---
title: "The Ancien Regime: A Society Ready to Break | Model Diplomat"
description: "Pre-revolutionary France was an absurdly unequal society where a privileged king lived at Versailles while peasants starved, setting the stage for upheaval."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/the-ancien-regime"
---

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The Ancien Regime: A Society Ready to Break

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# The Ancien Regime: A Society Ready to Break

France before the revolution — an absurdly unequal society where the king lived in Versailles while peasants starved.

## A Society of Three Estates

Pre-revolutionary France was divided into three 'estates.' The First Estate — the Catholic clergy — numbered about 130,000 people, owned 10% of the land, and paid no taxes. The Second Estate — the nobility — numbered about 350,000, owned 25% of the land, and enjoyed extensive tax exemptions. The Third Estate — everyone else, from wealthy merchants to starving peasants — comprised 98% of the population, owned 65% of the land, and paid virtually all the taxes.

The system was not just unequal — it was legally codified inequality. Nobles had different courts, different punishments, and different rights than commoners. A noble could hunt on a peasant's land and destroy his crops without consequence. Peasants owed feudal dues that had not changed since the Middle Ages. The entire system rested on the assumption that hierarchy was natural, divinely ordained, and permanent.

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