The later 18th centuryh was a time of crisis for theold regimes of Europe and their economic systems and political agitation sometimes breaking out into revolts. English Industrial Revolution vaulted Britain to the fore. France was the most powerful and the most typical of the old aristocratic absolute monarchies of Europe. (lower taxes off backs of lower classes).

Major inequities, inflation and lack of food, very minimal reforms, rising aspirations of middle classes -bourgeoise. Among 23 million Frenchmen, there were 400,000 who formed the nobility -and army officers and clergy.

French Revolution extraordinarily important:

1. occurred in the most powerful, largest and populous states of Europe
2. 2. It alone, of all the revolutions, was a mass social revolution and immeasurably more radical than any other (including the American). For instance, Tom Paine who was revolutionary in America was seen as a moderate when he went to France.
3. French Revolution was ecumenical--its...