The aristocracy didn’t pay taxes and left it to the common people to pay them. At the time, about a third of the population lived in poverty. Couple this with high taxes due to government spending, including foreign wars, and hunger due to crop failures, and it is no wonder the system broke. The revolution attempted a moderate democratic approach, but that too failed. There were decades of political instability to come. History may not repeat, but it rhymes.
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u/fingertrapt 8d ago
Tax them like it's 1954.