4.9 Causes of the French Revolution

Old Regime Inequalities

France's Old Regime divided society into three estates: clergy, nobility, and commoners. The Third Estate (98% of the population) paid most taxes while enjoying few privileges, unlike the tax-exempt nobility and clergy. This structural inequality bred deep resentment, especially among the rising bourgeoisie who had wealth but no political power.

Financial Crisis & Enlightenment Ideas

France faced bankruptcy from costly wars, including aid to the American Revolution, and Louis XVI's lavish spending. Enlightenment ideas about natural rights, social contracts, and popular sovereignty (Rousseau, Locke) spread widely, encouraging people to question absolute monarchy and demand representative government.

Immediate Triggers

Poor harvests in 1788 caused bread prices to soar, sparking widespread hunger and unrest. Louis XVI's weak leadership and failed reform attempts forced him to call the Estates-General in 1789. When the Third Estate was denied equal voting power, it broke away, forming the National Assembly and igniting revolution.

Key terms

Old Regime

France's pre-revolutionary social and political system divided into three estates with unequal privileges.

Third Estate

The commoners, about 98% of the population, who bore most tax burdens and had limited political power.

Bourgeoisie

The educated, wealthy middle class of merchants and professionals who resented exclusion from political power.

Estates-General

Traditional French assembly of the three estates, convened by Louis XVI in 1789 to solve the financial crisis.

Causes of financial crisis

Costly wars (including aiding the American Revolution), lavish royal spending, and an inefficient tax system exempting nobles and clergy.

Try an AP-style question

The Third Estate in 1789 included…

1. commoners from peasants to the rich bourgeoisie
2. the nobility and nobody else
3. the clergy of the Catholic Church only
4. the king and the royal family