France 2

• Context sentence (1)

  By the late 1780s, secularism was spreading in France as religious thought was becoming divided, and the religious justifications for rule - divine right and absolutism - were losing credibility
• Context sentence (2)

  Royals and nobles adhered even more firmly to traditional and archaic law, and as it would turn out, their intractability would cost them everything that they were trying to preserve
• Enlightenment F (1)

  Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu and Diderot wrote extensively on topics such as individual liberty. Voltaire was a satirist and introduced new radical ideas in which he criticised the government and how France was organised. The promoted his ideas through his position as a playwright and member of the elite literati
• Enlightenment A (1)

  These ideas found a secretive audience among those who were dissatisfied with the oppressive and archaic nature of the French monarchy. Voltaire influenced others to think the same way
• Enlightenment F (2)

  Montesquieu disliked governments and believed in democracy
• Enlightenment A (2)

  These new reformative views challenged the absolute monarchy in France and posed a threat to the regime as French citizens began to think and debate the functionality of the government
• Enlightenment A+


  The enlightenment and the new ideas presented by these French philosophers were only recognised by the educated bourgeoisie which only constituted for 8% of the population, whereas the category of less educated peasants was estimated to contain upwards of 21 million people.
• Enlightenment E

  Even with around 2.3 million people in the bourgeoisie, not everyone would agree with the ideology of these philosophers, downplaying the enlightenment's role in being the most significant factor
• Political crisis F (1)

  The third estate, representing the common people, felt marginalised and underrepresented - the estates general was called on the 5th of may 1789.
• Political crisis A (1)

  When they demanded equal representation and a fairer system, it highlighted the political inequality of the regime and sparked tensions that had been previously discussed by philosophers involved in the enlightenment
• Political crisis F (2)

  The third estate broke away from the traditional voting methods of the estates-general and declared themselves the National Assembly on the 17th of June 1789, asserting their right to represent the people of France
• Political crisis A (2)

  This act of defiance signalled a direct challenge to the authority of the king and the political order
• Political crisis A (3)

  Storming of Bastille can be seen as first active, direct, and progressive display of revolution by the French people against the monarchy not he 14th of July 1789. The Bastille's fall galvanised the formation of various military and revolutionary groups
• Political crisis E

  Without the political crises, the true instabilities of the regime would never have been displayed. These events were immediate triggers that mobilised public sentiment. While enlightenment ideas influenced the ideals of revolutionaries, it was these concrete events that propelled the revolution forward
• American Revolution F (1)

  12,000 French soldiers and 23,000 sailors were sent to fight with the patriots against the British in their pursuit of freedom from British colonial rule
• American Revolution A (1)

  By declaring independence and succeeding in rejecting British rule, the American Revolution can beseem as a practical application of the enlightenment.
• American Revolution F (2)

  The US created a new social construct by signing the Declaration of Independence. The rights of man, liberty, and equality developed into a system of representative democracy
• American Revolution A (2)

  This made the bourgeoisie in France reconsider their own government to a wider extent than the works of philosophers and the enlightenment ever did. It demonstrated that the liberal political ideas of the enlightenment were more than mere utterances of intellectuals
• American Revolution A+

  American Revolution had different goals and causes than the French Revolution, and therefore cannot be directly linked to the cause of the revolution
• American Revolution E

  The American Revolution weakened the image of monarchial authority in France. Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1776 challenged the notion of divine right, and contributed to a growing sense of discontent with the French monarchy
• Economic crises F (1)

  The harvest of 1788 was the poorest of many years, and in Paris, the price of grain short up. A loaf of bread costing 9 sous in August 1788, cost 15 sous in Spring 1789. Workers wages however, remained static at 20 sous per day
• Economic crises A (1)

  The impact of this price raise meant giving up 3/4 of their wages on bread alone. The difficulties faced by the third estate due to the economic crisis undoubtably fuelled the population's need to revolt
• Economic crises F (2)

  By the middle of august 1788, France was unable to make loans repayments sending the country into debt
• Economic crises A (2)

  The result of this was taxes which peasants and the working class could not afford. Aggravation caused the influx in taxes and caused grievances within the third estate and made the regime vulnerable to revolution.
• Economic crises A+

  Although there were grievances caused by the economic crisis, those who stormed the Bastille were known as the sans-culottes, the urban poor, and there were mostly small traders and skilled workers rather than the unemployed or staving - the revolution wouldn't been inevitable without the influence and persuasion of the economic crisis
• Economic crises E


  It was not the main reason, revolution would've been inevitable.
• Louis XVI F (1)

  He fired Charles de colonne in 1783 after his suggestion to tax the nobility in order to administer balance and equality throughout the classes
• Louis XVI A (1)

  His procrastination and inability to make decisive choices left the country in a state of prolonged crisis and fostered discontent among the population. This discontent ultimately found expression in revolutionary demands for change.
• Louis XVI F (2)

  Louis continued the rabid spending habits of his predecessors, contributing to the country's mounting debt.
• Louis XVI A (2)

  His spending strained the treasury and contributed to the strenuous strain of resources faced by the third estate, demonstrating that he was unable and unfit to rule
• Louis XVI A+

  his lifestyle is something that continued on even with his predecessors
• Louis XVI E

  The debt in France which had accumulated since Louis XIV’s rule had been the result of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). The 2 billion livres debt left behind by Louis XIV (predecessor) proves that it isn't Louis XVI alone. If it was entirely the monarch's fault and the monarch's spending, then the revolution would have happened earlier