How Important Were the Ideas of the Enlightenment in Undermining the Ancien Regime in France by 1789?

How important were the ideas of the enlightenment in undermining the Ancien Regime in France by 1789?

In the 1780s, France as a nation was heading for a drastic change. The tensions between The Social classes, The Government; The financial crisis and the Enlightenment were key factors that contributed to undermining the Ancien Regime. ‘‘Ancien Regime’’ or ‘’Old Regime ‘’ was the term used to describe France’s absolute monarchy: “the monarchy exercised ultimate governing authority as head of state and government; the monarchies power was not limited by any laws”. The Enlightenment was a Philosophical movement, which stressed the importance of reason in analysing and investigating. This led to a critical reappraisal of existing ideas and social institutions, and how they could be changed and improved, through the use of reason. Thus in this essay, I will be arguing that the ideas of the enlightenment were important in undermining the Ancien Regime in France by 1789; alongside other factors such as: the social structure; the financial crisis and the reputation of king Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; which aided in subverting the Ancien Regime.

The Enlightenment was based on the ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. These ideas can be seen in Rousseau’s work which emphasised his beliefs of freedom: ‘’man is born free, but everywhere is in chains’’, this quotation directly undermines the Ancien Regime, because it suggested that everyone was born free regardless of class and family name, but due to civilization which promotes labour and material gain, man meaning people or individuals are ‘in chains’ meaning they are prisoners or slaves who work to uphold society’s expectations of hard work and material gain. Rousseau went a step further arguing that freedom was ‘ruling oneself, living under a law which one has oneself enacted’’. His radical writings and beliefs went against everything the Ancien Regime stood up for such as the division of power between...