The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
Napoleon centralized the governmental systems and settled the French relationship with the Catholic Church. When Napoleon continued to take over countries, people began to realize that Napoleon was self-obsessed and was not in favor for the people. There were many things that contributed to Napoleon earning the title of a tyrant. Napoleon would do almost anything for power and control. He was overconfident with himself and took conquering too far, such as trying the Continental System to defeat Great Britain.
The French government was inefficient, unjust and corrupt. The French Parliament was called the Estates-General. It had not met since 1614 and couldn't without the consent of the king. It basically had no power. The economic problems created by the French kings also contributed to the Revolution.
These factors all upset the royalists and meant they had negative opinions of Clarendon which they were able to whisper in Charles’s ear when Clarendon wasn’t around and turn Charles’s more against Clarendon so it became easier to dismiss him and use him as a scapegoat later on. In terms of finance, Clarendon was also unsuccessful. He only managed to gain £1.2million a year for Charles which was too limited. He didn’t provide an adequate income and according to Farmer, ‘Finance was at the root of the troubles which toppled Clarendon’ which was because
In turn this would destroy Britain commercially and their industrial economy allowing Napoleon to take over Britain however did not work and left Napoleon worse off then he was before. His next mistake was the Peninsular war and as a result weakened his empire even more by the Spanish guerrillas, Germans, and Italians turning against him. Lastly his third mistake lost him most of his soldiers and the tactic used to defeat him was the scorched-earth policy, by the Russians. These mistakes greatly weakened Napoleons Empire. The empire was then declared war on by Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Austria.
In one of his most well known works “Letters concerning the English nation”, Voltaire contrasts the overbearing French government with the English government. He believed that the French government had more social barriers that kept the lower classes from ever moving up or getting rich through hard work. Instead, people were stuck in the class that they were born into. Voltaire could see that the government inherently favored the aristocracy and wrote "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other. "(Dictionnaire Philosophique) The French government did their best to keep Voltaire's writings out of the hands of the common people, however his views and philosophies became widely known in France.
France wasn’t part of the colonies like America was, America was sick of being treated badly, and unfairly so they decided to fight. But as for France they were having trouble with their government and needed to create a new one witch they did. And to me it seems like America had much more at stake. The American and French Revolution both worked out in favor of France and for America they both got what they wanted France got the government they fought for, and America parted ways with Britain. The two revolutions were a big part in both America’s history, and a big part in Frances history.
France was heavily indebted for financially supporting the American Revolution, as it would weaken France’s European rival, Great Britain, because of the wars waged by Louis XIV and spending of royal family. 3. Increasingly huge deficit, the French government was nearly bankrupt. 4. Heavy tax burden on the French peasants (= 90 % of the population).
An unmanageable national debt, both caused by and exacerbating the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation. Food scarcity in the years immediately before the revolution. Absolutism and privilege France in 1789 was, at least in theory, an absolute monarchy, an increasingly unpopular form of government at the time. In practice, the king's ability to act on his theoretically absolute power was hemmed in by the (equally resented) power and prerogatives of the nobility and the clergy, the remnants of feudalism. Similarly, the peasants covetously eyed the relatively greater prerogatives of the townspeople.
France was known as what is called an absolute monarchy in which King Louis XVI had complete control over the nation. As a result they lack a legislative body such as checks and balances. Because France had an unchecked government is what led to gross fiscal irresponsibility. The word democracy can be traced back to ancient Greek times. The interpretation or the meaning of democracy literally means rule by the people.