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Meeting of the Estates General
In this day the king of France, Louis XVI, called a meeting in Versailles with the Estates General. The Estates General is an assembly of representatives from all three classes; frist estate, second estate and third estate. King Louis called on this meeting, forcefully by the second estate, so they could discuss on the fact that he wanted to start taxing on the nobilty since they were practically out of money. -
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A Trip to the French Revolution
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Establishing the National Assembly
During a speech from Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès he gave the idea of creating a National Assembly. This idea came from the fact that the third estate wanted to gain power. After several days of discusing the idea, the third estate agreed to Emmanuel's idea. So this day was the day that they voted to establish the National Assembly. So this was also the day that they proclaimed the end of the absolute monarchy and their first act of revolution. -
Tennis Court Oath
Three days after having established the National Assembly, the third estate are locked out of the meeting hall. So they break down the doors and find themselves in an indoor tennied court. In which the pledge to stay until they draw up on a new constitution. -
Storming the Bastille
Since there were several rumors of King Louis sending military forces to undo the National Assembly, people began to gather weapons in order to defend themselves from the attack. On this day the mob stromed into the prison, overwhelming the gaurds and seizing control of the building. At the end the would march out with dead men's head in pikes as a symbol for the beginning of their revolution. -
The Royal Family Attempts Escape
(The exact day for this date is not known)
By now, the king would doubt his fate as a monarch since many of his advisors kept telling him that he and his family was in danger. Due to this, on June of 1791 he and his family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. When only a small space seperated his carrige from the border, one of the people there recognized Louis. So they were sent back to Paris under gaurd. This only increased his enemies in the government. -
Legislative Assembly is Created
(The exact day for this date is not known)
In this day the National Assembly created a new constitution which created a limited monarchy. To this, Louis reluctantly approved. It not only created a limited monarchy but a new legislative body within the National Assembly, the Legislative Assembly. This Assembly had the power to create laws and approve/reject any declarations of war. Though King Louis still had the executive power to enforce the laws. -
Jacobins Rule
(The exact day for this date is not known)
The people most involved during the governmental changes of Spetember 1792 were the members of the Jacobin Club. This club was a radical political organization. This club included several men that had an impact on the Revolution. These men were Jean-Paul Marat, a newspaper editor; Georges Danton, a lawyer who was passionate and talented speaker, and Maximilien Robespierre, one of the Jacobin leaders. -
The National Convention
During this times the radicals were placing a lot of pressure on the Legislative Assembly to set the constitution of 1791 aside. They wanted to despose the king, dissolve the assembly and make an election for a new legislature. The new governing body was called the National Convention and in took office on this date. It quickly destoryed the monarchy, declareing France a republic. Now adult male citizens could vote and hold office, though women could not. Despite their important part in the F.R -
King Louis XVI's Beheading
The Nationl Convention had taken Louis and made him from a king into a common prisoner. He was later but into treason, that was lead by the Jacobins. The Convention found him guilty and sentenced him to death, thanks to a suprisingly close vote. So in this day the king, full of dignity, walked up to the guillotine which would bring the end to him. -
Extreme Army Draft
(The exact day for this date is not known)
Since France had Austrian, Purssia, Great Britain, Holland and Spain as one enemy the decided to take an extreme step in ther army to help them succeed in war. What they did was the National Convetnion ordered a draft of 300,000 French people between the ages of 18 and 40. But by 1794 the army had 800,000 people in it, including women! -
Robespierre's Dictatorship 2
In Paris, later making all the cities and towns all over France do the same. In that same month he became the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. Governing France for the next year, known as the Reign of Terror. -
Robespierre's Dictatorship
(The exact day for this date in not known)
In July of 1793 the Jacobin leader, Maximilien Robespierre slowly started to gain power, until he became France's leader. What he did was wipe out France's traces of the past. Also, since he was a firm believer in reason, he created a calendar that was divided in 12 moths and 30 days each. The calendar would not include Sundays since the radicals considerd religion old-fashioned and dangerous. He even closed all the churches (continue on next event) -
End of The Reign of Terror
During this moth the members of the National Convention turned on Robespierre, due to the fear of their safety. Thanks to that, they all demanded his arrest and execution which was successfully done by this date, bringing an end on the Reign of Terror.
