Why was there political instability India during the 17th century?
Answers
Explanation:
It emerges from the above discussion that the 18th century was a period of considerable political turmoil in India, one in which states rose and fell with some rapidity, and that there was a great deal of fluidity in the system. Did this political turmoil have a clear counterpart in terms of economic dislocation? This does not seem to have been unambiguously the case. It is of course true that raids by military forces would have caused dislocation, and the practice of destroying standing crops was followed by armies throughout most of the century. On the other hand, economic warfare and the attempt to destroy the productive base of aival state were relatively uncommon in the first half of the 18th century. But, after 1750, such means were exploited to the harshest degree. The destruction of irrigation tanks, the forcible expropriation of cattle wealth, and even the forced march of masses of people were not unknown in the wars of the 1770s and thereafter. All these must have had a deleterious effect on economic stability and curtailed the impulse toward growth.
In the year 1789, French Revolution started leading to a series of the events started by the middle class. The people had revolted against the cruel regime of the monarchy. This revolution had put forth the ideas of liberty, fraternity as well as equality.
The start of the revolution took place on the morning of 14th July 1789 in the state of Paris with the storming of the Bastille which is a fortress prison. The Bastille stood for the repressive power of the king due to which it was hated by all. The revolt became so strong that the fortress was eventually demolished.
French Revolution
Causes of French Revolution
Although there were innumerable causes and reasons for the French Revolution a few have been found to be the main culprits. These causes can be divided accordingly
Social Cause
As over the old regime, the French society and institution are described much before 1789 wherein the society was divided into three estates–the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.
The first state included the group of people who were involved in the church matters known as clergy. The second estate includes people who are highly ranked in state administration known as nobility. The first two estates enjoy all the privileges right from the birth and are even exempted from any kind of taxes to the state. The third estate comprises of big businessmen, court, lawyers, officials, artisans, peasants, servants and even landless laborer. This estate usually were the ones who must bear the taxes.
Economic Cause
The population of France had risen between 1715 and 1789 from about 23 million to 28 million. This, in turn, leads to surplus demand for food grains, further leading to lack of pace in the production cycle as relative to demand – ultimately leading to rice in price for the food grains.
Majority of the laborers who worked in the workshops didn’t see any increase in their wages. And the taxes were not lowered. This had eventually lead to a worst-case crisis leading to food grain scarcity or also known as Subsistence Crisis that occurred frequently during the old regime.