French Revolution Essay Questions
Directions: Write a thesis answer for all of the following essay questions and come to class
prepared to discuss how to answer all of them. In class, we will have a graded seminar
discussing how to answer these questions and then you will be given one of them (randomly
selected) to write part of an essay on. In answering the questions below, be sure to consider the
entire time span. You may ONLY WRITE the thesis statements on this paper.
1. Assess the importance of the Third Estate on the outbreak and
development of the French Revolution between 1789 and 1795.
2. Account for the financial weakness of the French monarchy in
the second half of the eighteenth century and show how far this
weakness was responsible for the outbreak of the revolution in 1789.
3. Assess the importance of the part played by intellectuals in the
cause and course of the French Revolution.
4. Were the causes of the 1789 French Revolution primarily
political, social and economic or intellectual?
5. “The essential cause of the French Revolution was the collision
between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched
aristocracy defending its privileges.” Assess the validity of this
statement as an explanation of the events leading up to the French
Revolution of 1789.