ABSTRACT
The French revolution had far-reaching historical consequences for both Europe and the Americas. Although the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, is recognized as the outset, the causes of the French revolution are still under debate. By the late 1780s, France found itself deep in political and social crises on top of a crippling economic debt left over from the seven years' war of the 1750s-1760s and the American revolution of the 1770s-1780s. Low tax revenue as a result of exemptions enjoyed by nobles and clergy compounded monetary problems and fueled resentment. The most important immediate cause of the Latin American wars for independence was Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808, which sparked a series of events that culminated in widespread bids for independence in Latin America. The term Industrial Revolution generally refers to the century-long period of transformation from the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries.
