MAKING OF A NEW NATION 1776 1800
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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channeled more money to merchants and salesmen
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depleted the government’s monetary reserves
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led to an equivalent increase in wages among the nobility
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left people with an inability to purchase essential goods, such as food
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Detailed explanation-1: -Throughout the 18th century, France faced a mounting economic crisis. A rapidly growing population had outpaced the food supply. A severe winter in 1788 resulted in famine and widespread starvation in the countryside. Rising prices in Paris brought bread riots.
Detailed explanation-2: -The causes of the French Revolution can be narrowed to five main factors: the Estate System, absolutism, Enlightenment ideas, food shortages, and the American Revolution. The Estate System placed people into groups based on birth and was known as the Ancien Regime.
Detailed explanation-3: -French involvement in the Seven Years’ War and the American War of Independence added substantially to the state’s debts. Jacques Necker, finance minister from 1777 and 1781, had largely funded France’s war effort through loans. As a result the state debt ballooned to between 8 and 12 billion livres by 1789.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Bread Famine in 18th-century France. It didn’t work. In late April and May 1775, food shortages and high prices ignited an explosion of popular anger in the towns and villages of the Paris Basin. Over 300 riots and expeditions to pillage grain were recorded in the space of a little over three weeks.