Essay - William Doyle and 'Origins of the French Revolution' the French...

William Doyle and 'Origins of the French Revolution'

The French Revolution, which included ***** major transformation of the political system and the society of France, began in 1789. However, there were many hints ***** the reform to come in the years (even decades) prior to 1789. William ***** outlines his thoughts regarding the *****ts in ***** book titled "Origins of the ***** Revolution." Throughout his book, he refers to some ***** the factors leading to the revolution, including the struggle between a mon*****rchy and the people, the financial problems facing France, the eventual breakdown of the Old Regime, and ***** American Revolution.

As Doyle discusses, the most common cause of the Revolution has always been interpreted as the rising ***** the middle class in France, the bourgeoisie. It has been said that ***** bourgeoisie overthrew the Old Regime in order to gain rights and freedoms they felt were being kept from them, while power and privilege ***** freely given to the other classes of the clergy and nobility. It would seem that their motivations were social and economical. The price of commonplace items in the marketplace such as bread had caused unrest among the poorer classes. In the 1770's, there was also a severe recession tak*****g place in France as a result of the costly wars France ***** participated in, such ***** the American ***** and the Austrian Succession. France also did not have a national bank or any kind of central treasury. In addition, the wealthier classes paid a signific*****ntly lower tax than the po*****er classes. The revenue that was brought in by these taxes usually had to go to their outstanding debts. The government tended to spend more than they ***** in, ***** ***** to ***** loans as a country. All of these factors easily pointed to social ***** and economic downfall for the entire country.

Despite the obvious truths associated with the above theory, ***** scholars feel that the Revolution most likely occurred because ***** political factors. The monarchy of the French was coming into question, despite how successful the monarchy had ***** in defending France militarily ***** keeping things peaceful domestically as well. As Doyle discusses, the French citizens were angered by the unequal taxes and the overall rise in taxes. Other problems existed with the Monarchy as well, ***** ***** persecution of those who were ***** the minority regarding religious beliefs. This discontentment was coupled with ***** outdated ways of the court *****. ***** fact, many who worked for ***** Old ***** were publicly unhappy with much of the legislation ***** decrees handed down by ***** King. The most public of these was the parlements, the thirteen regional royal courts led by the Parlement of Paris. The ***** were in charge ***** registering ***** ***** decrees and often disagreed with ***** they thought ***** infringe upon the rights and civil liberties of ***** *****. They distributed publications that denounced the entire monarchy ***** their imposition of new taxes ***** for forcing their religious views *****