French Revoltuion

The assembly of the notables refused to pay the land tax because they feared Louis would have unlimited power as monarch who could do anything he like as well as losing their privileges like the best jobs and no tax.
As the French government was deep in debt having been involved in two wars abroad, their court at Versailles was expensive to upkeep; the tax collectors were inefficient at collecting the tax and kept some of it for themselves. The banks were reluctant to lend any more money to the government. The government was crippled by debt and the left the king without any option but to call the assembly of Notables in 1778 which was made up of the first and second estates which were the clergy, counts, dukes and princes. They refused to pay as they thought that the debt couldn’t be as bad as it was. The King reactions was to go the parlement. They too felt the action was two drastic and only the estate general had the authority to make such a decision. At this point Louis XII hands were tied and he no longer had absolute power. This is often seen as the beginning of the collapse of the Ancie regime and the start of the French revolution.
However there were other reasons for its collapse the King himself was an ineffective leader who was weak and indecisive and was more interested in making locks than ruling. He also had no experience of life outside of Versailles so didn’t understand the problems in the country. The Ancien regime itself was not suited to the demands of the 18th century it was a corrupt system meant to keep the clergy and Dukes, Counts and princes from the first estate and second estates rich and the powerful whilst the working class in the third estate had to pay lots of different taxes leaving them very poor. The first and second estate also received all the best jobs from the government and paid little to no tax.
The economy in France was also in dire straits with bread shortages from several   poor harvests,   which lead to less bread so...