How far was the French revolution the result of a systemic crisis of the Ancien

Regime or a failure of leadership among the ruling elites?

The French revolution was to a large extent a failure of the ruling classes to
respond to the oncoming changes. The ruling classes didn’t have the capability to
to respond to the crisis that was approaching them. The systemic challenge to
their authority could in theory have been averted. To avert this revolution the
leaders would have needed extraordinary foresight. The ruling elites had to
accept drastic reforms, reforms that were heralded by enlightenment, the
discovery of the new World, the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the
rise of global trade. The enlightenment was a systemic attack on the medieval
system. It questioned the church, the monarchy and the place of the common
people in the government of their states. But the response of the ruling elites was
incompetent. They were against reform when it lead to them losing money. They
were too brittle to respond in a meaningful way to the revolution. The particular
problems of France, besides the systematic chances that were occurring, had a
part to play in the revolution. The country was in enormous debt due to
imprudent spending by the King. The King was spending excessively on Palaces
while the commoners laboured under taxes that seemed excessive and arbitrary.
This demonstrated that the King was out of touch with his people and didn’t
understand their difficulties. The Great Fear, caused by the failure of the grain
crop, increased the feeling that that the situation was doing out of hand. The
Great Fear added to the momentum of the revolution. Changes in industry saw
large numbers of people entering the cities creating slums. In the cities people
exchanged new ideas creating a new common culture.

The enlightenment represented a systemic challenge to the Ancien regime.

Printing had made the spreading of ideals much easier. A large amount of people
could read. Pamphlets, books and newspapers were easy to find. Popular
grievances were addressed and a solution would be offered. Ideas that rejected
monarchy were spread. The American Revolution showed that democratic ideals
could become a reality. Many in the bourgeoisie, seeing that opportunities for
advancement were closing, wanted society to be organised according to
meritocratic lines. Inherited privileges were becoming intolerable. Traditionally
it was believed that the king was the only public person. He was the head of the
nation who would listen to opinions of his people and then make a decision. The
enlightenment spread the idea that everyone was a public person. The people
should decide the course of the nation. The symbol of enlightenment progress
was the demand that the estates general meet as one house. Each member would
have one vote. The Third estate together with radical clergy would be able to
control the house. But the King and the nobles insisted in the estates meeting as
three different houses. The medieval order was preserved but the intransigence
of the elites insured that the third estate would turn to more radical measures in
an effort to bring about reform. If the King overburdening his people with taxes
how could he claim present the will of the people. Enlightenment ideas decided
the course that the revolution would take. These ideas had systematically
undermined the rational of the Ancien regime. The regime could not defend itself
against these ideas. But it could have listened to the grievances of the people and
tried to alleviate them.
The Enlightenment wasn’t the main driving force of the revolution. Short term
also difficulties helped to start the revolution. The economic situation of France
exacerbated revolutionary feelings.1.Taxes and tariffs that appeared arbitrary
were greatly resented. The salt tax was hated. Excessive manor taxes angered the
peasants, particularly as the Lords no longer provided essential services to their
subjects. Feudalism didn’t exist in most of France anymore but the people still
had to pay dues that were traditional from the Middle Ages. These taxes had not
been adjusted in the recent past so people were paying excessively. Tariffs
between different provinces impeded trade. The tax system was in need of
reform. The nobility were to be included in the tax net but steadfastly refused
reform. In the sense that the nobility were part of the Ancien regime their refusal
to reform represents a systemic failure of the Ancien regime. The failure of
Ancien regime to reform the tax system was it’s greatest mistake. Tax reform
may have reconciled the third estate to the traditional system. But many of the
taxes were needed to provide for a modern centralized state. The state was
centralised under both the Ancien regime and the post revolution governments. 2

The revolution was driven partly by economic problems. There was bumper
wine harvest that lead to the price of wine dropping. The peasants, reliant on
grapes as cash crop, found it difficult to pay taxes and dues. The grain harvest
failed in 1783. The French population used grain as their sole source of food.
They refused to use potatoes from the new world. Bread prices doubled. Nobel
and monastic grain stores were full. While peasants had no bread, merchants
from the cities were anxious to buy up the grain. Chaos ensued as people could
not buy bread. Bands of the unemployed wandered around the countryside
looking for food. They stole grain freely. The Great Fear as it is known, increased
the radicalism of the revolution. The country was desending into anarchy. This
feeling of lawlessness greatly contributed to the radicalism of the revolution. The
Ancien Regime seemed to be at last tottering. The revolutionaries had to take
their chance. The deputies of the national assembly lead by the Breton club
passed laws banning feudalism. The Ancien Regime was not in control of the
direct cause of the Great Fear but its failure to respond in adequate manner
illustrates that the leadership was not fit for purpose.

France found itself in terrible debt. France was running a twenty percent budget
deficit per year. The debt was caused by the need to finance wars, lavish building
projects and an ineffective bureaucracy. Versialles was magnificent model city
that had cost the state dearly. France had just fought the seven years war with
Britain. Louis XVI had supported the American Revolution in an effort to strike
back at Britain for the losing the seven years war. This crippling debt weakened
the Crown forcing it to go call the estates general. The crown was forced to ask
for reform. In asking for reform it was exposed to the grievances of the lower
classes in France.

The period before the French revolution saw the advent of the industrialisation.
The creation of empires opened the way the businessman to make huge profits.
1

2
But the level of taxes and tariffs prohibited commerce. The Ancien Regime tax
system was not suited for the era of modern capitalism. They couldn’t compete
with revolution that was happening in Britain. This class of bourgeois capitalist
formed a substantial part of the third estate. But peasant grievances helped to
drive the revolution also. There were immigrations of peasants into urban areas.
They were forced out by famine and unemployment. They were attracted by the
prospect of industrial jobs. These immigrates created slums that were a hotbed
of the revolution. The example of Britain illustrates that with a bit of suppleness
the medieval system could adapt to modern capitalism but a different ideology
was prominent in Britain that was not enlightenment rationalism. The leadership
of the French Ancien Regime failed to respond adequately innovations.

The systemic crisis faced by the Ancien Regime was a definite end of the Ancien
Regime in its medieval form. It is possible to imagine the Ancien Regime
reforming it self if it had had competent leadership. The crisis facing the Ancien
Regime was systemic. The leadership to face this crisis would have needed to be
extraordinary. The need to face down the nobles appears vital only with
hindsight. It therefore seems implausible that it is only failure of leadership is
responsible for the failure of the Ancien Regime. The need for reform was urgent
and when it began It’s momentum swept away the Ancien regime. The aspiring
bourgeoisie wanted to take partake in the meritocratic and egalitarian revolution
that occurred in America. The old medieval system could not fit the new world of
the enlightenment and industrial revolution. The revolution was ultimately the
result of a systemic crisis of the ancien regime.

Bibliography
Paul R Hanson, Contesting the French Revolution (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2001)
George Lefebvre, the French Revolution: From its origins to 1793 (London:
Routledge, 2001)
Jocelyn Hunt, The French Revolution ( London: Routledge 1998)
Simon schema, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (London: Penguin
Books 1989)
Michel Vovelle, Timothy Tackett, Elisabeth Tuttle,” Reflections on the Revisionist
interpretations of the French Revolution,” French Historical Studies 16 (1990) :
749
Sarah Maza,” Politics, “Culture and the origins of the French Revolution,” The
Journal Of Modern History 61 (1989): 704
Timothy Tackett,”Nobles and the third Estate in the Revolutionary Dynamic of
the National Assembly, 1789-1790 The American Historical Review 94(1989) 271