The Enlightenment's Effect on the French Revolution

Directly before the start of the French Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment was flourishing throughout Europe. New, revolutionary ideas burgeoned from places all over Europe. Ideas like civil rights and women rights, which would be fought over for centuries after came from this time. Along with these ideas came the ideas of liberty and equality. Many European countries still had feudal societies, France was among them. As France went to fight the American Revolutionary War, the estates, or classes, of France intermingled. The nobility talked to the peasants and both nobillity and the peasants talked to the colonists. Due to all the coloquy between the people in the war, enlightenment ideas were spread immensely. Now the peasants, who had not known of these ideas before, discovered the ammunition they would use to fight with. Now the peasants, and all of the tax crippled third esate, called for change with liberty and equality. They took action and started the notorious French Revolution.