West European Studies

French revolution is a period of 10 years in the history of France and Europe in which fundamental social and political disturbances were experienced. The society experienced major transformations. Old ideas of the chain of command were gotten rid of and in their place, new principles of nationality and indisputable rights were put in place. The revolution started in the year 1789 in which the estate general was convocated. In June of the first year, third estate affiliates announced The Tennis Court Oath after which Bastille assault followed in July. In August, the rights of man and citizen were approved and announced after which a heroic match was staged on October that made the royal court to return to Paris. The years that followed were filled with tensions among different moderate assemblies and conservative kingdoms that were as a result of the reforms that were taking place.

In September 1792, a republic was formed after which King Louis XVI was murdered a year after. This revolution was also silently influenced by outside threats. Revolutionary wars began in 1792 which saw stunning French victories as a result of which Italian Peninsula, Low Countries together with territories west of Rhine were captured, something which had challenged previous governments for a long period. This revolution was radicalized within, in a major way as a result of success that had been achieved. This led to the vicious reign of fear in the years 1793 and 1794. After the defeat of Robespierre together with Jacobins, the Directory took over power 1795 until 1799 after which Consulate took over under Bonaparte Napoleon. While the revolution was growing the modern era was slowly coming into place with republicans and moderate democrats coming into existence, modern  ideologies being embraced, total war invention together with the increase of secularism.
French revolution came about because of a number of factors that existed during that time. Some of these factors include political social and also intellectual factor.

Intellectual factors
According to Crafton and Lisa (p.47), majority of the middle class people together with the working class had embraced the idea of individual freedom together with equality. These ideas were brought by philosophers such as Turgot, Voltaire, Diderot and many other philosophers.
American Revolution also played an important role that through it, they were able to learn that it was possible for enlightenment ideas about government organization to put in place. Interaction of some of the American philosophers with French intellectuals and French troops who had helped them in the American Revolution helped spread revolutionary ideas in France. Many citizens started opposing the nature of the government which was undemocratic at the time and advocated for freedom to speak and they went ahead to challenge some of the privileges that the rich were enjoying together with the roman church.

Economic factors
Debt prior to the revolution, the French government had run deep in debt to the extent that it could be declared bankrupt. This was because of the wasteful way in which Louis XIV was spending money on luxuries together with the heavy expenditure during the seven years of war and Americas war for independency.

Taxation because France was not among the leading trading nations, it needed to raise government income from internal taxation other than external sources such as external tariffs. Tax collection was contracted to individual firms who were at liberty to increase the amount of tax to any level even above the level the government required. This led to random and uneven collection of the governments consumption tax. Salt taxes were also collected during winter in form of forced labor. Peasants had other responsibilities to their landlords where by they were expected to pay their rent in cash, pay for their produce depending on the quantity of produce and they were also taxed whenever they used mills, bakeries and together with wine presses.

Public officials were compelled to buy their position from the king together with hereditary rights. These officials could then try to recover their expenses through their appointments like in lawsuit where judges were given some fees with the parties involved. This meant that only the rich could access justice. This system also exempted the upper class together from the priests from taxes. This meant that the burden of paying tax rested upon wage earners, professional and business classes and also peasants. They were also locked out of government position, these together with other factors led to unrest that was experienced.

Social Factors
Failure of reforms during the rule of Louis XV and Louis XVI, several attempts to change the tax system that was in operational at the time were all futile. This is because of the constant resistance that was encountered from the courts. Because court members bought their positions from the king together with their hereditary rights, this often elevated them to the upper class. Although the upper class and the king were always conflicting, when it came to issues that affected them both such as privileges they enjoyed, they could agree in favor.

Because the upper class disagreed with the kings call for raise in taxes, the king resulted to appointing men whose origin was non-noble. Revision of the tax system and any changes such as attempts to cut down expenditures in the kings court did not succeed. Instead, Charles Alexander, who had been appointed as minister for finance in 1783, restored the lavish spending of the king. By the time the assembly of Notables was gathered to look into the financial situation, the state was already in state of partial bankruptcy the king had no enough money to run the government at the same time, run the court and there was no one who could lend him credit.

Although Calonne was replaced by Etienne who was his greatest critic, the situation still remained the same in which the government didnt have credit. An effort to solve this problem was made in which a provincial assembly was established, corn trade regulated, corvees abolished and new tax stamp was introduced, but it broke up .

Transparency It is said that, the debt was not so much an issue but the way it was reflected to the people through Enlightenment principles together with Estate creditors who were constantly increasing in power. People could have gotten used to the reality of the government not being able to meet its financial obligations because under a period of two centuries, it had failed more than 66 times. Earlier on, such misfortunes could not be discussed nor announced in public. This led to the public outcry towards the situation. Unsuccessful government struggles with the courts in enacting these measures showed the first sign that the old regime was about to break. In consequent struggles, rights of Protestants were restored after which an annual publication of the financial state together with convocation within 5 years of Estates-General was promised by Louis XVI. Despite the continued reign of the ancient regime, it was clear that the government could not effect whichever change it desired without approval of the nobility.

Famine the above problems were accompanied by scarcity of food in the 1780s which had resulted from a cycle of crop failure. This led to grain shortage as a result the prices of bread skyrocketed. Because most peasants relied on bread for survival, this caused starvation among the poor peasants. Two years prior to the revolution, France experienced poor harvests and harsh weather conditions that could have resulted from a strong Nino cycle brought about by an eruption at island. So majority of the peasants relied on charity for survival. The peasantry class was filled with the desire to reverse the social inequality and bring to an end food shortages. They staged a bread riot which evolved to be the major cause of French revolution.

Indeed, inequality among the issues of governance in the French government prompted French revolution. Policies that exploited the poor in taxes and others that denied them justice together with lack of proper budgeting led to the government running into debt. This together with famine and other factors such as starvation provided enough need for change in France which could not have come at a better time than that.