How Important Was the Enlightenment as a Cause of the French Revolution in 1789

How important was the Enlightenment as a cause of the French Revolution in 1789

It could be said that the main cause of the French Revolution in 1789; in which 40,000 people were killed, was the intellectual movement of the enlightenment that was prominent during the course of the 18th century. The reasoning behind this statement is that it acted as a catalyst that helped spread new controversial ideas about nature, religion and the absolute monarchy that under the Ancien regime weren’t widely questioned, these revolutionary ideas spread by philosopes such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau challenged previously held views and made people more aware of what was actually happening around them at the time. In comparison to other factors such as economic ones which include the chaotic and inefficient taxation system, political factors like the weakness of the king and the political crisis that hugely weakened France weren’t as significant in the start of the revolution compared to the enlightenment.

The aforementioned views upon the enlightenment are very important as they provide a detailed reasoning as to cause of the French Revolution, in addition to these points the enlightenment added to the already present predispositions felt towards the first and second estates due to other problems in the French society such as the taxation system. These new revolutionary views were spread thought French society in a number of ways such as secret Masonic lodges, in which French people would meet as discuss these new ideas. In Lyons during the early 1780’s there were 33 Masonic lodges present which shows that these influential idea were accessed  by lots of people which could be as a result of the growing hostilities in that area during the time . The movement created by the philosopes who believed that men could control their own destiny and that change was necessary to destroy the inequalities of the Ancien regime. Another way in which enlightenment spread was though works of literature such as the encyclopedie that was edited by Denis Diderot who was also a prominent figure who heavily influenced this movement. All in all it could strongly be said that the enlightenment was the most significant cause of the French revolution as it opened people up to the inequality that was present in their society and ignited revolutionary views that were already held at the time.

Yet another factor that could be seen as an important cause of the French revolution is the economic crisis that was present in France at this time. The system of taxation was seen as corrupt and inefficient, the system of tax farming resulted in the farmers -general keeping large amounts of unnecessary tax that was left over after a certain amount had been paid to the crown consequently they never received enough money to cover their expenditure, so in order to make up for this they frequently had to borrow which worsened the French economic situation. The burden of taxation fell upon the third estate which with the added the growing social divide between the estates as the first and second estate was exempt from paying taxes. During the 1780’s agricultural prosperity came to an end   and the bad harvests that followed resulted in a lower demand for manufactured goods as a greater proportion of people’s income was being spent on food. This further affected the people as it resulted in a decrease in unemployment and a lowered living standard which was limited to the pooper people of France which created hate towards those who increased taxes in order to benefit themselves.  This would inevitably contribute to the start of the revolution. On top of this the people blamed tithe-owners and land owners for making the situation worse , as they accused of hoarding grain and speculation food prices , which contributed to the lack of food. One could reason that this failing economic situation of France could be the main cause of the French revolution as it created the initial hated towards the upper classes who treated the poor so unfairly, also the inefficient system in place caused a lack of money going towards the crown which was on the of the factored that make Louis XVI resort to gathering the estates general on May 5th 1789, what followed could be seen as the start of the revolution. However it wasn’t the main cause of the revolution and alone it would haven’t been significant enough to cause the revolution alone it needed another factor such as the enlightenment that would have given the people the confidence and the grounds to peruse these feeling and ideas.

The finanancial crisis that France was experiencing t the time can defiantly bee see as a cause the revolution in 1779 however it is very debateable as to weather in was more important that the enlightenment . The financial crisis was very heavily blamed upon the French involvement in he American civil war as well s the extravagant lifestyles of the nobility in France especially that of the king. In all the French spent 1.3 billion livres to support the Americas, event though many in France were starving and couldn’t afford to buy bread due to their rising prices. In 17 86 calone told the king that the government was n the verge of bankruptcy an that France had collected deficit of 112 million livre, within two years to had increased to 126 million. As the crown had so much debt it was unable to carry out the ever so needed reforms to France that it needed , the effects of the lack of money were felt throughout France which caused the French people to become more desperate and create a wider sense of anger towards those who were unaffected by the  situation, this situation could be seen a s one of the many cases of the French revolution as it provided the French people with a reason  to accept the new views of the enlightenment and provide a platform for action to happen based on their feeling and what was happening in France at the time. Arguably it could be said that this was more important that the enlightenment as a cause for the French revolution , it neither could have happened without ht e other , so therefore the enlightenment can still be said to be the main reason for the outbreak of the revolution as it mas more important than the financial satiation of France in spreading revolutionary beliefs and encouraging people to take action.