[Music] the french revolution on the morning of 14th july 1789 the city of paris was in a state of alarm the king had commanded troops to move into the city rumor spread that he would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens some seven thousand men and women gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a people's militia they broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms finally a group of several hundred people marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress prison the bastille where they hoped to find hoarded ammunition in the armed fight that followed the commander of the bastille was killed and the prisoners released though there were only seven of them yet the bastille was hated by all do you know why because it stood for the despotic power of the king the fortress was demolished and its stone fragments were sold in the market to all those who wish to keep a souvenir of its destruction the days that followed saw more writing both in paris and the countryside most people were protesting against the high price of bread much later when historians looked back upon this time they saw it as the beginning of a chain of events that ultimately led to the execution of the king in france the most people at that time did not anticipate this outcome how and why did this happen french society during the late 18th century in 1774 louis xvi of the bobon family of kings ascended the throne of france he was 20 years old and married to the australian princess marie antoinette upon his accession the new king found an empty treasury long years of war had drained the financial resources of france added to this was the cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of a sail under louis xvi france helped the 13 american colonies to gain their independence from the common enemy britain the war added more than a billion liver to a debt that had already risen to more than two billion liver liver means unit of currency in france discontinued in 1794 lenders who gave the state credit now began to charge 10 percent interest on loans so the french government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone to meet its regular expenses such as the cost of maintaining an army the court running government offices or universities the state was forced to increase taxes yet even this measure would not have sufficed french society in the 18th century was divided into three estates and only members of the third estate paid taxes the society of estates was part of the feudal system that dated back to the middle ages the term old regime is usually used to describe the society and institutions in france before 1789 the figure shows how the system of estates in french society were organized peasants made up about 90 percent of the population however only a small number of them owned the land they cultivated about 60 percent of the land was owned by nobles the church and other richer members of the third estate the members of the first two estates that is the clergy and the nobility enjoyed certain privileges by birth clergy means group of persons invested with special functions in the church the most important of these was exemption from paying taxes to the state the nobles further enjoyed feudal privileges these included feudal jews which they extracted from the peasants peasants were obliged to render services to the lord to work in his house and fields to serve in the army or to participate in building roads the church too extracted its share of taxes called tights from the peasants tithes means attacks levied by the church comprising one-tenth of the agricultural produce and finally all the members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state these included a direct tax called tile tile means tax to be paid directly to the state and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco the burden of financing activities of the state through taxes was born by the third estate alone the struggle to survive the population of france rose from above 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. this led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains production of grains could not keep pace with the demand the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly most workers were employed as laborers in workshops whose owner fixed their wages but wages did not keep pace with the rise in prices so the gap between the poor and the rich widened things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest this led to a subsistence crisis subsistence crisis means an extreme situation where the basic means of livelihood are endangered that occurred frequently in france during the old regime activity how a subsistence crisis happens fill in the blank boxes in the figure with appropriate terms from among the following food riots scarcity of grain increased number of deaths rising food prices weaker bodies a bad harvest leads to dash which leads to dash the poorest can no longer buy bread which leads to disease epidemics bad harvest leads to scarcity of grains which ultimately results in rising food prices thus the porous can no longer buy his bread and as they don't have sufficient food they have weaker bodies getting prone to epidemics this may also lead to food riots both epidemics and food riots result in increased number of deaths a growing middle class envisages an end of privileges in the past peasants and workers had participated in revolts against increasing taxes and food scarcity but they lacked the means and programs to carry out full-scale measures that would bring about a change in the social and economic order this was left to those groups within the third estate who had become prosperous and had access to education and new ideas the 18th century witnessed the emergence of social groups termed the middle class who earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods such as woolen and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer members of society in addition to merchants and manufacturers the third estate included professions such as lawyers or administrative officials all of these were educated and believed that no group in society should be privileged by birth rather a person's social position must depend on his merit these ideas envisaging a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunity for all were put forward by philosophers such as john locke and jean jack russo in his two trees of government lok sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch russo carried the idea forward proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives in the spirit of the laws montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative the executive and the judiciary this model of government was put into force in the usa after the 13 colonies declared their independence from britain the american constitution and its guarantee of individual rights was an important example for political thinkers in france the ideas of these philosophers were discussed intensively in salons and coffee houses and spread among people through books and newspapers these were frequently read aloud in groups for the benefit of those who could not read and write the news that louis xvi planned to impose further taxes to be able to meet the expenses of the state generated anger and protest against the system of privileges [Music] you