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Meeting with the Estates-General
Who: a representative assembly in pre-revolutionary France
What: to address the country's political and financial instability
Where: Menus-Plaisirs building in Versailles, France
Why: The meeting was the first event of the French Revolution and is considered a significant moment in history. -
Tennis Court Oath.
Who: members of the French Third Estate
What: never to stop meeting until a constitution had been established.
Where: Tennis room at the Palace of Versailles
Why: Their vow "not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary until the Constitution of the kingdom is established" -
Storming of the Bastille
Who: The French
What: revolutionary insurgents attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress and political prison
Where: Paris, France
Why: because it was a symbol of the oppressive monarchy and royal power, and the crowd, fueled by widespread discontent, wanted to access the weapons stored there, believing the king was planning to use force against the burgeoning revolutionary movement -
Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Who: France's National Constituent Assembly
What: Liberty, Property, Safety and Resistance to Oppression
Where: Paris, France
Why: the Declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution and had a significant impact on the development of popular conceptions of individual liberty and democracy in Europe and worldwide. -
Women's March of Versailles.
Who: Women and few men
What: a riot that took place during this first stage of the French Revolution.
Where: Versailles, France
Why: sparked by women in Paris's marketplaces who were protesting the high price and scarcity of bread -
Execution of King Louis XVI.
Who: King Louis XVL
What: King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine
Where: Place de la Concorde, Paris, France
Why: he was found guilty of treason by the National Convention