POLITICAL CAUSES

• France was ruled by the Bourbon dynasty. Louis XIV was a strong and powerful ruler of the Bourbon dynasty. His wars ruined the economy of France.
• His successors Louis XV and Louis XVI were weak administrators.
• Tension between centralizing and decentralizing power: An attempt to centralize the authority was going on. The Kings, who could only call the meeting of the Estates General, a political body of the three Estates had not called its meeting since 1614.
• Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy, Britain which added more than a billion Livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion Livres.
• Louis XVI’s wife was beautiful but ’empty-headed’, Marie Antoinette, squandered money on festivities and interfered in state appointments in order to promote her favorites. Louis, too, showered favours and pensions upon his friends.
• An extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles also cost a lot.
• To meet its regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities, the state was forced to increase taxes.
• The state was always faced by financial troubles as one would expect. Keeping huge armies and waging wars made matters worse.
• Conflict between the Monarchy and Aristocrats over the “reform” of the tax system led to paralysis and bankruptcy.
• The fragmentation of an existing polity into two or more blocs, each of which exercises control over some part of the government and lays claim to its exclusive control over the government.
• A revolutionary situation continues until a single, sovereign polity is reconstituted.
• The government’s monopoly of power & force is effectively challenged by some groups who no longer recognize its legitimate authority, no longer grant it loyalty, and no longer obey its commands.
• Clash between Crown and Nobility: The crown had deprived the nobility of its political power but left them with various privileges. They were bitterly hostile to the growing power of the Royal Government.

ECONOMIC CAUSES

• • Brink of Bankruptcy: Participation of France in numerous wars during the 17th and 18th century had drained the financial resources of the country. Also Louis VI and his predecessor wasteful spending left the country on the brink of bankruptcy.

• Inflation:

• • • Harsh weather witnessed from 1787, when a cereal crisis on account of catastrophic hailstorm, harsh winter and drought pushed up the prices of grains and bread between 50 and 100 percent.
    • In a population of 25,000,000 people, these two classes together owned about 40 percent of the total land of France. Their incomes came primarily from their large land-holdings.

• Subsistence Crisis:

• • Before 1789 Society, France witnessed situations when the wages of the workers did not keep pace with the rice in prices of bread, the staple diet of the people.
  • A minority of these also depended on pensions and gifts from the king.
  • They considered it beneath their dignity to trade or to be engaged in manufacture or to do any work.
• Defective Tax Structure: Nobility and Clergy were exempted from payment of taxes and the burden to finance the Royal coffers fell upon the rest of the population raised a matter of resentment.

SOCIAL CAUSES

• Feudal social Structure:

• • • The French Society and its institutions before 1789 has been usually described as the Old Regime.
    • The French Society in the eighteenth century was feudal in nature, a remnant of the middle ages. The Society was uncompromisingly stratified.

• Grievance of the Third Estate

• • • Peasants:
      • Poverty of the Peasantry due to backward methods of farming.
      • Over-population and overcrowding of agriculture; and shortage of land and uneconomical land holdings.
      • Steep increase in the prices of industrial goods but not of agricultural goods and; heavy and innumerable taxes and other dues of the Church, nobles and state.
    • Bourgeoisie:
      • Sprawling middle class resented the privileges of the first two estates more than any other section and were the most ardent opponents of the old order.
      • Being educated with more resources and better organized, they rallied all the opponents of the old regime and led the movement.
    • Urban workers: they joined the revolutionary forces mainly because of their unenviable working and living conditions.

• Uneven Distribution of Resources:

• • • The French Society primarily comprised peasants, around 90 percent of the total population.
    • But only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated as about 60 percent of the land was owned by nobles, clergy and richer members of the third states.

• Feudal Privileges and Taxes

• • While the nobles and the clergy were exempted from paying taxes, the masses paid all the taxes. Hence it was said: “the nobles fight, the clergy pray and the people pay”.
  • The taille or land tax was entirely paid by the peasant.
  • The gabelle or salt tax was a burden on the common man.
  • The head of each family had to pay the capitation tax. Besides paying these taxes to the king, they have to pay tithe (tax) to the Church.

FINANCIAL CAUSES

• France’s involvement in the American Revolution leading to increased taxation at home and reduction in privileges. A financial crisis manifested itself in a growing deficit.
• Attempts by Louis XVI to improve the situation by levying a uniform tax from all the Three Estates raised resentment among the Estates.
• The financial condition of France was very critical during the reign of Louis XVI.
• The national debt had increased beyond the limit.
• The national income was less than national expenditure. Hence, the king tried to mobilize national income by selling important offices of the government.
• The burden on the peasants was higher than the others because he had certain other obligations to the nobles.
• They were forced to use the mill, wine-press, slaughterhouse and oven of their lords after paying the usual dues.
• They were also compelled to render feudal services to the lords.

CULTURAL CAUSES

• John Locke: His book named ‘Two Treatises of Government’ in which he criticized the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau: His book named ‘Social Contract’, in which he proposed a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives. He said that the real sovereignty rests with the people.
• Montesquieu: His book named ‘The Spirit of the Laws’ in which he proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.
• Voltaire: Creativity is the biggest force, freedom of expression, supporter of the Parliamentary system of government. He attacked the dominance of Catholic Church. He stood for religious toleration.