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Period: to
Old Regime
The church and rich nobles made up the privileged upper class which together held 30% of the land and held positions of power and didn't pay taxes. The other 97% of the country was less privileged. The first group was the bourgeoisie or middle class. They had wealth and believed in Enlightenment ideas but they had high taxes and less privilege than the nobles. The second group was poor urban workers who often went hungry which led to a resentment towards the nobles and the church. -
Estates-General
After France became nearly bankrupt under the rule of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Louis tried to impose taxes on the nobility. The nobles forced him to hold a meeting of the Estates-General, which was a meeting of all the classes, to settle this. This was the first Estates-General in 175 years. -
National Assembly
The privileged classes expected to dominate the Estates-General as they did in the past but the bourgeoisie were determined to make change. They tried to have delegates vote to give them a better chance of success but the king rejected this. After a long debate however, the majority voted to establish the National Assembly which ended the absolute monarchy. This was the first deliberate act of revolution -
Tennis Court Oath
After finding themselves locked out of their meeting room, delegates of the poorer classes broke down a door to an indoor tennis court. They pledged to stay until they drew up a new constitution which later became known as the Tennis Court Oath. Soon some nobles and clergy members who favored reform joined them. -
Fall of the Bastille
Soon in Paris rumors spread about troops coming to disband the National Assembly and murder the French citizens. People went to father weapons to defend themselves. A mob went looking for gunpowder and weapons overwhelmed the guard at the Bastille and seized control. The Fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic act of revolution for the French. -
Fall of Old Regime
The National Assembly swept away the privileges of the church and nobles making them equal to commoners. By morning, the Old Regime was dead -
New Constitution
For two years, the National Assembly argued over a new constitution for France. Finally, the National Assembly completed the new constitution and had Louis XVI approve it. It stripped the king of his power and created the Legislative Assembly which created laws and could approve or reject declarations of war. -
Louis XVI's execution
The National Assembly reduced Louis XVI's power from a king to a common prisoner. It tried Louis for treason and found him guilty. He was soon executed by the guillotine. -
Reign of Terror
Maximilian Robespierre slowly gained power throughout early 1793. He changed the calendar to 12 months with 30 days getting rid of Sundays because he and his followers considered religion dangerous. They also closed churches all throughout France. By July 1793, he had become leader of the Committee of Public Safety and for the next year governed France as a dictator. This period became known as the Reign of Terror. -
Napoleon Seizes Control
After the Reign of Terror, the new system known as the directory appointed Napoleon as general of the French armies. He traveled to many places around the world and when he returned from Egypt, the political situation was a mess. After his friends told him to, Napoleon had his troops drive out most of the national legislature and have the rest vote him into power. A sudden seizure of power like this is known as a coup.
