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Meeting of Estates-General
An assembly representing France's clergy, nobility, and the middle class. Scheduled on May 5, 1789, to compile lists of grievances to present to the king. -
Period: to
French Revolutionary
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Establishment of the National Assembly
The name of the revolutionary assembly formed by representatives of the Third Estate but replaced by the Legislative Assembly. The National Assembly was created and demanded that the king make economic reforms towards the third estate. -
Tennis Court Oath
The third estates gathered in an indoor tennis court, which was where they gathered and came up with the "Tennis Court Oath" of never disbanding until a new French constitution had been adopted. -
Storming of Bastille
The Bastille was a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This was the beginning of the Revolution, people gathered around the Bastille with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons and terrorized it. They won as the people in Bastille surrendered, throwing in the white flag. The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of the ancien regime. -
Declaration of Right of Man and Citizen
The Declaration of Right of Man and Citizen is one of the basic human liberties and is a reason for the revolutionary. The 17 articles were adopted by the National Assembly (the third estates) which served as a preamble to the constitution of 1793. -
Women’s March on Versailles
The women's march to the Palace of Versailles was to force the royal family to return to Paris. The women were angered with King Louis XVI's failure to respond to the financial hardships facing the citizens of the third estate. Louis XVI and his family were held prisoners by the revolutionaries and citizens of France. -
Legislative Assembly Declares War
The Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia because they believed that French émigrés were building counterrevolutionary alliances. -
National Convention
The National Convention is what governed France during the most critical period of the French Revolution. It was elected to give a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy. -
Execution of Louis XVI
King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris by the French Nation Convention. Sentenced to death for his incapability to lead the country, an inept leader. -
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety was set up during one of the crises of the Revolution when France was beset by foreign and civil war. It was to provide the defense of the nation against its enemies foreign and domestic and to oversee the already existing organs of the executive government.
