Cause And Effect Essay on The French Revolution Text

length: 2273 words 6.5 double spaced pages causes and effects of the french revolution 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. The revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people. The primary cause of the revolution was the disputes over the peoples' differing ideas of reform. Before the beginning of the revolution, only moderate reforms were wanted by the people.

At the end of the seventeenth century, king louis xiv's wars began decreasing the royal finances dramatically. The use of the money by louis xiv angered the people and they wanted a new 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 that the whole system of government needed some change.

Eventually, when the royal finances were expended in the 1780's, there began a time of greater criticism. Louis xiv had centralized power in the royal bureaucracy, the government departments which administered his policies. Together, louis xiv and the bureaucracy worked to preserve royal authority and to maintain the social structure of the old regime.

At this time in french history, the social classes played an important role in the lives of the people. The social structure of france was divided among three groups: the first estate, the second estate, and the third estate. Each social group had a varied type of people within their structure, which presented the different views of the people.

During the ancien regime, the church was equal in terms of its social, economic, and spiritual power. It paid no taxes but, to support church activities such as school running and caring for the poor, they collected a tithe, or a tax on income. Some of the nobles lived in luxury in major cities in france, such as versailles or paris.

This estate was the minority of the people in france, having approximately 1 to 2 per cent of the population. Typical sources of income were rents and dues for the use of their farms or estates. The first and second estates were grouped together because they had similar political beliefs. In the bourgeoisie, there were the merchants and manufacturers, lawyers, doctors and others similar to those types of professions.

They were forced to pay hefty taxes, tithes to the church, and rents to their landlords for the land that they lived on. Poor farm harvests by farmers hurt the economy, and trade rules from the middle ages still survived, making trade difficult. However, the most serious problem was the problem facing the government during this time. Louis still borrowed money to fight wars and to keep french power alive in europe. These costs greatly increased the national debt, which was, at the time, already too high. At first he did not know what to do, until he found a man by the name of robert turgot. He eased the financial crisis of france, but he had difficulties when he tried to introduce a major reform, that of taxing the nobles.

He had such difficulties because the king could not tax the nobles unless the parliament approved of the new tax laws. The people in the courts that voted on these laws were the nobles, called nobles of the robe, and therefore rejected turgot's reform. The estates general was the place where representatives from each social class could be represented. Here, many issues would be discussed, and at this time in french history, it would be centered around the economic crisis. When the estates general met in 1789, the deputies, or representatives, from the third estate demanded that the three estates meet together, with each deputy having an equal vote. After a while, louis xvi decided that it would be best if the three estates met together.