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.