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The political and financial situation in France had grown rather bleak, forcing Louis XVI to summon the Estates General. This assembly was composed of three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to decide on the levying of new taxes and to undertake reforms in the country. -
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the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy's dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. -
Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles on June 20 and thinking that the king was forcing them to disband, they moved to a nearby indoor tennis court (salle du jeu de paume). There they took an oath never to separate until a written constitution had been established for France. -
Men are born free and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be based only on public utility. The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression. -
The National Assembly decrees that hereditary nobility is forever abolished. -
the French royal family attempted to flee the country in order to avoid retribution from the revolutionaries. -
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Louis Accepts the Constitution -
Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed that the French government adopt a gentler method of execution -
The French declared war on Austria in 1792 because of the changes brought about during the French Revolution. -
The immediate cause of the Franco-Prussian War was the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen for the Spanish throne, which raised the possibility of a combination of Prussia and Spain against France. -
It occurred in the wake of France's defeat in the Franco-German war and the collapse of Napoleon III's Second Empire -
he was tried by the revolutionaries. The monarchy was formally abolished, and “Year I” of the French Republic was declared -
The revolution brought down their king and made France a republic—a country ruled by the people. This republic did not last, but France never returned to its old, unequal form of society. In addition, the ideas of the French Revolution spread to many other countries. -
a secret cupboard containing proof of Louis' counter-revolutionary beliefs and correspondence with foreign powers was discovered in Tuileries Palace -
The Committee of Public Safety was created by the National Convention in 1793 with the intent to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies, as well as to oversee the new functions of the executive government. -
Only after the purge of the Girondins, however, did the Convention complete this task, with what became known as the Constitution of 1793 or sometimes the "Montagnard Constitution. -
was intended to replace the Gregorian calendar with a more scientific and rational system that would avoid Christian associations. -
Marie-Antoinette was guillotined in 1793 after the Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state. -
The day after his arrest, Robespierre and 21 of his followers were guillotined before a cheering mob in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.