French Revolution

Causes:

Fiscal/political

There was huge National Debt from the silly reign of Louis and the Seven Years War.
The nobility had been paying no taxes
With the government unable to borrow any more money, the king tried to tax the nobility.
But they had enough political power to block that process
Which make the lack of Absolute Power of the monarchy more clear
Which may have reinforced existing demands of the middle/lower classes for more power
Leading to a stalemate with the nobles who didn't want to give up any of their power or wealth
But the populists were moving toward setting up a constitutional government
But the king closed down that process and banished Necker (who had been in the middle of the process) - this was seen as a coup by the old regime, and violence started.

Bill Seitz