Please elaborate on the social reasons other than ideological enlightenment in the French Revolution?

The root of the revolution The French Revolution not only marked the victory of the bourgeoisie, but also marked the overall awakening of the people who had been dormant in the past. This great change and even the revolution took place in France, the basic reason is that:

First of all: France, the hometown of the Enlightenment, was not ruled by an enlightened autocratic monarch before Napoleon came to power. Therefore, France is such an incompetent and unfair country that the ruling institutions come to a screeching halt. It is this pause that gives the ambitious and disgruntled bourgeoisie a chance to seize power successfully. At the same time, the old nobles are still looking for opportunities to regain the power taken away by the king in the17-18th century. Contradictions within the ruling class are sharp.

Secondly, the French ruling class gave up the transformation of power. At the beginning of the French Revolution, although the national economy was booming, for example, in the period of18th century, the modern industry in France started, which was marked by the centralization of handicraft workshops and the adoption of new technologies. The handicraft workshops had formed a considerable scale, but the king had a serious economic crisis. Mercantilism has not adapted to the needs of economic development, calling for new ways, and new economic factors can only exist in the cracks with the old system of economic methods. 1788 The harvest was poor, the food was scarce, the unemployment was serious, and the people were strongly dissatisfied with the difficulties in life. France incurred huge debts in supporting the American war, but because the first and second classes did not pay taxes, the burden on the people was heavy and the class contradictions were sharp. During the period of 1774- 1776, as the chief minister economist of Louis XVI, Turgut tried to carry out reform, advocating effective land development, free enterprise and free trade, advocating effective management of unified national territory, abolishing all restrictions and social inequalities that hinder the development of national resources, and reasonable and fair administration and taxation, but sadly failed. This failure is very representative. Reforms of this nature, even the most moderate, are incompatible or unpopular with absolute monarchy. The ruling class has given up the transformation of power. Because people at that time were not keen on revolution.

Third: the struggle of the French people comes from the freedom of the French people. Why do you say that? Because only free people will pursue freer freedom. Feudalism is no longer a political system, but it is still the largest of all civil systems. The scope has narrowed, but the hatred aroused is even greater. How can people who are already free fight for freedom? But the influence of the Enlightenment became the most important reason. This seems to mean that the French Revolution has little to do with the economy. Indeed, this revolution broke out not in a poor country, but in an extremely prosperous country. Poverty can sometimes lead to riots, but it can't lead to a huge gradual change. The gradual change of society is often due to class imbalance. The old French regime was an aristocratic regime in organization. All French people legally belong to a certain "class", that is, social stratum, and this membership determines their legal rights and privileges. The first level consists of priests, and there are about 65,438+10,000 priests in the total population of 24.5 million. The second category consists of nobles, with a total of about 400 thousand people. The third level includes all others-more than 20 million farmers, about 4 million city businessmen and craftsmen. So the first two classes only account for 2% of the total population. However, they own about 35% of the land and enjoy most of the benefits of government protectors. Despite these disproportionate benefits, they are exempted from almost all taxes; In fact, they think that paying taxes is detrimental to their dignity. Therefore, the tax burden falls on the shoulders of the third level, especially the shoulders of farmers. The latter accounts for more than 80% of the population, but only owns 30% of the land. In addition, farmers must pay tithes of agricultural products to the church, pay various feudal taxes to the nobles, and pay land taxes, income taxes, poll taxes and other taxes to the state. Because the overall price level has risen from 1720 to 1789, which is 65%, the price of agricultural products is far behind, so this tax burden is particularly heavy. This is not freedom, at least inequality, which is incompatible with the popular saying that all men are created equal.

Fourth, the Enlightenment should be the most important of all reasons. The Enlightenment advocated the use of human reason to make society move forward, emphasizing progress and rationality. Enlightenment thinkers have put forward a series of principles and intend to carry out large-scale social transformation through these principles. In the economic field, they demand laissez-faire, let people do what they want, let it develop naturally, and oppose government intervention. However, the mercantilism of the old government was a comprehensive and strict control of life and society, and the law of freedom based on nature demanded by the enlightenment thinkers was a challenge to the old principles. People believe in the rationality of the poet who decides people's fate, not the invisible God. As a result, atheists who violated religious orthodoxy appeared. Political "Social Contract Theory" holds that if rulers mismanage their subjects, "they will lose the power granted to them earlier for this completely opposite purpose because of this dereliction of duty, and the power will be handed over to the people, and the people will have the right to restore their freedom." But the contract is just an agreement. "All citizens, in the process of establishing the government, will integrate their individual will into a * * * will, and agree to accept the final ruling of this * * * will. Sovereignty is only a kind of "agency right", and the trustee of administrative power is not the master of the people, but the clerk of the people; The people can have power or let him step down according to their own wishes, and their only power is obedience. The idea of asking for freedom in the Enlightenment became the idea of people who also asked for freedom, and for a long time, they kept trying to copy this idea into practice, which made France a powder keg of ideas. This powder keg was buried in the ground of the whole European continent, which blew up the whole Europe in one sentence, and its voice spread all over the world. It spread the new wind of freedom, equality and fraternity to people who needed it but urgently needed to breathe. Later restored Louis Stanislas Xavier also said, "Voltaire and Rousseau both perished in France. "

Fifth, the old system has institutional defects. The political strengthening and economic weakening of the state power make the French monarchy look strong, but it has insurmountable internal defects and innate weaknesses, which eventually led to the collapse of the old French system.