The Causes of the French Revolution

278 Words2 Pages
King Louis XVI, the last king of France before the French revolution, was often portrayed as prodigal, pudgy and even a pig. Such were the thoughts of many peasants unfortunate enough to be under his reign in the 1700s. He was only 16 when he was made king, rather extravagant with his lifestyle, and was indecisive as a king, being easily pushed around by his subjects. When he inherited the throne, he also inherited all of France’s problems at the time. The country was run by absolute monarchy, an increasingly unpopular form of government in that time, had a very skewed distribution of wealth among the people and to make matters worse, was facing a financial crisis. These less than optimal conditions coupled with Louis’ weak ruling style eventually caused the discontent of the people to go over the top and led to what we all recognise as the French Revolution. Now comes the question, was it really inevitable? Perhaps if Louis were a little more decisive and less indulgent in his own lavish lifestyle, then maybe the French Revolution could have been prevented. The 3 largest factors that actually led to it in the first place were firstly, the pre-existing unequal social structure of France at the time, enlightenment ideas developed by philosophers from the Renaissance, and of course, France’s long chain of incompetent leaders, which of course ended tragically during King Louis XVI’s reign. Considering all factors, I can say that the French Revolution, although it most definitely could have been delayed, would invariable occur nevertheless, due to the fact that France simply could not have continued on in their condition at the
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