Why was there a French Revolution? This is a question of continual interests not only to professors and philosophers, but to everybody who takes an interests in the history of the world. Genuinely,therefore, it is also a subject of much contention. Thestatement citing the fundamental cause of the FrenchRevolution as the collision between a powerful risingBourgeoisie and an ingrained aristocracy, defending itsprivileges it had for centuries, has great relevance inreiterating the great conflict of 1789. However, it wasthe financial debt of the government, and the financialcrisis it caused, which was at root of the actual courseto revolution. Many factors played a role in theeconomic decline such as unequal and under taxation,excessive borrowing, military over expenditures, and thelavish lifestyle of the Royal Court at Versailles.France, in the Old Regime, was characterized bythree estates. First, the clergy, numbered only about ahundred-thirty thousand. Although their number seems -2-insignificant to France’s population of abouttwenty-five million, they had great influencescontradictive to their numbers. The church had its own administrative body,vast lands, and court of laws. The church was verywealthy atthis time. It had a great income from the crops of theland, donations and gifts from the nobles, and fees forregistrations of birth and deaths. The second estate consisted of the born nobles, whoowned a great deal of France’s vast lands. Theyconstituted a small portion of the population, onlyabout three-hundred thousand, but they also held thebulk of the nations wealth, the King being thewealthiest in all the land. In addition to their wealthand power they enjoyed important privileges. They couldhold high positions in civil administration, military,and diplomatic services. They had the right toascendancy on public occasions, the right to exerciseseigniorial rights over most of the lands they did notown, the rig...
