Many people were making a case for a new concept of society, in which commoners, especially the educated middle classes (bourgeoisie), had the same value as the other orders. Despite the social rifts surrounding the political debate of mid-1789, most contemporaries fervently sought social unity. This suggests that social unrest may not necessarily have been the basic cause of the outbreak of the Revolution. Instead, one wonders if the nobility's fear of losing its privileges, rather than the assertiveness of the middle classes, might have been the most important factor in the events that followed. As the revolution proceeded and as power devolved from the monarchy to legislative bodies, the conflicting interests of these initially allied groups would become the source of conflict and bloodshed.
These problems were all compounded by a great scarcity of food in the 1780s. Different crop failures in the 1780s caused these shortages, which of course led to high prices for bread. The shortage of bread was quite possibly the central cause of the revolution. Inadequate conditions in the countryside had forced rural residents to move into Paris, and the city was overcrowded and filled with the hungry and disaffected. The peasants suffered the most from the economic and agricultural problems
By 1789, France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions did not pay taxes of any kind. Many universities were exempt from taxation as were the thirteen Parlements cities like Paris, the Church and the clergy, the aristocracy and numerous members of the bourgeoisie. The government continued to become poorer and poorer and it seemed the only successful taxation was done towards the peasants, whom had the least money. The monarchy eventually fell and caused great unrest leading to the French Revolution.
It was stated that the French Revolution was merely caused by the collision of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, completely neglecting the fact that many other things were taken into account during this time. It wasn’t just the famine, the financial problems or the collision of the two groups that caused the French Revolution, it was all three.
