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Causes
Political Economic
Cultural Social Sort
term Causes Political
France
was governed by King Louis XVI.
He
was a monarch so he wouldn’t need to share any of his power
with any one else. King George III was shared his power with
other people, but Louis didn’t have to because he would do
what he pleased if he was in total power.
Louis
lived in a huge palace called Versailles outside Paris. The
reason he had a huge palace was because he had lots of
nobles living with him.
Louis
had a wife and her name was Marie Antoinette, an Austrian
archduchess. They had married in 1770 when she was fourteen
and he fifteen. When they were first wed they were very
popular with the French public. As the years went by, they
lost popularity. People especially disliked Marie Antoinette.
Use
and abuse of power
It
wasn’t only Marie Antoinette who made the royal government
unpopular. Many people disliked it because they thought the
king had to much power. People thought that Louise should
share his power with the villages. This is why people were
saying that he was selfish and didn’t like him,
they didn’t want anything to do with him. This is why the
royals became so unpopular.
People
hated sealed letters more than any other aspect of the
king’s power. A sealed letter was a royal order of the imprisonments
or the death of the person written on it. They were written on
a piece of paper signed by the king, folded then sealed with
wax. They especially hated the fact that the king’s
ministers could use them.
If
you didn’t listen to what Louis said you would go to the
royal prison the Bastille, in Paris.
by
Chris Mackle
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Economic
*
In
the economic money was a big problem because a lot of people
didn’t have a lot. The Ancient Regime, especially for the
majority of people, who were the peasants. Money was the
greatest division between the estates and classes, although
admittedly it was not the only huge difference. Millions of
people had to rely on charity from other poor people, and many
people were travellers, not through choice, but because they
simply could not afford to stay anywhere. In the 18th
century population went up, and this meant more landless
peasants and poor workers. In 1790, a government committee
worked out that an average family needed at least 435 livres
a year to supply their basic needs. After everything else,
such as accommodation, clothing, heating, etc, was worked out,
around 13 sous a day was left for food.
The
King also raised taxes because the government was very much in
debt, and raising taxes was really the only choice the
monarchy would, or could, take. Sometimes, the more successful
peasants could afford these taxes, from the money they made in
markets. But many poor farm labourers could not afford to pay
in money, and therefore needed to hand over their crop. This
angered many people. In addition to this, the controversial
and shocking philosophes points of views were becoming
more and more widespread, as was the Enlightenment (attitudes
that challenged religion and the absolute monarch). The
general controversial ideas that were beginning to seep
through the culture of the poor peasants caused a crack in
society that was getting harder and harder to close.
The
revolution was caused solely by economic causes is a very
narrow and closed point of view. Although studying economic
causes, such as unfair taxation
and rising bread prices does help you understand a little more
about the revolution, it does not
completely explain everything. There were many other things
that people were not happy about. Many other European
countries treated their peasants far worse than people in
France did, but in France there were many long-term and
short-term problems that, put together, resulted in a very
restless a very unhappy French nation.
There
were even more people in France because they were also saying
there wasn’t enough money they were complaining so it got a
bit out of hand.
Chris
Mackle
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Cultural
At
the time of the Bastille many people did not like the way they
had to live but they never thought they had a choice because
they did not have a lot of money so they had no choice. But
there were a group of people called Philosophers they did have
enough of money so they could afford money. This group was
made up mainly of scientists. These people questioned every
aspect of their lives and the people's. One very famous
philosopher was the writer Voltaire. Voltaire showed some of
his views about the way his country was run when he got
involved in the Calas Affair. This is about a man named Jean
Calas, a protestant living in a Catholic community in 1761 he
was quite rich as well. One of his sons converted to the
Catholic faith so when another of his sons hung himself it was
said that his father murdered him to stop him from converting
as well I can’t believe he committed suicide.
Calas
was executed but Voltaire continued to try and clear his name.
Voltaire didn’t believe in getting involved to help Jean
because he believed that the community needed to be changed.
The public where allowed to have a non-Catholic faith for then
they would still be good. The government was wrong in killing
him. Cala’s execution could have been stopped if he had had
a say.
by
Chris Mackle and Annabel Ledger
Back
to top Social Many
people were poor but they still had to pay taxes. There were
two kinds of tax paid directly to the government, and indirect
taxes that people paid whenever they bought certain goods. The
average family had to pay 10% - 15% of their yearly earnings
to the government. Some
people did not have to pay taxes. Nobles and Clergy did not
have to pay many taxes. When they did pay taxes they paid no
more than any other people. This meant that the rich had no
problem paying taxes. As
well as taxes people had to pay dues to their landlords and
tithes to their local churches. This was easier for some
people than for others. Some farmers would make enough money
to pay all this other would have to hand over their
crops. By
Paul Trigg and Kayleigh Hembrough Back
to top
Sort Term Causes
FOOD CRISIS
The amount of money wasn’t the only
problem facing the government. There were many problems in the
countryside because it was developing.
CRISIS:
Mass
hunger
The crisis was caused by strange weather.
In 1788 there was a massive hailstorm that had destroyed
vegetable plots, cornfields, orchards and vineyards all over
central France. This was then followed by a drought. As a
result, in 1788 the harvest was very poor. The drought was
followed by the coldest winter in living memory. It was so
cold that it froze rivers and stopped watermills from grinding
flour, Blocked roads preventing food from reaching markets.
After the snow had gone in the spring, floods ruined huge
areas of land. The weather had made a sharp rise in the prise
of bread. A single loaf of bread went to 15 sous in February
1789.
The voting system
The Estates general met whenever the king
wanted to consult it. This wasn’t that often. The last time
the met was in 1614. At this time it had been made up of 750
members, about 250 from each estate of the three. They met up
in three different rooms, when they voted they only had one
vote for each estate. The third estate complained that the
voting system was unfair. The nobles and clergy would be able
to out-vote third estate one and two if it was used again in
1789. They asked the king to double the numbers in the estates
General and to give each member one vote. In December 1788 the
king reluctantly agrees to the first of these demands. By now
this government was bankrupt. It couldn’t pay all of the
interest it owned on its debts. There was a new finance
minister, Jacques Necker, advised him to double the third
estate.
The Complaints lists
With unemployed people and a shortage of
food spreading, elections for the estates general were held in
spring 1789. As well as electing deputies to speak for them,
many voters were asked to draw up a list of the changes that
they have wanted the estates general to talk with the king.
Over 60,000 of these complaint lists were
drawn up. They showed that millions of people in France wanted
major changes.
The
estates meet
The meeting about the estates-generals
was taken place on 5th May 1789. Hundreds of met in
some of the biggest halls in Versailles. After long speeches
from the king and his chief ministers, the three estates were
told to split apart and keep the meetings going in separate
halls.
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