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Call of the Estates General
King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General in 1789. The French government was having financial issues which is why the meeting was called. Finally on June 13, 1789 they started making their own laws, running the country, and calling themselves the "National Assembly". -
Tennis Court Oath
King Louis XVI did not go along with the making or actions of the National Assembly. Although the king closed the building where their meetings were held it did not stop them from coming together. Instead they met at a local tennis court and decided to take an oath to keep meeting until the king took them seriously. -
Storming of the Bastille
The revolutionaries had recently requested to the king that the Third Estate be more involved in the government but when the king ignored it they took over Hotel Des Invalides and took their guns but had no gunpowder. They went to the Bastille and demanded gunpowder and prisoners but as the crowd got anxious fights broke out and guns were fired and eventually the soldiers surrendered the prison to the revolutionaries. -
March of Versailles
Women began protesting because the price of bread was too high for them to be able to feed their families. They marched 6 hours to the king's palace in Versailles where they demanded to meet with him. A small group of women met with him and he agreed to give them bread at lower costs but the crowd outside still wasn't happy. They wanted the queen to have her children taken away for her reckless spending and eventually the royal family had to leave Versailles and go to Tuileries instead. -
Champ de mars Massacre
The king tried to flee France but got caught and the Assembly kept him as head of the constitutional monarchy. The republicans then made a petition to have the king removed from office and as the word spread people gathered at the Champ de mars to sign. As a few groups made trouble while in line, that was enough for the court martial to send the army into the crowd with bayonets. -
First Invasion of the Tuileries
The royal family along with the royal court meetings took place/ lived at Tuileries at the time of the attacks. An angry mod invaded Tuilries in hopes of destroying the king and monarchy. This is one of the Revolutionary turning points. -
Overthrow of the Monarchy
During the invasion of Tuileries, the king fled, the attackers invaded and most soldiers were killed. After all of this ended the Legislative Assembly decided to suspend the king and abolish monarchy. The Legislative Assembling also convened elections for a new national convention. -
Execution of the King
In August of 1792 the royal family was arrested and imprisoned. in November the king's intrigues with Austria and other countries were found. One day after being sentenced to death for conspiracy with foreign powers King Louis XVI was executed. -
Reign of Terror
The reign of terror lasted from September 5, 1793 to July 28, 1794. It was a dark and violent time when radicals took control of the government and executed anyone who they thought wasn't loyal to the revolution. There were 17,000 executed and 200,000 arrested during this time. -
Execution of the Queen
Nine months after the king was executed, the queen was accused of depletion of the national treasury and conspiracy against internal and external security of the state. She was also charged with high treason because of her intelligence activities in the interest of the enemy. She was found guilty in all of these charges and sentenced to death.
