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Question: French Revolution paper!? please help! !?
Consider the causes of the French Revolution and future political unrest in Paris!. While we often assume that changes in government or social institutions have been made primarily by political leaders and authority figures, what are alternative explanation of the forces at work to promote change!?


so i have to write a paper, but im not sure what else could promote change!.!.!.!.i was thinking economic reasons!.

any help at all would be great!

thanks in advance! :)Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Here's part of a synopsis I put together for my college world history classes!. Besides political leaders and authority figures, the people themselves can rise up and demand change!. In this case it was the people of Paris - workers, lower middle class, and upper middle class all banding together to demand change!.

"By 1789 France was bankrupt!.
How to fix it - convene their equivalent of parliament for new taxes!. This was done in times of emergency!. The last time was 175 yrs earlier!.
In France the parliament was the “States General” with three houses :
Estates 1&2 were the top 2% - Nobles and high Clergy who paid very limited taxes!.
Estate #3 was the people – the propertied people – businessmen, professionals, etc!.
Even peasants with small land holdings paid taxes amounting to 53% ! !
In 1789, five million Frenchmen (1/5 of the pop!.) voted for ~1500 representatives!.
They met at Versailles in May, 1789!. It became clear that the commons had a majority!.
The Nobles and Clergy would not get their privileged way if the 3rd Estate voted!.
So the king, Louis XVI, locked the commons out of Parliament house in June!.
On June 20, the commons met as the new “National Assembly” on a nearby tennis court!.
Royal troops were in evidence at Versailles and surrounding the 600,000 people of Paris!.
The mob armed themselves with muskets and cannon taken from the Invalides on July 14
To get gunpowder they also stormed the storerooms of the Bastille freeing 7 prisoners!.
From July to October some 200,000 Nobles and Clergy fled to nearby German and Italian cities where they plotted to return and reestablish their lives of property and privilege!.
The people’s revolt against the aristocracy was the first successful takeover in Europe!.
Aristocrats and privileged Clergy in other countries were sympathetic to the French elite!.
The King and Queen posed a continued threat to the revolution!. They had to be killed!."Www@QuestionHome@Com