France was in huge debt because of the war they had been involved in. The king reacted by placing high taxes on the 3rd estate. The third estate was made up of peasant farmers, and the middle class . The Third Estate was 96% of the population but owned less then 70% of the land. The peasants who had a hard life had now had to live an even harder life causing dissatisfaction with the government. After the French Revolution ended the idea of three ‘estates’ was abolished, as were noble and church privileges. Nobility had completely ended, and church lands were nationalized and sold, causing a full tenth of all land in France to change hands. Taxes were fair but the Napoleonic War forced France to have a unstable