The structure of pre-revolutionary French society and Russian society are remarkably similar, they can be broken down in to three separate groups. In Russia they were known only as classes and they could be split in to three; 'the ruling class' included the Tsar and his various forms of court and government (although the Tsar's power was absolute), 'the upper class' which contained the nobility, higher clergy and military officers and 'the working class' which made up roughly eighty seven and half percent of the population and included peasants, merchants, factory owners, land dwellers and agricultural workers. The French system of social class was almost identical except they called it

The tsars and kings of France and Russia were absolute rulers and were not known to take advice on matters of public importance, as they often blamed their "ministers" (who often had no say at all) for their mistakes when it came to decisions. In this new age of revolt, King Louis the sixteenth and Tsar Nicholas the second were not about to have their power challenged by reform from the people. King Louis had attempted reform of the tax system in his own manner, but not French society and when reform failed he was left with a country open to outside influence with no faith in their own ruling power. Tsar Nicholas had also attempted reform his country but failed to modernise the masses political rights, leaving right wing "revolutionaries" popping up all over the nation. In both France and Russia it was considered still illegal to oppose the king/tsar or his government and political groups were outlawed leaving no choice for the discontent but to become extremists of sorts and push for reform through violence and sporadic outbursts.

Although it was food shortages in France which eventually led to the riots and in turn the violent end of the monarchy, this was just an excuse. Reform was required in both France and Russia after years of an unjust society and their autocratic rulers were too caught up in the way things were, rather than the way things had to be. There was no way the respective rulers could expect the people of their countries, the majority, to live under the harsh set of living standards placed upon them.

Although a high percentage of both countries population were oppressed and discontent with their quality of life, they needed a model for reform a

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Approximate Word count = 1132
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)