Causes And Effects Of The French Revolution

From the early years in a student’s education they have a simple idea of what the French Revolution was. It was such a turning point in European history that it becomes common knowledge in people’s mind to know that it happened. But the real importance of the revolution stems from its actual causes and effects that impacted the world in the 1700’s and continues to so so today. The major problems in the social, political, and economic divisions of France is what fueled the want for reform, leading to the events that ultimately caused the tension in the country to build up and spill over, leaving behind a broken France, but set the stage for more movements and changes in lifestyle across Europe.
France was overridden with problems in it’s economy, political standpoints, and social classes that fueled the push towards a revolution. The French monarchy was “burdened with massive debts accumulated through military expenditure in the Seven Years’ War and the War of American Independence, unable to raise enough in taxation to pay down the debts, coming dangerously close to borrowing more simply to keep the government’s candles lit, Louis XVI’s ministers were, by the mid-1780s, in dire straits” (Andress). Peasants had to bear the heaviest taxes, despite having the least to spare,while bad harvest led to the threat of starvation for peasants as bread prices dramatically went up (Kagan). The government was scrambling to fix its financial issues, all while angering the middle and lower