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Period: to
Social Division
The Estates General had not met for 175 years. Such a prolonged absence of the Estates General, had given the king and the nobles an extensive amount of power. With the balance of power shifted, The three Estates had different amounts of power and wealth. With the third estate having such a little amount of wealth and power, they wanted change. -
Period: to
Peasant Revolts
Rumors of attacks on towns and of royal troops seizing peasant crops created a period called the "Great Fear". Peasants revolted by set fire to old manor records of nobles and stole grain from storehouses. -
King Louis XVI calls Estates General
The king called the Estates General to help address the problems of each estate. The king had all three estates prepare "cahiers" or lists of grievances that were to be addressed at the assembly. Finally, the 3rd Estate claimed to represent the people and declared themselves the National Assembly. Later they were locked out of the meeting, so they went to a nearby tennis court to make an oath called the Tennis Court Oath, which states never to separate until a Constitution has been written. -
Parisians storm the Bastille
Rumors went around saying that the king sent royal troops to the capital. Enraged, the citizens went to the Bastille for guns and gunpowder. the commander refused, and opened fire on the crowd. A terrible fight ensued, and the mob finally broke through the defenses, killing the commander and five guards. They then tore the building apart brick by brick by hand. -
Revolt
The growing economic crisis in France occured at the same time as the worst famine in France's history. Hunger struck harder than ever, with the price of bread skyrocketing. Soon, rumors such as the one of government troops seizing their bread caused a terrible period of time called the "Great Fear". The peasants released their fury on nobles, setting fire to old manor records and stealing grain from the storehouses. -
Special Privileges End
The National Assembly abolishes fuedalism, -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly publishes a document claiming all men are equal -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
The National Assembly created a document that modeled the American Declaration of Independence and claimed that "all men were born and remain free and equal in rights". -
Women March to Versailles
Due to the rising prices of bread and increasing hunger, about six thousand enraged women marched 13 miles to the palace of Versailles to demand to see the king. They refused to leave the grounds until the king agreed to return to Paris witht them.