The French Feudal System

Feudalism, an agricultural economy, began in France during the 9th century and went on through the 18th century. France established a monarchy government during this time, in which kings and queens ruled and became the head of the state. The basic qualities of the French feudal society prevented its development of a strong and stable economy. The seigneurial system was where a seigneur (a lord that is of higher class, power, authority and influence than a peasant) owned a piece of land. The seigneurial would rent land to inhabitants to use this land and have protection but instead of paying money, the inhabitant would agree to join the military or participate in some other service, bound by personal loyalty, for their lords to continue their

residence on the seigneur's land. France was too dependent on surplus’ from the peasants that occupied a majority of France’s population at that time. This low-level farming provided the basis of France’s economy. The wealthy wasted resources on extravagance instead of developing better production methods. Any surplus that was produced was taken by tax collectors, and was dispersed amongst the monarchy, church, and nobilities. Once titles were gained, those with land gained much of their income from what little surplus the peasantry produced. In France, this economic hierarchy left insufficient demand for the development of capitalist economies and France would eventually lacked a labor market. Due to their short-term goals and not enough change, the French began to worry about survival, hindering France’s economic growth. It also had an unfair tax system that left peasants to starve and die. France failed to expand properly.

French Revolution
An economic crisis began to disperse with the French people.

The laws that were passed in France did not just increase taxes among the lower class, but became an unfair tax system. The lords and nobles were excluded and obligated to pay France’s taxes. The lower class became angry and were tired of the nobles ate fine food, drank wine, and had parties. In addition, the gathering of crops was gradually diminishing and buying food became expensive. The production of manufactured goods also decreased, and many artisans, traders, and farmers were left with no jobs. People were dissatisfied and began to rebel. In 1789, the economic crisis created by the monarchy resulted in the French Revolution where the lower class took down the monarchy. Consequently, the people of France put an end to their King and eventually abolished monarchy altogether. They took control of their lives and destinies hoping to establish a new government that will increase economic growth. The French Revolution liberated farmers and peasant from unjust debt and taxes. This helped them secure their existence and living. Despite the revolution’s victory, France still continued to have troubles expanding and prospering for the next few decades. This resulted in an absence of wasted workers that did not help them during the Industrial Revolution, which took place in France during the 19th

century.
Industrial Revolution
Another important period in French history was the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom during the 18th century to the 19th century. It was a time where many great life impacting inventions were created and developed. These inventions made work easier, and living more comfortable, and less expensive. As inventions began creating new manufacturing industries, farming became less important and people began to move into urbanized cities. The Industrial Revolution represented a fast growing world, bringing about change. However, France was behind in industrialization because its economy did not advance at a fast pace like the rest of world. The Industrial Revolution was not as successful in France as it was in the United States and other parts of the

world.
France fell behind and industrialization came at a later time. Some contributions to this slow start were the low population growth, lack of labor market, poor quality of natural resources like coal and iron, they were limited on natural resources, they struggled to afford to make themselves a living, birth rates decreased, and it had military weakness. The French army was small and less organized than the German and France’s Navy fell behind tremendously as well. France was unprepared (for what?). By the mid-19th century, France began to industrialize when textile manufacturing began to pick up. France started to build railroads, roads, which led to the development of a working class. Even though the French economy grew, it did not grow as fast as the United States.