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Louis XVI was born
Date of birth: August 23, 1754
Full name: Louis Auguste de France, he was given the title Duc de Berry signifying his junior status in the French Court
Place of birth: Versailles, France -
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Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's Backstory before the French Revolution
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Marie Antoinette was born
Date of birth: November 2, 1755
Full name: Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna
Nickname: "Madame Deficit"
Place of birth: Vienna, Austria. -
Robespierre was Born
Date of birth: May 6, 1758
Full name: Maximillian Robespierre:
Place of birth: Northern France -
Louis XVI marries Marie Antoinette
At Versailles France, Louis XVI at the age of 15 marries Marie Antoinette who is 14, the daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. France hoped their marriage would strengthen its alliance with Austria, its longtime enemy. -
Louis XVI Became the King Of France
On May 10, 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI upon the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Only 20 years old at the time, Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-confidence. -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had four children in all
Eventually, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had four children together: Marie-Thérèse, Louis-Joseph, Louis-Charles and Sophie-Beatrix. All but Marie-Thérèse died in childhood. -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's first child
Marie Antoinette's first child was a girl, named Marie Thérèse after Marie's mother. When she was born on December 9, 1778, Marie Antoinette suffered a convulsive fit and collapsed, not surprising after 12 hours of labor in her stuffy room and the possibly dangerous incompetence of her doctor. But when she woke, she reportedly said, "Poor little girl, you are not what was desired, but you are no less dear to me on that account. -
Marie-Thérèse lives though adulthood
Date of birth: December 19, 1778
Died at: October 1851 (age 72)
Full name: Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France
Place of birth: Versailles, France -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's second, third, forth, children
Louis Joseph, the King's male heir and the next Dauphin of France, was born three years later, followed by Louis Charles in March of 1785 and Sophie in July of 1786. But Sophie, who was born premature, died just a month shy of her first birthday, and Louis Joseph, who'd been a delicate child most of his life, died two years later, at the age of 7, likely from tuberculosis. -
National Assembly: Part 1 How as it formed?
In May of 1789, King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates General to address France's financial crisis. The Estates General was made up of three groups the First Estate (the clergy or church leaders), the Second Estate (the nobles), and the Third Estate (the commoners). Each group had the same amount of voting power. The Third Estate felt that this wasn't fair as they represented 98% of the people, but could still be outvoted 2:1 by the other two estates. -
National Assembly: Part 2 how was it first formed?
When the king refused to give them more power, the Third Estate created its own group called the National Assembly. They began to meet on a regular basis and run the country without the help of the king. -
Call of Estates Generals
Kind Louis XVI calls froth the Estates-General together for the first time in a long time. Featuring the celrgy, the noblemen, and the rest of France together. -
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French Revolution Starts in 1789 and Ends in 1795
The French Revolution was a watershed event in modern European history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1795s -
Tennis Court Oath
After being removed from the Estates-General, The Third Estate forms the Nation Assembly. They swear to the Tennis Court saying that they would not stop meeting up until they have written a new constitution for France -
Storming the Bastille Part:2
The fighting had begun. The turning point in the fight came when some of the soldiers joined the side of the crowd. De Launay soon realized that the situation was hopeless. He surrendered the fort and the revolutionaries took control. After surrendering, Governor de Launay and three of his officers were killed by the crowd. by doing this, not does it sever to make a statement against the monarchy but the also mob attained weapons and gunpowder that were kept in the prison. -
Storming the Bastille Part: 1
On the morning of July 14, the revolutionaries approached the Bastille. They demanded that the military leader of the Bastille, Governor de Launay, surrender the prison and hand over the gunpowder. He refused. As negotiations dragged on, the crowd became agitated. In the early afternoon, they managed to get into the courtyard. Once inside the courtyard, they began to try and break into the main fortress. The soldiers in the Bastille became scared and fired into the crowd. -
Storming the Bastille: Aftermath
The Storming of the Bastille set off a series of events that led to the overthrow of King Louis XVI and the French Revolution. The success of the revolutionaries gave commoners throughout France the courage to rise up and fight against the nobles who had ruled them for so long. -
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
The Declaration of the Rights of Man is written and states all men are equal under the law. Woman and children were not affected by this document. -
March of Versailles Part:1
On October 4, 1789, a crowd of women demanding bread for their families gathered other discontented Parisians, including some men, and marched toward Versailles, arriving soaking wet from the rain. They demanded to see "the Baker," "The Baker's Wife," and "the Baker's boy". The King agreed to meet with some of the women and promised to distribute all the bread in Versailles to the crowd. -
March to Versailles Part:2
The arrival of the National Guard on the scene determined to take the King back to Paris complicated things for the King.
Some of the crowd got into the Queen's quarters and Marie Antoinette barely escaped by way of a secret passage still partly intact at the Palace at Versailles to the King's room. He agreed to address the people from his balcony. My friends he said I will go to Paris with my wife and my children." It was a fatal mistake. It was the last time the King saw Versailles -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy: Part 1
In July 1790 the National Constituent Assembly passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Assembly’s aim was to reorganize and regulate the Catholic church in France, as well as eliminating corruption and abuses within the church. It also hoped to limit the church’s political influence by remaking French Catholicism as a state religion, subject to national law. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy: Part 2
The Civil Constitution reduced the number of bishops and archbishops, made the clergy paid employees of the government and required all members of the clergy to swear an oath of loyalty to the nation. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy: Part 3
The Civil Constitution became one of the new regime’s most controversial, disruptive and divisive policies. It created more dissent and fuelled more opposition than any other revolutionary policy. According to 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle, the Civil Constitution was “but an agreement to disagree. It divided France from end to end with a new split, infinitely complicating all the other splits.” -
Royal Family attempts to flee: Part 1
Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their children snuck out of the palace in Paris disguised as servants and took a carriage throughout the French countryside towards France’s border with Austria. Louis XVI had hoped to arrive in Austria and spark a counter-revolutionary movement among France’s neighboring countries in order to retake control over the country. -
Royal Family attempts to flee: Part 2
When the carriage arrived in the small French town of Varennes, it was stopped by a town official and the royal family was recognized. Louis XVI had hoped the peasants outside of Paris would still support him and the monarchy that he represented but he was mistaken. Peasants all across France were struggling under his rule and sided with the revolution more than with Louis XVI. -
Royal Family attempts to flee: Part 3
The revolutionaries forced Louis XVI and his family to return to Paris and removed the little remaining authority he still had. Louis XVI was, from that point on, viewed as a traitor to the revolution. In fact, the attempt to flee by the royal family removed any remaining respect that the citizens of France had for the king, and the French people now felt betrayed. The failed attempt to flee would also be important in the eventual execution of Louis XVI. -
Royal Family attempts to flee: Part 4
The National Convention charged and convicted him with treason for attempting to abandon his country mid-revolution and he was executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793. -
Execution of Louis XVI
Louis XVI was charged with conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention he was executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Parison on January 21, 1793. -
Charlotte Corday the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat
The assassin of the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat on July 13, 1793. She drew a knife from under her dress and stabbed him through the heart. Arrested on the spot, she was tried and convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal (July 16–17) and forthwith guillotined on the Place de la Révolution. -
Leading up to the Reign of Terror
The French Revolution had begun four years earlier with the Storming of the Bastille. Since then, the government had been in a constant state of change. By 1793, the revolutionary government was in crisis. France was being attacked by foreign countries on all sides and civil war was breaking out in many regions. Radicals led by Maximilian Robespierre took over the government and started the Reign of Terror. -
The Reign of Terror: Part 1 How long did it last?
the Reign of Terror began on September 5, 1793, with a declaration by Robespierre that Terror would be "the order of the day." It ended on July 27, 1794, when Robespierre was removed from power and executed. -
The Reign of Terror: Part 2 The Terror
The Terror throughout the next year, France was ruled by the Terror. People had to be careful of everything they said, what they did, and who they talked to. The slightest hint of opposition to the revolutionary government could mean prison or even death. Sometimes revolutionaries accused people they didn't like or wanted to get rid of without any evidence. All anyone had to do was accuse someone, and they were considered guilty. -
New Laws
The Committee of Public Safety introduced several new laws. They wanted to make "Terror" an official government policy. One of these laws was called the "Law of Suspects." This law said that anyone who was even suspected as an enemy of the revolution was to be arrested. They created a court called the Revolutionary Tribunal for the trial of their political enemies. At one point, the court could only determine two verdicts: the accused was either 1) innocent, or 2)was put to death. -
The Committee of Public Safety: Part 1
During the Reign of Terror, France was ruled by a group of men called the Committee of Public Safety. The leader of this group was a man named Robespierre. Robespierre was also the leader of a radical group called the Jacobins. The Jacobins felt that it was their duty to preserve the revolution, even if it meant violence and terror -
The Committee of Public Safety: Part 2
The Committee of Public Safety created a new calendar and a new state religion called the Cult of the Supreme Being. They suppressed Christianity and even executed a group of nuns who refused to renounce their faith. -
Marie Antoinette's death
Marie Antoinette was sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. By October, a month into the infamous and bloody Reign of Terror that claimed tens of thousands of French lives, Marie Antoinette was put on trial for treason and theft, as well as a false and disturbing charge of sexual abuse against her own son. After the two-day trial, an all-male jury found Marie Antoinette guilty on all charges -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette sons Louis-Charles death
October 16, 1793. Their young son, Louis-Charles, died in prison where living conditions were horrible. -
The Reign of Terror: Part 3 The Fall of Robespierre and the Jacobins
As the bloodshed and executions of the Terror became worse, many people realized that it could not continue. Enemies of Robespierre organized to overthrow him. On July 27, 1794, he was removed from power and the Reign of Terror was over. -
Execution of Robespierre: Part 1
When Robespierre called for a new purge in 1794, he seemed to threaten the other members of the Committee of Public Safety. The Jacobins had enough. Cambon rose in the Convention and said "It is time to tell the whole truth. One man alone is paralyzing the will of the Convention. And that man is Robespierre." Others quickly rallied to his support. -
Execution of Robespierre: Part 2
Robespierre was arrested and sent to the guillotine the next day, the last victim of the Reign of Terror. The power of the Jacobins falls with him. The Girondins gain more power as a result. -
The Reign of Terror: Part 4 How many people were killed?
Around 17,000 people were officially executed in France, including 2,639 in Paris. Many more died in prison or were beaten to death in the streets. Over 200,000 people were arrested. -
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's daughter Marie-Thérèse freed
Daughter Marie-Thérèse was released from prison in December 1795 into the custody of her family in Austria.