To What Extent Were Political Ideas Of Enlightenment A Cause Of The French Revolution

"To what extent were political ideas of enlightenment a cause of the French Revolution."

The French Revolution (1788-1799) is considered to be one of the most significant events in the modern history of Europe, because not only did it change the face of France, but also it had a huge influence on situation in other countries. We are able to distinguish many causes of it, however, one of the most important were undoubtedly political ideas of enlightenment. They were the basis of people’s way of reasoning due to which the revolutionary tension was growing among the citizens of Frnace. This tension was also accompanied by deteriorating economics and enormous hunger before the outbreak of the Revolution — nonetheless, without the thoughts of

Failures in harvest and high food prices — that resulted in initial stage of famine — shaped the course of people in order to demand more from the king , especially for the working class. By this time, the population of France was growing — in comparison to the beginning of the 18th century, when the population was not exceeding 20 million, in 1780 there were about 28 million people living in this country. Therefore the need for food was mounting, but the production was rapidly falling. At this points many demonstrations had began and the atmosphere of resistance to the govenment arose. In 1788 an unskilled labourer spent half of his/her earning on bread. Only a year later from, 70 per cent to 90 per cent of average daily wage was spent on bread. x

Taking all the aspect into account, it is effortless to state that the French Revolution had plenty of causes (also many of them were not evaluated in this work). The revolutionary tension was growing in tandem with the dissatisfaction of French. This tension resulted in numerous demonstrations and riots that were the beginning of the French Revolution. However, all those demonstrations and riots had it’s clear ideological basis in the ideas of enlightenment. In my opinion, without those ideas there would be no power in the society to conduct the