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Thousands of Parisian women rioted over the rising price of
bread. Brandishing knives, axes, and other weapons, the women marched on Versailles. -
A general assembly representing the French estates of the realm the clergy (first estate) the nobles ( second estate) and the common people (third estate)
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In a dramatic speech, Sieyès suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves the National Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people.
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Was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution
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a mob searching for gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The mob over- whelmed the guard and seized control of the building.
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Louis’s attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the government and sealed his fate.
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Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence, the document stated that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” These rights included “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.”
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For the next year, Robespierre governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the Reign of Terror.
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a major event of the French Revolution, took place on 21 January 1793 at the Place de la Révolution in Paris. At a trial on 17 January 1793, the National Convention had convicted the king of high treason in a near-unanimous vote; while no one voted "not guilty", several deputies abstained.
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In 1795, moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of government, the third since 1789. It placed power firmly in the hands of the upper middle class and called for a two- house legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory.
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The lawmakers who remained then voted to dissolve the Directory. In its place, they established a group of three consuls, one of whom was Napoleon. Napoleon quickly took the title of first consul and assumed the powers of a dictator.
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Napoleon signed a concordat, or agreement, with Pope Pius VII. This established a new relationship between church and state. The government recognized the influence of the Church, but rejected Church control in national affairs. The concordat gained Napoleon the support of the organized Church as well as the majority of the French people.
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After the failure of the expedition to Saint Domingue, Napoleon decided to cut his losses in the Americas. He offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States, and in 1803 President Jefferson’s administration agreed to purchase the land for $15 million.
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Napoleon thought that his greatest work was his comprehensive system of laws, known as the Napoleonic Code.
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Napoleon set up a blockade—a forcible closing of ports—to prevent all trade and communication between Great Britain and other European nations. Napoleon called this policy the Continental System because it was supposed to make continental Europe more self-sufficient. Napoleon also intended it to destroy Great Britain’s
commercial and industrial economy. -
Napoleon’s most disastrous mistake of all came in 1812.Even though Alexander I had become Napoleon’s ally, the Russian czar refused to
stop selling grain to Britain. In addition, the French and Russian rulers suspected each other of having competing designs on Poland. Because of this breakdown in their alliance, Napoleon decided to invade Russia. -
The victors gave Napoleon
a small pension and exiled, or banished, him to Elba, a tiny island off the Italian coast. The allies expected no further trouble from Napoleon, but they were wrong. -
which Napoleon arrived in Paris after escaping from exile on Elba, and July 8, 1815, the date of the return of Louis XVIII to Paris.This defeat ended Napoleon’s last bid for power.
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This defeat ended Napoleon’s last bid for power, called the Hundred Days. Taking no chances this time, the British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic. There, he lived in lonely exile for six years, writing his memoirs.