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Why Was France Spending Too High During The French Revolution

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France in the Late 1789, the bread prices were usually too high that the third estate couldn’t afford. The failing of crops because of bad weather also caused the shortage of bread, which doubled up their prices. Even though the food prices were already too high, King Louis still had to add taxes since Marie Antoinette had been spending too much money. They were the reason why France was in debt. The kings and queens never had to pay taxes, so they didn’t care whether the taxes were too high for anyone to pay. King Louis was also spending too much money on the military instead of the French citizens In France, there were three estates. Estate is another word for social classes. The first estate is the highest class and it was made up of the
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810 Words | 4 Pages

While he removed Protestants from France and lowered the chances of him being questioned or challenged, he also got rid of valuable assets that brought money to France. In contrast, King Louis increased the size of the French military to pursue his aggressive foreign policy which caused him to be involved in many wars. Table of Approximate Size of the French Military (Doc. 3 - Snape shows the approximate size of the French military, gaining 370,000 troops in 20 years. Maintaining such a large military costs lots of money, which severely causes taxes to rise.

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390 Words | 2 Pages

Economically, heavy taxes fell on the three estates. Firstly, France endured social imbalance during the French Revolution. Many people during this time were very poor and there was an increased bread price on the people of the third estate (Doc 1). Representing the fact that the third estate were treated unfairly then

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937 Words | 4 Pages

Louis only taxed the third estate. He didnt realize how bad most of the third estate had it and when he saw them for the first time he didnt do anything about it. Louis had all the power over France. He was an absolute monarch, he didn’t wanna share power. He ruled by the Devine Right theory which says that he received his power to govern from God.

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1380 Words | 6 Pages

The debt of King Louis XIV was very troublesome. It caused his once powerful and rich kingdom, to plummet. The article Memoir of the Reign of Louis XIV, by the Duke of Saint – Simon: Louis de Rouvry, states, “He wished to reign by himself. His jealousy on this point unceasingly became weakness . . . He liked nobody to be in any way superior to him.”

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699 Words | 3 Pages

He had poor leadership skills and that was what led to many of the causes of the French Revolution as well as the effects. Long story short, it all began with the three social class system. France was divided into the three social estates. The first estate was the clergy, then the nobility, and the lowest estate, the commoners, also known as the peasants and bourgeoisies. For instance, in document 4, it shows a picture of the clergy and nobility standing on a rock with a bourgeoisie under it.

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

France was already in a financial debt crisis and he attempted to solve this by recklessly forcing increased tax rates on the Third Estate. Meanwhile, he and his wife Marie Antoinette continued spending money on themselves. A famous scholar named Montesquieu said, “To be great, one has to stand with people, not above them” (Doc 5). This quote expresses that, a remarkable ruler, must consider the input of others which closely resembles a democracy. It aligns with the ideas of the Enlightenment

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856 Words | 4 Pages

King Louis XVI of England needed to raise more money for his growing army and empire. After he failed to raise taxes, he called a meeting of the Estates Generals. That meeting ended up becoming a protest against the horrible conditions in France. The people of France were displeased with their living conditions and argued that France is the wealthiest country in Europe so they should be living comfortably. Austria and Prussia also form an alliance in which they decide to impose war on France.

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1005 Words | 5 Pages

As the nation’s economic condition worsened, the First and Second Estates continued to live lavishly, oblivious to the hardships of the world, while the Third Estate received the brunt of it all. King Louis XVI was incompetent, and he did nothing to alleviate their difficulties. Wars, the king’s court life, and Marie Antoinette’s deficit spending all contributed to the increasing debt of the nation; furthermore, half of the royal budget went to interest, so both the commoners and king’s budget exceeded what they could afford. To make matters worse, peasants had fees and services owed back all the way from feudal times. So as the Third Estate fell into destitution and royal spending increased, the price of goods rose.

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512 Words | 3 Pages

Taxes, which is still a commonly disagreed topic, were a major reason the people of France revolted. The members of the first estate were paying only a fraction of what the members of the third and event the second were. Arthur Young, a man who travelled through France from 1787 to 1789, made the observation that land owned by nobility and people of the upper class was taxed very little compared to the land owned by common citizens (Doc. 1). This injustice took a great toll on members of the third estate and

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490 Words | 2 Pages

As the French had about Twenty-five million people, 100,000 were clergy, 400,000 were the nobleman, and the rest was known as the third estate. The third estate was left to starve, while Louis XVi and Marie Antoinette lived a luxury lifestyle. The only food they could afford for a limited time was bread, but then the prices got so high, that the rich can only afford it.

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1801 Words | 8 Pages

The Three Estate System was the splitting of the citizens based on their class in society. There was the Clergy (church), the Nobility (nobles) who make up the first and second estate, and the commoners as the third estate. It was unfair that the Clergy and Nobility had only made up 2% of the country’s population but, had 35% of the land; special privileges were given by King Louis XVI gave special privileges to them. These privileges were that the Clergy and Nobility didn’t pay taxes and got to wear special clothing in public. The Third Estate, especially the Bourgeoisie, made up 98% of the French population were irritated with King Louis XVI because they had no special privileges, they paid 50% income tax, and had only 65% of land for 98% of the population.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

However, Americans were able to succeed because of their quick increase in population and economy. One of France’s financial problems came from the money they loaned America during the war. Arthur Young traveled throughout France and saw that “lands held by the nobility are taxed very little [and] lands held by commoners are taxed heavily” (Doc B). This comes back to the idea of inequality and how the government supported a class system in France that negativly affects the third estate. Because commoners’ land was taxed so much, they were unable to feed themselves.

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1427 Words | 6 Pages

During the Eighteenth Century, France had an absolute monarchy with Louis XVI as king and Marie Antoinette as queen. In that time period, French society was based upon a system of Estates where the clergy made up the First Estate; the nobility comprised the Second Estate, and everyone else including professionals, peasants, and the bourgeoisie made up the Third Estate. The Third Estate was immensely unhappy with the old regime, the Estates General, and Louis XVI’s leadership. France was also in the midst of a fiscal crisis due to the American Revolution, Louis XVI’s lavish lifestyle, the Seven Years War, and the tax exemption of the First and Second Estate. Following the surge of new ideas and impactful philosophers from the Enlightenment,

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1350 Words | 6 Pages

King Louis XVI, who was the ruler at the time, was a main contributor to these problems that led France to its downfall. The country had a massive lack of resources and food, which led King Louis XVI to borrow more money than he could afford, thus putting the country in immense debt. Despite the very visible crisis overthrowing the country, the king was incapable of accepting his mistakes and refused to change his ways. He maintained the unjust voting system, known as the Estates-General, and worsened the taxing system in order to pay off his debts. The people, especially those of the Third Estate, were clearly angry and dissatisfied with the state of the country, which led them seek out a movement for what was right.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

Numerous people believe in the conspiracy theories regarding “The 27 Club” however, various people may frown upon it, or might not fully understand the concept of it. The 27 Club is a group of famous artists who have died at the age of 27, most were known to be associated with the hard-partying lifestyle and deaths were the result of drug and alcohol abuse, homicide or suicide. Coincidence or not, these artists tragically passed at the same age, causing conspiracy theories to answer the linked deaths. Mia Zapata, among many artists, is a member of the 27 club living the same lifestyle as most rock and rollers involving drug and alcohol abuse and partying steadily. Mia was born August 25, 1965 in Louisville, Kentucky.

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