DEBATE THE PROPOSITION THAT RE essays

DEBATE THE PROPOSITION THAT RE essays DEBATE THE PROPOSITION THAT REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS WERE A MAJOR CAUSE OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLD REGIME Financially, France was in crisis. It owed millions of livre to other nations as a lot of money was borrowed to support the luxurious and extravagant lifestyle of the first and second orders. An example of the un-necessary spending is that the queen at the time, Marie Antoinette, was given the Trianon as a gift from the king. She then spent over 150,000 livres on changing the gardens to resemble English gardens. She also built an expensive theatre which only presented one play also costing a lot of money. Her extravagance only served to fuel the grievances of a population kept in poverty. Revolutionary ideas formed where the population started to demand political rights and economic freedom. It is said that King Louis the Sixteenth did not have a strong character and was often overpowered by emotions. He did not have the knowledge to run the country correctly and was influenced greatly by those around him. He was not the right person to get the nation out of financial ruin because he did not have the knowledge to do so. For example, he would simply make a law and then it was up to the leaders of the provinces to interpret the law and implement it. He also had a system of taxation in place that was extremely complex and inefficient. The kings decisions of waging wars in foreign countries caused a further financial burden on the country. Thus, his inadequacy as a ruler of France can be seen as a major cause for the need of a revolution. Prior to 1789, France was a nation in crisis both financially and politically. The king at the time, Louis the Sixteenth, was said to not have the knowledge to run a country properly. In terms of equity, the nation was un-just in that only a small percentage of the population were wealthy while the rest struggled to survive and all of these grievances were to contrib ...