Although France has been a European power throughout history, it is also a country with constant revolutions and uprisings. There are many reasons for the uprising, but generally because of the harsh government of the rulers, especially on the eve of the French Revolution, the French king knows that once the bill to increase taxes is introduced, it is likely to force the people to rebel, so why does the king insist on increasing taxes?
This also begins with the drought of 1785, when France suffered a nationwide drought, and what all the French did not expect was that the drought lasted for 3 years. Drought not only means that crop harvests are severely damaged, but also livestock that feed on crops, as the massive reduction in crop yields also faces the fate of being slaughtered.
The slaughter of a large number of livestock also means that a large number of farmland has lost its source of organic fertilizer. In that era when there was no fertilizer, the shortage of organic fertilizer meant that farmland no longer had enough fertility, and crops were basically impossible to have a good harvest.
France, which has just experienced 3 years of drought, has not yet recovered, and in 1788 suffered a rare hail disaster, and the farmland that was already fertile was basically grainless. This led to a crazy 3-fold increase in the price of bread in France.
At the same time, due to the problem of transport capacity, France's disaster relief materials cannot be reached. King Louis XVI of France, who lived in the royal palace, was still living a luxurious life, and the large expenses of the royal family were worse for the difficult French finances, and all this ultimately needed to be borne by the French masses.
At that time, France had a strict hierarchical system, with The Catholics in France in the highest first class, followed by the second class dominated by the French nobility, and the group headed by the French king was born in the first two classes and higher than the first two, and was the ruler of France. As for the peasants and citizens, there is the third class, that is, the ruled class.
In order to ensure the luxury of his life and the revenue of France, Louis XVI intended to pave the way for tax increases. In order to justify the tax increase to the third class, Louis XVI opened the third level meeting. In Louis XVI's view, the first and second classes voted more than the third class, and the tax increase bill could pass anyway. But what he did not expect was that the second class of nobles rebelled against the water, resulting in the third class narrowly rejecting the tax increase bill.
But Louis XVI was not convinced, believing that only a tax increase could guarantee his life. Subsequently, as a king, he forcibly increased taxes, so that the French masses, who were already living in difficulty, could bear the financial difficulties of France. In fact, Louis XVI also thought that this might lead to some French rebellion, but he did not expect to trigger a great revolution, and eventually sent himself to the guillotine.
So why did Louis XVI risk a revolt in France to forcibly raise taxes? Mainly because France was already in serious financial difficulties at that time, Louis XV's perennial war had exhausted the French treasury.
In order to curb the development of Britain, Louis XVI forcibly supported the American War of Independence, and a large amount of war investment also made france's finances owe billions of debts, and had to find a way to supplement France's fiscal revenue.
There is also louis xvi did not think that it would cause such a big reaction, he thought that opposition was inevitable, but there would not be too many people who dared to rebel. But he did not take into account the natural disasters of the previous years in France, and did not realize that he had forced the French to the brink of extinction. Later, basically the French of the third class were all involved in the overthrow of Louis XVI, which he did not expect.