The three main contributing factors I will focus on are aristocracy, rising debt levels, and inequality among the French people. The role that King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette played before and during the revolution was a key factor in starting the revolution. His attitude towards his role as king was poor. He was shy, indecisive and uninterested in politics from an early age and this continued throughout his reign. During the years preceding the revolution, France was heavily in debt following the Seven Years' War. Combined with this, there was a famine that increased the price of bread and brought much of the country to the brink of starvation (Kinser, 1999). The eating habits of Louis and Marie Antoinette did not help to reassure the French people of Louis' competence as ruler. They gorged themselves on good food while their people starved across the country (Cavallaro, 2001). The ministers of Louis Turgot, Necker and Calonne all agreed that France needed reforms if it was to get out of the enormous debt it had accumulated. In February 1787, Louis convened the Assembly of Notables as France was in desperate need of tax reform due to its debt. Louis suggested tax reforms to bring government spending into line with state revenues, but as he had lost his authority as king, he was unable to persuade the first and second estates to agree to tax reform and they did not want to bear the burden of increased taxation. This showed that Louis was weak and incapable of making decisions about the future of France. Shortly afterwards, on 5 May 1789, the Estates General was called and Louis' absolute power over France was almost over. This was one of the major events that led to the beginning of the French Revolution and...... half of...... paper iography. [Online] 01/07/2012. Available from: http://bastille-day.com/biography/LouisXVI-Biography. [Accessed: 01/11/2014]Blue Valley. (2013). The French Revolution. [Online] Available from: http://www4.bluevalleyk12.org/bvhs/mklopfenstein/WW_notes/lecture%20notes/The%20French%20Revolution.pdf. [Accessed: 01/11/2014]Cavallaro, D. (2001). Critical and cultural theory. [Online] London: The Athlone Press. Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=coqW0qPzT3kC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=louis+xvi+eating+habits&source=bl&ots=opohSS1D0u&sig=sPbe6cm0WtjbEL4NzSjTGCrwJ7w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=S9LNUv H5OoGI7AbZ7IDwBg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwADgK#v=a page&q =louis%20xvi%20eat%20habits&f=false. [Accessed 01/11/2014]Dodd, Mead & Co. (1920). The New International Encyclopedia. [Online] New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. Available from: http://dromo.info/louis16bio.htm. [Access: 11/01/2014]