France before 1789

In 1789, France was one of the richest and most powerful countries in Europe. Around 28 million people lived there — more than in any other Western European state. Its farms were productive, its cities were busy with trade, and its language and culture were admired across the continent.

Yet France was not organised in the way a modern country is. There was no shared set of rules that applied to everyone equally. Instead, your rights, your taxes, and even the court that judged you depended on who you were born as and where you lived. A wealthy merchant in Bordeaux, a village priest, and a duke at court lived under different rules.

Most people — perhaps four in five — lived in the countryside and worked the land. Life followed the harvest. A good year meant bread on the table; a bad one meant hunger and fear.

This whole system of monarchy, social ranks, and inherited privilege was later given a name by the revolutionaries who overthrew it: the Ancien RégimeFrench for 'old order'. The name later used for the system of monarchy, social ranks, and privilege that existed in France before the Revolution., meaning the "old order". At the time, few imagined it could fall. To understand why it did, we first have to understand how it worked — and why it was becoming harder to defend.