13. The weather contributed to the causes of the French Revolution
Hunger was one of the primary causes of the French Revolution, caused by a series of crop failures, as a result of fickle weather. During the period of French involvement in the American Revolution crops were generally good, harvests were plentiful, and bread was available cheaply in the shops. Following the Treaty of Paris, several years saw bad harvests, as heavy rains destroyed crops in the spring, or arid summers killed them in the fields. Prices for food fluctuated wildly, and the lower classes grumbled at the lack of food, while the nobility lived in flaunted luxury. The government was in crisis. There was little money available to spend on relief of the poor, and the priests of the church – many also members of the nobility – could do little to help.
In July, 1788 a series of hailstorms swept across France, devastating the crops in the fields. Hailstones were reported as large as cats. The harvest of 1788 was France’s worst in forty years. The government moved to ease the famine which followed, outlawed the export of grain, and attempted to import food. The ensuing winter was bitterly cold, canals and ports froze, and transport was severely restricted by the weather. Spring floods ensured another bad harvest to come. In Paris, food shortages reached a crisis in the spring. The government of Louis XVI appeared hapless. Bread shortages led to riots and demonstrations, which in turn led to the storming of the Bastille and the onset of the French Revolution, during which both the nobility, and for a time the Church, were abolished.
