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The National Assembly
The Third Estate was not happy with the direction of the Estates General. Members of the First and Second estates also joined, creating a true representative body that they called a National Assembly. King Louis XVI threatened to dissolve the Estates General. -
Storming the Bastille
Parisian radicals attacked a Paris prision in order to get weapons to defend themselves from the king. Once the attack was over, they cut off the prison commander's head and paraded it around Paris on a pike. They also organized a citizen militia to patrol the city. -
Great Fear
Rumors were being spread about nobles hiring outlaws to attack peasants. They retaliated by organizing attacks on manor houses and the nobles. This occurred in 5 major areas of France. -
The LADIES
Ladies organized a march on the Palace of Versailles demanding bread. They broke into the palace, and killed the guards in order to get to the queen to threaten her. They pushed for the idea that women also have natural and sacred rights. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The state took over the church's land. Preists and officials of the church were elected and got paid by the state. This caused religious devotion and revolutionary loyalty to become incompatable for many people. -
Flight to Varennes
The king and his family tried to flee to Austrian controlled lands, and did so in disguise so they would not be caught. They got stopped and arrested, and were forced to return to Paris. They only got arrested because the man who arrested him recognized his face from a coin that he saw. The king's enemies held this against him in order to get rid of the monarchy. -
Constitutional Monarchy
Was only able to be created with approval from the king. This granted power to create laws and declare war with the Legislative Assembly (radicals on the left, conservatives on the right, moderates in the middle). The assembly divided France into new administrative units. -
WAR!
France declared war on Austria and Prussia because they said the king should return as an absolute monarch. The royal family became imprisioned after revolutionaries killed the royal guards. Later in the war, Holland, Great Brittain, and Spain joined Austria and Prussia, but France eventually ended up winning. -
Jacobins and the September Massacre
The Jacobins took control of the Legislative Assembly and declared a republic. Mobs were afraid that prisoners would aid the foreign invaders, so they stormed into multiple prisons in Paris and murdered over 1,000 prisoners. This marked the troubled history of the relationship between the people and the political elite in France. -
National Convention and the Death of Louis XVI
This dissolved the Constitution of 1791 along with the Legislative Assembly, and created a new constitution with the National Convention as legislative body instead. Declared a republic with universal suffrage for men, but not women. All members of the convention were Jacobins and Republicans. This was when Louis went from a king to a commoner and was found guilty of treason. -
Committee of Public Safety (COPS)
This was an emergency government that was put in place by the Jacobins. The main goal was to protect the revolution from its internal and external enemies. Maximillian Tobespierre became the leader in July 1793, and he had a dictorial ruling style known as the Reign of Terror. -
Reign of Terror
This was in place while Robespierre was ruling the COPS. It consisted of "enemies" of the revolution being executed by the guillotine. Many famous people were sentenced to death, including Marie Antoinette, along with 40,000 other commoners. Robespierre was sentenced to death on July 28, 1794, when members of the National Convention turned on him in fear of their own lives. -
Death of Marat
Marat was one of the most radical voices of the French Revolution, and a member of the Jacobin political party. He was stabbed to death in his bathtub by a member of a rival political party who wanted to stop the bloodshed. After his death, a painter painted a portrait of his death. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (DOROMAC)
This was a document guaranteeing Natural Rights, but did not apply to women. It also established the principle of national sovereignty. Liberty, equality, and fraternity became the battle cry of the revolution. -
Directory
This was when the new constitution was drafted by the National Convention. It was the third since 1789. It was created using moderate ideas and placed power in the hands of the upper middle class. This was led by five members, and they were called the Directory. Unfortunately, this did not help with the food crisis, but styaed in power because of the success and power of the military.
