Louis Xvi: The Most Important Cause Of The French Revolution

The French Revolution of 1789 took place under the reign of Louis XVI. It is one of the most well known and studied events in history due to its great importance and impact it left on the world . Multiple complex factors led to the French Revolution as a result; the three significant causes are: Ideological being the most important followed by Political, and Economical.

The new ideology which arose from the age of Enlightenment (late 17th century to late 18th) century was the most important cause of the French Revolution which changed the way the common french men thought (public opinion) contributing to the building of revolutionary ideas which sparked the demand for change in the way France was governed. The “philosophes” french word for
It is an important cause of the revolution as it directly impacted the lives of the french commoners. For instance France had a financial crisis, the national treasury was empty because of mismanagement and involvement in foreign wars. Louis XIV’s imperial wars, Louis XV’s Seven Years War, and Louis XVI spending on the American Revolution resulted in an explosion of national debt. In the Seven Years’ War, France surrendered all of its colonies in continental North America. It also left the nation with a national debt of around 2.3 billion livres.(money, economy down). The cost for the national government to function increased but the state revenue stayed the same as only the Third Estate was paying the taxes therefore putting a lot of pressure on them and creating an imbalance in the flow of income. This impacted the lives of the common french people especially the peasants and working class who were poor and had to pay taxes (direct to the government) and indirect (paid to people whenever they bought certain goods) as they could barely survive and provide basic needs to their families and themselves. On top of that there was a food crisis. In 1788, a hailstorm destroyed all harvests as it was followed with a long cold drought. The bad harvests made bread scarce (low supply) making it expensive as well as hyperinflation took place at the same time, value of the currency was worth only half the amount printed on it, this was a time period of absolute poverty. According to Sylvia Neely’s “A Concise History of the French Revolution,” workers spent half their daily wages on bread but after the continuous bad harvests of 1788 and 1789, the price of bread took up to 88 percent of their wages. As a result famine and poverty impacted the lives of the common french workers negatively making them angry towards the monarchy system and demanding for change.