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Estate-General
The Estates-General, which was made up of clergy as the First Estate, nobility as the Second Estate, and the majority of people as the Third Estate, was summoned by King Louis XVI and held at Versailles to solve the economic crisis in France. -
Establishment of the National Assembly
Knowing that they were always outvoted by the first two estates and would never gain their rights, the Third Estate decided to establish the National Assembly in which they made their own laws and ran their own government. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate was locked outside of their meeting room. They broke into an indoor tennis court and made the “Tennis Court Oath” which they pledged to stay there until a new Constitution was drawn up. Fearing his position threatened, King Louis ordered his army to stay around Versailles. -
Dismissal of Jacques Necker
King Louis XVI dismissed Jacques Necker, a popular finance minister who tried to make reforms himself. -
Storming of the Bastille
People thought that the military of King Louis would attack them, so they gathered weapons to defend themselves. A troop searching for gunpowder and more arms attacked Bastille, a political prison in Paris. Angry mobs seized control of Bastille, killed guards and prison commander Bernard de Launay, and paraded their heads on pikes. This event was later known as “Storming of the Bastille.”