History

The events leading to the French Revolution can be traced way back in the year 1787 and continued to 1799 having attained climax in 1789. The Revolution is famously known as the Revolution of 1789 marking the end of the old administration in France and also distinguishing the previous events of the French revolutions of 1830 and 1848 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010). The French Revolution provided a crucial moment in the history of not only France but also in other parts of Europe as well. In its formative stages, it could be looked at as a major victory of the forces of enlightenment as opposed to the religious or superstitious forces, and the forces of the privileged. This was to have a profound impact on the rest of Europe particularly Britain where radicals and liberals were quick to embrace it. However, as the Revolution entered its bloodletting stage, those who had greeted it with enthusiasm had to have second thoughts (Cody, 2007). This paper sets to explore the main causes, events, and the impacts of this historic moment in human history.

Causes
The causes of the Revolution are very complicated in the sense that historians have failed to agree on salient issues such as where it begun, what were the causes, and the consequences. Nevertheless, the actual causes of the Revolution have to be found in the then social structure in France at the time of the old regime. The French were historically divided into three hierarchical orders namely the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate. The majority were to be found in the third estate which comprised of about 25 million people who included the middle class (bourgeoisie), peasants, and the artisans. The preceding two classes consisted of an approximated 500,000 individuals in total (Kreis, 2006). The collision between the third estate on one hand, and the clergy and the aristocracy on the other hand was the major contributing factor of the French Revolution of 1789. This conflict of interests was further exacerbated by the financial crisis and the inherent political differences that existed in the French administration (CyberEssays.com, 2010).

The political and social inequalities experienced in France can be pointed as one of the major causes of the French Revolution. France was a feudal society characterized with absolutism. The nobles and the clergy were entitled to special privileges like being exempted from paying taxes. The third estate had no power and freedom in political matters. The aristocrats therefore could out-vote the third estate with a lot of ease though the Estates General were not always a concern to the absolute monarch. The third estate became fed up with the aristocrats and this contributed to the onset of the Revolution.

Bankruptcy of the government was another reason that is believed to have led to the rise of the Revolution. King Louis XIV had spent in excess and his successors refused to lower expenditure. Louis XVI did not act fast to improve the worsening financial situation. He is known to have disregarded all the Ministers who aspired to introduce financial reforms in his administration. In the wake of the Revolution, the French government was on its knees financially. The Revolution can also be attributed to the spirited works of enlightenment thinkers whose ideas and writings inspired the populace to rise in arms against the King. The French enlightenment thinkers included people like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. The influence of the American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 cannot be wished away since there was a lot of contact between the Americans and the French during this time and the ideas of the Revolution might have spread amongst these groups. There were other problems that might have led to the Revolution including food scarcity that was witnessed in the 1780s. Crop failure in these years led to skyrocketing price in food commodities. The prevailing poor conditions had forced people to move into Paris in masses crowding the city with hungry population (Bonjour La France, 2009).

Events leading to and the impacts of the Revolution
According to Bonjour La France, by the year 1789, France was regarded as one of the wealthiest and powerful nations in Europe but the citizens had limited freedom and little chance of arbitrary punishment (Bonjour La France, 2009). King Louis XVI summoned the Estate General to address the financial problems facing his administration and this did not please the third estate. A National Assembly was constituted to work on the constitution. There were fears that the King would frustrate the National Assembly and also there was a growing discontent following the dismissal of Necker, the Finance Minister who was popular with the masses. Angered by the events, the people launched an attack on the Bastille prison to free the political prisoners and this marked the proper beginning of the French Revolution (Betts, 2000).

The impacts of the Revolution were chilling as King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were sentenced to death. Many other individuals were killed in the period that is best described as the Reign of Terror. Other monarchs in Europe panicked following the events in France and started to spread the democratic ideals. There were disagreements in France about the form of government until 1799 when the political tides went low and a strong centralized government and a liberated society dominated by the third estate characterized the new unified state (Altius Directory, 2009). The French Revolution therefore left an important mark in the political history of not just France, but also Europe and other parts of the world.