Essay
Causes of the French Revolution
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
A level A-Grade essay marked by Head of History on causes on the French Revolution
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How accurate is it to say that the failings of Louis XVI and his ministers in the 1780s were themain reason for the onset of the French Revolution in 1789?
The French revolution started with the dramatic act of defiance against the Louis and his
position as an absolutist monarch in the tennis court oath on the 20th of June 1789 during
the meeting of the Estates-General. I think that the main reason for the onset of the French
Revolution in 1789 was the failings of Louis XVI and his finance ministers as their mistakes
and poor judgement meant in 1789 revolution was assured. We must consider other factors
like the Parlements refusing reforms and demanding a constitutional monarchy as well as
the enlightenment emboldening people to go against the ancient regime and change
fundamental flaws in French society. We can judge these factors through criteria of whether
they caused direct revolutionary action or if they stopped the avoidance of a revolution.
The main reason for the reason for the onset of the French Revolution in 1789 was the
failings of Louis XVI and his ministers because they put France into bankruptcy causing huge
amounts of desperate social unrest and their poor political judgement made it almost
impossible to avoid revolution. We can first see their failures in the decision to go to fight in
the American War of Independence which, with Necker financing through loans with high
interest rates, raised national debt in France by a huge £1.3b livres by itself. This increased
debt directly caused by Necker and Louis was significant as compounded with poor harvests
in the 1780’s, it led to France being declared bankrupt in 1788 which caused drastic
realisation for fundamental change which was critical at the start of the revolution with the
tennis court oath. A second key failure was Calonne misjudging the assembly of notables
and not played to their interests more which he knew having uncounted many as an
interndant which resulted in his tax reforms getting rejected. This failure was very significant
as it was at a crucial stage in 1886-87 where the French finances could still be saved and
could have satisfied peoples desires for change as reform to taxation was one of the main
issues brought forward in the cahier de doleances. Another deficiency of Calonne was by
involving the most amount of public opinion since 1771 to try and pass his reforms, it meant
widespread anger was fuelled towards the despotic ancient regime as people saw how
Calonne himself was called the ‘embodiment of ministerial despotism’ and Louis gained
much criticism from being despotic when issuing a lit de justice at the royal session in
November 1987 even though the democratic vote would have gone his way. Finally, at the
Estates-General where many people hoped their problems would be solved, Necker’s and
Louis’s poor political judgement and management made sure that representatives from
each estate left wanting fundamental change from the ancient regime causing revolution.
An example is Necker making a very long speech at the opening but addressing no solutions
to solve the many problems in the cahier de doleances and Louis refusing equal
representation of the 3rd estate whilst also having the terrible judgement to lock the doors
of the Salon des Menus Plaisirs (where the third estate had been meeting) making them feel
worthless under his rule causing them to form the tennis court oath. This is significant as it
means a failure of Louis directly led to the formation of the National Assembly and the
tennis court oath which was the start of the revolution as by calling for a constitutional
monarchy it puts the National Assembly on a collision course with absolutist king Louis. On
the other hand, many of the riots that led to the revolution like the Rèveillon riots were
about economic problems but these economic problems were created through the
incompetence of Louis’ ministers and himself. Another would be the most powerful attacks
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