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The Build Up to a Financial Crisis
With the many wars raging on within the country, and then that participation of France in others, it was no doubt that there would be an eventual financial crisis. France's participation in the American Revolution and Seven Years War were only part of the reason for their large crisis. There were other factors such as low harvest successes. This lasted until about 1799 and was the cause of even more taxes put upon the third estate. -
Louis XVI Calls the Estates-General
Louis XVI called the Estates-General in 1789 to try and find a balance of voting. However, it was decided that despite that largeness of the Third Estate, each estate would only receive one vote. The First Estate included the Clergy, the second was nobility, and the Third Estate was the large majority of France. However, despite the fact that they were brought together, the Third Estate soon broke away because of how many people they had. -
The Tennis Court Oath
During a meeting of the Estates-General, the first and second estates clashed with the Third Estate on multiple issues, causing the Third Estate to feel the need to break away and come up with their own constitution. As they broke away, the named themselves The National Assembly, and swore on an oath to not break until a constitution was approved. They had also moved to Tennis Court of Versailles (Jeu de Paume). This was the first step towards the revolution. -
The National Assembly
The third estate, due to their large size, came together and called themselves the National Assembly. On June 27th, 1789, the king conceded and ordered the other two estates to join the Third Estate in this. The Third Estate had offered the other two a place within it before the king ever agreed. The king eventually agreed due to his fear of loser power within the country. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille was a prison located at the east side of Paris. The storming of the bastille was the event in which this prison was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The reason for this attack was due to the symbolism of the prison to the dictoral rule. This attack became a very important part of the revolution. -
The Great Fear
The Great Fear began around July 20th, 1789 and lasted until the early days of August. The Great Fear was mainly in the countryside of France, and caused by the high prices that the poorer people had to pay. There was even more questions and havoc when they discovered the mistreatment of the Third Estate by the other two. They were angered by this, beginning to amp their attackes within the countryside. The peasants would burn things down, even, just in an attempt to escape obligations. -
Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
This declaration was approved by the National Assembly in 1789. It was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence. This was to guarantee that men would continue to be free and have equal rights. -
Women's March
The Women's March to Versailles is said to be one of the most violent episodes of the French Revolution. A large group of women gathered in Paris on the morning of October 5th, 1789 to begin this march in an effort to bring the high pricese of bread down. The reasoning for choosing Versailles is simple: Versailles is the symbol for that of luxury. These women wanted to feed their families, so why not start where people have the most? The march was a success. The king gave into their demands. -
Constitution = Constiutional Monarchy
This new constitution that was adopted by the National Assembly in 1791 made it so that France would become a Constitutional Monarchy. Due to this new government, all of the power went to a single legislative assembly.France was also broken up into 83 departments. -
Legislative Assembly Declares War
On August 20th, 1792, the legislative assembly of France declared war on Austria and Prussia. Originally, they'd only declared war on Austria, but then Prussia joined Austria. The other powers of Europe were weary of France, because France was powerful. France went to war. The country wasn't very successful at first, but as the war progressed, so did France's armies. -
Louis XVI is Executed
Due do the constant belief of King Louis' treason, he was questioned a large majority of the time. When he'd left France and then returned, he soon tried to escape again. These rumors started with the one that he wanted to weaken the power of the Assembly. Eventually King Louis XVI was found guilty of Treason and killed at the guillotine. -
Reign of Terror
Robespierre's 'Reign of Terror' lasted from some time in September of 1793 to some time in 1794 (the fall of Robespierre). When Robespierre took power, he claimed to want to rule in 'the name of the people', however, the way he ruled was the very reason for the name of this time. There was a span of killing during his Reign of Terror, and those killed were people who he claimed to be internal enemies of France. -
The Directory
On August 22, 1795, the constitution was ratified. Due to this, there was a need for something new and the October National Convention is dissolved in favor of that something new. This something new was the five-man directory. This directory included an upper house, and the lower house. There would also be Annual Elections in order to keep this new form of government in check. However, this only lasted until November 9th, when Napoleon overthrew it.