Causes and Considerations
The French Revolution, as most individuals are already aware, had no clear single cause. In fact, historians have been debating about which causes were the most significant since the event has taken place. The only thing that everyone can seem to agree on is this: there was certainly more than one cause for the French Revolution, and some of them had more of a profound impact than others. So, before I dive into that, a little bit of contextualization about France and the rest of the world around this time period…
France, under the rule of King Louis XIII (1601-1643), had fought valiantly in the later half of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), which many historians argue (myself included) was the deadliest event in human history (in terms of the global population relative to the time period). (You can view a post of mine on this topic here: https://theprose.com/post/369353/the-deadliest-event-in-human-history-the-thirty-years-war). Now, while no side technically won this conflict, France actually gained some land, and so arguably came out a little bit further on top than most any other participating nation. That being noted, France was more or less riding a small wave of power stemming from this great conflict.
But then things began to rapidly change. Ideologically speaking, France was actually doing great. For instance, with the onset of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, the country actually had many philosophical minds within its borders. For instance, there was Montesquieu (1689-1755), Blaise Pascal(1623-1662), and of course, my all-time favorite, Voltaire (1694-1778). In fact, King Louis XIV (1638-1715) was so impressed by the potential that scientific advancements had for bettering the nation of France, that he oversaw the creation of the French Royal Academy of Sciences (est. 1666), which, conversely to England’s similar English Royal Society (est. 1660), actually paid its members and heavily encouraged them to explore various fields of science.
However, while France was an important center of scientific and philosophical thought during the pre-Revolutionary times, it was rapidly degrading in many other respects. For instance, King Louis XIV was actually only four years old when he inherited the French throne. That meant that the burden of ruling France fell to his cardinal, Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661). This individual, I must admit, did a fair job at ruling the nation. He managed to crush both “Fronde” Revolts and personally educated the king, and in short, King Louis XIV would inherit a relatively-stable nation when his cardinal died and he was finally old enough to rule.
However, as soon as King Louis XIV came to rule, things started to fall apart (and mostly because of the actions of this very powerful king). For one, France had been religiously tolerant of Catholics and Protestant Huguenots since the Henry IV’s (1553-1610) Edict of Nantes in 1598 (here is an article of mine about the Protestant Reformation that may shed some more insight into that: https://theprose.com/post/385550/the-protestant-reformation). However, Louis XIV was strictly Catholic, and thus sought to repeal this important edict. He did so in 1685, with the Edict of Fontainebleau, which repealed the former act. Thus, France had been reverted back to a Catholic-favoring country, despite having a very large Protestant Huguenot population.
Of course, as one can imagine, this deeply upset many of France’s population. And King Louis XIV had to make things even worse by spending money as if the nation had an endless supply of it. For instance, he oversaw the modifications of a family hunting lodge in (freezing-cold) Versailles into the Palace of Versailles. This highly-ambitious architectural project, begun in 1679, was headed by a very masterful architect by the name of Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708).
I must admit: the Palace of Versailles is one of the most impressive structures that has ever been build in recent history, in my opinion. There is, of course, the grand Hall of Mirrors, for instance, and the many gardens, as well. It was a place for nobles and leaders all over the world to gather for festivities and talk politics. However, this project was exceedingly expensive. Some parts of the palace are literally made out of pure gold, and even the palace gates are gold-plated and ornately carved in many places.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), the French Comptroller General of Finances at the time, tried frantically to divert funds and rearrange national economics to prevent the capitol of France from being seriously financially wounded by the construction of the Palace of Versailles. Outside of that, Colbert had some rather controversial economic strategies. In fact, many today blame his trade war for causing the Dutch Conflict of 1672-1678.
However, even Colbert’s best efforts couldn’t have protected France from the debt that was procured during the Wars of King Louis XIV (1662-1702). These wars were waged by the French king in attempts to gain menial bits of power and ground (in most cases). While there are too many conflicts for me to go into, there were some rather notable French adversaries throughout the era, including Holland, the League of Augsburg (Nine Years’ War), and even Spain (in fact, the War of Spanish Succession is still today categorized as one of the most deadly conflicts in history, population adjusted).
By the end of the “sun king’s” rule, France was becoming swamped with debt, and it was not appearing as if there would be any financial relief coming anytime soon. While Louis XIV’s endeavors were controversial to say the least, he may have had some regrets about his life, presumed by his last words to his son, Louis XV (1710-1774). In his recorded last statements, he seemed to beg his son not to follow his war-waging and ruthless path.
Well, Louis XV did not really listen. In fact, he was very much like his father in many respects. His chief mistress, Madame de Pompadour, heavily influenced his ruling decisions. Unfortunately, neither of these individuals were very skilled at governing a nation, and as a result France sank deeper and deeper into debt. Also, Louis XV was also a horrible father to his son, Louis XV, and a pretty cruel and iron-fisted ruler in general. (In fact, the main reason why Louis XVI allowed mass cat-burnings in France was because his father, Louis XV, was a horrible father to him, but also loved cats. As soon as Louis XVI inherited the throne, he ordered all the palace felines to be killed, because they reminded him too much of his father’s cruelty).
Thus, following the rule of Louis XV, came Louis XVI (1754-1793). History tends to paint Louis XVI in a very poor light, but in an effort to consider both sides, I shall acknowledge that he actually did a great many very progressive things for France. For instance, Louis XVI brought back religious tolerance to France through the Edict of Versailles (1788), which allowed non-Catholics civil rights in France for the first time. He also abolished torture in extracting confessions, and tried his hardest to give the lower classes more representation in government. He abolished serfdom on royal land, and encouraged science and exploration. He abolished the labor tax, and even got rid of the death penalty for deserters of the military. On top of that, Louis XVI was known as a man of “simple” trade: he was fascinated with carpentry and woodwork. And lastly, he was supposedly a very kind king and human being in general.
You are probably thinking, “If King Louis XVI did so many great things, then why was a revolution raised against him?” Well, in all fairness, King Louis XVI was not the best at governing a country. In addition to this, the rulers of France had basically been passing down the pile of troubles and things that needed to be fixed from ruler to ruler, without actually addressing much of it. By the time it reached Louis XVI, there was nothing much he could have done, the mess of troubles had grown so large. In many respects, King Louis XVI was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was punished for that.
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), similarly, was not the best at governing. In fact, she was more or less a stark opposite of her husband: while Louis XVI was into trades that were seen as the work of peasants, Antoinette enjoyed attending fancy balls and wearing expensive gowns and so forth (and, no, she never said “let them eat cake,” jeez!). In fact, once, Louis XVI worked very hard to construct a very decorative and high-quality spinning wheel for his wife on her birthday. But, of course, Antoinette saw the act of spinning one’s own clothing as a peasant’s job, so she soon gave it to one of her friends. However, it should not go without noting that many historians believe that Louis VXI and Marie Antoinette were both supposedly generally-kind individuals, though their union was technically a Franco-Austrian alliance. That is one of the reasons why it is really so heartbreaking that the two were executed.
That ends the segment of causes of the French Revolution from the perspective of the lineage of the French royal family. However, there are also many other aspects to consider. Many historians, in the past, have stated that the American Revolution was a large cause of the French one. However, they’re starting to backtrack on that, because, in all truth, many parts of France would have had so little connection with the nobility and other nations that they wouldn’t have even known that the American revolution had occurred by the time their own rolled around. So the American Revolution likely had very little to do with causing that of the French one, when compared to some of the other causes.
The Enlightenment sort of accidentally set the ball in motion, as well. In fact, many Enlightenment thinkers would, ironically, end up being killed in the revolution that they had indirectly started (I shall cover this more in detail later in the book). There was also the fact that, despite King Louis XVI’s best efforts, the lower classes still had very little representation in the French government. What the representative system was, was known as the Estates General (or the Three Estates). The First Estate represented the clergy, the Second Estate represented the nobility, and last (and certainly least), the Third Estate represented the interests of the commoners. It seemed like a pretty fair system at first glance…Until one considers that the Third Estate had almost no members at all relative to the rest of the Estates General, despite representing the majority of France’s population.
France’s population was also facing severe food shortages. In addition to this, the clergy were taxing them like crazy (that’s why one of the main goals of the revolutionaries was to rid France of the Catholic Church for good). They had almost no representation in government, and frankly, they were suffering immensely because of it. Now, I should probably mention one of the final major causes of the French Revolution, and that was because of a little tax known as the “taille.”
No, I’m not talking about grapes and wine, I’m talking about the annual district tax on land that Charles VII (1403-1461) had instituted way back in the early 1400s. This tax Charles VII had passed by imploring the Estates General for permission to administer it. Essentially, he wished to pass the tax to weaken the power of the parliament. By the late 1400s, the taille was secured by King Louis XI (1423-1483) (also known “the spider” because of his “wild and devious ways”). This tax would be imposed more and more upon the lower classes, and the clergy and nobility even had the opportunity to exempt themselves from it (whereas the lower classes could not do this even if they had the means to).
Of course, there were also a few other, more minor (but still very important) potential causes of the French Revolution. The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) had seen France defeated in Europe, India, and the Americas (thus, many historians believe that it should be called “the first world war…” I agree with that notion). Therefore, France had no major colonies left from which to draw money from, at least when compared to more-accomplished nations in the field of exploration, such as the Netherlands or England.
Then there was the onset of the first Industrial Revolution (yes, there were two: one that started just before the 1800s, and one in the late 1800s). Countries like England already had large coal mines and factories pumping out goods on mass scales by the late 1700s, and France still hadn’t seen any of this progress. Yes, the people of France were very displeased with their situation, indeed.
It would all come to a head in 1789, and it would be a very bloody ordeal that would see large amounts of suffering on all sides. There were many more causes for the French Revolution than those I have listed, but these, I believe, were the more prominent ones. The French Revolution, as I stated earlier, was not caused by one single event, nor was it caused by one single individual, but rather through a series of events and individuals (many of whom were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time). Keeping in mind what the great author, Leo Tolstoy, wrote - that no one can truly trace what caused any given event - one thing is apparent: the French Revolution occurred, and it would be very, very troublesome.