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The Estates General, an assembly of representatives from all social classes, met for the first time in 175 years to approve new tax on the nobility.
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Delegates of the Thrid Estate proclaimed the creation of the National Assembly, thus giving an end to the absolute monarchy and begining of a representative government.
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Delegates of the Third estate, along with nobles and clergymen who favored the reforms, met to create a new constitution. This meeting was later known as the Tennis Cort Oath
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A mob searching for gunpower stormed the Bastille, a prison and a symbol of the monarchy
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The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely.This meant that debts from pesants to lords were to be canceled.
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Influenced by the idea of Thomas Jefferson and other Enlightenment thinkers, the National Assembly announces the creation of the document "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" It became the basis for a nation free individuals protected equally by law.
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The Great Fear, a wave of senseless panic, had already begun. In October thousand of women rioted over rising prices of bread. They marched to Versailles broke into the palace killing some of the guards and demanded that the king and queen returned to Paris.
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The king and the queen try to flee the country, but were caught near the border and returned to paris underguard
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A new constitution was completed by the National Assembly. It created a limited constitutional monarchy. Louis XIV had to sign it. The Legislative Assembly, a new legislative body, was created.
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Scared that the revolution might spread to their countries, Austria and Prussia urged the French to restore the monarchy. The Legislative Assembly declares war on them.
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A mob of 20,000 men and women invaded the Tuileries, the palace where the royal family was staying, and imprisoned Louis, Mari Antoinette, and their children.
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France at war, mobs in the streets, people taking control by their hands; all led up to the Legislative Assembly set aside the Constitution and called for the election of a new legislature. A new government body called the National Convention was created.
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Louis XIV, now a common citizen, was tried for treason and executed.
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War against Prussia and Austria continues. Soon Great Britan, Holland and Spain join. The National Convention orders a draft of 300,000 French men between the ages 18 and 40.
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Jacobin leader, Maximilian de Robespierre becomes the leader of the Committee of Public Safety. He practically becomes a dictator and the Reign of Terror Begins.
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Reign of Terror, radical phase of French Revolution responsible for about 40,000 executions, ends when Robespierre is arrested and executed
