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Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

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France was a strong and powerful state in the 18th century. She had vast territories in North America and islands in the West Indies. But the French Revolution was brewing while the war of American independence was going on. The conditions in France on the eve of revolution presented a dismal picture.

The following were the chief causes of the French Revolution :

1. Social Causes. The French Revolution was an uprising of the French people against autocracy and aristocracy. The French society was a feudal one ridden with inequalities. The clergy and the nobles belonged to the privileged class. They led a life of luxury and exploited the common people. The peasants and workers, which consisted of the vast population, were compelled to live a wretched life. They were forced to pay heavy taxes and to do forced labour. The middle class comprising lawyers, doctors, teachers, traders and petty government officers were wealthy and wise. But they were deprived of the political rights. They had to suffer humiliation at the hands of clergy and nobles.
The social inequalities and luxurious life of the clergy and nobles created discontentment and restlessness among the common people.

2. Political Causes. The kings of France were absolute rulers. They believed in the Theory of Divine rights of Kingship. They claimed themselves to be the representatives of God on earth. On the eve of the revolution, Louis XVI was the king of France. He was an empty headed despot. He and his queen Marie Antoinette were extravagant in nature. They squandered the state revenue on luxuries and wasteful festivities. The high government posts were auctioned. Corruption, maladministration and inefficiency reigned supreme. There were different laws in different areas and absence of any uniform system made the confusion worse confounded. People were really fed up with such a rotten system of government.

3. Economic Causes. The shattered economy of France proved a major cause of the revolution. Due to the prolonged wars and extravagant habits of the Royal Family, the French Government reached a state of bankruptcy. The clergy and nobility were able to pay taxes, but they were completely exempted from all the taxes. The common people were too poor to pay taxes. The corrupt system of taxes made the people unhappy.

4. Psychological Causes. In the second part of the 18th century, there was an intellectual “Renaissance in France. The Great French philosophers like Montesquieu, Rousseau and Voltaire exploited the social shortcomings. They fanned the flame of revolution. The American Revolution and Declaration of Independence by the American revolutionaries roused the people of France to overthrow the oppressive king and his nobility.

5. Immediate Cause. In 1788 A.D. there spread a severe famine in many parts of France. People suffering from hunger assembled in streets of Paris. The state treasury had fallen empty. Emperor Louis XVI was compelled to summon a meeting of the Estate General in 1789 after a lapse of 175 years. The First Estate and Second Estate i.e. the clergy and nobility refused to have a common meeting with the Third Estate. It generated much excitement and common people lost their temper. With the meeting of Estate General on the 5th May, 1789 the French Revolution began.

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