Question

causes & consequences of French revolution

Answer 1

Causes of the French Revolution

1. International: struggle for hegemony and Empire outstrips the fiscal resources of the state

2. Political conflict: conflict between the Monarchy and the nobility over the “reform” of the tax system led to paralysis and bankruptcy.

3. The Enlightenment: impulse for reform intensifies political conflicts; reinforces traditional aristocratic constitutionalism, one variant of which was laid out in Montequieu’s Spirit of the Laws; introduces new notions of good government, the most radical being popular sovereignty, as in Rousseau’s Social Contract [1762]; the attack on the regime and privileged class by the Literary Underground of “Grub Street;” the broadening influence of public opinion

Outcomes of the French Revolution, 1789-1799(1815)

1. Representative government vs. authoritarianism (the Terror, Napoleon): two different new models of government

2. Stronger, further centralized state with a larger, more effective and more intrusive administration.

3. Abolition of special fiscal privileges, seigneurial dues owed by peasants to lords, internal tariffs, and the establishment of uniform tax system based in principle on one’s income.

Answer 2

causes of french revolution