The French Revolution

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1. 1774, King Louis XVI ascended the throne of France at the age of 20. He was married to Marie Antoinette and led an extravagant life.
2. He decided to support the American War of Independence and hence increased France’s debt to over 3 billion Livres.
3. The 18th century French society was divided into three estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy.
4. The 18th century French society was divided into three estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy.
5. The second estate comprised the nobility while the third estate, which formed about 97% of the population, consisted of the merchants, officials, peasants, artisans and servants.
6. The clergy and nobility did not have to pay any taxes. It was only the third estate that paid taxes.
7. A part of third class called the middle class was part of the third estate.
8. This group consisted of educated people such as teachers, lawyers, artisans and merchants.
9. They started to question the privileges being enjoyed by the nobility.

1. The eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of social groups, termed the middle class, who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods such as woollen and silk textiles.
2. Philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau envisaged a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all.
3. Locke refuted the doctrine of the divine and absolute rights of the monarch.
4. Rousseau proposed a form of government based on a social contract between people and their reprentatives.
5. Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

1. Most workers were employed as labourers in workshops whose owner fixed their wages.
2. But wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So the gap between the poor and the rich widened.
3. Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest.
4. This led to a subsistence crisis.
5. Subsistence crisis is An extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered.

1. The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for foodgrains.
2. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.