Why Did Revolution Break out in 1789?

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The Enlightenment was a time of new ideas from philosophers and great thinkers. Some of the basic principles of the French Revolution stemmed from the writings and preachings of the thinkers of this time. Three philosophes’ ideas can be seen being used in the French Revolution. These thinkers were; Montesquieu, Rousseau and Voltaire. Montesquieu who was a nobleman who disapproved of the absolutist monarchy and wanted more power to be in the parlement, however he was reluctant to give up his privileged principles. Montesquieu’s belief of a constitutional monarchy being better than an absolutist monarch who was appointed by God. Another prominent thinker of this age was Voltaire, he,unlike other Enlightenment thinkers, recognised the need for a monarch however he was more concerned with corruption within the Church and the Monarchy. When Voltaire highlighted and started to criticise the actions of the Church and the Monarchy more people were made aware of the vast difference between the 1st and 2nd estates and the poorer 3rd estate. Rousseau was a controversial figure in the age of Enlightenment because he was accused of encouraging tyranny, because in one of his writings he encouraged people from all of France to get involved with the rule of the country. Rousseau was appalled by the Absolutist rule of the Monarchy and the vast difference in wealth between the nobles and royalty in Versailles and the peasants and factory workers in the rural villages. The basic principle of the philosophes was to apply rational analysis to all activities, they were thus very reluctant to accept principles that had little logical reason, such as the bible. One of the main reasons that the enlightenment influenced the revolution was because the philosophies put forward the ideas that human reason should be one of the guiding forces in society, and they opposed the divine right of kings. Although the Enlightenment had influence over the revolution it would not have been as effective as it was, in terms of influence, if France had not been overrun by the financial crisis in the 1780s.

One of the main influences of the French Revolution was the American War of Independence, which France had helped America in, in the hopes that the trade from America would come to France instead of going to Britain. However this gamble did not pay off, and instead the French soldiers who went to fight in the American War of Independence came back with ideas of democracy, freedom and a society without a monarchy. This worried Louis as he feared that he would face the same fate of Charles I in England. Clear links have been made between the Declaration of Independence in America and the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France. however the American Revolution was very costly for France and plunged France into deeper debt and escalated the financial Crisis.

A last attempt for Louis to reinstate the prestige of the Ancien Régime was the summoning of the Estates General. However this turned out to be Louis’ downfall. The first issue with the Estates General was the method of voting, in previous sessions the voting had been done by estate, which the third estate, who made up 90% of the population, felt was unfair and thus suggested voting by representative, this would mean that the third estate would outnumber the first and second estates combined. The Estates General was a catastrophe and constantly disappointed the under represented third estate, they had made cahiers in earlier years and expected to hear what had been done with the list of grievances, however they learned that nothing had been done and the cahiers had been pushed to the side to favour of motions that favoured the first and second estates. This led to the formation of the National Assembly. The National Assembly, formed on the 17th of June 1789 was initially the third estate announcing that it would be taking control of taxation, in the coming days some of the more liberal members of the clergy and nobles voted to join the National Assembly. Necker, who had been re-appointed as finance minister in 1788, persuaded Louis to attend one of the sessions of the National Assembly. However the National Assembly found themselves locked out of their chamber and guards preventing the members from entering. In a state of outrage the members went to a tennis court and swore the Tennis Court Oath, which was an oath that meant anybody who took the oath could not leave the tennis court until they had drawn up a constitution for France. Louis did attend the session however and he promised that he would act on some reforms the thad been promised, however he refused to accept voting by head, and declared that the National Assembly was illegal and that it should be disbanded at once. However the over the next few days nearly two hundred clergy men and nobles joined the third estate, and on June 17th Louis revoked his decision of the 23rd and allowed voting by head. Due to Louis’ fear of his fate being the same are Charles’ he called in reinforcements from the army incase there was a rebellion, in less than a week the military forces in Paris and Versailles had increased by 16,000. The direct defiance of the National Assembly, by not dissolving, signified the start of a revolution that would change the path that history would take.

There were many reasons for why the French Revolution started in 1789, some of the main ones being; the financial crisis, Louis’ inability to be a clear and decisive ruler, the new ideas brought in by the enlightenment and the outdates structure that was the Ancien regime and the estate system. However if the financial crisis had been felt effectively the revolution may not have escalated to the heights that it did.

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