Finally, there was the third estate, which consisted of everyone else in France. At the top end of this estate were the rich merchants, industrialists and business people. The bourgeoisie held about 25% of the land in France. They had to pay taxes. This was very unfair and as a result of the heavy burden of taxes, some peasants had a very poor standard of life. For example, the majority of workers in the towns lived in crowded and unsanitary tenements. I believe this inequality and injustice is an important factor, which caused the French Revolution.
Secondly, the failure to bring in reforms was also an important factor. When minister Jacques Necker attempted to bring in a new land tax, the aristocracy immediately called the reforms unfair and refused to pay. Louis consequently sacked Necker on the 12th July 1789. This was extremely unpopular with the people as Necker was very popular and was seen as one of them. He may also have been successful had he not been sacked. Reform was needed so badly and when it failed it was a major blow to the third estate.
Louis XVI was a weak and ineffective king and this also led to revolution. Sacking Necker was a big mistake by Louis, as it seemed like he was supporting the privileged and not the people. Also, he was seen as being weak and indecisive and often changed his mind. Louis was married to Marie Antoinette, which was very unpopular with the French people. Not only was she unpopular because she was Austrian, a rival of France, but also because she was frivolous, arrogant and ran up massive gambling debts.
There was a bad harvest in 1788 due to an extremely wet spring. This resulted in a massive increase in the price of bread. Between August 1788 and Spring 1789, the price of bread rose from 9 sous per loaf to over 14 sous per loaf, an increase of 155%. This had a huge effect on the third estate as most of their diet consisted of bread. It deeply antagonised them and resulted in workers spending 88% of their wages on bread. Also, wine prices collapsed because of over production. This was an absolute disaster for many peasants as wine was an important cash crop. The bad harvest resulted in mass unemployment. Textiles, which accounted for half of industrial production, were also very badly hit. The bad harvest ultimately contributed to the emergence of a “popular movement” of discontented workers and small traders. Also, trade rules from the Middle Ages still survived, making trade difficult.
The ideas of the Enlightenment by writers such as, Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau created a revolutionary feeling amongst the French people. The Enlightenment challenged the church and French society and also challenged the idea of absolute monarchy. It appealed to the bourgeoisie’s grievances. They were not prepared to accept tradition and helped to undermine the unity of the Ancien Regime. They said that not one official in power was corrupt, but that the whole system of government needed some change.
Wars are often very expensive. France was often at war under the Ancien Regime. For example, France helped the Americans in the War of Independence (1778-1783), which cost an enormous 1,066 million livres. They were also heavily involved in the Seven Years War (1756 – 1763) and the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748). As a result, the national deficit increased from 112 million livres in 1786 to 126 million livres in 1788. Another reason for the huge debt was that France had a poor system of taxation. There was no central treasury, which means that the king never knew how much money there was to spend. The inability to tap the wealth of the French nation contributed to the financial crisis.
The American War of Independence (1778 – 1783) showed the French that it was perfectly possible to overthrow unpopular rulers. This contributed to the revolutionary feeling in France at the time and people looked at the Americans as an inspiration for what could be achieved. They also saw that Britain was perfectly well off even though they didn’t have an absolute monarchy, like they did.
The ambitions of the bourgeoisie was another important factor. The middle class were anxious to gain some political power, as they currently didn’t have any. Also, there were now educated people in the third estate, such as doctors and lawyers, where there hadn’t been in the past.
Louis XVI called the Estates General in 1789 in the hope that they would approve new taxes. However, the new taxes were opposed as the first and second estate had been exempt from taxation and were not willing to start paying taxes now. They could outvote the third estate by two to one as each estate only had one vote. Even though the third estate had 578 representatives, they were unable to outvote the first two estates, as there was no voting by head.
In conclusion, the most important factor in causing the French Revolution was the way in which French society was structured. The fact that only the poorest, the third estate, had to pay taxes was extremely unfair. Also, the fact that they had almost no political power annoyed them greatly. The failure to reform and the fact that Louis was a weak king were also very important, as Necker may have been able to reform the tax system had it not been for his indecisiveness.
