Introduction
Revolution (from Latin _revolutio_ – coup, rollback) has many definitions. The following meaning will be used here: an armed rebellion that radically changes a political and state system. It is natural to ask about the causes of such an extraordinary and crucial event that run the unstoppable metamorphosis process. Also, this is important because of an apparent reason that people who do not know the past cannot build their future. Speaking more academically, they cannot predict any system changes (political, social, global, etc.), but this is necessary for its existence. Nine articles were reviewed to study a posed issue; every three are contained in one body paragraph and examine one aspect of the problem. The first paragraph is about ideological causes, the second – economic ones, and the third – political or social ones. However, are they only impersonal forces or among them is a conscious one? The French Revolution is the most striking example to study the causes of any revolution, as well as the English Civil War and Russian Revolution.
Ideological causes of revolution
First of all, no one can talk about the French Revolution without considering the historical and ideological context in which it took place. This context is called The Age of Enlightenment, a movement that dominated philosophy during the whole 18th century. Clayton, Conniff, and Gauss note that this revolution was “driven by ideas born in the Age of Enlightenment” (Clayton, Conniff, and Gauss 17). This intellectual movement affected the profound principles of society’s built on. Looking at the English Revolution, everyone can see the same argument. For instance, Stone notes, “the English Revolution is perhaps even more convincingly demonstrated by its word than by its deeds” (Stone 49). Moreover, even Russian Revolution had an intellectual dimension as there were many organizations with their ideas of the proper way to build a state. Wade writes that “Russia in 1917 was a marketplace of ideas”; people did not want just good economic conditions; they were concerned by thoughts about how to live on (Wade 98). All those arguments and examples support a claim that these revolutions have their roots in the intellectual context of their time, truly revolutionary.
Economic causes of revolution
Secondly, no one can deny the significance of economics for the evolution of a society, and economic factor is a big one in influence on The French Revolution in 1789. The population in France was only rising because of industrial revolutions and technological developments that improved living conditions and its prosperity, though with hunger and starvation. Johnston notes that in 1789 “one-half of the population of France had known from experience the meaning of the word hunger”, and it colorfully shows the economic problem scale (Johnston 15). Also, it is evident that the monarchy was in a significant crisis. Economic factor took its place in the English Revolution, too, for as Yerby notes, “changes in the balance of landowning and wealth created a platform for the parliamentary challenge to the crown” (Yerby 6). The same argument can also be made about the Russian Revolution. For example, Goldstone writes, “Leon Trotsky emphasized the uneven development of capitalism amid Russian feudalism as a cause of the revolution” (Goldstone 148). In short, the monarchies could not address an issue with economic stagnation and the economy’s disability to be productive.
Social or political causes of revolution
Thirdly, there is another cause of revolutions, a political or social one, specifically about the class struggle and class inequality, a relic from the Middle Ages. Bergman notes that the aristocracy “dominated the bourgeoisie and the classes below the bourgeoisie through the political instrument of the monarchy” (Bergman 51). It gets in line with Marxist discourse and interpretation of the development of history, the dialectical one. This point of view puts forward the necessity of abolishing the Old Regime in a revolutionary way because it is only possible to change something profoundly. Regarding the English revolution, Russel notes that “social change remains an undoubted part of the causes of the Civil War” (Russel 8). As for the Russian Revolution, the nobility and the peasants’ gap was enormous, and “industrialization in Russia brought social problems and social stress” (Hickey 6). The conflict between classes was escalating, and this was one of the main causes of events in 1917. Therefore, one of the leading causes of a revolution must be social or political, which everyone can see in examples of The French, English, and Russian revolutions.
Conclusion
To conclude, indeed, more factors cause a radical and total upheaval but ideological, economic and political, or social are the main ones. The first cause touches the Age of Enlightenment, during which European scholars had developed new ideas that were to replace old ones. The second cause is the backwardness of the French economy that could not support the population with food; because of it, there were hunger and starvation. The third cause is a political or social one, for it is about the inequality between classes; lower classes were struggling to change a system, higher ones – to harden it. Although, there are scholars that argue the success of it. However, a question about the existence of the conscious power that influenced the process of the birth of revolution is still open. No matter how many reasons there are for revolution, it takes a definite, not unconscious, forced to make the first step. Despite this, all these causes are described, using The French Revolution as an example, but everyone can extrapolate them on the revolution in general.
Works Cited
Bergman, J. The French Revolutionary Tradition in Russian and Soviet Politics, Political Thought, and Culture. OUP Oxford, 2019.
Clayton, Lawrence A., Conniff, Michael L., and Gauss, Susan M. A New History of Modern Latin America. University of California Press, 1999.
Goldstone, Jack A. The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions. Taylor & Francis, 1998.
Hickey, Michael C. Competing Voices from the Russian Revolution. Greenwood, 2010.
Johnston, R. M. The French Revolution. Outlook Verlag, 1909.
Russell, C. The Origins of the English Civil War. Macmillan Education UK, 1973.
Stone, L. The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529-1642. Routledge, 1972.
Wade, Rex A. The Russian Revolution, 1917. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Yerby, G. The Economic Causes of the English Civil War. Freedom of Trade and the English Revolution. Taylor & Francis, 2019.