A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution: Part Two

In the second part of A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution, we will look at the situation and events in France directly preceding the French Revolution in the 1780s. In the previous section we examined how the Estate System determined the social organization in a country that was ruled by an absolute monarch. The first two Estates were the privileges ones, despite the fact that collectively they only accounted for a mere three percent of the total population. Now we will see how these stark divisions stoked the flames for a state-wide conflict. So, without further ado, here is part two of A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution.

In the 1770s and 1780s, things were not looking favorable for France financially. Louis XVI's predecessors had drained much of the national treasury fighting a series of costly and largely unsuccessful wars. Furthermore, France's aid to the colonists in the American Revolution had further strained national resources. Louis XVI, realizing the need to combat this financial crisis, attempted to tax members of the first two Estates, the nobles and the clergy. This did not meet with favorable reception with these privileged classes. One of their most important and enjoyed privileges was being exempt from taxes and they aimed to keep it that way. The problem was that this three percent of the population nonetheless controlled a large portion of its wealth. When they refused to buck up under Louis' demands for taxation, the tax burden fell increasingly on the Third Estate. As you will remember, the Third Estate was composed not only of poor people, but of wealthy merchants and professionals. These professionals resented the fact that they had to pay taxes when they were comparable in terms of wealth to members of the first two Estates. The lower classes, already burdened by high feudal dues imposed by their landlords, found it difficult to shoulder the burden of Louis' taxes.

In addition to the taxation issue, Louis was unable to persuade banks to provide loans for the government. This eliminated the possibility of spending on deficit and necessitated an immediate need for resolving taxation. In addition to the financial crisis, crop failures in 1788 and 1789 caused the price of grain to go up. This affected the price of bread (the staple food item) in the cities to skyrocket. Historically, one of the most potent motivating factors for revolution has been food shortages in the hotbeds of state activity-in the cities.

To allay social unrest, Louis XVI decided to do something about the problems facing France. He did something that had not been done for over a hundred and fifty years in France at that point: he called a meeting of the Estates General. The Estates General was a meeting of delegates from each of the Three Estates. This meeting reflected a number of ulterior motives. Louis meant to get the first two estates to agree to his taxation demands. The nobles on the other hand, saw the meeting as an opportunity to undermine royal authority. Long had the nobles resented the growth of royal power in France as feudalism and their own authority eroded over the centuries. The Third Estate wanted to assert its demands for increased equality in France and an end to the unfair conditions that existed for members of this Estate. Within the Third Estate, members of the middle class (or bourgeoisie) meant to assert their political and social aspirations. It would be the bourgeoisie that would provide the necessary leadership for the French Revolution to take shape.

The nobility knew that they could fulfill their goals due to a loophole in the way the Estates General operated. Each Estate met separately on matters, and each was only allowed one vote. Consequently, the first two privileged classes could potentially align their interest and trump the Third Estate no matter what. When the issue was a retention of a tax-exempt privilege, the First and Second Estates were all too glad to see eye-to-eye.

This did not bode well for the Third Estate. Leading Third Estate delegates demanded that all three Estates meet together and that each delegate have his own vote in matters. This would have benefited the far-larger Third Estate in terms of voting power alone. Some members of the First and Second Estate actually supported this measure since they sympathized with the plight of the majority of France. Unfortunately the king, as well as many members of the top two Estates refused to allow the Estates to meet together. The arguments that ensued culminated in forces locking delegates of the Third Estate out of the meeting of the Estates General.

Not willing to give up their demands, the delegates of the Third Estate met on a nearby tennis court. Naming themselves the National Assembly of France, they pledged not to disband until a constitution was written for the country. This famous oath was known as The Tennis Court Oath and was the first step toward revolution. They had the support of some important members of the first two Estates, and the National Assembly would prove to be the cornerstone of Revolutionary action in France to come.

Louis was very unnerved by the declaration made by the National Assembly. He knew that if a constitution was formulated by the Third Estate alone, it would mean the end of his power as well as his main power base-the nobles. Thus, he demanded that the First and Second Estates join the National Assembly. Here, disagreements broke out like wildfires in the National Assembly. Members of the Third Estate were for abolition of noble, feudal, and clerical privileges, while many even argued for full equality of French citizens. Wealthy members of the first two Estates fought to preserve their privileges. As the National Assembly steered increasingly toward radical reform, Louis' anxiety pushed him to move more troops into Paris in case violent action broke out.

The presence of more and more troops in Paris alarmed the majority of the National Assembly, who saw it as a means for the king to forcibly disband the organization and thus ruin their hopes for reform. As a reaction to the troops as well as bread shortages across Paris, a giant mob of angry Parisians amassed outside of a prison called The Bastille. Their purpose was to storm the prison and seize arms needed for defending what they believed to be the cause of the National Assembly. A skirmish broke out that left several soldiers and nearly a hundred Parisian mob members dead. This event, known historically as The Storming of the Bastille, can be viewed as the spark that ignited the French Revolution.

In the next part of A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution, I will discuss how initial events of the French Revolution served to seat a revolutionary government in power in Paris, destroy Louis' monarchy, rip down the last vestiges of feudalism, and create divisions within the revolutionary movement itself.