The French Revolution
In the late 1700s, France faced difficult times. Some of the problems were short- term. It had lost a war and colonies to Great Britain. The war resulted in large debts for the monarchy. Several bad harvests resulted in widespread hunger and the threat of famine. People needed help from their government. In short, the king needed more money. The only way to get it seemed to be by raising taxes. This proved to be very unpopular and helped spark political upheaval that was grounded partially in principles of the Enlightenment.
Precondition France also faced long-term problems in the late 18th century. These problems were systemic. That is, they were based on the way society was organized and rather than simply the debts from one war or hunger from one bad harvest or chaos from one weak ruler. They were ongoing problems:
The many wars fought by Louis XIV against Great Britain and other coun- tries had drained the country's treasury. One of these costly wars was the American Revolution. However, the nobles and clergy refused to pay high- er taxes or give up any of their privileges to solve the government's econom ic problems. As a result the government was always short of money.
France did not have one set of courts and laws that applied to everyone. The king or his representatives could imprison anyone for any reason for any period of time. A person could be put in jail for the remainder of his or her life without ever being tried for a crime. The inequality in the judicial system had existed for centuries.
French society was divided into three groups called estates. The clergy mad up the First Estate. The nobles constituted the Second Estate. The Third state included nearly all the population and paid nearly all of the taxes. However, they owned only about 65 percent of the land. This inequality was ongoing. When you are reading, take note of all the causes for a majo event. One may be more important than the others Between the failing economy, a broken legal system, and social ineqality, which problem was most responsible for France's decline? written like a 8th grader short sentence