In reference to our text, The French Revolution of 1789 can be linked to a number of factors. First, the growing resentment of royal absolutism and an out of control aristocracy. Second, The growing influence of enlightenment ideas. Third, severe food shortage in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the bloodshed. Fourth, resentment of highly taxed land that peasants had to rely on to survive. And finally, an unmanageable national debt that was caused by a severely flawed and corrupt taxation system. These are undoubtedly reasons attributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
The monarchy and aristocracy before the French Revolution was responsible for a flawed tax system, which consisted of heavy internal tariffs, and in which kings and lords would handle their fiscal affairs by simply raising taxes on the peasants that were paying for their land. King Louis XVI’s monarchy was broke and in dire need of financial solutions so he was forced to convene with the Estates General. The Estates General consisted of the clergy, the nobles, and the common people and was brought up to propose solutions to financial problems. The National Assembly was formulated within the common peoples section of the Estates General and which eventually lead the storm on Bastille which sparked the French Revolution. Furthermore, the American Revolution made rebelling against a monarchy and starting a monarchy a reality for the French which probably encouraged them greatly.
Philosophers like Voltaire and Denis Diderot were influential persons in the realm of enlightenment. The ideology of freedom and equality became more popular around the common people and even people of nobility which can be attributed to enlightenment and philosophers such as these. The enlightenment was responsible for monarchy becoming a less accepted form of government and further pushed the movement to a more democratic government. Different crop failures in the 1780s were the...