List social, economic, and political problems in pre-revolutionary France.

Answer 1

France was deeply in debt from the money it spent on the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and in support of the American Revolution (1775-1778). With France's state coffers virtually depleted by 1778, the price of bread skyrocketed, and French peasants became increasingly discontented and riotous. Although generally considered a reactionary ruler, King Louis XVI made some attempts at Enlightened reforms in response to growing unrest spreading throughout his country. Louis's wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, was an Austrian by birth and never well-liked by the French press or public.

Due to the feudal system under France's ancien régime, the populace was split into Three Estates. The First Estate was composed of the clergy, the Second Estate referred to the nobles, and the vast Third Estate comprised the peasantry. Although the Third Estate contained many more people than both the clergy and the noblemen, it could always be outvoted by the other two estates since it was denied proportional representation, as each Estate had one vote in the Estates-General. These were some of the significant socioeconomic and political factors boiling over in pre-Revolutionary France before the outbreak of revolution in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille.