French Revolution, cataclysmic political and social upheaval, extending from 1789 to 1799. The revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the monarchy in France and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes and produced an equally vast complex of consequences. For more than a century before the accession of King Louis XVI in 1774, the French government experienced periodic economic crises resulting from wars, royal mismanagement, and increased indebtedness. Attempts at reform accomplished little because of opposition from reactionary members of the nobility and clergy. As the financ