ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Causes of the French Revolution

Okay kiddo, let me explain the French Revolution to you in a way that you can easily understand.

A long, long time ago in France, the country was ruled by a king and queen who had all the power. But many people in France, especially the poor folks, were not happy with how things were going. The economy was really bad and the government was not doing anything to help them. The king and queen were very rich and they were spending a lot of money on things like fancy palaces and clothing, while the poor people didn't have any money to buy food or even clothes.

One day, a group of people called the Third Estate, who represented the poor folks, decided they had had enough. They wanted to have a say in how the government was run, but the king and queen wouldn't listen to them. So, they started protesting and demanding that things change.

The king and queen didn't like this and tried to stop the protests, but the people were determined. They formed a group called the National Assembly and started making their own laws without the king's permission. This made the king and queen very angry and they tried to use force to bring the people back under their control. But it didn't work.

Soon, the revolutionaries started to become more radical and violent. They stormed the Bastille (a big prison), which was a symbol of the king's power, and destroyed it. This was the start of the French Revolution. The people started to take control of the country and the king and queen were eventually overthrown.

There were many reasons why the French Revolution happened, but it all boiled down to people being unhappy with how they were being treated by the government. The poor wanted more rights and a better standard of living, and they were willing to fight for it.

In the end, the French Revolution changed the course of history and paved the way for democracy and human rights in France and beyond. But it was a long and difficult journey, with many ups and downs, and it wasn't always clear who was in charge. But the people kept fighting for what they believed in and, eventually, they won.