... are though other factors which need consideration if a true explaination for the causes of the French revolution is to be found. The very structure of the French regime is of vital importance to this question. An absolutist state such as France was then is, by it's very nature, bound to exclude the mass of the people from taking an active role in government and it will dominate and control their lives. The abolutist state, although strong with a standing army loyal to the King, is very weak when that same standing army turns its back on the state and joins with the revolutionaries. The final factor which needs consideration when looking at the French revolution is the Enlightenment. France was, to a great degree, the home of the Enlightenment writers, such as Rousseau, who lived and wrote there and formed the ideas that would be the undoing of the ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now