Abdelrahim Hussin
Ms. Linda Honigford
History
24 December 2013
The Great Fear
The Great Fear occurred between 17th of July and the 3rd of August 1789 as part of the French Revolution to abolish monarchy in Europe’s second most populous nation. Peasant rebellions helped cause a subsequent general panic known as “The Great Fear”. The causes of this panic included social inequality, poor management because of the rapid change in economy, the loss of crops throughout France, and the incompetent king at the head of France.
The revolutionary movement known as The French Revolution took place between 1787 – different sources consider the first climax of 1789 as its actual beginning – and 1799.
At the time the French society was divided into three estates: clergy, nobility and commoners. At the top level was the clergy. They were very wealthy because they did not have to pay taxes and they collected the produce from the land and charged the peasants rent. Likewise clergy, the nobility did not pay taxes and charged the commoners rent. They had privileges such as hunting and wearing swords. The commoners, which made up almost 97% of France’s population, encompassed everyone else, from peasants to city workers. They were the only tax payers and had no privileges.
France accumulated a large amount of debt following its involvement into the Seven Years War (1754-1763) and the American Revolution (1775-1783), alongside the already existing debts King Louis XVI inherited from his predecessors. Since the wealthiest part of the society, comprised of clergy and nobility, was exempted from taxation, the lower class had to work harder and pay more to support the country. The crops failure that happened in 1788 throughout the country in this diffic...
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... nobility. The rhetorical question is why did a revolution that started with such high ideals end up with leaving many of these behind?
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Was the Terror of 1793/4 inherent from the revolutions outset or was it the product of exceptional circumstance?
"French Revolution: The Reign of Terror — Infoplease.com." Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. — Infoplease.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .
“Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy; those who had anything united in common terror.” The French Revolution was a painful era that molded the lives of every citizen living in France and changed their ways of life forever. Beginning in 1789 and lasting ten years until 1799, the people of France lived in a monarch society under King Louis XVI’s rule. He was a very harsh ruler and had many restrictions placed on his people. They eventually overthrow him and become a monarch society. Among his deceptive ways, the people also experienced “The Reign of Terror,” which was a period where many lives were taken by the guillotine. Other revolutionary events included rebellions, constitutions, and groups. One of the popular groups that contributed greatly to the French Revolution were the Jacobins who were led by Maximilien Robespierre.
The French Revolution, also known as the revolution of 1789, was a movement that helped shape France into what it is today. The Revolution may have started in 1787 but it wasn’t till 1789 when the revolution actually started to become worse. The Revolution had many reasons for why it started, but it was only a few major things that really made it happen.
The France practically changed from being an absolute monarchy to a republic overnight. Everything that the people of France had ever known was changed in a heart-beat. Their once beloved king had just been guillotined and it was now time to set up a new political system. The leaders of the revolution, the Jacobins, imagined a representative government that ruled on the principals of “liberte,” “egalite,” and “fraternity,” liberty, equality and broth...
The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval that occurred in France during the latter half of the 18th century. This revolution marked an end to the system of feudalism and the monarchy in France and a rise to democracy and new Enlightenment ideas. By 1789, when the revolution began, France was in a deep financial crisis due to the debt they had obtained over many years of reckless spending and France was nearly bankrupt. These financial issues fell almost completely on the bottom social class or the Third Estate which made up a majority of the country. Because of this financial trouble the common people were heavily taxed leaving many of them in poverty. In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy
In the book Travels in France by Arthur Young, he states that “There is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay. Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little. Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily…”. This line is important because yes, it is easy to see that only the middle class but Arthur is English, not French. From the website Encyclopedia Britannica they state he is an “English writer on agriculture, politics, and economics. Besides his books on agricultural subjects, he was the author of the famous Travels in France. The book is especially valued for its vivid descriptions of the French Revolution and of the conditions that produced it”. If an English man can see that French have a financial crisis because the king is in debt, then there is a financial crisis. The clergy and the nobles were not being taxed even though they had lots of money. Even the nobility went against their own people, the website Bastille Day and The French Revolution state that “Faced with all these problems, Louis XVI needed more funds to govern is country. His financial advisers, inspired by Turgot, decided to turn to the nobility and tried to pass a law that would make them pay more taxes. The nobility opposed the king 's decision. By a clever game of persuasion, they even rallied part of the third estates at their side to denounce the power of the King”. As can be seen taxes were
New York: Barnes & Noble, 1969. Print. The. Kreis, Steven. A. A. "Lecture 12: The French Revolution - Moderate Stage, 1789-1792.
Marking a significant beginning stage of the economic downturn was the Seven Years’ War, a battle that saw few positive achievements, but several losses both in terms of land and money, which had been acquired through loans that would establish France’s first significant debt. The reign of Louis XVI would further this debt, while also creating a greater divide between the estates of France by placing the heavy burden of repaying much of the new debt on the poorest class of France, the Third Estate. Participation in another war, only ten years prior to the French Revolution would create even more debt for France as they entered the American War of Independence, again with funding from loans that would need to be paid soon thereafter. Throughout this period of debt creation within France, society worsened in many ways due to the inability of the nation, from royalty to the Third Estate, to evolve economically, socially and agriculturally. With this overall sense of decline throughout France, a nearly unanimous desire amongst France’s Third Estate, the most populous, was to pa...
By 1789, France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions did not pay taxes of any kind.
The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime. The people of France were divided into three estates. The first estate was composed of the highest church officials. They held about ten percent of all the land in France. They paid no direct taxes to the royal government. The second estate was made up of nobles. They were only two percent of France’s population, but owned twenty percent of the land. They paid no taxes (Krieger 483). The third estate accounted for ninety-eight percent of France’s population. The third estate was divided into three groups; the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes, and the peasant farmers. The third estate lost about half their income in taxes. They paid feudal dues, royal taxes, and also owed the corvee, a form of tax paid with work (Krieger 484).
France was about to collapse due to imbalance, bankruptcy, and a new way of thinking. In France, feudalism was still practiced where the nobles and clergy had exceptional benefits over the commoners and lower class. For example, the nobles and clergy did not have to pay taxes; they owned most of the land, and they had the most political power in France. However, the ...
The French Revolution was a bloody civil war that lasted from the years 1789-1799. [1] The revolution arose out of hard economic times that had befallen France. Widespread famine and hunger, due to a grain shortage, rampaged through sections of the country. The economic crisis led to an increase in taxes on the lower classes, known as the third estate, to upkeep the lavish lifestyle of the nobility. [1] All of these are the known factors that led to the rise of the French Revolution.
Nardo, Don. A. The French Revolution. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. Print.
The bad living conditions of France and its depressed economy was one of the primary drivers for the French Revolution. The people of France were so poor that they had no shoes to wear and no food to eat. The poverty of France breaks its economy at its root. The economy got so bad that “By December 1788, there was a nationwide revolt against food shortages and rising prices, which continued to spread till the summer of 1789, when there was another bad harvest”(Todd 528). One ...