What are the causes of revolution
Answers
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.
4. Social antagonisms between two rising groups: the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie
5. Ineffective ruler: Louis XVI
6. Economic hardship, especially the agrarian crisis of 1788-89 generates popular discontent and disorders caused by food shortages.
Historical cause is here defined as those antecedents of a known result that can be selected as being logically concurrent with that result and, in combination, sufficient and necessary to bring it about. An attempt is the made to apply that definition to the analysis of the causes of revolution, which, it is argued, are:
(1) demand for change, which is derived from
(a) provocations
(b) solidified public opinion
(2) hopefulness of success, which comes from :
(a) programs of reform
(b) leadership
(3) the weakness of the conservative groups, which may be caused by disputes among themselves, disaffection in the amy, international complications, or domestic crises.