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Meeting of the Estates General
By the late 1780s the French economy was a disaster. The country was nearly bankrupt due to the decades of war that had drained their treasury. Louis XVI decided that people including the French should pay more taxes. But the French tried to stop Louis XVI since they didn't want to pay taxes. After this Louis XVI called the meeting of the estates general. -
Establishing the National Assembly
Members of the Third Estate were determined to make a change in the government. They insisted that all three estates meet together and that each delegate would have a vote. They wanted to set equal rights to all the people. They declared themselves The National Assembly, and they passed laws and reforms in the name of the French people. The group was led by Mirabeau and Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès. -
Women Run in Versadilles
The women rioted over the high prices of bread. They demanded the National Assembly should take action to provide bread. Then they broke into the palace killing many guards. The women demanded that the king and queen return to Paris and never come back. The king agreed so a few hours later he and his family left Versadilles, never again to see the palace. Their exit signaled the change of power and radical reforms about to overtake France. -
A Limited Monarchy
In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the new constitution, which Louis approved. The constitution created was a constitutional monarchy where the king had a limited power. This constitution also created a new legislative body called The Legislative Assembly. This body had the power to create laws and to approve or reject declarations of war. -
France Declares War
By 1792 the European Monarchs were noticing the changes taking place in France with alarm. They feared that similar revolts would take place in their countries. However the monarchs were too suspecting of each other to unite against France. War was then declared. -
Death of the King
The National Convention had reduced Louis XVI's role from a king to a common citizen and prisoner. Now, guided by radical jacobins, it tried Louis for treason. He was found guilty, and by a very close vote he was sentenced to death. On January 21, 1793, the former king was beheaded by a machine called the guillotine. -
France Declares War on Britain and Holland
In early 1793 Great Britain, Holland and Spain joined Prussia and Austria against France. Now that France was forced to fight with too many enemies, the French suffered many defeats. To reinforce the French army, Jacobin leaders in he convention took a very big step. They ordered a draft of 300,000 French citizens between the ages of 18 and 40. By 1794, the army had grown to 800,000 and included women. -
Reign of Terror
In July 1793 Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For the next year, Riobespierre governed France as a dictator and the period of his rule became the Reign of Terror since he was not a good leader. The committee of public safety's chief task was to protect the revolution. Robespierre justified his use of terror to enable French citizens to remain true to the ideals of the Revolution. -
Georges Danton's Death
In early 1794 Georges Danton's friends were afraid to defend him from execution after stealing more than $500,000. Instead they decided to join on condemning him. When he was on the scaffold, he told the executioner to show his head to the people, since it was worth seeing. He was killed in April 5, 1794. His death was due to his corruption and for stealing a lot of money. -
End of the Terror
In 1794 some of the members of the National Convention turned on Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror ended on July 28, 1794 when Robespierre went to the guillotine.
