French♥revolution
1789–1799
the 10 horrible years
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Saturday, March 28, 2009, 4:23 PM
Gloire de la Révolution française
Gloire de la Révolution françaiseOh Horror to behold!
Nothing could stop the oncoming horde,
With nothing left in their way,
They trudged towards its awaiting doom.
No longer could they endure the treatment,
Of which they were subjected to.
No longer were they Powerless to say,
And it was time to make a stand.
With the arms gathered at ready,
They marched towards the Bastille,
They set it a lit,
And it gave out a screech
Soon nothing much was left of it,
except bodies of vainqueurs de la Bastille.
As they shouted the old lie,
Gloire de la Révolution française
Sunday, March 22, 2009, 8:51 PM
feelings and attitude people had during the french revolution
Peasants were especially angry as they opposed the draft and remained devoutly Catholic. Resistance to the Revolution was so strong that civil war broke out. After fierce fighting, government forces won. The people were mainly angry and defiant during the french revolution as seen in the fact that they mastered so many people against the government to be able to cause a civil war but after fierce fighting, government prevailed and the government, feeling afraid of a second civil war was quick to wipe out anyone who criticized the Revolution, many executions soon occurred drew crowds and became a daily activity.
The government did not last long and soon Napoleon rose to power, his battles for France soon increased feelings of nationalism. People developed a sense of identity, unity, and allegiance to France from all over Europe. But Napoleon was soon to lose control of his empire as Russia fought with France and overthrew Napoleon. However, Napoleon went into hiding and striked back to take back his France, and although a large number of citizens hated him, he still managed to retain a large number of supporters but this still did not help him when he was defeated by the Duke of Wellington.
Thus, the feelings and attitude the people had at those times were anger, defiance and hatred.
8:12 PM
French Revolution poem
French RevolutionWilliam Wordsworth
Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!--Oh! times,
In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once
The attraction of a country in romance!
When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights,
When most intent on making of herself
A prime Enchantress--to assist the work,
Which then was going forward in her name!
Not favoured spots alone, but the whole earth,
The beauty wore of promise, that which sets
(As at some moment might not be unfelt
Among the bowers of paradise itself)
The budding rose above the rose full blown.
What temper at the prospect did not wake
To happiness unthought of? The inert
Were roused, and lively natures rapt away!
They who had fed their childhood upon dreams,
The playfellows of fancy, who had made
All powers of swiftness, subtilty, and strength
Their ministers,--who in lordly wise had stirred
Among the grandest objects of the sense,
And dealt with whatsoever they found there
As if they had within some lurking right
To wield it;--they, too, who, of gentle mood,
Had watched all gentle motions, and to these
Had fitted their own thoughts, schemers more mild,
And in the region of their peaceful selves;--
Now was it that both found, the meek and lofty
Did both find, helpers to their heart's desire,
And stuff at hand, plastic as they could wish;
Were called upon to exercise their skill,
Not in Utopia, subterranean fields,
Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where!
But in the very world, which is the world
Of all of us, -- the place where in the end
We find our happiness, or not at all!
Subject Matter: It portrays the Revolution as a change for the better from the Past which was “bad”
Purpose: He want the people to know that actually teh revolution give people happiness.
Emotion: the persona is feeling confident and proud of the french revoulution. we can see this from "Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!".
Sounds
From the poem, we know that the poet is very confident and proud about France, from line 2 “For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood”, this tells us that the poet is still very proud of the auxiliaries (Bombardment weapons) that they used during the French revolution. His concluding sentence, “We find our happiness, or not at all!” tells us that this poem might have been written when the French was being victorious in most of their battles, which is why he sounded so positive about war.
Language
As the French Revolution was in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, the language that the poet used is still quite old and that the most people today takes more time to understand. However, in this poem, most of the sentences are constructed with relatively modern grammar and vocabulary, for example, “In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways”, it is easily understandable. The sentence structures, however, do not comply with the grammar rules as punctuations are not used properly. We can also see that there are a lot exclamation marks within the poem, signifying the poets excitement about the French Revolution.
Imagery
The imagery in this poem is exceptional. Phrases like “In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law, and statute, took at once” can, as though, let us know why the French are rebelling against Monarchy of the King Louis XIV, and can tell us after the revolution, if they succeed, they will “find our happiness” but if they fail they will not find their happiness at all, which is why this revolution was one of the most important for the French, and possibly, mankind.
7:37 PM
How did the French Revolution concluded?
The French Revolution ended on 24th December 1799 as Napoleon Bonaparte was elected First Consul. After the French Revolution, a government called the Directory took over and France was at war with a lot of other countries until Wellington and Blucher's victory at Waterloo. 7:33 PM
How was the war fought? With what technology?
Basically, the French Revolutionary Wars can be split into two parts, the First Coalition (Ended by the invasion of Egypt) and the Second Coalition (Ended by the Treaty of Amiens).War with Austria
On Apr. 20, 1792, France declared war on Austria. The French armies lacked organization and discipline, and many noble officers had emigrated. The allied Austrian and Prussian forces under Charles William Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, quickly crossed the frontier and began to march on Paris. The duke issued a manifesto threatening to raze Paris should the royal family be harmed. This manifesto angered the French and contributed to the suspension of the king (Aug., 1792). The Comte de Rochambeau, commanding the northern sector, and the marquis de Lafayette, commanding the centre, resigned. Their able successors, the generals Dumouriez and Kellermann, turned the tide when they repulsed the invaders at Valmy (Sept. 20). Dumouriez advanced on the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium), and he seized it after the battle of Jemappes (Nov. 6), while Custine captured Mainz and advanced on Frankfurt.
First Coalition
Late in 1792 the Convention issued a decree offering assistance to all peoples wishing to recover their liberty. This decree, the execution of Louis XVI (Jan., 1793), and the opening of the Scheldt estuary (contrary to the Peace of Westphalia) provoked Great Britain, Holland, and Spain to join Austria and Prussia in the First Coalition against France. Sardinia had already declared war after France had occupied Savoy and Nice (Sept., 1792). On Feb. 1, 1793, France declared war on Britain and Holland, and on Mar. 7, on Spain. Things rapidly turned against France. Dumouriez, defeated at Neerwinden (Mar. 18) by the Austrians, deserted to the enemy; revolt broke out in the Vendée; and Custine lost Mainz to the Prussians (July 23).
In the emergency the first Committee of Public Safety was created (Apr. 6), and a levée en masse (a draft of able-bodied males between 18 and 25, mass conscription) was decreed in August. The Committee, inspired by the leadership of Lazare Carnot, raised armies of approximately 750,000 men; revolutionary commissioners were attached to the commands; defeated generals, like Custine, were executed “to encourage the others.”
By the end of 1793 the allies had been driven from France. In 1794 the new French commanders, Jourdan and Pichegru, took the offensive. Jourdan, after defeating the Austrians at Fleurus (June 26, 1794), moved along the Rhine as far as Mannheim; Pichegru seized the Low Countries. On May 16, 1795, Holland, transformed into the Batavian Republic, made peace. Prussia on Apr. 5, 1795, signed a separate peace (the first Treaty of Basel), ceding the left bank of the Rhine to France; Spain made peace on July 22 (second Treaty of Basel).
Warfare against Austria and Sardinia continued under the newly established Directory. France gradually evolved a plan calling for a three-pronged attack: Jourdan was to advance south-eastward from the Low Countries; Jean Victor Moreau was to strike at S Germany; and Napoleon Bonaparte was to conquer Piedmont and Lombardy, cross the Austrian Alps, and join with Moreau and Jourdan. During 1795 the French defeated the allies on all fronts, but in 1796 the new Austrian commander, Archduke Charles, took the offensive, defeating first Jourdan, then Moreau, both of whom had retreated to the Rhine by Sept., 1796.
On the Italian front, where an ill-supplied French army had been engaged in desultory and defensive operations until Bonaparte's arrival in 1796, one victory followed another (for details of the Italian campaign, see Napoleon I). Sardinia submitted in May, 1796, and in Apr., 1797, the preliminary peace of Leoben with Austria was signed by Bonaparte, just as Moreau had resumed his offensive in Germany. The armistice was confirmed by the Treaty of Campo Formio (Oct., 1797). Britain, however, remained in the war, retaining naval superiority under such able commanders as Samuel Hood, Richard Howe, John Jervis, and Horatio Nelson. Bonaparte's plan to attack the British Empire by way of Egypt was doomed by Nelson's naval triumph at Aboukir in Aug. 1798.
Second Coalition
Meanwhile, France again aroused the anger of the European powers by creating the Cisalpine Republic and the Roman Republic and by invading Switzerland, which was transformed into the Helvetic Republic. Under the leadership of Czar Paul I a Second Coalition was formed by Russia, Austria, Britain, Turkey, Portugal, and Naples. France defeated Naples and transformed it into the Parthenopean Republic (Jan., 1799), but in Italy the Austrians and the Russians drove out the French, and in Aug., 1799, General Suvorov crossed the Alps into Switzerland, where Archduke Charles had already won (June 4–7) a victory at Zürich over Masséna. However, disunity between the Austrians and the Russians resulted in disastrous defeats in Switzerland, and Suvorov, after a masterly retreat through the Alps, returned to Russia (Sept.–Oct., 1799).
At this juncture Bonaparte returned from Egypt and by the coup of 18 Brumaire became First Consul (Nov., 1799). The coalition was weakened by Russia's withdrawal, and Napoleon feverishly prepared a campaign to recoup French losses. The campaign of 1800 was decisive. In Italy, Napoleon, after crossing the St. Bernard Pass, crushed the Austrians at Marengo (June 14); in Germany, Moreau crossed the Rhine and demolished allied opposition at Hohenlinden (Dec. 3, 1800). With the Peace of Lunéville—a more severe version of the Treaty of Campo Formio—Austria was forced out of the war (Feb. 9, 1801).
Great Britain, however, continued victorious, taking Malta (Sept., 1800) and compelling the French to surrender in Egypt (Aug., 1801). When Denmark, encouraged by France, defied British supremacy of the seas, Lord Nelson destroyed the Danish fleet in the battle of Copenhagen (Apr. 2, 1801). Nevertheless, the British were war-weary and, after Pitt's retirement, consented to the Treaty of Amiens (Mar. 27, 1802), by which all conquests were restored to France. But the absence of a commercial agreement and Britain's refusal to evacuate Malta was to lead to the resumption of warfare in 1803. Peace had already been made with Naples (Mar., 1801) and with Portugal (Sept., 1801), and in Oct., 1802, France signed a treaty restoring Egypt to the Ottoman Empire.
7:13 PM
When did the war begin and end officially?
Started officially in 1789, ended officially in 1802 6:22 PM
countries involved
The countries that were involved in the war included the internal conflict in France and also Austria where the queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Although Austria was not directly involved in a conflict, it did comment on the war and was deeply involved. 6:22 PM
who started the war
It is unclear who started the French revolution; however, many argue that it is Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.Robespierre is one of the best-known figures of the French Revolution. He was an influential member of the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror that ended with his arrest and execution in 1794.
Politically, Robespierre was a disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, among other Enlightenment philosophes, and a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie. He was described as physically unimposing and immaculate in attire and personal manners. His supporters called him "The Incorruptible".
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a major Swiss philosopher, writer, and composer of the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist theory.
Theory of Natural Man
“ The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody. ”
— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754
Rousseau saw a fundamental divide between society and human nature. Rousseau believed that man was good when he is in the state of nature (the state of all other animals, and the condition humankind was in before the creation of civilization and society), but is corrupted by society.
This idea has often led to attributing the idea of the noble savage to Rousseau, an expression first used by John Dryden in The Conquest of Granada (1672). Rousseau, however, never used the expression himself and it does not adequately render his idea of the natural goodness of humanity. Rousseau's idea of natural goodness is complex and easy to misunderstand. Contrary to what might be suggested by a casual reading, the idea does not imply that humans in the state of nature act morally; in fact, terms such as 'justice' or 'wickedness' are simply inapplicable to pre-political society as Rousseau understands it.
Humans there may act with all of the ferocity of an animal. They are good because they are self-sufficient and thus not subject to the vices of political society. He viewed society as artificial and held that the development of society, especially the growth of social interdependence, has been inimical to the well-being of human beings. The goodness of the humanity is the goodness of an animal and not the virtue as we can read it very clearly in The Social Contract: The passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in man, by substituting justice for instinct in his conduct, and giving his actions the morality they had formerly lacked. Then only, when the voice of duty takes the place of physical impulses and right of appetite, does man, who so far had considered only himself, find that he is forced to act on different principles, and to consult his reason before listening to his inclinations. Although, in this state, he deprives himself of some advantages which he got from nature, he gains in return others so great, his faculties are so stimulated and developed, his ideas so extended, his feelings so ennobled, and his whole soul so uplifted, that, did not the abuses of this new condition often degrade him below that which he left, he would be bound to bless continually the happy moment which took him from it forever, and, instead of a stupid and unimaginative animal, made him an intelligent being and a man. [2]. The society corrupts the Man only because the Social Contract does not succeed, de facto. The Society doesn't corrupt the Man per se, only if the society failed and the society actually failed as we see it in the Discourse on Inequality. There is no contradiction in the thought of Rousseau but a strong unity as Victor Goldschmidt demonstrates it in his book Anthropologie et Politique. Les principes du système de Rousseau
In Rousseau's philosophy, society's negative influence on men centers on its transformation of amour de soi, a positive self-love, into amour-propre, or pride. Amour de soi represents the instinctive human desire for self-preservation, combined with the human power of reason. In contrast, amour-propre is artificial and forces man to compare himself to others, thus creating unwarranted fear and allowing men to take pleasure in the pain or weakness of others. Rousseau was not the first to make this distinction; it had been invoked by, among others, Vauvenargues.
In "Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" Rousseau argued that the arts and sciences had not been beneficial to humankind because they were not human needs, but rather a result of pride and vanity. Moreover, the opportunities they created for idleness and luxury contributed to the corruption of man. He proposed that the progress of knowledge had made governments more powerful and had crushed individual liberty. He concluded that material progress had actually undermined the possibility of true friendship by replacing it with jealousy, fear and suspicion.
His subsequent Discourse on Inequality tracked the progress and degeneration of mankind from a primitive state of nature to modern society. He suggested that the earliest human beings were solitary and differentiated from animals by their capacity for free will and their perfectibility. He also argued that these primitive humans were possessed of a basic drive to care for themselves and a natural disposition to compassion or pity. As humans were forced to associate together more closely by the pressure of population growth, they underwent a psychological transformation and came to value the good opinion of others as an essential component of their own well-being. Rousseau associated this new self-awareness with a golden age of human flourishing. However, the development of agriculture, metallurgy, private property, and the division of labour led to humans becoming increasingly dependent on one another, and led to economic inequality. The resulting state of conflict led Rousseau to suggest that the first state was invented as a kind of social contract made at the suggestion of the rich and powerful. This original contract was deeply flawed as the wealthiest and most powerful members of society tricked the general population, and thus instituted inequality as a fundamental feature of human society. Rousseau's own conception of the social contract can be understood as an alternative to this fraudulent form of association. At the end of the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau explains how the desire to have value in the eyes of others, which originated in the golden age, comes to undermine personal integrity and authenticity in a society marked by interdependence, hierarchy, and inequality.
"The Social Contract"
Perhaps Jean-Jacques Rousseau's most important work is The Social Contract, which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order within a framework of classical republicanism. Published in 1762, it became one of the most influential works of political philosophy in the Western tradition. It developed some of the ideas mentioned in an earlier work, the article Economie Politique, featured in Diderot's Encyclopédie. The treatise begins with the dramatic opening lines, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they." Rousseau claimed that the state of nature was a primitive condition without law or morality, which human beings left for the benefits and necessity of cooperation. As society developed, division of labour and private property required the human race to adopt institutions of law. In the degenerate phase of society, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on them. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom. According to Rousseau, by joining together into civil society through the social contract and abandoning their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the general will of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law.
While Rousseau argues that sovereignty should be in the hands of the people, he also makes a sharp distinction between sovereignty and government. The government is charged with implementing and enforcing the general will and is composed of a smaller group of citizens, known as magistrates. Rousseau was bitterly opposed to the idea that the people should exercise sovereignty via a representative assembly. Rather, they should make the laws directly. It was argued that this would prevent Rousseau's ideal state from being realized in a large society, such as France was at the time. Much of the subsequent controversy about Rousseau's work has hinged on disagreements concerning his claims that citizens constrained to obey the general will are thereby rendered free.
At the time of the French Revolution, Rousseau's ideas were influential and thus because of this, he can be blamed for causing the Revolution as his ideas of “The Natural Man” and “The social contract” influenced the Revolution and is believed to have thus influenced many such as Maximilien to the cause of the Revolution.
6:12 PM
key players of the war
1. John Locke and other enlightenment thinkers2. Louis XIV
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Louis XVI
5. Robespierre
6. Pope Pius VI and VII
7. Napoleon
5:21 PM
Cause of the war
Enlightment The intellectual and philosophical developments of that age (and their impact in moral, social, and political reform) aspired toward more freedom for common people based on self-governance, natural rights, natural law, central emphasis on liberty, individual rights, reason, common sense, and the principles of deism.
-were a revolutionary departure from theocracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, and the divine right of kings.
-marks a principled departure from the Middle Ages of religious authority, guild-based economic systems, and censorship of ideas toward an era of rational discourse and personal judgment, republicanism, liberalism, naturalism, scientific method, and modernity.
-Many of these ideas are clearly manifested in the demands and declarations of the Revolution.
-The thoughts were invoked in 1685 after King Louis XIV revoked the rights of Protestants and philosophers began to criticize the monarchy and its absolute rule
They emphasized rationalism and reason over honoring outdated traditions and demonstrated a desire for liberty, equality, and civic responsibility.
Economics
France in 1789, although facing some economic difficulties, was one of the richest and strongest nations in Europe.
France had over 28 million inhabitants.
France had 260,000 square kilometres under cultivation; the entirety of Europe outside Russia
France had 5.3 million of Europe's 30 million male peasants.
In short, while not having quite the per capita wealth of the Low Countries and possibly Switzerland, the sheer size of the French economy made it the premier economic power in continental Europe.
Debt
The French monarchy had operated for over a century without resorting to a legislature. Since 1614, French kings had managed their economic affairs by
1. increasing the burden of the ancient and unequal system of taxes
2. by borrowing money,
3. sometimes by selling noble titles and other privileges;
However, because noble titles exempted the holder from future taxes, the purchasers of titles were effectively buying an annuity. This led to the long-running economic crisis of the French government.
On the eve of the revolution, France was so deeply in debt as to be effectively bankrupt. Extravagant expenditures by Louis XVI on luxuries such as Versailles were compounded by heavy expenditures on the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence.
Britain too had a great debt, but Britain had a far more advanced economic structure to deal with it.
France was a wealthier country than Britain, and its national debt was no greater than the British one.
In each country the servicing of the debt accounted for about half the annual expenditure of the government. Where they differed was in the fact that the rate of interest in France was almost double than of across the Channel. This implied a much higher level of taxation and less scope for any increase to deal with a specific emergency.
Because of the successful defense by the nobles of their privileges, the king of France lacked the means to impose a "just and proportioned" tax. The desire to do so led directly to the decision in 1788 to call the Estates-General into session.
Taxation
France is not a major trading nation, thus it is needed to raise most of its government's revenues internally rather than from external tariffs. While average tax rates were higher in Britain, the burden on the common people was greater in France.
Taxation relied on a system of internal tariffs separating the regions of France, which prevented a unified market from developing in the country.
Taxes such as the extremely unpopular gabelle were contracted out to private collectors who were permitted to raise far more than the government requested. These systems led to an arbitrary and unequal collection of many of France's consumption taxes.
Other taxes the peasants were required to pay
1. included a tenth of their income or produce to the church (tithe),
2. a (taille) to the state,
3. a 5% property tax (vingtième),
4. and a tax on the number of people in the family (capitation).
Further royal and seigneurial taxes were collected in the form of compulsory labor (the corvée).
The peasants also had numerous obligations to their landlords –
1. rent in cash (cens),
2. a payment related to their amount of produce (champari),
3. and taxes on the use of the nobles' mills, wine presses or bakeries (banalitées).
In good times, the taxes were burdensome; in harsh times, they were devastating.
Many officials had to buy their positions from the king, as well as the right to keep this position hereditary; they tried to have these expenses repaid by making a profit out of their appointment.
Failure of reforms
During the régimes of Louis XV and Louis several ministers, most notably Turgot and Necker, unsuccessfully proposed to revise the French tax system to tax the nobles.
Such measures encountered consistent resistance from the parlements (law courts). Members of these courts bought their positions from the king, as well as the right to transmit this position hereditarily (the so-called Paulette tax).
These positions often led to the elevation into the nobility (the so-called noblesse de robe – "nobility of the robe", as opposed to the nobility of ancestral military origin, the noblesse d'épée, nobility of the sword). While these two categories of nobles were often at odds, they both sought to keep in place their privileges.
Turgot, Chrétien de Malesherbes, and Jacques Necker successively attempted to revise the system of taxation and to make other reforms, such as Necker's attempts to reduce the lavishness of the king's court. Each failed in turn.
In contrast, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, appointed finance minister in 1783, restored lavish spending more reminiscent of the age of Louis XIV.
By the time Calonne brought together the Assembly of Notables on February 22, 1787 to address the financial situation, France had reached a state of virtual bankruptcy: no one would lend the king funds sufficient to meet the expenses of government and court.
According to Mignet, the loans amounted to "one thousand six hundred and forty-six millions... and... there was an annual deficit... of a hundred and forty millions [presumably of livres]."
Calonne was succeeded by his chief critic Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, archbishop of Sens, but the fundamental situation was unchanged: the government had no credit.
To try to address this, the assembly "sanctioned the establishment of provincial assemblies, a regulation of the corn trade, the abolition of corvées, and a new stamp tax; it broke up on the 25th of May, 1787."
Famine
These problems were all compounded by a great scarcity of food in the 1780s.
- A series of crop failures caused a shortage of grain, consequently raising the price of bread.
- As bread was the main source of nutrition for poor peasants, this led to starvation.
The two years previous to the revolution (1788-89) saw bad harvests and harsh winters, possibly because of a strong El Niño cycle caused by the 1783 Laki eruption at Iceland.
The little ice age was also affecting agriculture: many other areas of Europe had adopted the potato as the staple crop by this time, whereas the French generally refused it as a dirty food or the devil's food.
The potato was more resilient to the colder temperatures during the little ice age and also could not be easily destroyed by scorched earth warfare.
Many peasants were relying on charity to survive. The peasantry became a class with the ambition to counteract social inequity and put an end to food shortages.
The 'bread riot' evolved into a main cause of the French Revolution. Mass urbanization coinciding with the beginning of the industrial revolution led residents to move into French cities seeking employment. French cities became overcrowded and filled with the hungry and disaffected. The peasantry suffered doubly from the economic and agricultural problems.