What Caused The French Revolution

Throughout global history, there have been major political, economic, social, and cultural revolutions. They are forced overthrows of governments or social order in favor of a new system. Revolutions have had complex causes and left lasting impacts on people’s lives. One of the major uprisings is the French Revolution which altered the course of modern history. The four categories of revolutions are political, economic, social, and cultural. Aristotle observed that revolutions cause either complete change or a modification in the existing system. Political revolutions are overthrows or alterations of the country’s existing government. Economic revolutions are rapid changes in the economic system of a society. Social revolutions are reorganizations of the classes and structure of a society. Cultural revolutions are movements that change societal values and expectations.

A major cause of the revolution was the spread of Enlightenment ideas such as the rejection of the divine right theory, belief in human reason, general will of the people, and free speech. Also, the utter resentment of King Louis XVI, the First Estate, and the Second Estate by the Third Estate contributed to the revolution. The reason for this hatred was the privileges the upper classes received at the expense of the Third Estate. They had to repay all the debts of the wars the French participated in previously and were the only class that paid taxes. In addition to the discontent, food scarcity due to crop failure led to higher prices for bread. This increase in the cost for food was the last straw for the common people of Paris who were already suffering from the economic and agricultural problems of