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Jean-Paul Marat
A radical journalist and known member of the Jacobin party, frequently posted his radical calls to muder in the news paper, aimed at anyone who opposed the revolution. He was so radical that in 1793 a rival political party had him killed in an effort to stop public bloodshed. -
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Jacobins
A radical political party, in 1792 it took charge of the National Assembly and reformed it as a republic under the National Convention. This party drew influence from the Sans-Culottes and therefore radicalized further, and the party eventually disapated after thier leader was killed on July 28, 1794 -
The National Assembly
The Third Estate was unhappy with their lack of representation with the Estates General. They created their own form of legislature, the national assembly, which the other two estates eventually joined. This is recognized as the first act of the revolution.. -
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Great Fear - July 1789 to August 1789
Rumors began to spread that nobles were hiring people to murder commoners. After learning of this, the commoners retaliated by burning manors, attacking nobles, and refusing to pay taxes. -
The Storming of Bastille
Parsian radicals attack Paris prision to defend themselves and the national assembly from the King. Increased public opinion of the revolution. -
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The document that became the back bone of the revolution, it now gave the rebels a tangible goal. It was remeniscent of Locke in principal and cited Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity as focal points in human rights, which later served as a battle cry for the rebels. The document was based on minimal goverment involvement and unfortunately didn't apply to the fairer gender -
The Ladies
March on the Palace of Versailles demanding bread. They killed guards and threatened the Queen. Resulted in the Declaration of Rights for Woman. -
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
ALthough controversial at the time, a law was passed and signed by the king in which the state took all of the church's land and disestablished the Roman Catholic Church as a source of power, leaving priests and bishops to now be elected and not appointed, and when appointed swore thier allegance to the state, not the church. -
Flight to Varennes
The royal family attempted to flee Paris in the night after being encouraged by other nobles who had successfully made the trip, however the king is recognized from a bank note and the family is brought back to Paris where the king is charged with his fatal conviction of treason. After this, the royal family lost the majority of any support still lingering within the loyalists. -
Constitutional Monarchy
The Legislative Assembly was formed, limiting the power of the king by taking on the power to wage war and pass laws. The Legislative Assembly also represented a modern political spectrum with radicals on the left and conservatives on the right. -
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War
Begining after France declared war on Austria and Prussia due to thier support of Louis in his pursuit to retake control of the monarchy, and both countries had early success against France. Other nations joined the fray including Holland, Great Britian, and Spain, as well as a counter revolutionary force that grew within as the revolution became more radicalized. The revolutionary government eventually bested both the external threat and the threat from within and established itself officially. -
September Massacres
The Jacobins, now in a seat of power, executed upwards of 1,000 prisoners including but not exclusive to; nobles, preists, women, children, and royal sympathizers out of fear that they might support the foreign invaders. Created a divide in the revolution as many saw this gesture as over bearingly radical. -
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National Convention (and the subsequent death of Louis XVI)
Officially nullified the constitution of 1791 while at the same time creating a new constitution with the newly created National Convention as the legislative body, however this new goverment was a republic, leaving Louis powerless and eventually at the recipient end of the guillotine on Jan 21 1793 -
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Committee of Public Safety
An emergancy goverment set by the Jacobins intended to protect the public amid violent attacks from both external sources and within. After Maxillian took control in July of 1793, he set in motion the reign of terror in which any opposition was crushed through violent means. Ironic. -
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Reign of Terror - July 1793 to July 1794
Under the rule of Robespierre those who were against revolution were sentenced to death. Nearly 40,000 commoners and peasants were killed. Robespierre was executed by order of the national convention due to fear of their own lives. -
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Directory
The third and final constitiution of the revolution, corrupt and handed power to the middle class. It was led by five members and tended to be less revolutionary despite rigging elections and refusing to help the food crisis. Help power until Napoleon.
