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Historical Interpretation of The Causes of The French Revolution

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Words: 854 |

Pages: 2|

5 min read

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 854|Pages: 2|5 min read

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Until 60 years ago, the Marxist interpretation of the origins of the French Revolution was the most widely accepted in society – so widely accepted that it was often called the Classic interpretation. By using this interpretation, the revolution was looked upon as the result of the classic Marxist struggle of a rising bourgeoisie. During this time, in France, it was believed that wage earners had become disillusioned when it was more evident that they had growing economic influence which could not be reflected under the constrictions of the Old Regime. Albert Soboul has also recognised the significance of lower classes in his publication during 1968 ‘The Sans-Culottes’ where it was expressed that life was difficult for the peasantry who had suffered bad harvests in 1787 and 1789. Examples whereby the bourgeoisie were unable to influence the fiscal system of France can be seen by The Assembly of the Notables on February the 22nd in 1789. Then the Controller of General Finances (Charles Calonne) urged those who had tax exemptions that financial reform was needed to improve the dire financial straits of France and that they must either accept new taxation or forfeit their previous tax exemptions but instead they refused to do so. Many historians believe that if his proposals had been accepted then France may have been able to go up a ladder of economic recovery but without having representation from either the 2nd or 3rd estate, the decision was inevitable as the nobility wanted to choose what was best for them instead of best for the country as a whole. 

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The Marxist historical interpretation can be suggested to be correct due to its recognition of how bourgeoisie disgruntlement with the limitations that the Ancien Regime imposed upon them, led them to challenge the monarchy and higher authority. It can be seen as particularly more credible due to the fact that the urban population grew faster in the lead up to the revolution, and by 1989 there were roughly 30 towns in France whose population exceeded 150,000 inhabitants. However, the main flaw in the Marxist interpretation is its oversimplification where they argue the causes of the revolution as from only this factor alone. George Taylor (a revisionist historian) suggests that the interpretation is ‘interred in the graveyard of lost paradigms assassinated by critical research’ which many would consider to be largely true. The criticism that came from revisionists directly challenged this doctrines approach by highlighting that some ‘enlightened elites’ ‘actively promoted France’s political and economic modernisation’  and were in alignment with the wants of the bourgeoisie rather than in opposition. The revisionist view, alongside the fact that the ‘wealthiest and mouse doubtless individual members of post-revolutionary society came from noble backgrounds’ discredits the notion of Marxists that the revolution was caused solely by class conflict or led to the bourgeoisie triumphing over noblemen. As well as this, historian Alfred Cobban ‘established that change in History is never the product of neatly defined class interests.’ Whilst his interpretation does do much to discredit the Marxist interpretation, its shortcoming lies in the fact that it does not offer an original interpretation to contest it as instead it just belittles the Marxist view without anything else. Contrarily, this outlines the strengths of the New Revisionist interpretation which tends to focus on political facts as ways to understand the causes of the French Revolution. Given this, it must be considered that Post-Revisionisms’ sole focus is not just on ‘political policies, institutions or processes’ and instead it focuses on how culture ‘made possible the emergency of distinctive policies and the appearance of new kinds of politicians, conflicts and organisations’. 

Arguably, out of all of the historical viewpoints, this is the most interesting interpretation as it recognises that the major factor causing the French Revolution was political change through many social factors. Historian Mona Ozouf noticed the link between the Ancien Regime’s demise and the rise of public opinion ‘There was no public opinion under Louis XIV, for the brilliance of the monarch outshone it. Similarly, when public opinion had become king, it led to no place for royal authority’. In looking at how the opinion of the public had changed in the rise up to the revolution, it foregrounds the effect of the Enlightenment in causing the revolution through noticing that ‘the concern is not so much what the classic texts of the most famous philosophes actually meant, but how their ideas, principally Rousseau’s, were made available to and re-interpreted by the men of 1789’. Although, this recent and arguably more useful interpretation has many successes to it, as with other sources previously mentioned, it is incomplete as it fails to realise the impact that financial ruin in France had on leading to the political changes which created the French revolution. 

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Given this, after consideration of the different trains of thought, the post-revisionist idea comes across as being the most useful for reflecting at causes of the French Revolution due to by looking at the revolution through a political perspective, there is more ability to consider both social and economic factors regarding their influence on politics during the period.   

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Historical Interpretation Of The Causes Of The French Revolution. (2022, February 10). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/historical-interpretation-of-the-causes-of-the-french-revolution/
“Historical Interpretation Of The Causes Of The French Revolution.” GradesFixer, 10 Feb. 2022, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/historical-interpretation-of-the-causes-of-the-french-revolution/
Historical Interpretation Of The Causes Of The French Revolution. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/historical-interpretation-of-the-causes-of-the-french-revolution/> [Accessed 29 Mar. 2024].
Historical Interpretation Of The Causes Of The French Revolution [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2022 Feb 10 [cited 2024 Mar 29]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/historical-interpretation-of-the-causes-of-the-french-revolution/
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