The causes of the French Revolution

French Revolution

Fill in the gaps on this sheet using the words at the bottom of the page.

There was a revolution in FRANCE in 1789. The ruler of France before the Revolution was King LOUIS XVI. His wife was Queen MARIE ANTOINETTE. King Louis XVI lived in his palace at VERSAILLES near Paris.

One of the reasons why there was a revolution in France in 1789 is that the king ran out of MONEY. He spent lots of money on two wars with BRITAIN. One was in 1756 and another one was in 1778. In the second war the French were helping the AMERICANS break away from British control.

Another cause of the French Revolution was the problems faced by the PEASANTS. They were so poor that they did not have enough money to feed their families. This was made worse when the crops failed to grow. The HARVEST failed in 1787 and 1788.

Another cause of the French Revolution was that the two RICH groups in France would not give the king more money. The LORDS and the CHURCH had lots of land and money but would not pay more TAXES. This left the king unable to find more money.

A final reason why the French had a revolution in 1789 was ideas. A new set of ideas called the ENLIGHTENMENT attacked the power of the king and the church. These made lots of ordinary French people think that they should have some of the power of the GOVERNMENT.