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Causes of the French Revolution. The Ancien Regime. 18 th Century France was a feudal society. The country was divided into three classes: Clergy, Nobles, and everyone else. The first two classes contained 3% of the population, and the third class contained 97% of the population.
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The Ancien Regime • 18th Century France was a feudal society. • The country was divided into three classes: Clergy, Nobles, and everyone else. • The first two classes contained 3% of the population, and the third class contained 97% of the population. • Nobles and clergy paid few taxes, but peasants and bourgeois were taxed heavily.
Louis XIV: The Sun King • Ruled from 1643 (when he was four) until his death in 1715. • Ruled as an absolute monarch, and never called on the Estates-General. • Said “L`état c`est moi”: I am the state. • Moved the capital to Versailles. • Involved France in three major wars, which severely depleted the royal treasury.
Louis XV • Ruled from 1715 (age 4) to death in 1774. • Fought the Seven Years War (1756-1763) against Britain, during which France lost most of its colonies to Britain, including New France (Quebec). • These losses, and the extravagance of his court, weakened the treasury and discredited the monarchy.
Louis XVI • Came to power in 1774, at age 20. • Decided to support the American Revolution, as revenge for French losses to Britain in 1763. • Spent over one billion livres on the war, enough to feed and house 7 million French citizens for one year.
Growing Economic Crisis • France is bankrupted by its spending on the Seven Years War and the American Revolution. • Poor harvests in 1788 worsen the crisis. • The price of bread rises to the equivalent of one month’s earning for the average worker. • The court at Versailles continues to spend lavishly.
Response to Crisis • Two different finance ministers, A.R.J. Turgot and Jacques Necker, had tried to tax the nobility to raise money for the government. • Both had been fired by Louis XVI. • Necker was an enlightenment thinker, and was popular with the people.
The Spread of the Enlightenment • Many people, especially in Paris, became influenced by Enlightenment ideals. • These included democracy, equality, and freedom of press and of religion. • Enlightenment thinkers challenged the absolute power of the monarchy, the power of the church, and the privileges of the aristocracy.
