Cause Of The French Revolution

Causes of the French Revolution The French Revolution was a long lasting, ten-year period beginning in 1789 and eventually ending in 1799. It marked one of the most important events in history, leading to many transformations throughout France. At the time, France was the most powerful state in Europe but it still took part in the Revolution. During this era, France had been socially unstable. Although dividing the classes into three estates seemed as if it were a great idea, these estates were treated unequally. While the other estates enjoyed their privileges, the Third estate did not own any equal rights. To add to this inequality, the third estate was given numerous economical issues. Citizens of the third estate had to pay all the
The people of this estate were to pay taxes while the wealthier nobilities were exempt from taxes. The nobles owned land and received little financial income. Although people of the third estate owned fewer land, they were forced to pay heavy taxes. As educated professor and historian, Steven Kreis, 
 mentioned in The Origins of the French Revolution, “By 1789, France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions did not pay taxes of any kind. … And of course, it was simply brilliant planning to continue to tax the peasants - peasants who, having nothing to contribute were, over the course of the century, forced to contribute even more.” The deficit spending greatly affected the peasants, leaving them tremendously deprived and underprivileged. They were forced to pay taxes that they simply could not handle. On top of this heavy tax inflation, the price of bread rose significantly. Bread was the staple food of the third estate. They relied on it, and as the price rose the people of the third estate because much poorer. As English writer and traveler, Arthur Young, mentioned in Travels in France, “The price of bread has risen above people’s ability to pay. This causes great misery” (Document 1). The change in bread prices affected people to the point of causing depression. This was a major problem due to the fact that even a foreigner could identify these struggles. These obstacles caused the third estate to become extremely poor and vulnerable. The amount of pressure and reliance on these peasants led to the economical issues providing the people with great poverty. This burden was one of the causes resulting in the French