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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The third estate required the government to provide poor citizens with food.
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Napoleon Bonaparte’s wars had been extremely expensive for the kingdom.
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The National Assembly refused to increase taxes to pay off earlier debts.
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The French government had helped fund the American Revolution.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Q. What was one reason that France’s debt under Louis XVI was so large? The third estate required the government to provide poor citizens with food. Napoleon Bonaparte’s wars had been extremely expensive for the kingdom.
Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -Historians note, however, that the powerful position of Louis XIV’s France came at a financial cost that could not be balanced by his reforms. The considerable foreign, military, and domestic expenditure impoverished and bankrupted France.
Detailed explanation-4: -Causes of debt The French Crown’s debt was caused by both individual decisions, such as intervention in the American War of Independence and the Seven Years’ War, and underlying issues such as an inadequate taxation system.
Detailed explanation-5: -France’s Debt Problems France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783.