The French Revolution Essay

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The French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of social and political chaos in France that lasted from 1789 until 1799.Many historians still argue on what caused the French Revolution but no one can pin point what exactly caused this chaotic mess called the French Revolution. There is no one factor that could be the blame for this chaos but one of the many reasons that caused the French revolution was the years of feudal oppressions and fiscal mismanagement that led French society to revolt. It was also France’s participation in the Seven Year’s War and the American Revolution that ended up dragging France further into debt. (1756-1783).
King Louis XVI inherited the throne in 1774, as well of France’s enormous debt. King Louis XVI decides to finally take action by appointing Charles de Calonne as controller general of finance on November 2nd of 1783.Calonne begins to evaluate the situation only to find a financial system completely shattered. Many accountants during this whole time have been stealing without anybody noticing. The financial system was being run by corruption and the only source of income was taxation but taxes only applied to peasants while the higher classes were tax-exempt. Calonne proposes a new tax system and explains it to the notables at a conference alongside King Louis XVI but everyone rejected Calonne’s plans and turned on him. Calonne was then later fired due to the notables’ refusal to pay taxes. The average person would believe that it was the peasants who began revolting but it was actually the bourgeoisie who began revolting. Many bourgeoisie people were treated like peasants even though many of them were well educated and wealthy. Every single one of the bourgeoisie didn’t have an elite title so they were treated like any other peasant. The bourgeoisie began to protest and the peasants just followed along.
After Calonne got dismissed from his job as the director general of finance, King Louis decided to bring back the Swiss banker named Jaques Necker. Necker realized that this situation has gone out of control and so he decided to advise King Louis XVI to summon the Estates-General. The Estates-General are made up three sections. The first estate was the clergy, the second estate was the nobility, and lastly the third estate was the rest of the population (peasants). It was May 5, 1789 when King Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General. Each estate had a vote so the 1st and 2nd estate could outvote the 3rd estate. Since both the 1st and 2nd estate didn’t agree with what the 3rd estate said they could outvote the 3rd estate with any work.
The 3rd estate had been dealing with this constantly so they decided to split away from the Estate-General but they also recruited some members of the other estates before they split away. After they split away from the Estates-General they formed the National Assembly. After this movement got formed other members of the Estates-General decided to join the National Assembly.
The National Assembly only wanted their voice to be heard but the nobility and clergy ignored them. The National Assembly began to hold meetings in a nearby tennis court. Every member of the assembly took the tennis court oath which meant that they wouldn’t separate or give up until a new constitution was officially written and implemented by the government. Panic began to spread across the country and so the peasants began to protest.
Hell broke loose in France and everyone began to riot. One of the many memorable events that occurred during this revolution was when the peasants seized control of Bastille (July 14, 1789). Bastille was a heavily protected facility that was home to many cruel criminals. Citizens took hold of the weapons that were located in bastille and began using it against its own government. After Bastille was seized Marquis de Lafayette a nobleman began to rally many citizens in order to form the French National Guard.
Peasants who were farmers also began
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