Causes of the French Revolution
Financial Problems
3rd estate had no freedom or rights
Poor conditions and facilities in France
Influences from American revolution and enlightenment ideas
Cost of living rose by 44%
Wages rose by 21%
There was a deficit in France
France was in a lot of debt because of wars and high spending from high classes of people
King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went on a spending spree
Lack of resources for 3rd estate
3rd estate overpopulation
Paris was extremely filthy and dirty with toxic air and dirty water
People had a bad sense of hygeine
People had bad diet due to a lack of food
3rd estate had very little freedom
Injustice to 3rd estate (biased decisions against them)
Louis XVI locked out representatives from the 3rd estate from the Estates General Assembly
Seigneural court system where peasants who owned land had to pay feudal taxes to the place's lord
Very high taxes to be paid on top of poverty whereas 2nd and 1st class don't need to pay a single penny of tax
Tanneries chucked away unnecessary fat from animals into sewers
Inspiration from thinkers like Rousseau and Montesquieu
Those thinkers sparked a thought of civil rights in the minds of the 3rd estate people
Native Americans wanted independence from the British so similarly, the 3rd estate wanted freedom from the higher estates and the monarchy due to taxes and rights issues
3rd estate stormed Bastille prison on 4th July
They declared themselves as a national assembly and made a monarch for themselves executing Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
French were celebrating American independence as British failure
People believed in Liberty and Equality due to Rousseau
click to edit