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Economical causes of the French revolution
Factors that facilitated the French Revolution
Social disruption in french revolution
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The French Revolution began to unfold in 1789 due to many problems in the French government and society. Revolutions don’t have to be wars as said in Crane Briton’s, “The Anatomy of Revolution.” The French Revolution started because of a bad economy, food shortage, and people becoming independent from hierarchy. This revolution was “bottom, up” because most of the people who wanted to be independent were peasants. Mainly people who were on the bottom of the social pyramid rose up to the top to take political order for the majority. The main cause of the French Revolution was because of political dislike between peasants and the nobles.
The causes of the French Revolution were because of the monarch over taxing the poor which made them revolt. In George Rude’s book “The French Revolution,” he states that,
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The monarchs and landlords were the head of the social pyramid so they felt like they should have the money and power. George Rude makes a good point by stating,”this is what peasants or, at least, the more vocal among them in their ‘notebooks of grievances’ of 1789 called a revival of feudalism.” The peasants didn’t have a voice in the feudal system at all. Rude also states that,”wage earners and small consumers were compelled by the rapid rise in food price beyond their means.” This class was drawn together in common hostility because of the government, landlords and merchants. The bottom part of the social class was giving out from under and peasants didn’t want to support these hierarchies who took from the poor and gave to themselves. The peasants that had hoped for a brighter and more stable future ended up being defeated in the end because of the unfairness the higher nobility had on them. As feudalism started to collapse during this time the peasants and nobles were getting what they have wanted, which was no one higher than
A cruel cycle in which the rich people maintain control and the poor people are trapped with no way to rescue themselves, feudalism is a hierarchical market system. The people with money in Men With Guns are the landlords, the owners of the plantations. These people obviously control the land that they own as well as the profit from the output their land produces, but they also control the government, the army, and consequently, the common people. This near omnipotent control forces the common people into a feudal relationship. Unless the peasants work on the feudal plantations, they will starve.
In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy social inequality. This oppression of the Third Estate along with the financial problems that fell on the common people would lead to the French Revolution. Overall, the people of France revolted against the monarchy because of the unsuccessful estate system and the inequality it led to, because of the new enlightenment ideas that inspired them, and because of the failures of the monarchy. First, the French Revolution was a result of the failed estate system and the extreme economic and social inequality it led to.
When higher prices are demanded, revolt is put in their mind. These set the government officials off and they were either killed or left. These actions completely devastated the feudal system. Vassal was no longer subjected to lord because the lords were no longer providing for the vassal, but running for their lives from the plague, or dying. “Kings and dukes now had to bargain with their laborers over working conditions, and the under-classes were able to demand better compensation for their services.”
The evolution of human society consists mainly of ineffective ruling regimes and oppressed peasants. Medieval Europe falls into this same pervasive cycle. Social and political hierarchies intertwine which creates a grossly inefficient system. Hereditary lineage determines nobility. Commoners possess no hope of social mobility.
Historian Albert Mathiez states that “The middle class… was sensitive to their inferior legal position. The revolution came from them- the middle class. The working classes were incapable of starting or controlling the Revolution. They were just beginning to learn to read.” The middle class were not able to have a class on their own; they were still considered peasants. In the illustration it showed how much people and land each estate held, the Clergy was one percent of the population which owned ten percent of the land. Nobles were two percent of the people that owned thirty-five percent of the land. The middle class, peasants, and city workers were ninety-seven of the people owned fifty-five percent of the land. This means that if the third estate were to riot, this would cause havoc. There was a lot during that time; the website Macrohistory and World Timeline shows that “The population of France had grown to between 24 and 26 million, up from 19 million in 1700 without a concomitant growth in food production. Farmers around Paris consumed over 80 percent of what they grew, so if a harvest fell by around 10 percent, which was common, people went hungry. There was insufficient government planning and storage of grain for emergency shortages”. If there were approximately 26 million people, there would be 25,220,000 people in the third estate, 520,000 people in the second estate, and 260,000
When the aristocrats had all of the power, they were bloodthirsty. They would "sentence a youth to death" for not kneeling to monks. This was a very bad time and this seems extremely evil. It seems as if the peasants were good, yet when the tables turned they acted the exact same way as the aristocrats. The peasants had "eleven hundred defenseless prisoners killed just because they could."
Although there were still clear boundaries between rich and poor, this no longer played a practical role in the political system. However in France the rigid system which dictated the social and economic standing of all the country's citizens, from the King to the poorest peasant, was still very prominent. The King was second only to God, while the clergy and nobles, many of them very wealthy, paid no taxes and the peasants lived in poverty serving the landlords and carrying the weight of the rest of France through the heavy taxes they were forced t... ... middle of paper ... ... restricted the growth of industry and trade and the increase in food prices led to riots among the lower classes.
Cause of the French Revolution The essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution. Many people were making a case for a new concept of society, in which commoners, especially the educated middle classes (bourgeoisie), had.
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.
The French Revolution started in 1787 because the country was going through financial difficulties and there was unrest between the classes of citizens in the country. The differences between the lower class citizens and higher classes, being nobles and the monarchy were great. The citizens had heard of the revolution that went on in the colonies and they also wanted freedom and independence. The real start of the French Revolution was on July 14, 1789, with the storming of the Bastille. Between 1789 1793, a constitution was written, feudalism was abolished, war had broken out, and King Louis XVI was put to death. In late 1793 and early 1794, Maximilien Robespierre became the head of the Committee of Public Safety in France. This was the new governing body in France; it could be compared to the executive branch of a government. Robespierre was a great leader, he ins...
The French Revolution was one of the larger social revolutions. It can be considered a revolution on the political, social, religious, and economic front, although the biggest causes were social. The French Revolution began on July 14, 1789, with the fall of Bastille and continued until the rise of power of Napoleon Bonaparte. The main reason behind the revolution was the unfair treatment of classes in France.
An immediate cause of the French Revolution was the rising price of bread. The grain harvest had been low the previous year, so the price of bread rose. Bread was usually the only thing that the poor ate, and raising prices would make them starve
“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.
Revolution? The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.
Different states go through different types of political and economical systems through a life time. In this case, most of the agricultural society was largely supported by the feudal system social hierarchy. Karl Marx defined feudalism as the power of the ruling class based on the control of “arable land”, this in turn affected class society based on the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). In the feudal system, most of the rights and privileges were given to the upper classes. In this hierarchical structure, the kings occupied the highest position, followed by barons, bishops, knights and peasants (History-world.org, 2014).Feudalism is considered to be the “medieval” form of government (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). Before capitalism came around as an economic model most states were a feudalistic country. These systems had an affect on society due to the fact it impacts citizens by “controlling” how they live and interact. The peasants were required to work for the nobles in return for land. This hierarchy was fuelled by the religious assumptions of the time that stated kings, dukes and other nobles served by the will of God over everyone else lower down the social order (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). As industrialism provided a much more technical understanding of the world, it challenged these religious assumptions for the social