Why Did Revolution Break Out in Paris in 1789?

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Why did revolution break out in Paris in 1789? On July 14, 1789, starving workers in Paris and sixty Parisians soldiers seized control of the Bastille (prison storing gunpowder and arms), forever changing the course of French history. The seizing of the Bastille wasn’t caused by one event, but several important causes such as the Ancien Regime, the raising of taxes, the American Revolution, and the idea and beliefs of the philosophes. The immediate causes of the revolution were also very important to the break of revolution in 1789. The rising price of bread and the locking of the third estate out of its meeting hall were short term causes of the revolution which many Parisians and French citizens were angered by. Finally, the spark that ignited the revolution was the ordering of the Swiss guards to Paris by Louis the XVI, which appeared too many Parisians as a direct threat to them and the National Assembly. These causes had a huge influence on the break if revolution in 1789 and were the main reasons to the downfall of the French empire and Louis the XVI. The first cause of the French Revolution was the Ancien Regime which caused chaos between the different estates and left the people deeply divided. The people of France were divided into three estates. The first estate was composed of the highest church officials. They held about ten percent of all the land in France and paid no direct taxes to the royal government. The second estate was made up of nobles. They were only two percent of France’s population, but owned twenty percent of the land. They paid no taxes. The third estate accounted for ninety-eight percent of France’s population. The third estate was divided into three groups; the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes, and the peasant farmers. The third estate lost about half their income in taxes. They paid feudal dues, royal
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