What Was The Main Cause Of The French Revolution

In 1789 France was divided into a social hierarchy that deemed over 90% of the population struggling to feed their families, the France we know today was shaped by the work and death of thousands of French citizens fighting for equality and liberty. The corrupt Catholic Church and government system at the time was completely broken down. The revolution reshaped France as an egalitarian society with the shift of power.
Before the French revolution in 1789 France was ruled by the social and political system known as the Ancien Regime, this divided France into layers of estates sorted by the privilege people were born into. The first layer was made up of the absolute monarch, King Louis XVI was appointed the top of the pyramid by god’s will and
was therefore closest to god, making him worthy of ruling the country and endorsing the laws. The next layer in the social hierarchy was the second estate; this consisted of the nobles, the nobles of the sword, and the nobles of the robe. The first estate, the clergy, were exempt from most taxed due to the nature of their relationship with the king, the ancient regime believed that the privileged should not have to pay as much tax as the peasants because their position in the social order deemed them more worthy of a wealthy lifestyle than the peasants who made up most of the third estate.
In 1789 France’s growing economic destruction and downfall sparked the early stages of the French revolution, this was primarily the cause of the monarchy’s lack of funding to the farm land that was generating the country’s main revenue, since Louis xvi cared little for the citizens of France the majority of people were in deep poverty turning them against the monarchy.
A contributing factor to the revolt of the people can be seen in the way the majority of France was treated, the Ancien regime was cruel, and the social hierarchy deemed most of the population unwilling to move their way up regardless of the skills they possessed. The philosophes of pre-revolutionary France were another contributing factor that sparked the French revolution, at the time the catholic church was the dominant religion and the philosophes aimed to break down the pillars of society and expose the true faces of the most powerful demographic on France, writing about the corrupt church and the careless monarchy; the people soon realised that they deserved to have a say. Revolution was not only sparked by the idealistic writings of the philosophes opposing the church and current government system, but also the large growth of peasants raising their voices. In 1789 576 members of the public signed the ‘tennis court oath’ deciding to bring down the monarchy. After the first events of the revolution the current powers of France were sent into panic resulting in violence, war, and ultimately Louis XVI
fleeing the country, leading to his execution.

With the exception of the National Assembly, the common people decided to take a stand against injustice, inspired by the American War of Independence.
The people of France gathered in the streets of Paris on July 14, 1789 to storm the Bastille and release the 7 prisoners and collect weapons, ultimately making a statement and showing the leaders of France that they will not back down. On August 12, 1789, the Declaration of rights of man and citizen was created by the national assembly stating that “Men are born and remain free and are equal in rights.” (S. Kreis 2014) Not only did this motivate the people to fight for a more egalitarian society but it struck fear into the absolute monarch; at this point in time Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were panicking about how they would defeat the revolutionaries and regain their power. In 1792 the monarchy in France was abolished, marking the end of the rule of the king, and establishing France as a liberal republic. Although the hierarchy and corrupt system was broken down the national assembly, now the national assembly still opted to abolish ‘anti revolutionaries’ guillotining people who were suspected to be against the actions of the revolution, this ‘reign of terror’ marked one of the bloodiest battles France has ever seen. On June 20th 1791 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette fled to Varennes after escaping prison. The citizens believed that the royals were hoarding grain, so the women of France marched to the palace seeking Marie
Antoinette. Finally in of January 1793 Louis XVI was guillotined for treason at the Place de la Révolution (Revolution square) soon followed by Marie Antoinette in October 1973 finally abolishing all traces of the monarchy in France.
For the entire struggle that the revolutionaries went through the common people of France still had very little, but the new government promised a hopeful future. From the events of 1789 to 1792 the power in France had completely shifted, from an absolute monarchy, to a national assembly, to a just government. The change of power frightened other ruling monarchs in surrounding country’s after witnessing what an uprising could do to their privilege.