3 Estates
The French pre-revolutionary social class system consisted of three different social classes, 1st being clergy, 2nd was nobility, and 3rd was commoners.
First estate
The first estate was the most sought after estate. Only the royal families, cardinals, bishops, and heads of monasteries was in the first estate. The first estate had .5% of the population and owned 10% of the land.
second estate
The second estate was the nobility and they made up 1.5% of the population. The land ownership for the second estate was 25%.
third estate
The third estate was the poorest. This estate was the peasants and serfs. The population the third estate had was 98% of the total. They owneed 65% of the land and 100% of the taxes was on the third estate. These people lived in poverty and things only got worse as they lived longer.
feudalism and manoralism
Feudalism was important in which it created alliances between nobles. A manor was an agricultural estate that a lord ran and peasants worked. A peasants whole life was based on working for the nobles. Eventually, more and more free peasants became serfs, which were peasants legally bound to work a given land.
Leviathan
Leviathan was a book, written by Thomas Hobbes in 1651, and was on political thoughts. Hobbes explained how life was, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." He also said hwo there needs to be an absolute leader to preserve order ni society.
two treatises of government
This was a book written by John Locke in 1679, but it was to radical and too dangerous to be published then. It first appeared in 1690. In his Treatises, Locke argued against the absolute rule of one person. He described how governments are formed and what justifies them. Unlike Hobbes, Locke believed that problems existed inthe state of nature. They then made a government to ensure the protection of their rights and to judge those who violated them.
seven years war
This was a major factor of the French revolution. The France-Britain rivalry just began and the fight for the American colonies was agonizing. This directly affected France in which they taxed the people more and the people wanted a change. This was a big reason towards the revolution.
Louis XVI
Louis XVI was arguably one of the worst Kings in French history. He was for himself and not for the people. Louis only taxed the third estate and because of this, many peasants tried and succeded to overthrow Louis XVI and get rid of him. Many people disliked him, which resulted in revolution.
marie antoinette
Marie Antoinette was the wife of Louis XVI. While France was in major debt, she continued to spend more money and live her high lifestyle living which made a lot of people unhappy. She also struggled to produce a male heir which made people dislike her even more. This is also another small cause of the revolution.