A stupendous event like the French Revolution can hardly be ascribed to a single cause or a given number of causes. It was a movement caused by the composite interaction of various forces and factors which had long been at work. They came to a head in the reign of Louis XVI and burst into a terrific flare-up.

Causes of French Revolution

Evils of absolutism

There was much in the sociopolitical condition of France that bred discontent. But what irked the French people most was the evils arising from a discredited system of autocracy and aristocratic privilege. The government of France was out and out a centralized despotism in which the king’s power was absolute. This ancient system was in place for centuries. However, the success of such absolutism depended on the ability of the ruler and efficiency of his administration. But neither of these qualities was to be found in the French kings of the late eighteenth century. The regime of Louis XV was a record of corrupt extravagance and military failures. Louis XVI was a person of good intentions but was rather weak-willed and irresolute. Hence he was not in a position to bring in such measures as would placate the unrest brewing in the masses. The vested interests prevented him from introducing the needed reforms which might have averted the revolution. It could not justify its existence. The weakness of the French monarchy was one of the important causes of the French Revolution.

Evils of privilege

Secondly, the social order of France, like many other countries of Europe in the 18th century, was based upon a system of privilege. This was galling to the French people in the extreme. The aristocracy and the clergy were thriving without having to contribute anything to the economy. The main burden of taxation was on the shoulders of the poor. The prize posts in the army, the navy and the Church were reserved for only the well-born. In nutshell, the two privileged classes were the nobility and the higher clergy. Although the nobles had ceased performing any national function but they continued enjoying many of the old feudal rights and privileges, as well as total or partial exemption from taxation. In the absence of duties the continuance of rights became all the more irksome and irritating. Hence the privileges of nobility were the special object of popular hatred.

Discontent of lower clergy

The higher clergy in France of that time was in the hands of noble classes. They were also exempt from taxation. All this discredited them in public esteem and the lower clergy’s hearts burnt with envy as it helplessly beheld the wealth, the worldliness and the vices in which the noble priests indulged. There was a huge hiatus between them and the village priests who did all the work of spiritual consolation but were very poorly paid. Their discontent was a notable factor in the early stages of the Revolution.

The curse of inequality

Inequality pervaded not only the clergy alone but it was rampant in every rank of society and was in fact a putrefying sore in the body politic. Small wonder that egalitarianism was one of the watchwords of the French Revolution. One may say that the French Revolution broke out because the monarchy failed to address the question of privilege.

Discontent of the Third Estate

Apart from the aristocracy and the noble clergy the French society constituted of a bulk of the population who formed the Third Estate. It comprised the bourgeoisie or middle class, the skilled workers, and the farmers. They formed the unprivileged class and hence were a greatly discontented lot. The bourgeoisie disgruntled against their exclusion from high posts and offices. The artisans suffered from the tyranny of trade guilds. On the other hand the peasants bemoaned under the burden of taxation which was evaded by the privileged classes. To the Church they paid tithes, to the lords feudal dues, and to the State all kinds of taxes. The great discontent of the Third Estate was certainly one of the most impacting causes of the revolution.

Influence of French Philosophers

The discontent and heart-burn raging in the various ranks of the society was further heightened by the philosophical inputs supplied by such witty, wise and impressive French triumvirate of Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau. Montesquieu highlighted the merits of constitutional government. Voltaire brought in light the evils of absolutism and corruption and the bigotry of the church. Rousseau on the other hand pointed out that the kingship was not absolute but the result of a social contract. In brief, these philosophers prepared man’s minds for a revolutionary change.

Financial crisis was the immediate cause

The finances of the government in the regime of Louis XVI was in a very deplorable condition. This factor aggravated the crisis. This condition was the outcome of a series of costly wars waged since the time of Louis XIV, and the corrupt extravagance of the court. France was in a state of permanent financial deficit. All efforts to set the finances in order failed because of the opposition of the vested interests. The situation worsened because France extended moral and financial assistance to the American colonies revolting against England at that time. It proved to be a veritable disaster. The American revolution set the example of successful resistance to tyranny and at the same time completed the financial disruption of the country.  Because the nobles would not pay, while the commons could not pay, the Government could not avert the impending bankruptcy. Louis XVI was forced to summon the States-General in the hope of finding a solution (1789). The States-General it may be noted had not been summoned for last for last two centuries. This appeal to the people after about such a  long time betrayed that absolutism had finally failed. It sounded the death-knell of the Ancient Regime and led to the first step in the French Revolution.