Thursday, March 28th, 2012

French Revolution: the beginnings

Four main causes of the French Revolution

Debt

Debt of the French government was around 8 to 12 billion livre (their currency)
Louis XVI spend a lot of money of luxurious things, instead of being financially responsible
Also they still had war debts from the Seven years’ war with England (1756-1763)
Much of their debt was compiled because they weren’t exploring like than rival, England
England was able to use the colonies as a steady source of income
France had not completely bough into Mercantilism either at this time like England had

Taxation

France, at this time, was heavily involved in trading (good)
However, to be a great trading country, you cannot have high tariffs, so you need to tax heavily on your people
Masses of people of France, not too thrilled with this idea. Also nobles did not pay these taxes

Failure of Reform

Some French “economists” stated that the nobles should be included in taxation
This plan backfired, as peasants had to pay even more than before
France continued to stick with their economic plan even though they were continuing to go deeper and deeper into debt

Famine

Crop failure in the 1780’s didn’t help much either
Supply and demand occurs here with bread
Got to the point where peasants thought the crown had wished for them to die (conspiracy)

Guillotine

The condemned person is secured at the bottom of the frame, with his or hr neck held directly below the blade
However, it continued to be used long after the revolution and remained France’s standard method of judicial execution until the abolition of capital punishment with the backing of President Francois Mitterrand in 1981. ( little more than 30 years ago)

Marie Antoinette

Napoleon

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