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In the American Revolutionary War, France aided the American colonists in hopes of causing a British defeat. Although the colonists were victorious, France's debt rose from 8 billion livres to 13.3 billion livres.
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As people began to understand their natural rights and have faith in human reason, there came about a natural opposition to authority. People started to desire a voice to be able to reshape their society.
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Fearful of being attacked by the royal army, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a place known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government. Unfortunately, because of a misunderstanding, fighting broke out and 108 people died in the storming of the Bastille.
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The National Assembly drafted a new constituiton called “La Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen." This document was based on a system of equal rights and a representative government.
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The Women's March on Versailles started with a few women rioting over the prices and scarcity of bread in Paris marketplaces and eventually escalated to a mob of thousands of women marching to the Palace of Versailles with weapons. The mob eventually compelled the royal family and the majority of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris.
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The Jacobins were the extremist faction of the National Assembly. They led an attack on the palace in August of 1792, with the purpose of arresting the royal family.
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The guillotine was used as a device for capital punishment that didn't discriminate among the classes. It was used to massacre thousands of enemies of the rebels during the French Revolution.
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After being arrested and put in prison, the King was sentenced to death by beheading. Becuase of a great divide in the National Convention, the King's execution led the French Revolution into "la Terreur."
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The surviving moderate faction of the National Assembly, the Girondins, created a system in which power was held by five appointed officials. Protestors were silenced by the army's new, successful general, Napoleon Bonaparte.
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After several years of ineffeciency and corruption by the Directory, there was popular discontent with the new government. Bonaparte led a coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory and establishing himself as "consul."
