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Tennis Court Oath
Louis summoned the Estates-General to deal with the problems that his country dealt with, little did he know, there were more problems than he thought. When the meeting took place, the Third Estate stood up to him demanding to make things more equal. Well, he had them locked out of the assembly and the Third Estates met in the tennis courts of Versailles. There they would develop an oath that would enabling them from disbanding until a new constitution was introduced. -
Convening The Estates General
The calling of the Estates-General was the argument and discussion of making all three estates pay taxes. Although at first the attempt and desires were failed, Louis XIV gave into the wishes of the nobility and arranged a meeting where an edict called the Estates General to meet in May 1789. -
National Assembly/Convention
The National Assembly was practically the Third Estate. The Third Estate felt that the voting system should be by head rather than by one representitive for each estate. They wanted seperation from the Estates-General because they felt that they were being unfairly under-represented (more/less). So they named themselves the National Assebly and kept meeting secretly. -
Storming of Bastille
The Storming of Bastille was the event that basically marked the beginning of the French Revolution. When peasants, along with many others, got fed up with the years of torture and abuse, they decided that they would finally do something about it. They were armed due to the foreign troops in the streets of Paris, and soon moved to the old fortress prison (which was looked at as a symbol of the king's absolute authority). -
The Great Fear
Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and the grain supplies were now guarded by local militias as bands of vagrants roamed the countryside. Rumors spread among the peasantry that nobles had hired these vagrants to prey on villages and protect the new harvest from the peasants. In response, fearful peasants armed themselves in self-defense and began attacking many places, with grain, etc. The revolt spread until it was ended out by the militia. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Within this document, you will find that there is a central idea describing that people everywhere are entitled to basic human rights. That was the purpose of creating it in the first place, they needed a little equality. -
Louis and Marie Attempt Leaving France
So many people were complaining and demanding for their desired rights, and even with that, Louis XVI would not listen. Continuing to do things wrong and upsetting people, his wife and himself decided that they would try to flee France, in attempt to flee their problems as well. -
Constitution of 1791 is Drafted
On the day of the Tennis Court Oath, the National Assembly had declared that it would not disband until a new constitution had been created for France. They completed their task in 1791. The new constitution created by these moderate revolutionaries declared France to be a constitutional monarchy. Within this new government, all legislative powers went to a single Legislative Assembly, which alone had the power to declare war and raise taxes. -
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a time period in which Jacobins and Girondins executed many people. They felt that they had many enemies to deal with, who would not obey or believe what they did, so they thought that getting rid of them was the easiest thing to do.
