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Period: to
French Revolution
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Louis calls the Estates-General
Royal advisers urged Louis to elect a finance minister. In 1789 he appointed Jacques Necker. Necker's called a meeting of the Estates General, a legislative body made up of deputies (representatives) from each of the three estates (clergy, nobles, and commoners) to discuss and approve a new tax plan. The Estates General hadn't assembled since 1614. The Third Estate realized they had less power and decided to end the Estates General. They founded the National Assembly which was more democratic. -
Tennis Court Oath
The National Assembly, also known as the Third Estate, was excluded from meeting with King Louis XVI and met near an indoor tennis court where they pledged themselves to create a written constitution. They swore not to separate until a consitutional regime was established. France was given a limited monarchy and a representative one house legislature. This was the first time French citizens stood against Louis XVI. Deputies declared themselves as supreme state power. -
Storming of Bastille
A mob of 800 craftsmen and salesmen marched to Invalides to steal some weapons. The mob stole 28,000 riffles there. The crowd knew that a pile of gun powder was stocked in Bastille, a prison that was a symbol of the King's aboslute and arbitrary power. They attacked Bastille and got prisoners that had been taken by the unpopular King Louis XVI. Rumors of attacks from the government and starvation were just too much for the angry crowds. This symbolized the beginning of the French Revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of Rights of Man was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly of France in August 1789.The declaration stated that all men have equal and alienable rights and that the purpose of the government is to preserve those rights. The rights were listed as "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression". Free communication was allowed, but with this freedom was subject to legal restrictions against abuse. This set equal rights of all the estates as one. -
March on Versailles
On the morning of October, 5th, 1789 a large group of French women came together in the central marketplace of Paris. The March to Versailles was staged in an effort to obtain bread and force the high prices of bread down. The crowd, numbering around 6,000 were armed wth pitch forks, muskets, pikes, swords, crowbars, and scythes and attacked the palace of Versailles. The power was no longer in the hands of Louis XVI and Marie. The march also symbolized the strength of women polictically. -
Louis's Trial
The king was brought from the Temple to stand before the Convention and hear his indictment, an accusation of High Treason and Crimes against the State. Raymond de Sèze delivered Louis's response to the charges.On January 15, 1793, 361 of the 700 deputies of the Convention voted to execute Louis. On January 21, Louis XVI was executed in what is today the Place de la Concorde. The revolutionaries were seen as victorous. -
The Terror
Jacobins seized control of the National Convention and instituted a series of radial measures. Suspected enemies of the reovlution were guillotined by the thousands. Robespierre, who dominated the Committee of Public Safety, ordered the deaths. About 40,000 lost their lives. France was attempting to develop a new government.The Terror eventually gave way to the rise of Napoleon who imposed in response one of the first military dictatorships in modern history. -
Robespierre death
Members of the Convention and Committee eyed Robespierre with suspicion. He'd recently ordered the death of his two close friends. Robespierre was the sole person who decided between right and wrong. The Convention saw Robespierre as a tyrant and his Republic of Virtue as authoritarian. The Convention united to destroy Robespierre before he destroyed the remaining members of the French government. Robespierre and his followers were guillotined which ended what was known as the Reign of Terror.
