Causes Of The French Revolution

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Causes of the French Revolution In France, 1789 stood as a pivotal year, marking great changes to a nation in a great economic turmoil, and social and political imbalance. The peoples’ confidence in King Louis XVI’s sovereign authority had evaporated as the Nation was enlightened with new political ideologies. This saw fissures in the conventions of the ancien regime, stimulated by the establishment of the National Assembly in the 17th of June 1789, followed by the Tennis Court Oath three days later. The people of France climbed the stairway to radical transitions in their nation with resolute and defiant impressions, ignited by the pre-existing elements of the ancien regime. During the pre-revolution, France was governed under King Louis XVI’s arbitrary power and, by convention, ruled with an unshared sovereignty as portrayed with the King’s solitary figure in his portrait in the coronation robes he wore in 1775, representing his independent personal authority. The King’s reign, together with his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette, initiated well as the masses welcomed the young new couple with much enthusiasm. Unfortunately, their popularity quickly dwindled ensued by the economic unrest and the famine during the 1780s when finance and lifestyle was particularly a struggle for people in the Third Estate. As exemplified in R. Darnton’s article on the 200th anniversary of the Revolution, 1989, supported by Arthur Young’s statement in 1789, Queen Marie-Antoinette was primarily put at fault for France’s financial crisis for her general extravagance and notorious desire for luxury. Furthermore, in a society in pursuit of a more egalitarian community, the royal family’s flamboyant lifestyle in the Palace of Versailles, where a farm was built specially for the queen’s entertainment, caused the citizens to abhor Marie Antoinette all the more; depicted in R. Tames’ ‘The
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