The main causes of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval in France and its colonies beginning in 1789. The Revolution overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, catalyzed violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship under Napole…
What were some social causes of the French Revolution?
Causes Of French Revolution of 1789
- Social – The social conditions in France in the late 18th century were extremely unequal and exploitative. ...
- Economic – As a result of numerous wars waged by Louis XVI the State coffers were empty. ...
- Political – The Bourbon king of France, Louis XVI was an extremely autocratic and weak-willed king who led a life of obscene luxury. ...
Which circumstances caused the French Revolution?
What were two causes of the French Revolution?
- #1 Social Inequality in France due to the Estates System.
- #2 Tax Burden on the Third Estate.
- #3 The Rise of the Bourgeoisie.
- #4 Ideas put forward by Enlightenment philosophers.
- #5 Financial Crisis caused due to Costly Wars.
- #7 The Rise in the Cost of Bread.
What triggered the French Revolution?
although scholarly debate continues about the exact causes of the revolution, the following reasons are commonly adduced: (1) the bourgeoisie resented its exclusion from political power and positions of honour; (2) the peasants were acutely aware of their situation and were less and less willing to support the anachronistic and burdensome feudal …
What are the major events in the French Revolution?
Top 10 Major Events of French Revolution
- Wars. During the first few years of the French Revolution, it was being observed by other European powers from afar.
- The Reign of Terror. The Reign of Terror, a dark-violent period of the French Revolution, started from September 5, 1793, and lasted till July 28, 1794.
- Dissolution of the National Assembly. ...
- Execution of King Louis XVI. ...
What were the 5 causes of the French Revolution?
The causes can be narrowed to five main factors: the Estate System, Absolutism, ideas stemming from the Enlightenment, food shortages, and The American Revolution.
What are 3 main causes of the French Revolution?
Although scholarly debate continues about the exact causes of the Revolution, the following reasons are commonly adduced: (1) the bourgeoisie resented its exclusion from political power and positions of honour; (2) the peasants were acutely aware of their situation and were less and less willing to support the ...
What were the main causes of French Revolution Class 9?
What were the main causes of the French Revolution?Despotic rule of Louis XVI: He became the ruler of France in 1774. ... Division of French society: The French society was divided into three estates; first, second and third estates, respectively. ... Rising prices: The population of France had increased.More items...•
What were the main causes of French Revolution Class 9 Brainly?
#1 Social Inequality in France due to the Estates System. #2 Tax Burden on the Third Estate. #3 The Rise of the Bourgeoisie. #4 Ideas put forward by Enlightenment philosophers.
What were the six causes of French Revolution?
The 6 Main Causes of the French RevolutionLouis XVI & Marie Antoinette. France had an absolute monarchy in the 18th century – life centred around the king, who had complete power. ... Inherited problems. ... The Estates System & the bourgeoise. ... Taxation & money. ... The Enlightenment. ... Bad luck.
What are the main causes of revolution?
Typically, revolutions take the form of organized movements aimed at effecting change—economic change, technological change, political change, or social change. The people who start revolutions have determined the institutions currently in place in society have failed or no longer serve their intended purpose.
What is French Revolution Class 9 short answer?
What is the French Revolution? The French Revolution started in 1789, and dethroned the then existing political institutions, removed the French Monarchy, and cemented a just, responsible government. The siege of Bastille on 14 July 1789 led to the France revolution. It ended with Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power.
What was the immediate cause of French Revolution Class 9 Ncert?
As a result, on July 14, 1789, a rioting mob attacked the Bastille prison in order to obtain weapons. They also freed many of the political prisoners in the process. This turned out to be the immediate cause of the outbreak of the French Revolution.
What were the causes of Revolution of 1848 in France Class 10?
Discontent at poor governance and life was a major cause of the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe including France. Bad harvests and economic depression in the years leading up to the 1848 created massive discontent throughout all of Europe, and food riots were common.
What are the causes and effects of French Revolution?
The primary cause of the French Revolution was the dissatisfaction of the common people with the absolute monarchy of King Louis XVI. Other causes include economic inequality and social injustice. Answer. The French Revolution began on July 14, 1789, with the storming of the Bastille.
What were the causes of French Revolution of 1848?
Social and political discontent sparked revolutions in France in 1830 and 1848, which in turn inspired revolts in other parts of Europe. Workers lost their jobs, bread prices rose, and people accused the government of corruption. The French revolted and set up a republic.
Which two French monarchs were in power in the 18th century?
1. Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette. France had an absolute monarchy in the 18th century – life centred around the king, who had complete power. Whilst theoretically this could work well, it was a system heavily dependent on the personality of the king in question.
What were the French finances like in the late 18th century?
4. Taxation & money. French finances were a mess by the late 18th century. The taxation system allowed the wealthiest to avoid paying virtually any tax at all, and given that wealth almost always equalled power, any attempt to push through radical financial reforms was blocked by the parlements.
What was the motto of the First Republic?
Many also view the philosophy and ideals of the First Republic as being underpinned by Enlightenment ideas, and the motto most closely associated with the revolution itself – ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ – can be seen as a reflection of key ideas in Enlightenment pamphlets.
What were the values of the Enlightenment?
Individuals like Voltaire and Rousseau espoused values of liberty, equality, tolerance, constitutional government and the separation of church and state.
What was the estate system in France?
The Estates System was far from unique to France: this ancient feudal social structure broke society into 3 groups, clergy, nobility and everyone else. In the Medieval period, prior to the boom of the merchant classes, this system did broadly reflect the structure of the world.
Who raised money through taking out loans?
Unable to change the tax, and not daring to increase the burden on those who already shouldered it, Jacques Necker, the finance minister, raised money through taking out loans rather than raising taxes. Whilst this had some short term benefits, loans accrued interest and pushed the country further into debt.
Did Louis XVI inherit an easy situation?
By no means did Louis XVI inherit an easy situation. The power of the French monarchy had peaked under Louis XIV, and by the time Louis XVI inherited, France found herself in an increasingly dire financial situation, weakened by the Seven Years War and American War of Independence.
What were the causes of the French Revolution?
The causes of the French Revolution. In an immediate sense, what brought down the ancien régime was its own inability to change or, more simply, to pay its way. The deeper causes for its collapse are more difficult to establish.
What was the role of the French bourgeoisie in the 18th century?
In keeping with this interpretation, Marxist historians from the 1930s to the ’70s emphasized that the French 18th-century bourgeoisie had assumed a distinct position in French society in that it was in control of commerce, banking, and industry. Revisionist historians in the 1980s, however, responded that the bourgeoisie had no monopoly in these sectors; nobles were also heavily involved in foreign trade, in banking, and in some of the most modern industries, such as coal mining and chemicals.
What happened in July 1788?
The months leading up to the convening of the Estates-General coincided with the worst subsistence crisis France had suffered in many years; a spring drought was followed by a devastating hailstorm that ruined crops in much of the northern half of the country in July 1788.
What were the two areas of the nobility?
There were two areas, however, in which the nobility enjoyed important institutional privileges: the upper ranks of the army and the clergy were, in the main, aristocratic preserves and had become more so in the 1780s.
Who developed the theory of noble racial superiority?
Henri de Boulainvilliers, in his posthumous essays of 1732 on the nobility of France, had even developed a wholly fraudulent but widely praised theory of noble racial superiority. Thus, there were some issues on which all the bourgeoisie might unite against most of the nobility.
Was the French bourgeoisie a noble?
Most historians today argue that, on balance, it was becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish clearly between the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Like most nobles, wealthy French non-nobles were landlords and even owners of seigneuries, which were bought and sold before 1789 like any other commodity. Although one can speak of a secularized “bourgeois” ethic of thrift and prudence that had come into its own, supporters of this ethic, as of the Enlightenment ethic, were both noble and non-noble.
What was the French Revolution?
The French Revolution was a watershed event in modern European history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens razed and redesigned their country’s political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system.
What happened to France during the American Revolution?
As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution, and extravagant spending by King Louis XVI and his predecessor, had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy.
What was the name of the agrarian revolt that led to the end of feudalism?
Known as the Great Fear ( la Grande peur ), the agrarian insurrection hastened the growing exodus of nobles from the country and inspired the National Constituent Assembly to abolish feudalism on August 4, 1789, signing what the historian Georges Lefebvre later called the “death certificate of the old order.”.
What happened on June 12th?
On June 12, as the National Assembly (known as the National Constituent Assembly during its work on a constitution) continued to meet at Versailles, fear and violence consumed the capital.
How much of France's population was non-aristocratic?
France’s population had changed considerably since 1614. The non-aristocratic members of the Third Estate now represented 98 percent of the people but could still be outvoted by the other two bodies.
What did the nobles want from the government?
While all of the orders shared a common desire for fiscal and judicial reform as well as a more representative form of government, the nobles in particular were loath to give up the privileges they enjoyed under the traditional system.
What was the Thermidorian reaction?
His death marked the beginning of the Thermidorian Reaction, a moderate phase in which the French people revolted against the Reign of Terror’s excesses.
What was the French Revolution?
The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed and to redefine the nature of political power. It proceeded in a back-and-forth process between revolutionary and reactionary forces.
What caused the American Revolution?
In North America this backlash caused the American Revolution, which began with the refusal to pay a tax imposed by the king of Great Britain. Monarchs tried to stop this reaction of the aristocracy, and both rulers and the privileged classes sought allies among the nonprivileged bourgeois and the peasants.
Why did the bourgeoisie gain power?
There were many reasons. The bourgeoisie —merchants, manufacturers, professionals—had gained financial power but were excluded from political power. Those who were socially beneath them had very few rights, and most were also increasingly impoverished. The monarchy was no longer viewed as divinely ordained. When the king sought to increase the tax burden on the poor and expand it to classes that had previously been exempt, revolution became all but inevitable.
What was the impact of the discovery of gold in Brazil?
The discovery of new gold mines in Brazil had led to a general rise in prices throughout the West from about 1730, indicating a prosperous economic situation. From about 1770, this trend slackened, and economic crises, provoking alarm and even revolt, became frequent. Arguments for social reform began to be advanced.
Who sent emissaries to the rulers of neighbouring countries seeking their help in restoring his power?
King Louis XVI of France yielded to the idea of a new constitution and to the sovereignty of the people but at the same time sent emissaries to the rulers of neighbouring countries seeking their help in restoring his power.
Did the French Revolution succeed?
In some respects, the French Revolution did not succeed. But the ideas of representational democracy and basic property rights took hold, and it sowed the seeds of the later revolutions of 1830 and 1848 .
Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette
Inherited Problems
- By no means did Louis XVI inherit an easy situation. The power of the French monarchy had peaked under Louis XIV, and by the time Louis XVI inherited, France found herself in an increasingly dire financial situation, weakened by the Seven Years War and American War of Independence. With an old and inefficient taxation system which saw large portions of the wealt…
The Estates System & The Bourgeoise
- The Estates System was far from unique to France: this ancient feudal social structure broke society into 3 groups, clergy, nobility and everyone else. In the Medieval period, prior to the boom of the merchant classes, this system did broadly reflect the structure of the world. As more and more prosperous self-made men rose through the ranks, the system’s rigidity became an increas…
Taxation & Money
- French finances were a mess by the late 18th century. The taxation system allowed the wealthiest to avoid paying virtually any tax at all, and given that wealth almost always equalled power, any attempt to push through radical financial reforms was blocked by the parlements. Unable to change the tax, and not daring to increase the burden on those who already shouldered it, Jacqu…
The Enlightenment
- Historians debate the influence of Enlightenmentin the French Revolution. Individuals like Voltaire and Rousseau espoused values of liberty, equality, tolerance, constitutional government and the separation of church and state. In an age where literacy levels were increasing and printing was cheap, these ideas were discussed and disseminated far mo...
Bad Luck
- Many of these issues were long term factors causing discontent and stagnation in France, but they had not caused revolution to erupt in the first 15 years of Louis’ reign. The real cost of living had increased by 62% between 1741 and 1785, and two successive years of poor harvests in 1788 and 1789 caused the price of bread to be dramatically inflated along with a drop in wages. This …