French Revolution

13 Pages 3248 Words

French Revolution

France was an absolute monarchy. Louis XIV (1643 – 1715) was the envy of all other rulers in Europe. During his reign he had centralized the government and had encouraged trade and manufacture. His undoing was the long list of over ambitious wars that he had participated in. His successors Louis XV (1715 – 74) and Louis XVI (1774 – 93) also participated in lengthy and costly conflicts. France had suffered defeat in the Seven Years War against Britain (1756 – 63). Her army in Europe was crushed by the Prussians. The involvement in the American Revolution was for revenge against Britain after the Seven Years War. A fatal weakness in the French absolute monarchy system, was its inability to produce strong monarchs. Louise XVI was not strong.( http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/)
The population was divided into three estates. The Third Estate was made up of the bourgeoisie, wage earners and the peasantry. They were the majority of the population. The Third Estate was also known as the estate of the commoners. The Second Estate was for the nobility. They numbered 400 000 with most of them being of minor rank. The First Estate comprised the clergy. The Upper Clergy were very wealthy and powerful and therefore they related to the First Estate. The Lower Clergy related more to the Lower Estates. The First Estate numbered around 100 000.The first two states enjoyed privileges over the Third Estate. Although they were the richest, they were exempt from taxes. They were also the only members in society who could hold positions of importance such as Officers in the army. This caused great discontent within the Third Estate.( http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook13.html)
There was great need for taxation reform in France before the Revolution. The inefficiency of only taxing the lower estate showed in the Government’s budgets. The Government was experiencing large debts and eventually went Bankrupt. This wa...