A Beginner's Guide to the French Revolution: Part One

The French Revolution was one of the most pivotal historical processes of the past three centuries. While the American Revolution can be viewed as a bit of an accident that did not reflect a response to genuinely harsh conditions, the French Revolution was a revolution that was borne out of significant domestic hardship. What follows is a beginner's guide to what transpired during the French Revolution, broken down into several parts. The first part of A Beginner's Guide to The French Revolution will focus on the underlying causes of the revolutionary response as well as a survey of the social, economic, and political structure in France during the eighteenth century.

First, it is important to know what kind of government France had. Like most other regions of the continent (with the exception of The Netherlands, Germany, and Italy), France had an absolute monarch in charge of the state. An absolute monarch was a king or queen who wielded extreme power over all aspects of his or her respective state. Although the absolute monarch had close advisors, he or she had final say in all matters. The absolute monarch of France during the time of the French Revolution was Louis XVI.

French society in the eighteenth century was divided along three very distinct lines. There was an upper class constructed of wealthy clergymen such as bishops and abbots, titled nobility, as well as the royal family and his advisors. Below this was the middle class which included those involved in commercial occupations such as merchants and bankers, as well as professionals like doctors and lawyers. The middle class had begun to expand due to France's commercial expansion as an overseas power during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As the country's economy widened, so to did occupations that were essential to sustaining it. Finally there was a lower class. This social order consisted primarily of rural peasants who were bound to lands according to ancient feudal dues. Other members of the lower class included poor urban laborers and artisans who crowded in France's cities.