Could someone put this into easier terms please...?

Question

i'm doing research on the french revolution (specifically the enlightenment) and there is a sentence that i don't really understand...

"The French Enlightenment provided the intellectual ferment for the French Revolution"

what does that mean... oh and what does dogma mean and what does "cultivation of the liberties and rights of man" mean

Answer 1

The elightenment was a period of revolutionary thinking. People began to question the meaning of life, religion of they thought of it, and many breakthorughs were made in science. As a result of the elightenment, new literature was written that expressed these ideas. These ideas planted thoughts and beliefs and the french people that every man was equal and they should not be doomed to serfdom. This helped to cause the revolution, they were tired of being stuck in everlasting poverty.