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Deficit Spending
Deficit SpendingThe heirs of Louis XIV were not the right men to solve the economic crisis in France. Louis XV pursued pleasures before serious business and ran up more debts. As 1788 came to a close, France tottered on the verge of bankruptcy. -
Estates-General Called by Louis XVI
Louis XVI summons the Estates-General to meet in Versailles in late 1788. In preperation he had the three estates prepare a journal of their grievances. At the Estates-General, reforms such as fairer taxes, freedom of the press, and regular meetings of the Estates-General. Delegates from each estate were elected. Made the Tennis Court oath. Promised not to stop meeting until a Constitution was passed. -
Storming Bastille
The streets were buzzing with rumors that royal troops were going to occupy the capital. More then 800 Parisians assembled outside the Bastille. The crowd demanded gunpowder and weapons believed to be stored there. The commander of the Bastille refused to open the gates and opened fire on the crowd. Many people were killed in the battle, but the enraged mob managed to break through the defenses, killing the commander and five guards and releaseing the handful of prisoners being held there. -
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National Assembly Acts (part I)
Declaration of the Rights of ManThe first thing to go is Fuedilsm. Later in August, the Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. It was modeled after the American Declaration of Independence written 13 years before. It also said that all MEN are created equal and that they enjoyed natural rights such as liberty, property, security, and resistance to opression. Another thing that happened was the Womens March on Versailles. Women were angry about the shortages of bread. -
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National Assembly Acts (part II)
French TricolourThe women wanted to bring the king and his family back to Paris so that he would be easier to communicate with when needed. Another thing the Assembly does is place the French Catholic Church under state control. Bishops and priests would be elected officals and have salaries. Also ended papal authority over the French Catholic Church and dissolved convents and monastaries. The most important thing the Assembly would do is make a constitution in 1791. The Assembly now had the power to make laws. -
Threats From Abroad
The king of Prussia and the emperor of Austria-who was Marie Antoinette's brother-issued the Declaration of Pilnits. The document threatened to intervene to protect the French monarchy. It may have been a bluff, but the French revolutionaries to it seriously and prepared for war. -
Civil War
In Paris and other cities, working-class men and women, called sans-culottes, pushed the revolution into more radical action. Sans-culottes means "without breeches" because they didn't wear traditional knee high pants.They had some competition with a rival group called the Jacobins. Also, there were people called emigres who were nobles, clergy, and others who fled France and its revolutionary forces. Emigres reported of attacks on their privileges, their property, their religion,and their lives -
Monarchy is Abolished
The Convention that met in September of 1792 was a more radical body then earlier assemblies. It voted to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic-the French Republic. The Jacobins set out to erase all traces of the old order. They also put Louis XVI on trial as a traitor of France. The king was convicted by a single vote and met the guillotine on a foggy morning in January 1793. His wife, Marie Antoniette, was also executed later that year in October. -
The Reign of Terror Begins
Robespierre was one of the chief architects of the Reign of Terror. He rounded up people thought to be traitors or against the revolution and had them put on trial. The result almost always ended in death by guillotine. About 300,000 people were arrested and 17,000 were executed. Many were people who were falsely accused or were mistakenly identified by their neighbors. Robespierre did this to scare other monarchs in Europe and to keep the people of France in constant fear so they don't rebel. -
The Reign of Terror Ends
As the Reign of Terror was happening, members of the Convention were weary of bloodshed and fearing for their own lives. They turned on the Committee of Public Safety on the night of July 27, 1794. Robespierre and his followers were arrested. They were executed the next day. After the heads of Robespierre and other radicals fell, executions slowed dramatically. -
Revolution Enters Third Stage
A third constitution is produced, being the third since 1789. Set up a five man Directory of a two-house legislature elected by male citizens of property. The middle class and professional people of the bourgeoisie were the dominant force during this stage of the revolution. The Directory held power for four years. Peace with Prussia and Spain, but war with Austria and Great Britian continued. As more emigres returned, people became more restless Politicians turned to Napoleon Bonaparte for help -
Spread of Nationalism
Revolution and war gave the people of France a sense of national indentity. In earlier times, people had felt loyalty to local authorities. As monarchs centralized power, loyalty shifted to the king and queen. Now the government rallied sons and daughters of the revolutionto defend the nation itself. The Frenchs national anthem, La Marseillaise, also came out of this revolution.
