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Estates General Convene and Third Estate Declares itself as National Assembly
In May of 1789, King Louis XVI calls on the Estates General, a committee made to make decisions and vote on subjects, mostly financial matters. He calls on them to help him with France's financial problems like their huge debt. The Third Estate wouldn't agree to meeting unless the other two estates would sit with them as a whole. So, in June of 1789 they voted to acknowledge themselves as the National Assembly. -
Period: to
French Revolution
The time span from the meeting of the Estates-General to the overthrow of the directory. -
Tennis Court Oath
After the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly on June 17, 1789, the Third Estate gathered in a tennis court, because they were excluded from their hall because of 'repairs' three days later. The Third Estate pledged not to disband until they had written their new constitution. Three days after that, Louis made a speech wanting reforms in a session with the estates. A few days after that, he called upon the estates to meet, but ended up dissolving them by force. -
Storming of the Bastille
There was great economic stress on France at this time period, and many people were malnourished due to harvest failure. This poverty created thoughts of revolution in Paris. Rumors spread that soldiers were going to sack the city, so with revolution in the air, the people formed into crowds and urged action. So, on July 14, several hundred people stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress with arms. This broke the power monopoly, saving the National Assembly. -
National Assembly Issues Declaration of the Rights of Man
After the events of the Bastille and The Great Fear, when nobility were in danger because of revolting peasants, the National Assembly moved forward with limiting Louis XVI power by creating the Declaration of the Rights of Man. This text states that "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights." It also states that man's natural rights include liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. The law is an expression of general will. -
Women march on Versailles
As rumors were spread, so was stress because of them. One of these is that Versailles was keeping all the wheat and bread was being kept away in Versailles in secret. So, due to this rumor, hundreds or thousands of women marched on Versailles with scythes, pitchforks, etc. to "retrieve" the wheat. They ended up killing many guards and forced Louis to live in France. -
France becomes a republic as Louis XVI is taken prisoner and executed
Rumors started spreading about Louis being treasonous, so a crowd of revolutionaries raided Tuileries, the palace in Paris. They captured Louis and took him prisoner. between this time and the time he gets executed, France had the September Massacres, in this time, many aristocrats and nobles were killed and the National Assembly declared France as a republic. As this was the case, they had no need for a monarch, so in a public spectacle, they executed Louis XVI. -
Robespierre takes power and creates the Committee of Public Safety
Members of the National Convention were all republicans, and near the beginning most were Jacobins. Control of the Convention was contested by two competitive groups, named Girondists and the Mountain. Robespierre and others joined a new group, Committee of Public Safety, and arrested Girondist leaders. As the power of the Committee grew, they started outlawing items like pasteries, and only allowed plain bread so everyone should be equal. This period became what is known as The Reign of Terror. -
Robespierre is executed and the Directory takes power
Close to the end of the Reign of Terror, many of Robespierre's followers stopped following him after he killed people against him, they thought they were next, so they created a conspiracy about him, which got him executed. So, as he was dead, the majority of French people voted on having a set of electors to rule France. This did not work out, as disgust ran for the Directory because of the war and starvation not getting solved. -
Napoleon beats Austrian forced in Italy
After finding trust with the Directory, young Napoleon, later ruler of France became the commander of the force in Italy. He became a great military adviser for the Directory at the time of their rule, and got his role because of it. He attacked Austrian forces in Italy and with over 30,000 underfed people, managed to split Austrian and Sardinian forces. He then was able to defeat the forces and annex parts of Italy into France. -
Napoleon Defeats Directory and Takes Power
About two years after his triumph in Italy, Napoleon took down the Directory in a coup d'etat. He became a dictator of France but was way stronger and introduced more change than the Directory was ever going to do. As the people already didn't like the Directory, they were happy that Napoleon took power.
