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French Revolution
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French Minister Wakes Up!
On 22 February 1787, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the minister of finances, convened an Assembly of Notables to deal with the financial situation - that France was going broke. -
Assembly Wakes Up!
On 13 July, the assembly demanded that Louis XVI call the States General to discuss the issue. -
King Yawns.
On the 18th of December, the king promised to call the Estates General - within five years. -
King says "Okay, Fine!"
After being continuously poked by a new Minister of Finances, Jacques Necker, who was sympathetic to the Third Estate, the King, on 8 August 1788, agreed to call the Estates-General on 5 May of 1789. -
The Estates General Convenes.
On 5 May 1789 amidst general festivities, the Estates-General convened in an elaborate but temporary Salle des États set up in one of the courtyards of the official Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs in the town of Versailles. -
Uh-oh, something's wrong.
The Third Estate (the bourgeoisie and commoners), who had been led to think that the meeting of the Estates General would be fair and democratic, realise that (1) they have been seated in such a way they are literally dwarfed by the First and Second Estates, and (2) that they still do not have an equal and fair vote in any decisions made. -
Grumble grumble!
On 17 June 1789 the Third Estate group, led by Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, began to call themselves the National Assembly. -
Omg! What?! The Tennis Court Oath.
On the morning of 20 June, the Third Estate (now called the National Assembly were shocked to discover that the doors to their chamber were locked and guarded by soldiers. Immediately fearing the worst and anxious that a royal attack by King Louis XVI was imminent, the deputies congregated in a nearby indoor real tennis court where they took a solemn collective oath. -
Necker gets fired!
On 11 July 1789, with troops at Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis, Louis XVI, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker, who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate. -
News Reaches Paris. Demonstrations.
News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris in the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Demonstrations begin. Then people start plundering places wherever food, guns, and supplies were held - places belonging to the First and Second Estate. -
Rumours Spread.
The next day, on 13 July, rumours spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat which were taken to the public market. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the 14th of July, 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris.
