French Revolution, Origins of essays

French Revolution, Origins of essays The Origins of the French Revolution The origins of the French Revolution have been debated by historians for years, and poverty being the main issue of dispute. While there are numerous causes of the French Revolution, some argue that the poverty that the peasants experienced was the overwhelming cause, but others feel that it was a culmination of an unstable monarchy, influential philosophes, and poverty. Historians such as Alphonse Aulard contend that the Revolution came about due to the writings of various philosophes such as Montesqieu and Rousseau, and that poverty was merely a contributing cause. Jeffery Kaplow offers a more accurate and convincing account of the origins of the French Revolution saying that poverty was the primary cause. While the writings of philosophes, such as Montesqieu and Rousseau, undoubtedly had a significant influence on the Revolution, it was the inability of Louis XVIs monarchy to deal with Frances financial situation that led to the inevitable outbreak of Revolution. The article by Jeffrey Kaplow, Conditions of Life on the Eve of the Revolution, starts off by giving contradicting statistics of the percent of Frances population that belonged to the labouring poor. The first being as high as 90 per cent, while the other claiming 100,000 out of 500,00, but Kaplow concludes that it was actually 50 per cent. Kaplow effectively proves that the conditions that the peasants lived under were grounds for revolution. He mentions early in the article that it was not merely lack of bread that made the working class revolutionary, but it was a result of various factors that made living nearly unbearable for the poor. The infant mortality rate for peasants was not high and it was likely that any births would result in death within a year, and the possibility of improving their lifestyles financially and socially was non-existent. The peasants had to pay higher taxes then the up...