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The Marriage of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
The marriage of the future King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette was an arranged one. Marie was from Austria and this would supposedly mend all of the rifts between France and Austria, which never really happened. When they were married, they were 15 and 14 respectively and not a very active couple. It took them seven years to consummate their marriage and produce an heir to the throne. -
Widespread famine in France
Throughout much of the revolution, Most of France was going hungry. The country was in a lot of debt, and in an effort to pay off these debts, they increased the taxes on the poor. Combined with a shortage of wheat and population increases, this lead to widespread starvation. A single loaf of bread cost about 3 months earnings for the average person. -
The Creation of the National Assembly
For the first time in 175 years, the king called together the estates general to find a solution for the famine. On the second day of the meeting, the third estate, the common people, found themselves locked out of the palace of Versailles. Outraged, they moved into a nearby tennis court and pronounced themselves the new national assembly. -
The Tennis Court Oath
The first thing the new national assembly did was swear that it would not leave the court until they had written a new constitution. The oath was called the Tennis Court Oath. -
The Storming of the Bastille
The Bastille was a great fortress in the middle of Paris, France. It was used as both a prison and a fort in times of war. To common people, it was a symbol of the ruling class and their oppression. Out of desperation and anger, a huge violent mob raided and took the Bastille. It is unknown how they managed to get inside. They ransacked the fort and took all of it's food and weapons. many of the guards were viciously murdered and the governor of the fort was beheaded. -
The Declaration of the Rights of man
When Louis returned to Paris, he was intimidated into signing many political reforms. The most important one was the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a manifesto drawn up by the general assembly. It was a new constitution that highlighted certain rights that everyone had. the most important thing on it was that it stated that all men were equal. -
Women march on Versailles
Enraged that their families and children were starving because of the King's expensive spending, around 20,000 peasants, mostly women, marched on Versailles. When the women got there, they demanded response from King Louis. When they didn't get one immediately, they stormed the palace. They failed to capture either the king or queen, but they managed to kill many guards and destroy their bedroom. The King and Queen agreed to move their palace in Paris, where they could more closely monitored. -
Flight to Varennes
Growing more and more fearful of his people, Louis and his family attempted to escape across the French border to Austria with his family. There, they would find refuge, as this was where Marie's family was from. They made it to a small town called Varennes close to the border, but were discovered and sent back to Paris. At this point, the people lost the rest of their little trust in King Louis XVI. -
The September Massacres
The September massacres were a series of mass murders, which lead to a period of prolonged violence in the French revolution. Mobs were edged on by more vocal members of the jacobin political party, and invaded the prisons. Inside were kept many of the nobles and priests that had supported Louis XVI, as well as many common criminals. Almost all of the were massacred. -
The Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror was a period of great violence following the September massacres. Federal spies lingered every where in France. If you were suspected of Conspiracy or treachery against the government, you were put straight to Guillotine without a trial. The constitution was suspended for the most part till july 27th, 1794 -
Execution of King Louis XVI
Through out the reign of terror, it was a common consensus that King Louis should be punished for his treason. He was no longer a monarch, but people couldn't decide if he should be killed or imprisoned for the rest of his life or exiled. With the Reign of terror came the rise of the Jacobin Political party, which called for Louis to be executed. It was swift and unceremonious. -
Creation of the Commitee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety was a sort of emergency Council that Governed Paris and France. It was basically a dictatorship shared between a dozen members. It could kill anyone in France it wanted and It was one of the fuelers for the Reign of Terror. It was headed by the now infamous Jacobin Maximilien Robespierre. -
Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat was one of the most outspoken and bloodthirsty journalists in paris. He was always calling for more heads to roll from the guillotine, and that that would solve all of France's problems. He was murdered by a country girl named Charlotte Corday, who thought that killing him would help bring peace to Paris. She told him that she had a list of traitors that needed to be caught, but when she showed up at his house, she had a knife instead of a list. -
Execution of Marie Antoinette
In general, Marie Antoinette was a hated queen. She was seen as the epitome of lavish spending and of the lavish lifestyle of the rich. Most of her charges were Trumped up rumors. -
Execution of Maximillion Robespierre
Ever since the beginning of the French Revolution, Robespierre had been one of the central reformers. However, at this point, towards the end of the reign of terror, he was calling for more and more blood and the revolution was threatening to kill itself. So, in what is now called the Thermidorian Reaction, a group of politically moderate Girondins took control and had Robespierre executed. -
The creation of the directory
With the Girondins now in power, they created a new constitution and a new form of government called the directory. The directory was a republic with legislative and executive branches. However, there was still a lot of political diversity in France and there was no real way to break a stalemate between the two branches, so the directory didn't get a lot done. This, and the people's support, was why Napoleon took power. -
Napoleon Gains Control
Napoleon was a very successful soldier and general for the french army. around the time before his coup, lots of rioting was happening in France over the directory, and the military had more power than them. So, Napoleon decided to seize power and give France order by performing a Coup d'etat. He made himself consul, an almost dictator with councils for advising only and two other figurehead consuls. -
Napoleon Becomes Emperor
Eventually, Napoleon tired of the formalities and declared himself emperor of France. He used his increased power to make more political reforms, including creating the Napoleonic code, in all of his conquered territories.
