Causes of the French Revolution
“The main cause of the French Revolution was the poor harvest and the high price of food in 1789. ... In reference to the above question, Yes, I do agree that both, the poor harvests and the high prices of food were very instrumental in the “Immediate” cause of the French Revolution, as far as being the main cause for the onset of the revolution I have to disagree. After some detailed research, I have found numerous other issues that led to the French Revolution. ... It is my opinion that these festering issues were clearly the stepping-stones that culminated the French Revolution in 1789. According to Levack, the poor harvests and high food prices were responsible for causing the French people to panic in 1789. ... This is what I think happened when the king “fired his finance minister Jacques Necker and sent in 17,000 troops to Paris to restore the order there,” (Levack) thus causing the first French Revolution in 1789. In order to continue my analysis regarding the causes of the French Revolution, we must look at some of the earlier causes, because they too had a great effect on the French Revolution. According to the Levack text, it states, “like all Revolutions, the French Revolution had deep-seated causes”. One of those causes began in the Enlightment era with writers such as Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot who incessantly bombarded the public with “Satirical literature that was directed at the royal family and the court which lowered the prestige of the government thus weakening its authority”.