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French Revolution Midterm 1

Andrew Feser

1710736

University of Alberta

HIST 128

Professor Grant Grams

February 16, 2022

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On July 10, 1778, King Louis XVI made what would be one of the many mistakes he

committed in preventing the eventual French Revolution by joining the American Revolutionary

war. Eleven years and four days later, French civilians stormed the Bastille signalling the start of

a push for change in Europe’s largest country. Influenced by the American Revolution, people

lost trust in France’s monarchy. For an event to be considered a revolution, they must have the

following four categories: Dissident Elites, Mass Frustration, Shared Motivation, and a Crisis of

the State. In this essay, I will discuss how the French Revolution meets all the categories and

how one of the most famous revolutions ever came to be.

While the French Revolution occurred in 1789, it really came to fruition from events that

happened years prior. One of the reasons revolution occurred was because of the mass frustration

and state crisis in France. First, France’s defeat in the 7 Years War brought the first signs of the

mass frustration in the state. During this war, France was fighting for their colonies across the

world against the British. Once defeated, France was left with humiliation, debt, and a significant

amount of loss of colonies in the world. Instead of worrying about troubles back home, King

Louis XVI saw the opportunity for revenge on the British during the American Revolution. After

the Americans emerged victorious, France gained nothing. More importantly they lost more

money. Later, France experienced bad harvests from a volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783.

According to History Crunch, this caused severely cold winters followed by great droughts in the

summer. This led to poor crops and the price of food reached extraordinary highs. History

Crunch also states that a peasant would spend 90% of their daily income on bread. With debt and

famine, France was looking for an option to try and solve this crisis of the state to avoid

frustration of the 1st and 2nd estates, yet not the 3rd estate.
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Instead of doing the obvious choice and taxing the wealthiest French in the 1st and 2nd

estates, King Louis XVI decided to add more tax the already suffering and poor 3rd estate. These

constant choices of using the 3rd Estate to solve your money problems caused mass frustration.

According to History.com, the 3rd estate made up of roughly 98 per cent of the population in

France. Adding more tax to the poorest yet hardest working and most populace people in the

country is not going to be well received. Now that the bulk of the country’s population was

furious, what really made the population lose their cool was during the Estates General Meeting.

After having a meeting for the first time in 175 years, the 1st and 2nd estate decided to lock out

the 3rd estate. After this, the 3rd estate and 98 per cent of France decided only they could make

change. After forming the National Assembly, the mass frustration of the lower class decided it

was time to revolt and overthrow the monarchy. Mass Frustration played the primary role in the

French Revolution. If King Louis XVI gave 98 per cent of the population more say and less tax,

who knows what history would have been written? The mass frustration led the 3rd estate driven

for change and they knew they had to form a revolution.

While the 3rd estate contained a lot of poor peasants, it also contained a portion of

France’s wealthy. France did much to make the dissident elites frustrated. These people were

known as the bourgeoise. The bourgeoise were businessman, lawyers, doctors, etc., and were

highly educated and wealthy individuals. The only problem was that they had no power. As

intelligent people and thinkers, they saw how unfair Frances’s tax system was and their treatment

towards the 3rd estate. After the Age of Enlightenment, Europe’s lower classes thought of a new

way of the world mostly in politics and social ideas. No one was more inspired by these
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movements than the bourgeoise. With being educated individuals, the bourgeoise had better

knowledge and access to these ideas and trying to implement them in the world than others. As

the bourgeoise were in the 3rd class, they experienced and realized how unequal their treatment

was. What the bourgeoise wanted was an end to feudalism and to have more political power. We

all know that the French Monarchy had no plans for that so the bourgeoise contributed to the

Revolution. The bourgeoise were the actual leaders in the French Revolution. They led the

peasants to social reform and were going to be the leaders at the end. In the end, the dissident

elites of the bourgeoise were the ones responsible for the push for change and social reforms.

Without the educated and wealthy bourgeoise, who knows if the 3rd class has the knowledge and

leadership it needed to stand up for change?

Lastly, the shared motivation in France was consistent throughout the Revolution. The 98

per cent of the 3rd estate wanted political and social reform. They were tired of the social

inequality, unfair taxation, and the ridiculous spending habits of the monarch. Before the

revolution started, the 3rd estates in Europe were following the Enlightenment movement. The

Enlightenment questioned the estate system, French monarchy, and most importantly giving

people ideas of equality and freedom. After constantly being excluded out of France’s political

say and being used, the French were inspired by the American Revolution showing that they too

can bring social and political change. The Estates General was the final straw after being locked

out of the building. The motivation was clear, and revolution was needed for change in France.

According to Britannica, the exact cause was many things, but the general motivation stayed the

same. The bourgeoise resented and wanted more social and political power, while the peasants

were less and less supportive of the crown.

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When looking at the French Revolution, you can see it meets all the four requirements to

be a revolution. In the end, the French Revolution wasn’t as heroic as it seems. Yes, there was

the rise of enlightenment around the globe, set precedents for modern democracy, abolishment of

the feudal system, and a unified French society. However, it was followed by the reign of terror

and led to a man named Napoleon Bonaparte being crowned Emperor for life. But we must look

back and see the rise of the 3rd estate overthrowing a huge problem of inequality and unfairness.

Without the bourgeoise, the mass frustration of the 3rd estate, the shared motivation for political

and social change, and the debt and famine crisis, who knows what the world would look like in

the past and modern day?

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Works Cited

“French Revolution.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 10 Sept. 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution.

History.com Editors. “French Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov.

2009, https://www.history.com/topics/france/french-revolution.

History Crunch. “Causes of the French Revolution.” HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles,
Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More, 19 Jan. 2016,
https://www.historycrunch.com/causes-of-the-french-revolution.html#/.

Goldstone, Jack A. Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2014.