USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Harvest failures, food shortages and high prices for food, particularly bread, shaped the course of the French Revolution. This was particularly true for the working classes in Paris. Much of the revolutionary activity in Paris and other cities was driven by food shortages and high prices.

Detailed explanation-2: -Rising prices in Paris brought bread riots. By 1789 France was broke. The nobility refused to pay more taxes, and the peasants simply couldn’t. Even the opulent King Louis XVI, fonder of hunting and locksmithing than governing, recognized that a crisis loomed.

Detailed explanation-3: -This led to peasants and farmers having smaller incomes, while food prices rose sharply. The poor harvests also meant that many French farmers became unemployed. Many poorer people were starving, but could not afford food and could not find a job.

Detailed explanation-4: -The population of France rose from about 23 million in 1715 to 28 million in 1789. This led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. Production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So the price of bread which was the staple diet of the majority rose rapidly.

Detailed explanation-5: -During the spring and summer of 1788, there was unrest among the populace in Paris, Grenoble, Dijon, Toulouse, Pau, and Rennes. The king, Louis XVI, had to yield. He reappointed reform-minded Jacques Necker as the finance minister and promised to convene the Estates-General on May 5, 1789.