The French Revolution was one of the world shocking events of the world history.

The material revolution of 1789 was preceded by a revolution in the realms of ideas.

This intellectual revolt was brought about by a group of French philosophers of whom the most prominent were Montesquieu, Voltaire & Rousseau. Their writings gave expression to the discontent and indignation which lay latest in the hearts of the French people Montesquieu was an ardent advocate of constitutional monarchy and spoke highly of English system of government.

He exposed the fallacies of the theory of divine right of kings and the evils of absolute monarchy such as existed in French. Voltaire, a master of biting saltier enjoyed almost autoerotic authority by reason of his powerful writings. He advocated the supremacy of reason and mercilessly attacked everything that failed to stand its test. He denounced the abuses of the state but directed his attack especially against the bigotry and intolerance of church.

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His fiery shafts did much to undermine the respect for authority and loosened the hold of church over the minds of people. His destructive criticism did much to reduce the shock of the Revolution when it eventually came. Voltaire had harassed the bosses of reason; Rousseau unchained the fiber of emotion.

According to Rousseau, the society rests upon an agreement of the persons who compare it. “Man is born free yet everywhere he is chains” is the burden of his famous work – The social contract. According to its maxims, all the government rest upon the cogent of the governed. In other words, he proclaimed the doctrine of equality of all men and sovereignty of the people.

Such a theory aimed not merely at reform but wholesale reorganization of society in accordance with the free will of the sovereign people. Rousseau’s social contract was the gofer of democracy of the divine right of the people and of unfaithfully of their decisions.

The economic system of France was strongly j criticized by a group of Economists known as j physiatrist. They were strongly opposed to all forms of state interference in trade and commerce. They held that the land was the sole source of wealth and so all taxation should be reduced to a singly land tax.

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The intellectual revolution had a powerful influence on bringing the French revolution. Their ideas prepared men’s minds for revolutionary change.