French Revolution Dbq Essay

The French Revolution of 1789 marks a watershed in the political development of France and its role in European history. Many events contributed to the adversity that France was already facing before the revolution had even begun. The nation’s intervention in the Seven Years’ War, the American War of Independence, and their already problematic taxation system, ultimately caused it to go into state debt. This, combined with France’s rapidly growing population, is what most of France’s economic crisis revolved around. The French population had actually grown by about 8 million people from 1700 to 1789, making it Europe’s most populous state. It is widely accepted that political and ideological issues motivated the revolution. Though, a more detailed

By 1787, France was bankrupt, and the national debt had reached an unsustainable level. In an attempt to pay off this debt, King Louis XVI drastically increased taxes. Nevertheless, the government was unable to raise sufficient funds through taxation due to the unfair system imposed by the King. The majority of the burden of taxation fell on the lower classes, while the nobility and the clergy were largely exempted. In Document 3, members of the French clergy state that “It is desirable to lessen the disadvantage under which poor country people labor in securing justice in the matter of overtaxation, on account of the considerable expense of bringing their cases to court.” In a private letter, François-Noël Babeuf, a French tax collector, writes, “Why give any

As stated before, France’s rapidly growing population eventually surpassed the nation’s food supply. In 1788-1789, because of harsh winters, crop yields were much less. This resulted in widespread famine and starvation. With the already low crop yields and high taxes, the increase in prices was the Third Estate’s last straw. Food riots began to break out, and the leaders of these riots confiscated bread or grain to sell it for a more reasonable price, still returning the money to the owners. Though, these riots were still dangerous and usually restrained the merchants’ greed. Women from the marketplaces of Paris were among the many who were infuriated by the rising costs and meager availability of bread, which was common in the diet of the poor. For the nobility, of course, this shortage was not the case. In Document 6, a newspaper reporter writes that “As [he] was forced at the height of the shortage to go to Versailles for a short visit, [he] was curious to see what sort of bread was being eaten at court or served at the ministers’ and deputies’ tables…Everywhere [he] saw only beautiful bread…served in great abundance and delivered by the bakers themselves.” On the morning of October 5, 1789, women from the Third Estate of Paris marched to Versailles, demanding the King a fair price for bread. The next day, they forced him and his family to travel back to Paris with them, marking