Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.

Describe the circumstances leading to the outbreak of revolutionary protest in France.

Ans.

(i) The French government was an absolute monarchy whose ruler Louis XVI was pleasure loving and extravagant. Louis XVI drove France into useless wars bringing the country to the verge of bankruptcy.

(ii) French society was divided into 3 main classes called ‘estates’. The first estate constituted the clergy, the nobility constituted the second estate and rest of the population constituted the third estate. The first two estates were the privileged ones, exempted from all taxes while the third estate shouldered the burden of taxation and had few privileges.

(iii) In France, people had no share in decision-making. The French Parliament known as the Estates General had not been called for the last 175 years. Administration was corrupt, disorganized and inefficient.

(iv) The economic bankruptcy of the French government aggravated the crisis and hastened the revolution. The defective system of tax collection and oppression created discontentment.

(v) The emergence of political philosophers like John Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau a roused people from inactivity instilling a revolutionary spirit in them to root out social inequalities and set up a new government responsive to their needs.