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Deficit Spending by the Government and Economic Reform
France was in great debt from the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. In 1789 half of the government's income was going to pay off the interest on the debt. King Louis XVI hired a financial minister named Jacques Necker. He had an idea to make the top two estates pay taxes. People got angry and Louis fired him. -
Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
In 1788 France was on the verge of bankruptcy. King Louis had all three estates make cahiers. Each estate was to list their grievances. The cahiers testified to boiling class resentments. Third estate delegates were elected, but only propertied men could vote. In June 1789 the assembaly found that the hall that they have been meeting in was locked so they moved to a near by indoor tennis court. -
Storming Bastille
More than 800 parisians gathered outside the Bastile. When the commandor of the Bastille refused to open the gates he opened fire and a battle broke out. One the crowed advanced through the defences and killed the commandar and freed all the prisioners. -
National Asssembly Acts
Nobles got together for an all night meeting. They agreed to give up their old manorial dues. in late August they took the first step toward a constitution by writting the rights of man. This states that all men are born equal. On October 5 six thousand women marched from Paris to Versailles. They would not leave untill the king met their needs. Later the church was placed under state control. In 1791 the consitution establishes a new government. -
Rights of Man
The assembaly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man. They based this off of the American Declaration of Independence which was wrote 13 years ealier. The Rights of Man states that each man was born with his natural rights. -
The Third Stage of the Revolution
Moderats produced the third constitition since 1789. The directory and a 2 house legislature was elected by only male citizens that owned property. The directory held power from 1795 to 1799. France had peace with Prussia and Spain, but was at war with Austria and Great Britian. With the hard ecomonic times bread prices were extremly high which lead to riots. Most Politicians turned to Napolean. -
Threats from Abroad
The King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria got together and and issued the the Declaration of Pilnitz. When France got word of this they got nervous and prepared to for a war. The Declaration might have been a bluff but revolutionaries took it seriuosly. -
Radicals Declare War
The new legislative assembly took office. By 1791 a lot of suns-culotts demanded a republic. A suns-culott is a person that wears long trousers. With no legislative assembly many people competed for the power of the throne. -
Radicals Declare War
The new Legislative Assembaly took office, but only lasted a year because of economic problems. In Paris sans-culottes pushed the revolution into more radical actions. Sans-culottes were people that wore long trousers insted of the fancy knee breeches. Within the Assembaly many people competed for power. -
Monarchy is Abolished
A crowed of parisians stormedthe royal palace of Tuileries. About a month later the crowed of people stormed a prision and killed close to 1200 prisoners. The constitution voted to abolish the monorchy and establish a rebublic which made a lot of people at the time happy. -
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Robespierre and the Regin of Terror
Robespierre was a shrewd lawyer and a politicion. He rose to the leadership position of the committee. He was one of the chief architects of this period. On Feb. 5, 1794 he made a speech explaining why terror was necessary. The idea of terror was to scare the people into doing the right thing. -
Spread of Nationalisum
When the war was over it gave France a sence fo national identity. By 1793 France was a nation of arms. The people were attended civic festivals and parties to celebrate.
