preview

Economic Causes Of The French Revolution

Decent Essays

The French Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1789 was a traumatic movement that had an affect on both France and the world during the late 17th and early 18th century. This Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1814, for it made a large impact on the nation that caused a turning point in the history of the world. During this time, many events occurred like the executing of KIng Louis XIV and the rule of Napoleon. There are many reasons to cause a revolution, but this revolution had both economic and political causes. During this time, France was under absolute power of Louis XIV, and he believed in divine right. This means that he got the right to rule and be in power from God. in the document it says “He appointed all civil …show more content…

The highest group was the First Estate, this was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility and the Third Estate was everyone else. The Third Estate included; peasants, merchants, commoners, and anybody that didn't have a family generation of nobility. In the document it says “the population of the third estate was highest and they owned the most land because they did all the works. They also had to pay every cent of the tax money while the Second and Third payed not one penny” (document 2). This type of class division was extremely unfair to the Third Estate, a woman writes “the taxes and laws are crushing us” (document 3). This shows two things, one is that she is in the 3rd estate because she pays taxes and two is that this is not only her that feels this way. So many other people in the society feel this way too. After the death of King, Napoleon was the power. In the document it says “Terror used to execute enemies of the regime” (document 4). This shows that the people feared leaving their homes because they didn't want to be killed by Napoleon. When Napoleon went around killing the “enemies” this was a time called The Reign of Terror. In the document it says “We feared to go out,in case,without realizing it, we committed some transgression...we hardly spoke to anyone, for there were spies everywhere,and we jumped at each knock at the door, fearing arrest” (document 6). So this really did

Get Access