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The people of Paris supported the Assembly's proposals and, on July 14, they stormed the Bastille. Louis XVI was frightened by the situation and, in autumn, accepted the National Assembly. In august Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved, which recognised the rights, individual freedoms and equality of all citizens.
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They where deciding if they should vote by head-giving advantage to the 3rd estate or by estate, which lead the two priviledges estates (1st and 2nd) outvote the 3rd estate.
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The members of the French 3rd estate took the Tennis Court Oath until the Constitution of the kingdom was established in the city of Versailles.
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Drew up a Constitution Based on the separation of powers, national sovereignty and legal equality, though the king reserved the right of veto. Census suffrage was also introduced, giving the vote to people with a certain level of wealth. The royal family and the privileged classes did not accept the changes and asked absolute monarchies in Europe to help restore absolutism.
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The radical bourgeoisie, encouraged by the working classes, proclaimed the Republic and began a transformation into a democratic and equal society with universal male suffrage and social laws.
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The Girondins, controlled the Republic. A new assembly, the National Convention, was elected by universal male suffrage.
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Around 20,000 people went to the Tuileries Palace. While the King and Queen had escaped to the Legislative Assembly for help they decided to place them under arrest. The Revolution was becoming more radicalized and hundreds of royalists were murdered (aka “September Massacre”)
PS: Most of the French citizens were just running for their lives. -
A new constitution that recognised popular sovereignty (universal male suffrage) and the right to social equality was enacted. The executive was led by a Committee of Public Safety, which gave power to the Jacobin leader Robespierre.
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To stop conspirators. Freedoms were suspended and people opposed to the government were either imprisoned or revolutionary courts ordered their execution by guillotine (Law of Suspects).
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King Louis XVI was charged with treason. He was convicted and found guilty. So, by January 21, 1793, Louis was driven through the streets of Paris and met his fate at the drop of the popular guillotine. He was quickly decapitated. Marie Antoinette had a short trial herself, as she was accused of numerous crimes too. Despite many of her “crimes” coming about on false rumor, by October 16 she too was found guilty and was decapitated the same day, just like her husband.
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Robespierre was arrested himself and met the same fate by guillotine that so many had before him, under his order.
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The new constitution granted executive power to a collegial government, known as the Directory, and restored census suffrage.
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After Robespierre, the National Convention (once again) created a new constitution, with the new “Directory” leading the country. This was a bad call, as the Directory almost immediately fell to corruption, political conflict, and financial problems.
By 1799, a successful military commander named Napoleon Bonaparte swept in to dissolve the Directory and establish himself as the First Consul of a new order in France. -
The Directory was permanently unstable because it faced opposition from the aristocracy, which sought to re-establish the monarchy and recover its privileges, and the common people, who supported the return of the Jacobins. In this context of crisis and war against the absolutist powers, general Napoléon Bonaparte organised a coup in 1799 that ended the Directory.
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No separation of powers and no declaration of rights. Liberties were limited and public opinion was censored.
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After this victory the French troops seemed unstoppable.
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Joseph Bonaparte, one of the emperor's brothers, was made king.
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The revolt in Spain against a foreign king (Joseph Bonaparte) marked the decline of the Napoleonic Empire.
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The imperial armies were finally defeated in Waterloo by Great Britain and Prussia.
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Napoleon is finally defeated in the battle of Waterloo by British, Prussian and Dutch.
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Napoleon abdicated after the defeat and was sent into exile on the island of Saint Helena, where he died.
