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Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath happened because Louis XVI locked the 3rd Estate out of the meeting hall at Versailles. They broke into Louis XVI's Tennis Court and took an oath saying they will never leave until they come up with a new constitution for France. They called themselves the National Assembly. Because of the Tennis Court Oath, Louis XVI made the 1st and 2nd Estates join with the 3rd Estate in the National Assembly.
[Link text] https://www.britannica.com/event/Tennis-Court-Oath -
Storming of the Bastille
King Louis XVI sent troops to Paris because he felt threatened, so the rebels decided to make a counter attack. They needed weapons and gun powder to do so. They stormed the Bastille to get those because over 30,000 pounds of gun powder was stored there. This event started the French Revolution and the fall of the French Monarchy.
[Link Text] https://www.historyonthenet.com/why-was-the-storming-of-the-bastille-important -
Abolition of Feudalism
The decree permitted the Assembly to construct a new regime to abolish Feudalism and other unfair systems based on birth right such as the Ancien Regime. The abolition of Feudalism happened because of the unfairness of taxation of 3rd Estate and unfairness of birth right = power, wealth, and land. The abolition of Feudalism was crucial to the evolution of property rights (not based on birth right) and market in land. [Link text] https://www.britannica.com/place/France/The-abolition-of-feudalism -
Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
Declaration of Rights of Man was inspired by the Enlightenment ideas. Marquis de Lafayette made a draft of the Declaration of Rights of Man and presented it to the National Assembly. The National Assembly then called 40 deputies up to decide on its final form and signed it into law. The 3rd Estate getting misrepresented led to the DRM. This document proved protection for many individual rights. [Link text] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-the-Rights-of-Man-and-of-the-Citizen -
Women march to Versailles
In France at this time, there were many bad harvests which led to wheat shortages and later bread shortages. Bread prices skyrocketed and one month's earnings = one loaf of bread. This made many people mad. Thousands of women from Paris march 12 miles to Versailles. They did this to protest food shortages in hopes that the king would do something about it. This event later affected the fate of Louis XIV.
[Link Text] https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/october-march-on-versailles/ -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The CCC was a document signed by the National Assembly abolishing the collection of tithes and confiscating church lands. It's purpose was to reduce the number of bishops and have the citizens choose bishops from popular votes.This happened because they wanted to reorganize the Roman Catholic Church's power. This document created the Legislative Assembly, a limited monarchy, and separated the church from the state. [Link Text] https://www.britannica.com/event/Civil-Constitution-of-the-Clergy -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette escape to Varennes
Louis XVI decided to leave France. They dressed up as servants so no one would recognize them, and headed out towards Austria. This happened because Louis XVI feared the safety of his family during the Revolution. They got caught in Varennes, and were taken back to Paris. This showed the French people that Louis XVI can no longer be trusted and made the National Assembly start to limit Louis's power more and more daily. [Link text] http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/varennes.html -
France declares war on Austria
The duke of Brunswick sent out a manifesto threatening to destroy Paris if they hurt the Royal Family. This made the people of France very angry and made the French declare war on Austria. Austria got their ally, Prussia, to join them in the war. Together Austria and Prussia marched up to Paris. The French won and their Republic survived after 10 years of fighting. [Link text] https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/modern-europe/wars-battles/french-revolutionary-wars/war-with-austria -
Fall of the Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly was in power from October 1791- September 1792. It consisted of 745 members and was France's "legal government". The Legislative Assembly failed because the 3 Estates could not decide on how to vote, struggled to pass reforms, failed to fix France's problems, faced threats of war, and economic issues. It was replaced with a new government called the National Convention. [Link text] https://www.historycrunch.com/legislative-assembly.html#/ -
Abolition of the French Monarchy
The Legislative Assembly votes to abolish the monarchy completely and establishes the First Republic. The monarchy was not very good at their job as they could not fix France's severe financial problems or their economical crisis. The Legislative Assembly abolishes the monarchy because they wanted freedom. This made France a republic for the first time ever and took the power away from the monarchy completely. [Link text] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/monarchy-abolished-in-france -
Execution of King Louis XVI
The execution of Louis XVI happened because of Louis's attempt to escape. The National Convention (old National Assembly) decided to put Louis on trial for betraying the people of France. They found Louis guilty and sentenced him to death. Louis got executed by the Guillotine. This event was a transformative moment in European politics and made France a republic. [Link text] http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/louis.htm -
Execution of Marie Antoinette
After Marie's unsuccessful escape, the monarchy was completely overthrown. She tried to make secret negotiations with members of the constitutional monarchy to regain her power, but this didn't work. Marie was put in Paris's prison, got put on trial 9 months after Louis, and found guilty of treason. She got executed by the Guillotine 2 days later. This event confirmed the abolishment of the monarchy. [Link text] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Antoinette-queen-of-France#ref338377 -
Execution of Maximilien Robespierre
Robespierre attacked members of the Committee of Public Safety and Committee of General Security for extreme use of terror. He called them terrorists and said that they shouldn't be in the Committees anymore. They felt threatened and made a conspiracy against him. This led Robespierre and his supporters to get arrested. Robespierre and 21 others were then executed without a trial by the Guillotine.This ended the Reign of Terror. [Link text] https://revolution.chnm.org/items/show/412 -
Establishment of the Directory
The Directory was established by the Constitution of the Year III and lasted 4 years. The Directory was a group of five men who had power in France and were picked by the Councils of Five Hundred and Ancients. The Directory was established because France needed a constitution/ someone to rule for their Republic. The Directory helped revive trade/agriculture, and provided the basis for Napoleon's restoration of order. [Link Text] https://www.britannica.com/topic/Directory-French-history -
Coup of 18th Brumaire
The Coup of 18th Brumaire was a military overthrow of the French government of the time by Napoleon. This replaced it for the Consulate. This happened to make way for the despotism of Napoleon Bonaparte. This event ended the French Revolution. [Link text] https://www.britannica.com/event/Coup-of-18-19-Brumaire