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Running head: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution
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Institutional Affiliation

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The French Revolution

Introduction
The French revolution may be defined as a period of far-reaching political and social upheaval
beginning the year 1789 in both France and its colonies. The events of the revolution led to the
existing monarchy being overthrown, a republic was established as well as the existence of
violent periods of political turmoil. The above happenings culminated in a dictatorship led by
Napoleon, who applied principles that he used in areas he conquered in Western Europe. The
revolution is known to have succeeded in altering the course of modern history that was
characterized by absolute monarchies and replacing them with liberal democracies as well as
republics. Over this period, a wave of global conflicts was extended from the Caribbean to the
Middle East, and this consequently led to the revolution being named one of the most important
events in human history (Goodwin, 2016). Historians over the years have tried to identify various
causes of the revolution. These include the French government being in deep debt due to the
seven-year war and the American revolutionary war hence an attempt to restore its financial
status through unpopular taxation, which turned out to be heavily regressive.
Additionally, yeas of the bad harvests worsened, and numerous cases of environmental problems
were reported. The public also had an inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by
the aristocracy as well as the Catholic clergy of the church at the time. The demands for change
arose, leading to the formulation of enlightenment ideals that contributed to the convocation of
the Estates General in May 1789 (Popkin, 2016). This was followed by the member of the third
estate taking control, an attack on the Bastille in July, the passing of the rights of man and of the
citizen in August and the royal court being forced back to Paris in October after the Women’s

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March on Versailles. Political struggles were witnessed in the next few years between the rightwing supporters of the monarchy that aimed at thwarting major reforms done and various liberal
assemblies. In September 1792, the French victory at Valmy led to the proclamation of the
Republic. A momentous event that led to international condemnation followed where Louis XVI
was executed in January the following year.
The revolution did not come without external threats from other nations. However, popular
agitation that was present internally radicalized the revolution significantly, and as a result, there
was the rise of Maximilien Robespierre as well as the Jacobins. The dictatorship present
established policies such as the abolishment of slavery in French colonies, the use of price
controls on food and other items, expelling of religious leaders after de-establishing the catholic
church as well as the creation of a secular republican calendar. The borders of the new republic
were also secured from the nation’s enemies (Goodwin, 2016). In 1795 an executive council by
the name the Directory assumed control of the French state where it suspended elections,
repudiated debts which later caused financial instability, made military conquests abroad as well
as persecute the Catholic clergy at the time. However, a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte
brought about the collapse of the Directory, and this set a wider array of global conflicts in the
Napoleonic wars. The revolution is known to have globally accelerated the rise of democracies
as well as republics. It also led to the organization of France resources as well as the lives of its
citizens towards achieving the objective of military conquest (Wright, 2016). This research essay
aims at analyzing the various causes, conduct as well as the short term and long term
consequences of the French revolution.
Causes of the French revolution

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Numerous events and factors within the Ancien Regime can be identified as to have contributed
to the rise of the revolution. These factors are generally intertwined in that some depend or led to
the others. They include cultural causes, social, political, financial, economic as well as
environmental causes that led to agricultural failure. The above factors were critical to the
creation of a revolutionary atmosphere which placed Louis XVI in a tricky situation. An
outbreak of the French revolution was evident when the representatives of the third estates
formed the National Assembly against the wishes of the king (Lefebvre, & Tackett, 2015). A
revolutionary situation was created because the king was bankrupt and hence the state. This
came as a result of the government getting involved in funding the American revolutionary war
and the seven years’ war, which were both significant wars. The taxation system imposed on the
citizens proved to be burdensome upon the middle class, and a group of the prosperous peasants
since most of the noble class were able to exempt themselves from it. As a result, reforms were
demanded to institute an equitable means of taxation and the stopping of abuse of privileges by
some government officials.
Social Causes
France as a country had a population of about 26 million people in the 1780s where many of
these were peasant workers in arable and pastoral farms. This population experienced great
hunger in years of the poor harvest, therefore, creating the condition of most French peasants to
be that of poor people (Palmer, 2016). Poverty levels were accelerated by the fact that there was
high social inequality as all the third estate was liable to pay taxes with the noblemen would
claim immunity from this. The peasant citizens were also required to pay tithes to the Catholic
Church, which was also dominated by bishops that were members of the nobility and from
wealthy families. For this reason, the clergy had a great influence over government policy. Some

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of the French kings and ministers there before had tried to suppress the power of the nobles with
limited success.
Political Causes
The period of which Louis XV wad king saw a proposal by two ministers Turgot and Necker to
have the noble class be included in the French tax system. The motion was however met with
great resistance from the provincial courts of appeal whose members often bought positions from
the king. The noble class was keen to maintain their privileges. By th...