Topic 1: The origins and Onset of the revolution

• The First Estate:

  • Members were the clergy, including higher (wealthy) individuals like Abbots, bishops, archbishops whose positions were passed on by family, and lower (poor) members like parish priests, monks, nuns totaling around 130,000 people
  • Responsible for administering poor relief, providing limited hospitals and places for education, funded by tithe paid by the third estate
• Tithe:

  • 1/10 of a person’s earnings or produce
  • Some resented paying it, believing it only benefitted wealthy clergymen, not the local community
  • Some Bishops rarely visited diocese
• The Second Estate:

  • Most privileged and wealthy, around 120,000 – 350,000 people, with nobles acquiring titles through inheritance
  • Exempt from paying nearly all direct taxation and some indirect taxation, based on the expectation they would lead armies for the king
  • Exempt from military service, had exclusive hunting and fishing rights
• Noblemen in the Second Estate were often granted monopolies on a local scale for particular goods (e.g., wine) or small businesses (e.g., bakeries)

  • Monopoly refers to exclusive control over buying or selling a particular product or service
• The Third Estate:

  • Vast majority of the population, mostly peasants, living in countryside and agriculture
  • Included landed peasants who could employ laborers and sell produce for profit, as well as poor laborers living at subsistence levels
  • Many lived under feudalism, paying feudal/seigniorial dues to landowners and carrying out duties like mending roads
• In cities, urban workers were divided into unskilled poor workers and skilled higher-paid workers

  • Unskilled workers often lived in dirty city slums, while skilled workers were organized into guilds and employed in small workshops producing various goods
• Middle class Bourgeoisie:

  • Educated individuals like lawyers, doctors, merchants, bankers, industrialists
  • This class grew significantly in the 18th century across Europe
  • Some were dissatisfied with their economic contributions to the French economy but lacking political say, rights, or freedoms
• Enlightenment, also known as the 'Age of Reason', promoted the use of reason, logic, and evidence over tradition, superstition, and religion
• Philosophes during the Enlightenment wrote and considered a wide range of subjects including politics, history, religion, theology, science, and nature
• France was arguably the home of the Enlightenment, with many significant philosophes writing their works in France
• During the Enlightenment, writers, philosophers, and political thinkers in the 17th and 18th centuries questioned the conventions of their societies, challenging the structure and inequality of the ancien régime
• Educated Bourgeoisie and nobility gathered in salons and coffee shops in Paris and other trading towns to discuss political works and ideas, challenging the ancien régime
• Under the ancien régime, the publication of literature was strictly controlled, with printers needing royal licenses to own printing presses and new publications requiring approval by the royal censor
• Censorship of enlightened ideas led to the prosecution of authors by the state, with works like Rousseau's novel Émile and Voltaire's writings being banned
• The spread of radical ideas during the Enlightenment varied depending on factors like literacy and access to bookshops, with the bourgeoisie more likely to be exposed to these ideas than peasants
• Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d’Orléans, was a key advocate of enlightened philosophy who helped spread radical ideas in Paris through intellectual gatherings at his Palais Royal
• Historians like Jules Michelet (1798-1874) highlight the declining French economy in the 1780s as a major cause of the Revolution
• Rural Poverty:

  • Many people couldn’t feed themselves and relied on relief from the Church
  • Labourers and feudal peasants often lived hand to mouth
  • Agricultural output and population grew steadily from the 1730s to 1770s
  • Harvest failures became more common in the 1780s
  • Population growth became unmanageable due to these failures
  • 1788 saw a particularly bad harvest
• Urban food shortages and price increase:

  • Working classes had a bread-based diet
  • Failing harvests led to increased wheat and bread prices
  • Bread prices in Paris soared by over 50% from August 1788 to March 1789
  • Poverty increased after bad harvests, leading to a drop in demand for manufactured goods and urban unemployment
• Taxation:

  • Most taxes were paid by the third estate
  • Different types of taxes included Capitation, Gabelle, Tabac, Taille, Tithe, and Vingtiéme
  • First and second estates could often buy exemptions through don gratuit
  • All indirect taxes were collected by La Ferme Générale, making up 55% of state income
  • Tax farmers, officials known as 'tax farmers', had the right to confiscate property and use force if payments were not met
  • Tax farmers were often corrupt and abused their power
• Tax Farmers:

  • The system was unprofitable
  • Wealthiest estates paid the least tax
  • Only 1.6% of state revenue came from tax on land
  • Taxation was harder on those who were not landowners
• Causes of the French Revolution: Economic Decline
• Seven Year’s War:

  • King Louis XV accumulated huge debts during the Seven Year’s War (1756-63)
  • France was defeated by Britain in North America, losing colonies in eastern North America
  • Louis XVI inherited vast debts in 1774
• Crown Debt:

  • Due to corruption, inefficient taxation, and the cost of war, Bourbon kings had to take out loans
  • By 1780, the greatest proportion of state wealth was tied up paying interest on loans
  • 43% of state expenditure was committed to debt, compared to only 23% on administration and 25% on the war department
  • State expenditure was significantly higher than its income
• American Revolutionary War (1775-83):

  • Rebellion by thirteen North American colonies against British rule
  • France joined the war in 1778, signing a military alliance with the USA
  • France provided armies and resources to support the war, costing an estimated 1.3 billion livres
  • By 1788, state expenditure on debts had increased to over 50%
• Cost of Court:

  • Increased poverty and state expenditure on debt led to scrutiny and criticism of Louis’ court
  • Marie Antoinette was criticized for her frivolity, extravagance, and political meddling
  • Court income was obtained through the sale of offices and positions, leading to corruption and incompetency
• Court Corruption
• Louis XVI Facts:

  • Inherited the throne at the age of 20
  • Had an older brother who died in 1761 before he could inherit the throne
  • Seen as inferior to his older brother, the dauphin of France
  • Didn't receive training to prepare him for inheriting the throne, encouraged to pursue other hobbies like locksmithing
  • Viewed as a weak character due to his upbringing
  • Seen as indecisive and easily led, especially by his wife
  • Rumored that Marie Antoinette manipulated Louis for her and Austria's interests
  • Accused of failing to control his wife
  • Lacked court and political experience
• Marie Antoinette Facts:

  • Married Louis when she was 14, he was 15
  • Marriage united the two most powerful families in Europe: Hapsburgs & Bourbons
  • Marie's Austrian heritage was a source of suspicion and distrust
  • Disliked the complex rules of etiquette at Versailles
  • Failed to produce an heir
  • Louis behaved coldly towards Marie in public
  • Criticized for extravagant spending during economic decline
  • Accused in the 'Affair of the Diamond Necklace' scandal
  • Accused of trying to purchase a necklace worth 1,600,000 when state finances were low
  • Never actually tried to purchase the necklace, it was a plot by Comtesse de La Motte to forge her signature
• Marie Antoinette:

  • Arguably lived no more excessively than previous French queens
  • Accused of being distant and disinterested in her subjects
• Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot:

  • Physiocrat
  • Appointed controller general in 1774
  • Introduced effective measures to streamline state bureaucracy to avoid bankruptcy
  • Implemented free trade in grain in 1774
  • Controversial and unsuccessful policy
  • Removed ties, barriers, and controls on grain prices
  • Flour Wars in 1774-5 due to bad harvests leading to violent unrest
  • Despite initial support from Louis, Turgot faced opposition and was eventually ordered to resign in 1776
• Turgot's Financial Reforms in 1776:

  • Edict banning the corvée
  • Aimed to abolish privilege and introduce property tax payable by all three estates
  • Parlements refused to sanction Turgot's reforms
  • Louis ordered Turgot to resign in May 1776
• Jacques Necker facts:

  • Next in charge of finance in 1776
  • Swiss Economist
  • Protestant, which meant he couldn't officially hold the title 'controller-general'
• Necker's Compt rendu au roi (Report to the King):

  • Published in 1781, a record of state finances
  • Claimed a surplus of 10 million livres
  • Concealed a deficit of 46 million
  • Initially won popular support for increased transparency and accountability of the court
  • Made financiers willing to loan French state money
  • Helped fund France's involvement in the American Revolutionary War
  • When the deficit secret was revealed, the reception turned to severe shock and concern
• Necker's Reforms:

  • Attempted to streamline state administration by replacing venal ministers with trained and salaried officials
  • Reduced the sale of offices
  • Limited opportunities for ambitious, wealthy Frenchmen
  • Faced strong opposition from those close to the King
  • Lost Louis' support and resigned in 1781
• Calonne's Reforms:

  • Made controller general in 1783
  • Advocated free trade and reduction in government spending like Turgot
  • Proposed increasing state income through the sale of Church land
  • Proposed introducing a universal land tax payable by all estates
• Assembly of Notables:

  • Radical break from ancien régime
  • Needed approval of a body representing the people
  • Convened by Calonne and Louis in Feb. 1787
• Charles-Alexandre de Calonne:

  • Controller general after Necker
  • Continued borrowing after Necker's tenure
  • Assembly sceptical about the need for reform possibly due to Necker's compte rendu
  • Assembly refused to approve Calonne's reforms
  • Louis failed to support Calonne, leading to his dismissal
• Archbishop Brienne:

  • Calonne's successor
  • Succeeded in getting Paris parlement to sanction edict allowing internal free trade
  • Faced opposition when trying to introduce a new universal land tax
  • Paris parlement refused to sanction the new tax in Jul 1787
  • Louis took decisive action to back Brienne and exile the Paris parlement
• 'Revolt of the aristocracy':

  • Louis' plan to exile parlement backfired, painting him as a tyrant
  • Attempted to impose further control by reducing legislative power of parlement
  • Aristocratic revolts broke out across France as a result