Causes of the Peasants Revolt in 1789

477 Words2 Pages
• financial crisis faced by Louis that meant that he needed more money; weakness of the Ancien Regime’s system excluded nobility from paying and this therefore needed to be changed – something some nobility did not want • actions of Necker; he had made out that there was no need for any change in the tax system by saying via the Compte Rendu that the financial system was working well (and so nobility did not see urgency of reform) • ideas of philosophes which helped to strengthen arguments of nobility that the king could not force through change, was acting tyrannically and that the parlements were acting in the name of the people. and some of the following short-term/immediate factors: • actions of de Brienne and Calonne in trying to get radical tax reforms agreed to by the Assembly of Notables and the parlements. These reforms involved a land tax to be paid by everyone. This led to opposition from 1st and 2nd estate who had most to lose. The nobility claimed that such drastic change could only be decided on by an Estates General (most at the Assembly of Notables accepted the principle of a land tax but not the means of bringing it about) • weaknesses and mistakes of the King and his ministers: mistakes of Calonne in thinking that an Assembly of Notables would agree to such reforms – also of appealing to the public behind the back of the assembly which lost him support. De Brienne was also weak. The King did not effectively support either minister • the May Edicts which deprived the parlements in Paris and elsewhere of their right to register and protest against royal decrees. This increased cries of ‘ministerial despotism’ and there were disturbances (Revolt of Nobles) throughout France in support of the parlements. To reach higher levels, students will need to show the inter-relationship of the reasons given, for example they might show that the Crown
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