional maneuvers undermined reform, was closelyidentified with the monarchy. The king and queen badlymismanaged the situation, along with their ministers. TheParlements resisted reform on the grounds that it was adespotic extension of central government, and the ParisParlement blocked loans that might have seen the monarchythrough without major reform. Once reform was attemptedfrom 1787, the political crisis snowballed, until cries for theEstates General to meet, as the only body competent to doroot and branch reform, were too loud to resist. The ministryhad no choice but to capitulate to these calls as the financialcrisis was so severe that there was no further room for maneuver. The electoral process in early 1789 certainlyhelped to politicize the lower orders, if only in an elemental3

Fig.2. This graph shows the percentage of the total population, total landowned and income paid in taxes by the Three Estates in France in 1789.