Essay, Research Paper: What Caused The French Revolution

What caused the great revolution in France?
The revolution was the result of a severe economic failure
at the heart of the nation, the monarchy. This was shown
in the heavy debt that the monarchy amassed. To increase
its funds, the government introduced an oppressive taxation
system on its already poor peasantry. The unrest in the
lower-class society was given a voice from the educated
philosophes. Severe economic failure was at the heart of
the French Revolution.


The ancien regime, by the time of the revolution
was falling into heavy decay. Debt had been building up
since the last days of Louis XIV. Involvement in both
the French and Indian War (1756-63) over land in the
New World, and the American Revolution (1775-1783) cost
the French dearly. The French Involvement in the American
Revolution alone cost one billion Livres, and was
supported by the Queen, Marie Antoinette, and other
members of the nobility who wanted revenge on Britain for
past defeats. The Queen herself was attacked for her
extravagant spending on jewels, clothes, gambling and
parties. She was once quoted as saying:


"… Above all, let me avoid anything which will make life
a burden, let me avoid anything which will foster gloom
or dullness or melancholy! let me enjoy myself!
Why should I bother to think things over, to
calculate and economize?"

Her brother, Emperor Joseph II of Austria said of her
lavish lifestyle in Versailles:

"… I found there the charm of life which I had renounced
and for which I see that the taste had never left me;
she is pleasant and charming. I spent hours with her,
without noticing how quickly they flew … I needed all my
strength to tear myself away"

Such lavish spending gave the queen the nickname
"Madame Deficit." But the queen was only an ideal
scapegoat for a society that had been programmed never
to criticize the power of the King. The King, his advisors,
and nobility were more to blame for the mounting debt that
she was. For all that he did wrong, Louis did attempt to
initiate some economic reform. His first attempt to do
this was devised by his finance minister, Robert Anne
Turgot. Turgot's reforms involved the abolision of the
tax exemptions of the nobility, the reduction of pensions,
and the creation of an elected body to deliberate on any
future taxes. Louis was impressed by Turgot's plans, and
promissed him his total support. Unfortunately, Louis
was weak, and was swayed by his other ministers, nobility,
and even the Queen, who feared a loss of power, and
lifestyle, to dismiss Turgot before his reforms were
put in place. This deeply hurt Turgot, who feared for
the future of the monarchy. In a letter to the King after
his dismissal he wrote:

"… I have painted to you all the evils which have been
caused by the weakness of the late King (Louis XV). I have
traced the course of the intrigues which gradually degraded
his authority.I ask you if you want to run the risk of the
same dangers,I should say even greater dangers…"

Following Turgot, other ministers were forced, by the
nobility to resign. In the years prior to the revolution,
the French government was falling into heavy debt, and the
peasantry felt the burden of this debt the hardest.


In an effort to stabilize the failing economy, the monarchy
imposed a severe taxation system on the lower class.
A majority of this lower class was made up of the peasantry.
Roughly half of the peasantry were poor metayers, who
didn't own the land they worked, and split their produce
50/50 with their lord. Even worse, one in twenty were serfs
; tied to the land they worked by a lord, and receiving very
little in return. Only one in four peasant families
actually owned the land they worked. At least 50 percent
of the money the peasants made was paid in taxes. To the
state was paid the Taille (tax on land and property), the
Poll tax (tax on every head of a household), and (among
others) the Gabelle (the salt tax). The nobility charged
the peasants the Benalities (a mandatory fee for use of an
oven, mill, or winepress), the Peages (toll paid on use
of road or river) and the Cens (feudal rent). Even the
church cashed in, with the Tithe (percentage of income).
The taxation system kept the peasantry in poverty. Most
families didn't even own more that 5 hectares of land,
and school was out of the question; the money simply wasn't
available. The money that could have been going towards
the betterment of the peasantry was being spent recklessly
by the monarchy and the nobility. Philosophe Voltaire
described the ridiculous taxation system in his book,
Lettres Philosophiques:


"In general, the art of government consists in taking as
much money as possible from one part of the citizens to
give it to the other"


The lower-class city dwellers also faced a hard life.
They too paid the crushing taxes, and unemployment in the
cities was rampant. Increasing bread prices was always
on the mind of the city dwellers, as a bad harvest could
put this staple food out of reach. The lower-class
citizens felt the burden of an economic failure the worst.

Out of the discontent, the educated middle class gave the
people of France a voice. The philosophes were a product
of the 'enlightenment' and came mainly from a newly
educated middle-class, the bourgeoisie. They resented
the way the nobility and monarchy looked down on the people,
and demanded change. In some cases they were better off
than the lowly 'Nobles of the Robe' and wanted to share in
the politics of the nation. Being well educated and
intelligent, they gathered in lavish 'salons' to discuss
their views on the monarchy, religion, and politics.
Pamphlets and books were published by famous philosophes,
inspired by the American Revolution, advocating free will,
and thought independent from the influences of the crown
and church. This demand for change from all levels of
society, not just the lower class was perhaps best shown
in the philosphe Voltaire. He was the son of a wealthy
noble, and could have enjoyed the title as well. Very
wealthy, he lived a comfortable life, but saw the wrongs
in French society, and demanded change. He dared to
attack the government (above), the nobility:

"What does a dog owe to a dog, and a horse to a horse?
Nothing, no animal depends on his like; but man having
received the ray of divinity called reason, what is the
result? Slavery throughout the world"

and even the church:

"The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind
in order"

Voltaire, and other philosophes contributed greatly to the
revolution because they were able to stand up to those in
power, and tell the people that the King they adored, and
the church that they worshiped were wrong.

The revolution in France was the result of an economic
failure. The monarchy failed the people of France by not
making any sufficient changes in spending. An oppressive
taxation system was used to improve the economy, but this
just caused unrest in the population. The people were given
a voice by the philosophes, who attacked the government
and its policies. A grand economic failure resulted in
one of the major events of the 18th century.