About the French Revolution

Just before the French Revolution, the economic situation was so bad that a loaf of bread would cost a peasant a week’s worth of wages! The poor population of France was starving to death while the nobility continued to live a life of luxury. These atrocities snowballed into the French Revolution. Let us learn about it.

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Introduction To French Revolution

In the year 1789, French Revolution started leading to a series of the events started by the middle class. The people had revolted against the cruel regime of the monarchy. This revolution had put forth the ideas of liberty, fraternity as well as equality.

The start of the revolution took place on the morning of 14^th July 1789 in the state of Paris with the storming of the Bastille which is a fortress prison. The Bastille stood for the repressive power of the king due to which it was hated by all. The revolt became so strong that the fortress was eventually demolished.

Causes of French Revolution

Although there were innumerable causes and reasons for the French Revolution a few have been found to be the main culprits. These causes can be divided accordingly

Social Cause

As over the old regime, the French society and institution are described much before 1789 wherein the society was divided into three estates–the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.

The first state included the group of people who were involved in the church matters known as clergy. The second estate includes people who are highly ranked in state administration known as nobility. The first two estates enjoy all the privileges right from the birth and are even exempted from any kind of taxes to the state. The third estate comprises of big businessmen, court, lawyers, officials, artisans, peasants, servants and even landless laborer. This estate usually were the ones who must bear the taxes.

Economic Cause

The population of France had risen between 1715 and 1789 from about 23 million to 28 million. This, in turn, leads to surplus demand for food grains, further leading to lack of pace in the production cycle as relative to demand – ultimately leading to rice in price for the food grains.

Majority of the laborers who worked in the workshops didn’t see any increase in their wages. And the taxes were not lowered. This had eventually lead to a worst-case crisis leading to food grain scarcity or also known as Subsistence Crisis that occurred frequently during the old regime.

Political Cause

The long years of war had turned France into a dry land with almost no financial resources. During the year 1774, Louis XVI came into power and found nothing. In his reign, France helped the 13 American colonies to gain independence from Britain, who was their common enemy.

The state during this time was forced to increase the taxes as they had to meet the regular expense that included the cost of upholding an army, running government offices or universities and running governments.

The Legacy of French Revolution

The most important legacy of the French Revolution were its ideas of Liberty and Democratic rights which spread progressively in the 19^th century from France to the rest of Europe where the feudal system was abolished. These ideas were later adopted by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Tipu Sultan, the famous Indian revolutionary strugglers.

Solved Question for You

Question: Describe the legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the 19^th and the 20^th centuries?

Ans: The legacy of the French Revolution for the peoples of the world during the 19^th and the 20^th centuries are as followed –

• The spread of ideas of equality, as well as democratic, brought about a huge difference from France to other European Countries. The feudalism was abolished.
• The ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity was adopted.
• The declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens allowed them the freedom of speech, equality before law and right to life.
• Women were also given rights including where they couldn’t be forced to get married against will, divorce was made legal and right to education was made compulsory to train for their jobs.