The French Revolution

Q. “ The Ancien Régime collapsed in 1789 because of money problems, but the transition from collapse to revolution was because of an argument about political power.” Discuss.

As the quotation suggests, the argument over how the revolution came about in France in the late eighteenth century has much to do with the struggle for political power at that time. The collapse of the Ancien Régime can be attributed to various factors such as the closed social structure of 18th century France, administrative inefficiency and bankruptcy- caused by the various wars France had embarked on, and indeed lost. Other factors include the characters of Louis XV and Louis XVI, as they refused to stand up to the nobility who continued to be exempt from paying taxes, and the emergence of enlightenment, especially American revolutionary ideas . The transition to revolution, however, can only be attributed to the various attempts of the bourgeoisie and the nobility to seize political power, and create...