The essential cause of the French Revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges. Assess the validity of this statement as an explanation of the events leading up to the French Revolution of 1789.

The statement is true. The essential cause of the French Revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges.

Explanation:

The French Revolution was based on the dissatisfaction of the citizens with the sovereignty of King Louis XVI and the influence of the enlightenment. The bourgeoisie had also become as wealthy and influential as the king, and the bourgeoisie challenged the king's power. The king's power in France was an absolute monarchy based on a feudal society where the king, according to traditional notion, received his single power from God. The Catholic Church had great influence, and those who belonged to the higher classes, priests and nobles, were exempt from tax and could also collect taxes for their own purposes. France's tax burden rested entirely on the third estate, which was farmers and citizens. These were excluded from the offices of the state, which were reserved to the nobility. France had also participated in expensive wars, which led to increased taxes.

The years between 1789 and 1792 have been called the liberal phase of the revolution, led by reformist nobles like La Fayette and Mirabeau. This phase was dominated by the dismantling of feudalism and regulatory privileges and the constitutional monarchy. In 1792, many years of revolutionary wars began, in which France waged war against the other great powers of Europe with great success. In the same year, the revolution took a more radical turn, abolishing the monarchy and creating the first republic.

The rise of the Jacobin, who represented a radical outline, led to a dictatorial period between 1793 and 1794, during which opponents of the revolution were severely persecuted and thousands of people were executed with the guillotine. After the defeat of Maximilien Robespierre, who ruled almost as a dictator, there followed a period called the directory, from 1795 to 1799, when both royal and far-left take-over attempts were suppressed.

The revolution is thought to have ended in 1799, when General Napoleon Bonaparte came to power with a military coup. He dissolved the republic when he was crowned emperor in 1804. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814 and 1815, a period of restoration began, seeking to restore the pre-revolutionary order. However, many of the effects of the revolution proved to be irreversible.