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On June 17, 1789, they voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government. Three days later, the Third Estate delegates found themselves locked out of their meeting room. Delegates of the Third Estate broke down a door to an indoor tennis court, pledging to stay until they had drawn up a new constitution.

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People began to gather weapons in order to defend the city against attack. On July 14, a mob searching for gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The mob overwhelmed the guard and seized control of the building.

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Three weeks later, the National Assembly adopted a statement of revolutionary ideals, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence, the document stated that “men are born and remain free and equal in rights.”

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In October 1789, thousands of Parisian women rioted over the rising price of bread. Brandishing knives, axes, and other weapons, the women marched on Versailles.

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Then, in June 1791, the royal family tried to escape from France to the Austrian Netherlands. As they neared the border, however, they were apprehended and returned to Paris under guard. Louis’s attempted escape increased the influence of his radical enemies in the government and sealed his fate.

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In September 1791, in France, the National Assembly completed the new constitution, which Louis reluctantly approved. The constitution created a limited constitutional monarchy.

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The Legislative Assembly(France) responded by declaring war in April 1792 on Austria. France at War The war began badly for the French. By the summer of 1792, Prussian forces were advancing on Paris. Monarchs and nobles feared that similar revolts might break out in their own countries. Austria and Prussia, for example, urged the French to restore Louis to his position as an absolute monarch. The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war in April 1792.

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On August 10, about 20,000 men and women invaded the Tuileries, the palace where the royal family was staying. The mob massacred the royal guards and imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children.

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This new governing body, the National Convention, took office on September 21. Most of the people involved in the governmental changes in September 1792 were members of a radical political organization, the Jacobin Club.

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The National Convention has reduced Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to that of a common citizen and prisoner. Now, guided by radical Jacobins, it tried Louis for treason. The Convention found him guilty, and, by a very close vote, sentenced him to death.

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On January 21, 1793, the former king walked with calm dignity up the steps of the scaffold to be beheaded by a machine called the guillotine.

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Early in 1793, however, Great Britain, Holland, and Spain joined Prussia and Austria against France.

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Leader of the Committee of Public Safety

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Leader of the Committee of Public Safety

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In July 1793, Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For the next year, Robespierre governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the Reign of Terror.

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Robespierre’s “Enemies of the Revolution”

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Robespierre’s “Enemies of the Revolution”

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The “enemies of the Revolution” who troubled Robespierre the most were fellow radicals who challenged his leadership. In 1793 and 1794, many of those who had led the Revolution received death sentences. Their only crime was that they were considered less radical than Robespierre. By early 1794, even Georges Danton found himself in danger.

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In July 1794, fearing for their own safety, some members of the National Convention turned on Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French Revolution, ended on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre went to the guillotine.

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New Plan of Government–The directory and General Napoleon 

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New Plan of Government–The directory and General Napoleon 

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In 1795, moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of government, the third since 1789. It placed power firmly in the hands of the upper-middle class and called for a two-house legislature and an executive body of five men, known as the Directory. They also found the right general to command France’s armies—Napoleon Bonaparte.

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In only four years, from 1795 to 1799, Napoleon rose from a relatively obscure position as an officer in the French army to become master of France. 1769, Napoleon was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. At nine years old, his parents sent him to a military school. In 1785, at the age of 16, he finished school and became a lieutenant in the artillery. 1795, October, by victory against the royalist rebels, Napoleon became the hero of the Country and he got a chance to lead a French army against the forces of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia. In 1796, the Directory appointed Napoleon to lead a French army against the forces of Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia. In early November 1799, Napoleon quickly took the title of the first consul and assumed the pow- ers of a dictator.

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By 1799, the Directory had lost control of the political situation and the confidence of the French people. When Napoleon returned from Egypt, his friends urged him to seize political power. Napoleon took action in early November 1799. Troops under his command surrounded the national legislature and drove out most of its members. The lawmakers who remained then voted to dissolve the Directory. In its place, they established a group of three consuls, one of whom was Napoleon. Napoleon quickly took the title of first consul and assumed the powers of a dictator. A sudden seizure of power like Napoleon’s is known as a coup—from the French phrase coup d’état, or “blow to the state.”

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In 1799, Britain, Austria, and Russia joined forces with one goal in mind, to drive Napoleon from power. Once again, Napoleon rode from Paris at the head of his troops. Eventually, as a result of war and diplomacy, all three nations signed peace agreements with France.

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By 1802, Europe was at peace for the first time in ten years. Napoleon was free to focus his energies on restoring order in France. After the failure of the expedition to Saint Domingue, Napoleon decided to cut his losses in the Americas. He offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States, and in 1803 President Jefferson’s administration agreed to purchase the land for $15 million. December 2, 1804, Napoleon has Crowned Emperor.

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Clergy and many peasants wanted the Restoration of the Church's Status so Napoleon signed a concordat with Pope Pius VII. Also, Napoleon respected the Church, however, he did not let them interfere with politics.

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In 1800, a plebiscite, or vote of the people, was held to approve a new constitution. Furthermore, about two-thirds of men gained their right to vote.

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1805, Britain vs. France, Britain wins. Consequences: two major results. First, it ensured the supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years. Second, it forced Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britain. In November 1806, Napoleon set up a blockade—a forcible closing of ports—to prevent all trade and communication between Great Britain and other European nations: was not nearly tight, smugglers.

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In 1808, Napoleon sent an invasion force through Spain to get Portugal to accept the Continental System. Napoleon removed the Spanish king and put his own brother, Joseph, on the throne. → This outraged the Spanish people and inflamed their nationalistic feelings. → For six years, bands of Spanish peasant fighters, known as guerrillas, struck at French armies in Spain. (British added to the French troubles by sending troops to aid the Spanish) → Napoleon lost about 300,000 men, weakening the French Empire.

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The Russian czar refused to stop selling grain to Britain, French and Russian rulers suspected each other of having competing designs on Poland → In June 1812, Napoleon and his Grand Army of more than 420,000 soldiers marched into Russia. Russia burned grain fields and slaughtered livestock so as to leave nothing for the enemy to eat. On September 7, 1812, the two armies finally clashed in the Battle of Borodino. (Russia retreat). In the middle of December, the last survivors straggled out of Russia. The retreat from Moscow had devastated the Grand Army—only 10,000 soldiers were left to fight. Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden joined forces against him (All of the main powers of Europe were now at war with France).

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October 1813, Napoleon faced the allied armies of the European powers outside the German city of Leipzig. In April 1814, he accepted the terms of surrender and gave up his throne. The victors gave Napoleon a small pension and exiled, or banished, him to Elba, a tiny island off the Italian coast. Louis XVI’s brother assumed the throne as Louis XVIII (The executed king’s son, Louis XVII, had died in prison in 1795).

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Napoleon escaped from Elba and, on March 1, 1815, landed in France. Within days, Napoleon was again emperor of France. On June 18, 1815, Napoleon attacked. Two days later, Napoleon’s exhausted troops gave way, and the British and Prussian forces chased them from the field. This defeat ended Napoleon’s last bid for power, called the Hundred Days.

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After the Hundred Days, Napoleon was preparing for the end of his life. At the age of 51, Napoleon died. People said he, later on, died because of cancer, but the reason for his death is not still clear. Napoleon was the one who made France today one voice in European society. An outstanding soldier, he once conquered Europe, so successful that the history of Europe depended on him. Because of this, many scholars evaluated Napoleon as the greatest hero in history with his outstanding strength and courage, or as an aggressor who turned Europe into a battlefield for his own desires.