French Revolution

The French Revolution is known to have had devastating effects on France socially, economically and politically.  The revolution took place between 1789-1799 and it is difficult to truly pinpoint the exact cause for it, for there were many influences that contributed to the revolution occurring. There were not only internal influences within France but also external influence from global connections that caused the overall downfall of France during this decade. The internal conflicts consisted of Enlightenment thoughts becoming more recognized and circulated, as well as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the influence from the United States. The external issues also consisted of factors such as food shortages which led to a large loss of life in France which, in turn affected the country’s standing economically, extremely negatively.

Briefly before describing the causes of the French Revolution one must understand what the French Revolution was. The French Revolution occurred during the ten year period between 1789-1799 and it was when the people of France were becoming irritated by the French monarchy, which was under the rule of King Louis XVI. The Monarchy was non-responsive to the deteriorating living conditions in France and in turn was overthrown by the people of France. The leaders of the Revolution held france under the power of the people until 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte became the reigning dictator of France.  

The National Assembly was called into order at the beginning of the revolution and the Third Estate was created to represent the majority of the French population. Before the revolution the Third Estate held the least amount of power but however, consisted of the most amount of people. (Reilly, 773) The clergy and the nobility (monarchy)  contained the least amount of people, but they held the most power. With the nobility and the clergy holding the most power their needs were the only ones that were truly being met. Money was being wasted and the people of France began to feel the impacts economically and they began to get hungry, as their money was being taken away from them by the monarchy.

The monarchy seized money for taxes in order to pay off the debt that France had acquired from Louis XIV’s reign (Louis XVI’s grandfather) and the clergy also took indulgence for the Catholic church. This led to unrest in the country and the people in the Third Estate, that represented 99 percent of the population, began to become more open to the idea of overthrowing the monarchy. These thoughts of This was a result of being more open-minded to the concept of Enlightenment thinking. (Reilly, 783)

Enlightenment thinking was widely introduced to the French people through text. The works of Jean Jacques Rousseau (although dead before the revolution) became some of the main sources for the revolutionaries to use during the time of revolution. (Reilly, 773) Rousseau, along with Voltaire and others, were known for their “indifference to formal religion” (Reilly 773). This sort of thinking, once circulated, began to become ingrained in the minds of the majority of the population. Some of the main thoughts were that the church was corrupt and that there were not enough visible effects that supported what they were preaching.