There were many cause of the French Revolution. Some had a greater impact on the Revolution than others. Some of the most important cause was the unfair taxation. Anther big cause is how poorly the 3rd estate was treated compared to the 1st and 2nd estates. The 3rd estates demand for equal rights largely impacted the start of the Revolution.
The 3rd estate, consisting of the middle class, peasants, and city workers, was over taxed. They were taxed so much that they could barely feed there kids. Land belonging to the 1st and 2nd estates were taxed very little while the land owned by the members of the 3rd estated were taxed very heavily (doc. 1). As a result of the unfair taxation the poor were getting poorer and the rich were getting richer. Because the peasants were force to pay so many taxes they could barely afford to feed there families. This caused women to complain and riot. As more families join together they became harder to control and ignore. The unjust taxation caused an uproar which sparked movement for ideas of a revolution to spread.
Another important cause was the unfair ownership of the land. The third estate consisted of more than 97% of the population but only owned about 55% of the land while the 1st estate consisting of 1% of the population owed 10% of the land an the 2nd estate consisting of 25 of the population owned 35% of the land (doc. 2). This upset the third estate even more because the were taxed more than the other estates and were receive less than them. They could not afford the land and as a result were left with a smaller piece of lower quality land. The 3rd estate were treated unfairly and they began to question and rebel against there government.
Because of the 3rd estates riots the king was forced to call in the estates general for the first time in 173
