HIS205

World History

MID1- Marks: 25

Assignment on
French Revolution

Name: Mirza Nishat Tasnim Ayshe

ID: 1811915030
Section: 1
Submitted To: Professor Dr. Abul Kalam Azad
(Klm)
Date of Submission: 16th May, 2020.
Q. 1. ‘The division of French society into three estates was one of the decisive
factors for causing the French Revolution’. Do you agree with the statement? Put
forward your arguments to support your answer.

Introduction
French Revolution is one of the watershed events in European History. Not only this
revolution ended the monarchy in France, but also caused a social and political upheaval. The
beginning of the revolution was 1789 and it lasted almost 10 years. France saw the new face
of their government and country after the late 1790s with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Inequality and discrimination were parts of France back then. During the rule of King Louis
XV and King Louis XVI majority population in France were inequitable, until everything
went downhill and kingship was finally over in France (“French Revolution”, 2009).

Fig.1: After the fall of monarchy in France

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The Three Estates
France has been following the medieval European concept of social hierarchy since the
beginning of time. The 24 Million and 700 Thousands people were divided into three
individual estates.

Fig.2: Composition of three estates in French society

The First Estate: The First Estate was comprised of all the Roman Catholic clergy. They
were about 0.5% of the total population as they numbered only 100,000. There were no
noticeable or formal distinction among the clergy but traditionally, they were often separated
as ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ clergy. The First Estate owned 10% of the land in France and the also
didn’t pay any taxes. They also had the maximum privileges and respected by other members
of the society (Pelz, 2016).

The Second Estate: The Second Estate contained the French Nobility. They were 1.5% of
France's population as they numbered about 400,000. Like the First Estate they have to

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normal division, but they have traditional division among them. ‘Nobility of the sword’ and
‘nobility of the robe’ are their divisions. The Nobles owned 25% of the lands and were free
from many taxes (Pelz, 2016). The First and Second estates had good kinship between them.
They were also privileged in many cases and they used to collect taxes from the Third estate.

The Third Estate: The Third Estate consisted of population who didn’t fall under the First
or The Second estates. People of different occupation were considered as the Third Estate.
They were often divided into 2 classes. One is ‘urban’ and another one is ‘rural’. Majority
people fell under the third estate and so they were 90% of the whole French population (Pelz,
2016). These people faced most of the discrimination and people of other estate looked down
upon them. They had no honor in the upper classes and society did not respect them. Worst of
all, they were pressurized to pay all the taxes they were asked to do. The constant forces on
them to pay the taxes made them financially weak and poverty was high in this particular
estate. The burden to pay heavy taxes made them rebel against their rulers thereafter.

Fig.3: Caricatures of ‘the torture on the Third estate

Done by First and Second estates’

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The Rise of the Third Estate
With time, the population of the Third Estate grew and soon they were the 98% of the total
population in France (“French Revolution”, 2009). During this time, the some people from
this estate got rich and they were called Bourgeoisie, who are also called middle-class.
Because of their rise and success they resented the other two estates. They also wanted the
unfairness in the community to go away caused by the other two estates. Later the Bourgeois
demanded a voice in politics. They wanted the taxation system in France to be fair and
acceptable by everyone. The also opposed upper-class privileges and wanted the stability in
social and economic conditions in the French society. It is considered that the Bourgeoisie
was influenced by the idea of the philosopher and economist Karl Marx (1818–83).

Fig.4: A bourgeoisie (middle-class) family in 18th century.

According to Marx, French Revolution is a revolution of the bourgeois. It is true that the

bourgeoisie plays an important role by revolutionizing industry and modernizing the typical
society. However, it also seeks to monopolize the benefits of this modernization by exploiting
the property-less proletariat (low-skilled workers) and thereby creating revolutionary tensions
(Ryan, n.d.).

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Some of the mentionable reasons behind the French Revolution:
Apart from the social hierarchy in France, there were more potential reasons behind the
revolution. But are those factors influential enough or somehow related to the Estates
System? Let’s find out.
 Influence of the Philosophers: 18th century is often considered as ‘the age of
enlightenment'. Philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron de
Montesquieu brought up questions for traditional monarchy system. According to
Anirudh, “Montesquieu advocated for a system of government based on separation of
powers.” Their philosophical ideas like suck provoked people to leave the old
traditional system behind.

Fig.5: Rousseau and Montesquieu (from left to right)

 Costly Wars: During the rule if King Louis XV there were a Seven Years’ War. The
constant costs and losses hampered French economy badly. Later the effects of the
economic crisis were noticed among the general population (Anirudh, 2018). The
poor population got poorer but the tax burden was on them even after the bankruptcy.

Fig.6: Wars in France

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 Unfriendly Weather: When a country’s
weather is not suitable for harvesting, the
country fails to produce food enough for
everyone in a country. Extreme drought and
long cold winters “took a toll on the poor
peasants of France”.

Fig.7: Poor harvest in fields

 Expensive Bread: As the harvest was bad in France for a decade. The price of the
bread increased a lot. Soon people of Third Estate and specially the poor ones were
spending 90% of their total income just on bread. People started suffering from
hunger and later they took action against their ruler.

Fig.8: Women march on Versailles for bread after the price increased.

 Failure of Rulers: King Louis XV and King Louis

XVI both failed to bring prosper to nation during
their ruling in France. The economic condition went
downhill which made the Third Estate revolt
against them. The anti-monarchist idea rose during
the time they were in power.

Fig.10: King Louis XV in his rule time.

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  Lavish Lifestyle of the Kings: When the whole country was suffering from poverty
and hunger, the kings were still spending the remaining money on unnecessary things.
This led to “national unrest” in the country and ultimately started the French
Revolution (Anirudh, 2018).

Fig.11-12: King Louis XVI and the people of First Estates are feasting on food
During the French Revolution.

Conclusion
If we analyze and scrutinize the causes that provoked the French Revolution, we can identify
that all of them are related to the Estates System in a way. If there was no Estates system,
people would live in harmony and peace and the country then would’ve been less corrupted
and the nation-wide poverty would have been lessened. Social discrimination wouldn’t be a
problem if there were no Estates System. People of all occupations and positions would not
be tortured, disrespected and most importantly there would be no inequality. If there were no
classes in the first place, the Bourgeoisie would not exist and therefore they would not
become rebels against their rulers. If the Kings treated people equally, there would have been
no revolt.

All the factors that were mentioned previously are deeply related to the social hierarchy as
known as the Estates System and all of the reasons led people to go against the monarchy
system. They demanded a new system where there would be no classes among general people

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of the nation and power of the government would be on people’s hands. The French
Revolution gave birth to modern nationalism as well as liberalism and communism and
finally the fall of the Monarchy in France.

So, yes, I undoubtedly agree with the statement- ‘The division of French society into three
estates was one of the decisive factors for causing the French Revolution’.

References
Anirudh. (2018, December 1). 10 Major Causes of the French Revolution. Learnodo
Newtonic. Retrieved from https://learnodo-newtonic.com/french-revolution-causes

French Revolution. (2009, November 9). History. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/france/french-revolution

Pelz, W. A. (2016). "The Rise of the Third Estate". The Rise of the Third Estate: The
French People Revolt. A People's History of Modern Europe. Pluto Press. pp. 40–51. 

Ryan, A. (n.d.). Bourgeoisie. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/bourgeoisie.

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