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Call of the Estates General
It was an assembly of representatives from all three Estates that met in Versailles. The purpose of the assembly was to approve a tax that the King wanted to impose on nobility to help alleviate the massive government debt. It was the first time in 175 years that this meeting was held.
King Louis XVI was a weak and indecisive leader. Taxes were always imposed on members of the Third Estate. This was the first time that he considered taxing nobility. -
Tennis Court Oath
It was an oath pledged by Third Estate delegates who voted to establish the National Assembly and declared the beginning of a representative government. As a result they were locked out of their meeting room and broke down the door to an indoor tennis court. They pledged to remain until a new constitution was written.
The vote was the first deliberate act of revolution. Members of the clergy and nobility who agreed joined the Third Estate. The King stationed soldiers around Versailles. -
Storming of the Bastille
French citizens feared that their city was going to be attacked. They gathered weapons to defend themselves. They stormed the Bastille prison in search of gunpowder and arms and seized the building. They killed the prison guards and commander then put their heads on poles and paraded them around the city.
The fall of Bastille was a great symbolic act of revolution by the French citizens proving their power and strength to the King. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man
A document written by delegates of the National Assembly that was influenced by our Declaration of Independence. It lays out their new vision of the role of government to protect men's natural rights of freedom. However, it did not affect women and children.
This document explains a list of rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and separation of powers. The Declaration empowered the citizens of France and decreased the King's authority. -
March on Versailles
Thousands of Parisian women rioted protesting the scarcity and rising price of bread. They marched on Versailles carrying knives, axes and other weapons and demanded that the National Assembly do something to provide them with bread. Then they broke into the palace and killed some of the guards demanding that the king and queen return from Versailles to Paris.
When the King agreed to return to Paris, he showed the French citizens his weakness by agreeing to the demands of these angry women. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
It was a law passed allowing the French government to have control of the Catholic Church. It gave government the right to sell land owned by the Church and use the proceeds to help pay off France's huge debt. It also stated that Church officials and priests had to be elected and paid as state officials. It was an attempt to reorganize the Catholic Church in France on a national basis. However, it caused many devout Catholics to turn against the Revolution. -
Royal Family Attempts to Flee
The royal family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. They feared for their safety once the National Assembly restructured the relationship between Church and state. They were caught by guards as they approached the border and brought back to Paris. The power of radicals increased in government. They deposed the King, dissolved the National Assembly, elected a new legislature and declared France a republic. Radical Jacobins took control which led to widespread terror. -
Execution of King Louis XVI
Radical Jacobins called for Louis XIV to be tried for treason as he was dethroned as king. The National Convention found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The former king was sent to the guillotine and was beheaded. Thousands of peasants, priests and rival leaders were outraged by the King's execution and were causing trouble. The Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre gained power which led to the Reign of Terror. -
Reign of Terror
The period of rule by Robespierre, leader of the Committee of Public Safety, which was responsible for protecting the Revolution from its "enemies". He governed France as a dictator and under his leadership, justified the use of terror to allow French citizens to remain true to the Revolution. His committee executed perceived enemies using a guillotine even if they were former leaders of the Revolution.
It was the most radical phase of the Revolution resulting in over 40,000 executions. -
Execution of Maximilien Robespierre
Members of the National Assembly feared for their own safety and turned against Robespierre. They had him arrested and executed. This ended the Reign of Terror as well as the power of radical Jacobins. There was a huge shift in public opinion and everyone was getting tired of inflationary prices. Moderate leaders of the National Convention drafted a new plan of government. They also found Napoleon Bonaparte to lead France's armies.
