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The National Assembly were locked out of their regular meeting room so they broke into an indoor tennis court and pledged to write a new constitution. King Louis XVI agreed but surrounded Paris with French troops. -
An angry mob stormed a French prison (Bastille) to get gunpowder for their weapons in order to defend the city. This symbolized the start of the French Revolution. -
The National Assembly drafted a human civil rights document which changed French society and government. It declared natural rights of private property, liberty, security, and resistance to oppression. As well as freedom of speech, religious toleration, and liberty of the press.
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Maximilien Robespierre led the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. He wanted to stop opposition to the revolution and called for a rule of "terror." Anyone that was suspected of treason could be arrested and executed by the guillotine. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were executed under this reign of terror as well as thousands of other people. -
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