While living in churches and manors, he mingled with peasants and other common people. The anger of the local peasants and laborers was towards the absent clergy and feudal lords and not towards the poor clergy and feudal lords.
The goodwill of these lower clergy and feudal lords was towards the third class. He hated the high clergy and the nobility. In May-June, 1789, when the high clergy and the nobility needed their support, they supported the Third Class and established a Third Class majority over the States General.
Influence of Thinkers:
The years before the French Revolution are generally considered the Age of Enlightenment. Many thinkers and writers appeared in Europe during this period, who were called 'Philosophes'.
Once a nation starts thinking, then it becomes impossible to stop it. France started thinking with Voltaire and Rousseau and that is why the revolution exploded. The intellectual climate of no country in Europe was as sensitive as that of France.
Failure of Enlightened Autocracy
The enlightened autocracy of the European kings was another unique feature that distinguished France from other European countries. In the eighteenth century, a new practice of enlightened autocracy developed, under which the supreme autocratic king began to consider it his duty to do the works of public welfare.
Joseph II of Austria, Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine of Russia were all enlightened autocrats. All these overlords understood the pain and pain of their subjects and tried to relieve them.
They tried to crush the feudal lords in their respective countries, as the feudal system was the root of many troubles. The enlightened autocratic ruler wanted to get immediate results by acting suddenly and considered himself the first servant of the state like Frederick the Great.
It is true that the enlightened autocratic rulers did not get enough success, but their efforts kept the subjects peaceful to a great extent. The French monarchy, on the other hand, worked in a different way and the tradition of enlightened autocracy could not develop there. Louis XIV was always entangled in wars and lust.
Louis the fifteenth (1715-74) was indifferent to most of the serious questions. If he wanted to remove the suffering of his subjects like other enlightened autocratic rulers and understood the seriousness of this problem, then surely he could have prevented the revolutionary conditions from developing in France, because economically France was a developed country.
His main trouble was the faulty and uneven tax system. This disorder could be ended by taxing the privileged classes. However, Louis XVI did not take any effective step in this direction. Whatever step he took was half-hearted.
As a result, the nobles became very angry with him. His successor, the sixteenth Louis, was also indifferent to this side and, with the aim of pacifying the nobility, adopted a policy of conciliation towards them. At the same time, he appointed ministers for economic reforms.
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