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King Louis XVI reluctantly summond the Estates-General to try and solve themonarchy's financial problems.There were the classes of people that represented the Estates-General: the nobles, clergy, and the rest of the people (Third Estate). Each estate had one vote. The Third Estate knew that the nobles and clergy would overrule them so they wanted to form their own National Assembly. The Third Estate were kicked out of the meeting of the Estaes-General. So then they moved to a tennis court.
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The National Assembly of the Third Estate took place at a local tennis court. The leaders of the assembly took the Tennis Court Oath, a pledge to make the new constitution.
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An angry mod marched on the Bastille, a medieval fortress in east Paris that held political prisoners. To many in France, the fortress was a symbol that much of the people hated Louis' regime. The commander of Bastille, Marquis de Launy and his troops held off the mob for a few hours before surrendering. This was the start of many attacks on the French government.
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Most of the people in France were starving and unemployed. A huge crowd of protesters, mostly women, traveled from Paris to Versailles because they thought the royal family didn't care about the common people. The broke into Queen Marie Antoinette's quarters, she was despised by the people. The crowd then demanded for bread and for the royal family to come to Paris to "live among the people."
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The National Assembly continued to perfect the new constitution of France. After long discussions, members of the National Assembly decided to limit the King's power. He could still veto but the assembly could overrule the veto. This made Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette feel like prisoners in their own palace. So they tried to leave as quiet as possible but were stopped at Verannes. This incident was devastating towards the new constitution.
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After the constitution was established, France was proclaimed as a constitutional monarchy. The National Assembly dissolved and was repaced by the Legistlative Assembly. No members from the National Assembly were allowed to be a part of the new parliament. This caused many problems because the members fro the National Assembly had political experience while the new parliament didn't.
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War was a debated topic in the Legistlative Assembly. Tensions between France and neighboring countries started to rise. Louis XVI wanted war so eenemies could overthrow the new government. Then France declared war on Austria.
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A crowd of 20,000 people attacked the Tuileries Palace. The King and Queen had escaped just in time and placed themselves protected by the Legistlative Assembly. Over the next month, many suspected royalist were executed, this became known as the "September Massacre."
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Louis XVI was convicted with treason for his acts. The death penalty came and passed but he was then driven into downtown Paris and was guillotined. Marie Antoinette was too found guilty and was beheded the same day.
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An estimated 16,000 people were guillotined from September 1793 to July 1794. Many radicals were executed along with the peaceful people. Leaders of the French Revolution had either left or died from the guillotine.
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After a long expedition in Egypt, Napoleon Bonaparte ouseted the Directory. The Directory was an executive council of five members. Napoleon established what he called the Consulate and made himself First Consul.
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After many years of fighting, France started using the Consulate system Napoleon created. This everyone started getting on board with this new government and France became a Republic
