Background
It’s 1787 in France and for centuries, the quality of life in Europe had been determined by the status that one held. This status could not be attained, but was instead determined by the family to which someone was born. If you were born to a poor family, your life would be one of poverty. No matter how hard an individual worked, it was impossible to rise above this fate. The French wealthy enjoyed a life of ease, comfort and recreation. Day after day, they pursued the pleasures of European society, while 97% of Europe’s people struggled just to survive. A number of major wars had taken place in the forty years leading up to the revolution. France used to always participate in the war and King Louis had to invest a lot of money in
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Its trade rival, Britain, was trying hard to battle France, but never won. Through these battles and wars, King Louis XVI would spend countless amounts of money to help the troops fighting. This caused very weak financial support for the lower classes of France. By the end of 1789, almost 50% of France’s funding had gone to the war. Since France had a rigid class structure, there were limited political positions towards the upper classes and the bourgeoisie, causing the collection of taxes very difficult. Peasants were required to pay a 10% tax to the Church, 5% property tax, and 7% tax on their land and family. All these taxes would just fill up the money tank for the wars that France was fighting. The lower classes were angry when they realized this, but couldn’t anything about it. Farmers around the capital ate essentially what they grew, so they did not leave the city that much. King Louis XVI would give minimal money to the lower classes for food, so they were on their own. In 1788, there was a major hailstorm which destroyed almost all the crop in Paris and surrounding areas. This caused France’s worst harvest in 40 years, causing the prices of many foods to rise. The hungry farmers could barely farm any food for themselves. To make the situation worse, a harsh winter from 1788-1789 caused the ground