French Revolution

The French Revolution lasted from 1789 to 1799. The decline of absolutism in the eighteenth century has questionable led to possible causes of the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a civil dispute between the emerging bourgeoisie class and those in the aristocracy. The aristocracy was the only thing that separated the bourgeoisie class from the upper classes; it was the only thing that prevented them from being essentially equal within the French society. The autocratic monarchy, the increasingly anachronistic 'feudal' society and the temporal power of an established but discredited Church, all gave rise to problems and conflicts that tended to increase in intensity towards the end of the century.

The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes with in the French society. The French Revolution was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution also led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. It also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people. Before the beginning of the Revolution, only moderate reforms were wanted by the people. An example of why they wanted this was because of King Louis XIV's actions. At the end of the seventeenth century; King Louis XIV's wars began decreasing the royal finances dramatically. This financial crisis worsened during the eighteenth century when the French government underwent an economic crisis. This economic crisis resulted from the long wars waged during the reign of Louis XIV, the losses incurred in the French and Indian War, and increased indebtedness arising from loans to the American colonies during the American Revolution. The American Revolution showed that they got economical and political freedom from Britain, however this liberalism sparked many revolutions in Europe, but in France the ideas of the Enlightenment and liberalism were put to their fullest test. The use of the money by Louis XIV angered the people and they wanted a new system of government, this only furthered the French Revolution.

Another cause of the French Revolution was that the Estate-General had to convene. Increasing political pressure and being faced with the total collapse of its finances, the Old Regime began to unravel. Almost immediately tempers arose regarding voting procedures in the upcoming Estates-General. In its last meeting, voting had been organized by estate, with each of the three estates meeting separately and each having one vote. In this way the privileged classes had combined to outvote the third estate, which included more than 90 percent of the population. This angered the lower class people who were already suffering from an economic crisis, and poor weather conditions which had ruined their harvests. As a result, the price of bread, the most important food of the poorer classes had increased. Violence grew in both the cities and the countryside, during the spring and summer. While hungry artisans revolted in urban areas, starved peasants searched the provinces for food and work. These vagrants were rumored to be armed agents of landlords hired to destroy crops and harass the common people. Many rural peasants began to panic; this is known as the Great Fear. They attacked the homes of their landlords to protect local grain supplies and to reduce rents on their land.

Another cause of the French Revolution was the fall of Bastille. The falling of the Bastille marked a turning point; attempts at reform had become a full-scale revolution. The destruction of the Bastille touched off rural unrest throughout France. The sporadic rebellion that followed the destruction of the Bastille, which is generally described as the Great Fear, has almost universally been treated as an attack on feudalism. On the morning of July peasants invaded the military hospital of the Invalides where they seized thousands of rifles without incident. Then they laid siege to the Bastille, an old fortress that had once been a major royal prison, where gunpowder was stored. There the small barracks did resist and a ferocious firefight erupted. Dozens of citizens were hit providing the first martyrs of the Revolution, but the garrison soon capitulated. As they left, several were massacred by the infuriated crowd. Meanwhile, patriot electors ousted royal officials of the Paris city government, replaced them with a revolutionary municipality, and organized a citizen's militia or National Guard to patrol the city. Similar municipal revolutions occurred in 26 of the 30 largest French