Why did the gap between the rich and poor widen in French revolution
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The French ancien régime (it's pre-Revolutionary social order) was divided into three tiers or Estates, the First Estate being the clergy, the Second Estate the nobility and the Third Estate being everyone else effectively as the peasantry.
Over the course of the century a burgeoning middle class of lawyers, doctors, moneylenders, merchants, craftsmen, artisans and such had developed within the Third Estate, to the point where these families were often richer than the more depleted families in the First and Second Estates - yet they lacked the rights and aspirational freedoms that the Second Estate had by default, nor were the administrative and advisory rights of the First Estate available to them.
Although the common image of the French Revolution is of the Parisian Mob and toothless peasants knitting while aristocratic heads roll, it was primarily a middle class revolution led by the bourgeoisie (in the original rather than Marxist sense of the word).
So, that's the social background to the French Revolution. A growing class of educated and wealthy peasants held back by outdated but rigid tradition. But there was more to it than that; it wasn't just a romantic fight for rights and freedom.
hope it helps u (:
Over the course of the century a burgeoning middle class of lawyers, doctors, moneylenders, merchants, craftsmen, artisans and such had developed within the Third Estate, to the point where these families were often richer than the more depleted families in the First and Second Estates - yet they lacked the rights and aspirational freedoms that the Second Estate had by default, nor were the administrative and advisory rights of the First Estate available to them.
Although the common image of the French Revolution is of the Parisian Mob and toothless peasants knitting while aristocratic heads roll, it was primarily a middle class revolution led by the bourgeoisie (in the original rather than Marxist sense of the word).
So, that's the social background to the French Revolution. A growing class of educated and wealthy peasants held back by outdated but rigid tradition. But there was more to it than that; it wasn't just a romantic fight for rights and freedom.
hope it helps u (:
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