Source: Alexandre Debelle / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Inquiry Question: How did economic and environmental factors cause the French Revolution?
Minds On: What would happen if the price of food became very high very quickly? What might cause the price of food to go up?What would happen if the price of food became very high very quickly? What might cause the price of food to go up?
At this point we have examined the overall social structure of France represented by the Three Estates and the society of orders. We have studied the absolute monarchy established by King Louis XIV and the Palace of Versailles. Furthermore, we have outlined some of the key political ideas proposed by first the English and then the French philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. In this lesson we will consider the social and economic conditions of France just prior to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789.
This is a good time to start considering the concept of causality (cause and consequence). The social structure of France, its absolutist government, and the new ideas of the Enlightenment are all causes of the French Revolution. However, the extent to which each individual factor caused the Revolution is a matter of some debate. While you engage in this lesson keep thinking about causality and the extent to which poor economic conditions were a cause for change.
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“Why is the great number of hard-working, innocent men who till the land every day of the year that you may eat all its fruits, scorned, vilified, oppressed, robbed; and why is it that the useless and often very wicked man who lives only by their work, and who is rich only through their poverty, is on the contrary respected, courted, considered?”
Dictionnaire philosophique, written by French philosopher Voltaire in 1764.
In Summary…
By the spring of 1789 several financial and economic problems in France had reached a crisis point. The French monarchy was bankrupt and massively in debt. In other words, they had no money left and also had to pay back money they had borrowed. Fighting wars against the British had stretched the limited financial resources of the state. Meanwhile, the living conditions of the French people became very serious due to widespread foot shortages caused by a long winter and the failure of the 1788 harvest. To make matters worse, the king, the Church, and the nobility continued to demand taxes from the people. Paris in 1789 was a city on the edge of violence as poor labourers struggled to pay for bread.
It was at this moment that King Louis XVI made a fateful decision, to summon a meeting of the Estates General at Versailles. This meeting, beginning in the summer of 1789, would lead to the outbreak of Revolution in France. Resistance to absolutist rule, the new ideas of the Enlightenment, and the rigid social structure of France all contributed to open resistance to the King’s authority and demands for a new political system.
Key Terminology
| Bankruptcy | A state of having no money left. |
| King Louis XVI | The King of France from 1774-1792. He was the grandson of Louis XV who was in turn the grandson of Louis XIV. An especially unremarkable king, Louis XVI had little love for his office and lacked the confidence and attention to detail of his predecessors. |
| Arthur Young | An English agriculturalist who traveled through France from 1788-1790. Upon returning to England he published an account of his journey titled Travels in France. This is an important eyewitness account of the French countryside in the years immediately preceding and during the French Revolution. |
| Harvest Failures of 1788 | Bad weather and poor farming practices resulted in a very low harvest in the autumn of 1788. Making matters worse the winter was especially long and cold. In the spring widespread flooding made it difficult to plant the next year’s crops. Consequently, the price of bread increased rapidly and cities like Paris were on the verge of starvation by the summer of 1789. |
| American Revolution | Inspired by Enlightenment ideas of equality, liberty, and property rights, the American colonists rebelled against British rule in 1775. Louis XVI saw an opportunity to win a war against Britain and provided financial and military assistance to the Americans. This decision bankrupted the French government. |
CISH Modern History 