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The Estates-General was an assembly that represented the three classes, or “estates” in France at the time: the clergy, or the First Estate, the nobility, or the Second Estate, and the commoners, or the Third Estate. -
When the National Assembly and the First and Second Estates butted heads over the financial crisis, King Louis XVI decided to close the hall where the National Assembly held meetings. -
By July, revolutionaries were fed up with the monarchy’s resistance to change. Plus, the general director of finances named Jacques Necker was fired by the king. Necker was sympathetic to the National Assembly, and the French saw his dismissal as a direct attack on the Assembly. -
On August 26, 1789, the National Assembly released “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.” The document contained the basic beliefs of the revolutionaries. It boasted 17 articles, the most important declared that all men were born free and equal. The charter would inspire the new French constitution. -
Due to irresponsible spending and poor harvests, the people of France were going hungry. Plus, the king raised the price of bread to make up for his financial problems. This only served to fuel the revolutionaries’ fire and there was much unrest. Groups of women began to protest in the Parisian markets, with little to no response from the monarchy. -
Newly installed in Paris, the king began to fear for his own life and his family’s. He came up with a plan to flee from France and set up camp in Austria to wait out the Revolution. -
After the royal family’s attempt to flee France, popular opinion really began to turn against King Louis XVI and the French considered him a traitor. On August 10, 1792, a group of around 20,000 angry Parisians stormed the Tuileries Palace demanding justice. The king and the queen were arrested and placed in jail. -
The Reign of Terror is one of the darkest periods in French history. Before it began, in March 1793, the National Assembly was replaced by the National Convention. Within the Convention was a group called the Committee of Public Safety, which was created to protect the new Republic against traitors. The head of the committee was a man named Maximilien Robespierre. -
Ironically, Robespierre let his newfound power go to his head and began to get out of control. Other members of the committee and the new government began to fear for their lives in the midst of Robespierre’s killing spree. -
After Robespierre’s death, a new constitution was written. This new document created a group of leaders called the Directory which was made up of 5 members. But, as more time went on the Directory became corrupt and began to experience financial difficulties due to mismanagement.