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The Start of the Revolution
France was divided into 3 social classes called estates, ranging from the 1st to 2nd to 3rd. The 3rd estate made up most of the population. The 3rd estate has been taxed heavily before and it were working their backs off.
The King, Louis XVI calls the Estates general at Versailles to push more unfair taxes on the 3rd estate. The voting system was in favor of the other 2 smaller estates with no equal representation of all people in each estate. The 3rd estate had enough of this unfairness. -
Peasants become BIG BRAIN
The 3rd estate create their own mini government, called the National Assembly where the smartest of the estate came together and were practically in power with nothing to stop them. They demanded the King to do many things that slowly made him lose power and give more power to the 3rd estate. -
Storm the Bastille
Rumors got out that the king was planning on killing many members of the 3rd estate (from the Great Fear), so they arm themselves by raiding the Bastille, a military base with weapons and lots of ammunition. The estate succeeds. And even put someone's head on a pike. -
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The Great Fear
The 3rd estate got rumor's about the king trying to massacre the people, so massive amounts of fear went throughout France. This fear inclined the estate to start arming themselves and fight back against the government. They went after merchants and members of the 1st and 2nd estate. Merchants, who were part of the 3rd estate were targeted because a writer, named Abbes Sieyes in his pamphlet "What is the Third Estate?" talked about the money from merchants goes straight to the government. -
A R R E S T E D
The king and queen are caught and arrested for attempting to flee France to Austria to try and regain power with the help of Austria. This angered the French people as he was trying to go away from his people and not follow their demands. -
Storm the Palace
A Parisian mob attacks the palace (Versailles) and takes Louis XVI prisoner while Marie escapes. Marie was later captured. With the King being imprisoned, people called for the execution or exile of him. Before and during the raid, bad crop harvests happened, leaving the 3rd estate starving with the other 2 estates perfectly fine as they had stockpiles of food. The storming of Versailles had loads of bread, but not enough to support the entire estate of course. -
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September Massacres and a New Nation
The 3rd estate were afraid that members of the other 2 estates, both imprisoned and not (some got imprisoned because the 3rd estate stormed many places) would be freed and then get their revenge, so they went to most of France's prisons and killed everyone inside them. During this, the now new National Convention (originally National Assembly), declares France a republic, destroying the monarch and rendering Louis XVI a powerless citizen. -
Robespierre
Robespierre gains power by being a smart and leading political figure in the National Assembly. He later changes the entire country of France during the reign of terror. -
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Reign of Terror
With the king gone, a new government arose, but Robespierre was in power. He created the Committee of Public Safety, where it convicted and executed anyone who was against the new government over the smallest of things. Say the government sucks? Get executed. Say that your neighbor said that the King did nothing wrong? They get executed. Thousands were killed during this period and fear arose from the people again. -
To the guillotine!
The national assembly voted for Louis XVI to be executed using the new hip latest technology, the guillotine. Marie Antoinette would be later executed. -
Robespierre is Dead
He chopped off many heads, now his own got chopped off. Karma is a [redacted].
The National Convention voted for him to be executed. Robespierre being dead ended his tyrannical rule of France, removed suppression of speech, and new political groups arose. -
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Political Parties
With no more Robespierre, the French government was left with no one really in power. Many political groups came and fallen during this period with the fight for power. Miniature fights happened around France. Some people were still starving. Some people didn't like what was happening. -
Napoleon
Napoleon with his army storm into the undefended Paris and take over the government and later France.
