Garrett
Ashleigh N. Garrett
Kevin S. Cronin
History 1013
23 August 2004
Causes of the French Revolution: Assignment 1
Many factors contributed to the French Revolution, such as a widespread resentment of royal absolutism, the emergence of elightenment ideals, a massive national debt, as well as famine and poverty. Initially the Industrial Revolution brought surges of people form the rural countryside in to the cities in search of work. This created crowded living quarters and an increased demand for food. Many people lived at a level of subsistence, earning only enough to feed themselves and their family. These living conditions set the stage for the social unrest, which led to the French Revolution.
The majority of the wealth in France at the time of the French Revolution lied in the hands of the merchants yet the power resided with the nobility. The merchants, along with the other members of the third estate were degraded and humiliated by the first and second estates. The nobles, exempt from taxation, forced an unequal tax distribution upon the poorer classes as well as the merchants. People of the third estate paid almost 11 times the taxes they should have paid under an equal distribution. While the upper classes lived in luxury at virtually no cost to themselves the bourgeoisie and peasants saw their hard earned wealth disappear into the pockets of the government and the nobility.
