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Corruption and Excessive Spending
The French become engulfed by economic deterioration because of the rich spending more than they should, misfortunes when it came to their agriculture, and the countries involvement in not only the French and Indian War, but also the American Revolution. -
King Louis Calls the Estates-General
King Louis XVI calls the Estates-General as a last ditch effort to help save France. He believed that they Estates would somehow relieve him of the economic disaster the country was in. -
Tennis Court Oath
The Third Estate attempted to go the an Estate-General meeting, but they found it locked. They then assumed that King Louis XVI was behind this and decided to meet at a tennis court. They promised to assembly until a constituion was written, asserting that sovereignty resided in the poeple and their representatives. -
Formation of the National Assembly
The Third Estate breaks away from the Estates-General because of the voting deadlock they are subjected to. They name themselves the National Assembly and vow not to dissolve until there is a constitution estbalished. Members from the other two Estates gradually side with the National Assembly and King Louis XVI eventually tells both Estates to join them so they keep an eye out. -
Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille, a state prision, was attacked by an angry mob consisting of bloodthirsty Frenchmen, demanding ammunition.The prison served as a symbol of the monarchy’s dictatorial rule -
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The Great Fear
The peasants had been growing hostile attitudes in response to the food shortages and soon constructed the "famine plot". This lead them to mobilize and attack manors. The aristocrats then decided to abolish feudalism to appease them. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
This document stated that all men had equal and inalienable rights and that the government had the duty preserve these rights. These rights included "liberty, property, security, and resistance from oppression." There also provisions to ensure freedom of speech, freedom against arbitrary arrests, and consensual taxation. -
The Women’s March on Versailles
Women were rioting over the high prices of bread, but soon became entangled with the cuase of the revolutionaries. They ransacked the city armory for weapons and moved on the palace of Versailles. They forced King Louis XVI to hear their demands and forced the royal family to return to France. -
The Constitution of 1791
This document was created by the National Assembly. It established a constitutional monarchy along with popular soveriegnty. The qualification for voting became active citizens who paid a minimal sum. -
The Legislative Assembly Declares War of Austria
The declaration of war was because the French was in need of promoting unity throughout the country. Others, however, wanted war because they thought the new government would fail and reestablish the old regime.The Frecnh struggled intitially, but held their own as the war progressed. -
Louis XVI is Executed at the Guillotine
King Louis XVI had rubbed his people the wrong way for a great deal of time. He was advised preserve the monarchy via reform, but he refused to and he allowed the reactionary plotting of his despised queen. He attempted to escape France, but was capture and found guilty of treason (his counterrevolutionary plots with Austria and oter countries). -
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Reign of Terror
Robespierre and the Jacobins would take control of France and try to impose their future of France through these months with thousands of beheadings via guillotine. -
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The Directory
The Directory was established in 1795 by the Constitution of 1795.It would serve as the executive bracnh of the government with the ability to appoint people to fill in positions throughout the government. After discontent grow towarss the Directory, it was dissolved by Napoleoan.
