Other Factors That Led to The French Revolution
Other factors that contributed to the start of the French Revolution are these: the government was unbalanced, the spread of Enlightenment ideas, weak leadership and economic problems.
The unbalanced government started with the three estates. This was called the ''Old Regime'' in which people were divided into three groups: the clergy,the nobles, and everyone else.
The clergy was the head of the church and the government. The nobles were the upperclass (a very small percentage of the population) who enjoyed many luxuries and never paid taxes. Everyone else comprised about 97 percent of the population, and they were divided into even more groups. The first group of the 97 percent is the Bourgeoisie. This group was often wealthier than the nobles because of their success in work. However, they were also the most heavily taxed. The second group is comprised of the peasants. The peasants were very poor and made up the bulk of the revolution. The third group is comprised of the urban workers; they were the poorest group and worked more as serfs to the nobles to pay off their debt.
The Enlightenment was an important cultural movement in which intellectuals used reason and advanced knowledge through scientific methods to challenge the ideas of tradition and faith. It started in Western Europe around the beginning of the 17th Century.
Weak leadership was a big problem when King Louis XVI came into power. Louis XVI was a weak leader because he had never really cared about what was going on in his country. Whenever he made a decision it was usually a wrong one and he left most of his decisions up to his subjects. He was married at age 15 to Marie Antoinette, who was disliked by most of France because she was Australian. Marie Antoinette brought on even more hostility because of her addiction to partying and gambling, which created a lot of debt. During her life she earned the name "Madame Deficit."
When Louis XVI took the throne he inherited massive debt problems which he could not fix. "France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783. Aggravating the situation was the fact that the government had a sizable army and navy to maintain, which was an expenditure of particular importance during those volatile times. Moreover, in the typical indulgent fashion that so irked the common folk, mammoth costs associated with the upkeep of King Louis XVI’s extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little to relieve the growing debt. These decades of fiscal irresponsibility were one of the primary factors that led to the French Revolution." ( http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/section1.rhtml.)
The unbalanced government started with the three estates. This was called the ''Old Regime'' in which people were divided into three groups: the clergy,the nobles, and everyone else.
The clergy was the head of the church and the government. The nobles were the upperclass (a very small percentage of the population) who enjoyed many luxuries and never paid taxes. Everyone else comprised about 97 percent of the population, and they were divided into even more groups. The first group of the 97 percent is the Bourgeoisie. This group was often wealthier than the nobles because of their success in work. However, they were also the most heavily taxed. The second group is comprised of the peasants. The peasants were very poor and made up the bulk of the revolution. The third group is comprised of the urban workers; they were the poorest group and worked more as serfs to the nobles to pay off their debt.
The Enlightenment was an important cultural movement in which intellectuals used reason and advanced knowledge through scientific methods to challenge the ideas of tradition and faith. It started in Western Europe around the beginning of the 17th Century.
Weak leadership was a big problem when King Louis XVI came into power. Louis XVI was a weak leader because he had never really cared about what was going on in his country. Whenever he made a decision it was usually a wrong one and he left most of his decisions up to his subjects. He was married at age 15 to Marie Antoinette, who was disliked by most of France because she was Australian. Marie Antoinette brought on even more hostility because of her addiction to partying and gambling, which created a lot of debt. During her life she earned the name "Madame Deficit."
When Louis XVI took the throne he inherited massive debt problems which he could not fix. "France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783. Aggravating the situation was the fact that the government had a sizable army and navy to maintain, which was an expenditure of particular importance during those volatile times. Moreover, in the typical indulgent fashion that so irked the common folk, mammoth costs associated with the upkeep of King Louis XVI’s extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little to relieve the growing debt. These decades of fiscal irresponsibility were one of the primary factors that led to the French Revolution." ( http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/section1.rhtml.)