Thursday, March 28th

French Revolution: The Beginnings

Causes of Revolution

Debt
- The debt of the French government was around 8 to 12 billion livre (their currency)
- Louis XVI spent a lot of mney on very luxurious things, instead of being financialy responsible
- They still had war debts from the Seven Year's War (with England) 1756-1763
- Much of their debt was compied 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 bought into Mercanilism either at this time like England had
Taxation
- France, at this time, was heavily involved in trading (this is good)
- However to be a great trading country, you cannot hce high tarrifs, so you need to tax heavily on your people (this is bad)
- Masses of people of France, not too thrilled with this idea. Also nobles did not pay these taxes
Failure to Reform
- Some French "economists" stated that the obled 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 continueing 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 poit where peasants thought tht crown had wished for them to die (conspiracy!)

Guillotine

The condemned person us secured at the bottom of the frame, with his or her 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, (a little more than 30 years ago)

Marrie Antionette

Napoleon

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