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The Controllable Causes Of The French Revolution

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The Controllable Causes Of The French Revolution
French Revolution

One of the most studied times in history is the French Revolution. With all of the violence, blood and murder, this time period is truly fascinating and is still studied to this day. Multiple factors played into the French Revolution, but the most significant causes are Social, Economic and Political.

When people talk about the French Revolution one of the most common words that comes up is estate. During the French Revolution people lived by a social hierarchy that put ordinary people in the third estate, nobles in the second estate, and the clergy in the first estate. This social hierarchy gave people in the third estate less power, and more disadvantages. One of these disadvantages was taxation. During the French revolution
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Some causes of the revolution were not because of people, but instead uncontrollable factors. France experienced a supply shock in 1785 - 1789 which ruined harvest in Northern France. This event could not have been predicted and caused starvation in the third estates. People were angered by the fact that king Louis XVI was eating an absurd amount of food and was not giving any of it to people. The only food source people had was now unbuyable because of its scarcity and the cost. Although there were uncontrollable factors such as weather, there was most definitely a controllable factor. The national treasury had been losing lots of money during the revolution and one of the causes was Marie Antoinette's careless spending on luxurious goods. Although 98% of the population was starving, the queen would buy all these expensive items. Her actions led to the quicker emptying of the national treasury, which was already losing more than it would earn. This shows that economic instability was one of the leading causes of the French Revolution. The decisions of a few people can influence something on a large scale and that is exactly what happened with King Louis XVI when it came to

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