Practice question · Multiple choice
The French monarchy summoned the Estates General in 1789 for the first time since 1614. Why did it do so, and what does the reason reveal?
Hints
- Ask what an absolute monarch has to be desperate about before convoking an assembly.
- The immediate crisis is fiscal, and the obstacle to solving it is privilege.
Show the answer
C. Unable to service debt or tax privileged orders, it had to seek the consent it avoided for a century
Why
The crisis is a fiscal one that cannot be solved without touching privilege, and privilege is what the monarchy rested on. That is why the meeting was so dangerous: convoking the estates concedes in advance that the crown cannot act alone, and once conceded the point could not be withdrawn.
Practise The Age of Revolutions I: the Atlantic and France
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