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Reign of Louis XIV
Louis XIV was the King of France for seventy two years. He gave himself the nickname ‘Sun King’ because he thought that he was light of culture and life in France. He was quite an extravagant person, and wanted to be the grandest King in all of Europe. So, with that in mind, he had a huge palace built in Versailles.
Louis seemed to have a strange need for power, as all of the important Nobles were forced to live in the palace with him. They had to ask for his permission for every little thing* -
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Reign of Louis XV
When Louis XIV died his grandson, Louis XV, took over the thrown. He was similar to his grandfather in the ways that they both lived an extravagance life. Louis XV also endangered France’s economy. -
Louis XVI marries Marie Antoinette
It was a big deal when Louis XIV married Marie Antoinette. Marie came from the Austrian royal family, and Austria and France had been enemies before.
She was a young bride—only fifteen years old. Marie was not too wise, and was generally hated by the public. In her time she upset many aristocrats because her opinions did not follow the French traditions, as well as her hiring people who were not suitable to work in the government. She angered France when she spent money on expensive gems* -
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Reign of Louis XVI
King Louis XVI ruled France for twenty three years. During that time, the country’s economy was in a major predicament and many people were hungry. Louis did not do much to fix the problems; in fact, he did not seem to understand them, as he was very out of contact with the lower class.
The middle class did not like him, though it is important to have their support as they are important to the economy. Louis did another thing that didn’t make him too popular in some peoples mind—he married* -
American Declaration of Independence
John Locke, an English man, was the Philosphe that came up with the thought and believed that people should have the right to freedom and to get rid of bad monarch. These ideas are part of the key ideas for the American Declaration of Independence. John Locke was a great influence for it. -
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Affair of the Diamond Necklace
Marie Antoinette did not like a mysterious countess and a cardinal, so the countess told the cardinal that she could help him get the on the queens good side. She showed him letters from Marie that showed that she might have changed her mind about disliking the cardinal. The countess organized a meeting with the cardinal and with a fake Marie Antoinette. The cardinal was tricked into buying a diamond necklace for the queen on an instalment plan. The diamond necklace was worth more than the* -
Meeting of the Estates General
The three Estates of the Estates General were all from the different social levels of France. The Third Estate was full of the middle class, the second with aristocrats, and the first with the clergy. The Third Estate had the most delegates—twice as many as the other ones. They all voted as bloc, which means a group. They met very rarely. King Louis XVI called in a meeting when things were going bad. This time he did not want the Estates General to take full power, however he did want them* -
Third Estate leaves the Estates General
The Estates General is a type of parliament which the monarch calls in for help when there was emergency going on. Louis XVI called them in hope that they would fix France’s economy because it was pretty much bankrupt. Louis thought that he would just give the Estates General enough power to fix the tax system. However, his idea was crushed by the Estates General when they met in May. Not too long after, the Third Estate left. -
Formation of the National Assembly
When the Third Estate left the other estates, the thousands of people who had gone to Versailles to witness history being made were excited. Count Mirabeau, the leader of the Third Estate, and the members decided that they would form a new government that would be called National Assembly. They went and met up at the Royal Tennis Courts. -
Tennis Court Oath
All of the thousands of people at the Royal Tennis Courts angrily made a pledge that they would keep on meeting there until France had a new government. King Louis responded with democratic reforms, however, to which the crowd of people refused. The people were happy with this, as they thought that the Revolution had worked. -
Fall of the Bastille
People rioted when the price of bread shot up. In their anger, they attacked the city’s prisons to try and free the political prisoners. Then, they attacked the huge royal prison called the Bastille. The people in the riots managed to capture it and release all seven prisoners that were in it. The King was now scared of the power of the people. He responded by sending the soldiers that he had put out away. The citizens wanted to keep order of Paris so they created a new army which was called* -
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The Great Fear
Peasants in the countryside knew of the revolution happening in Paris and Versailles. They knew that changes were happening but were afraid that the king’s soldiers and the aristocrats would prevent the revolution from continuing. In their fear, they burned down all of the mansions and estates of the rich and killed many people. The fearful and angry peasants also broke into offices and burned feudal certificates. Not all of France was affected with the Great Fear; however, it didn’t reach* -
National Assembly abolishes feudal rights
The National Assembly held a meeting in Paris and abolished feudal rights and serfdom. After that, they stated that people would be equal before the law. This was a huge change after years and years of dictatorship. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
The National Assembly met in Paris and passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. This document would guarantee that everyone would have basic human rights that the government was not allowed to ignore. People would be able to have freedom of speech, thought, security, religion, and property. The governments power would also be limited. The ideas are based on the beliefs of John Locke, an English philosopher, and the philpsphe’s Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. After this* -
Women of Paris march to Versailles
There was a still lot of hunger, however, and the city of Paris was in a mess. The citizens of the city were angry at the King and Queen and wanted them to leave Versailles and come to parents to witness the harsh city themselves. With all of these reasons in mind, the most of the woman of Paris marched to Versailles and meet the king—fifty kilometres away. As they marched, hundreds joining them along the way. Once they finally made it there they invaded the National Assembly and convinced the* -
Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette attempt to escape France
Louis XIV began noticing that quite a few of the aristocrats were leaving France and heading for other countries. They were working outside of France to try and return the old method. The King and Queen decided that with their children they would try and escape France as well. The idea Louis had in mind while doing it was that they would get help from others and monarchy would return. However, when they reached Varennes they are recognized and arrested. They would have to live with the new* -
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Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly decided that it would try and created a workable government. Unfortunately, things were beginning to look down again, so this was pretty much an impossible thing to do. There were many groups looking for power; moderates wanted a constitutional monarchy, radicals wanted a republic, and monarchists wanted to restore most of the king’s powers. -
Execution of Louis XVI
The National Convention made the decision that King Louis XVI should be tried for the crimes he did and then executed. Many people were suspicious of the royal family so this decision was supported. When the King went into trial he was known as ‘Citizen Louis Capet’. He was summoned to death, his wife and queen, Marie Antoinette, was executed later. -
Jean-Paul Marat - death
Marat was one of the radical leaders of the French Revolution. He absolutely hated monarchy, and him and two other radicals supported the kings execution. Anyone who thought that old system might be worth considering would be killed. As Marat was one of the most radical people around, Charlotte Corday murdered him while he was taking a bath. -
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Reign of Terror
The political club that was responsible for the Reign of Terror was the Jacobins. The Jacobins passed very strict laws that would threaten or dispose of anyone who disagreed with them. The Law of Suspects would arrest any person from a noble family who had an office before the revolution began. If a person was caught without a certificate of citizenship they would get arrested and later executed. A different law was agreed to order business, and the army was at once rearranged. The laws were* -
Execution of Marie Antoinette
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Jacques Danton - death
Danton was one of the Radical leaders of the Revolution. He was completely against monarchy, and anyone who liked it would get destroyed. After Marat died, he and Robespirre joined the National Assembly in which they would control in the future. -
Maximilien Robespierre - death
Robespierre was the third radical leader and, like the others, was against monarchy and anyone who believed in it. After Marat died, he and Danton joined the National Assembly. Robespierre introduced the metric system, as well as made sure the army was more efficient. The new schools and universities were modernized so it could educate the population. When France grew stronger under his power, people were weary that he might become a dictator. However, there worries were put at rest when he* -
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The Directory
After Robespierre died the Directory (which is controlled by the middle class) took over as the government of France. They made a few new changes, most people could own property and people with money had special privileges. Only that group could vote and elect members for the government. The human rights of France had pretty much been squashed. The Directory did not last long, for soon Napoleon Bonaparte took over France and the country was once again ruled under dictatorship.
