History · AS: France, 1774-1814. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
Before 1789 France was ruled under the Ancien Régime: an absolute king, a privileged clergy and nobility, and a Third Estate that carried most of the tax burden. The Crown was close to bankruptcy, mainly because of war debts, and every attempt at tax reform was blocked by the privileged orders.
Enlightenment writers had already made people question absolute monarchy and privilege. Bad harvests and high bread prices in 1788 to 1789 added hunger to political anger.
Louis XVI called the Estates-General but then resisted change. Each time he hesitated or turned to force, others acted: the Third Estate, the Paris crowd and the peasants. By October 1789 the king had lost control of events.
Students often put later events into the causes of 1789, such as the assignats, the war with Austria or the Terror. Check the date: a cause of the Revolution must come before the summer of 1789.
Answer: The Tennis Court Oath came first, then the Declaration, then the March of the Women.
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