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The Summoning of the Estates General
At this time France was having some serious financial problems. It was due to the deficit spending of the country, the kings overspending, and over taxation of the third estate. King Louis XVI finally decided to summon the estates general to try and solve these problems. -
The National Assembly
The third estate was fed up with not being able to make decisions in the government even though they made up around 99% of the population. The third estate decided to create their own group, the National Assembly, because the king would not allow them more power. The National Assembly demanded the king to make reforms to the economy to give food to the hungry and other improvements. -
Tennis Court Oath
The new National Assembly went to meet in place at Versailles. When they arrived the doors were locked and it was guarded by royal soldiers. The third estate saw this as a hostile move for the king to make. They then went to a nearby indoor tennis court and made an oath to make a new constitution for France and force the king to accept it. -
Storming of Bastille
King Louis used the Bastille as as a prison. The storming of Bastille was executed by 1000 men from the third estate. The reason for storming the Bastille was because it had many political prisoners and gunpowder. They tried to negotiate with the leader Governor de Launay. The third estate won the fort and killed the Governor and his officers. -
Storming of the Tuileries Palace
On August 4th an issued of final demand to the Legislative Assembly was made by the most extreme district in Paris. They threatened to start an uprising by the night of August 9th, in nothing was done. Nothing was done so on August 10th a bell rang and a crowd headed toward where the king was staying which was at the Tuileries Palace. King Louis tried to escape but gave themselves to the Legislative Assembly and he was arrested. -
The September Massacres
The September Massacres were riots that started on the 2nd to the 6th in Paris. During these days their were tons of executions of prisoners. The reason for the massacres was because people believed that political prisoners were going to rebel. About 1,200 prisoners were massacred and this event was called the first terror. -
The Execution of King Louis XVI
King Louis XVI was executed with the guillotine the after being convicted of conspiracy with Austria and other foreign countries. He was put on trial during the month of December in 1792. He was found guilty on the 20th of January and the next day put to death with guillotine in a public execution. -
The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror lasted from Sep. 9 1793 to July 27 1794. Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the the committee of public safety and the Jacobins, started the reign of terror when he declared that terror would be the order of the day. Him and his group wanted terror to be a new government policy. Because of the ruling of the Terror people were being executed without any evidence to prove them guilty. About 17,000 were executed and more than 200,000 were arrested in France during this time. -
The Execution of Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre influenced more than 17,000 executions due to his Reign of Terror. He was finally arrested on July 27 and found guilty. The next day July 28 he was executed due to the guillotine along with 21 of his followers. This ended the reign of terror and the execution of many innocent lives. -
The End of the Revolution
The Coup of 18-19 Brumaire marked the end of the french revolution. It overthrew the Directory which was the government of the french revolution. This gave way for Napoleon to take leadership and become dictator.
