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French Revolution 1789-1799

rburston2026 — 2024-09-20 17:59:22 UTC

The French Revolution had many causes. Government funds developed because of wars. there were famines because of growing population and severe winter destroying crops. there was an unbalanced social structure called the old regime. It was social class levels, the king and queen on the top, clergy came in second, then nobility and lastly peasants. peasants were treated badly and payed full taxes, while clergy and nobility didn't pay any taxes at all.

There were many issues and they were not even resolved because the monarchy was really young and didn't know how to deal with it. Lois XV was crowned at twenty years old he was not very smart and spent lots of money on himself. Marie Antoinette was crowned at eighteen years old , she was also a major spender.

Ideas of enlightenment were spreading around - peoples started questioning why the government had the right to rule over them and why they should obey them.

English and American revolutions; the French saw that the English and Americans got the Magna Carta and English bill of rights, and France also wanted those laws in order to have a good system. ( Citation: information from history class notes )

The Meeting Of The Estates General, May 5th, 1789.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-23 18:46:19 UTC

This was an assembly formed by three estates. The clergy, nobility and commoners. The meeting was held in Versailles, many people attended. there were three hundred people in the first estate, three hundred in the second estate and twelve hundred in the third estate. They spoke about the political and financial situations going on in France- how taxing was unfair and certain estates were not paying and being treated differently from others. the resolution to this was that they would make things more fair, nobility and clergy will stop having higher privileges over peasants and everyone will vote. each estate deliberated on an issue by themselves before casting one vote as a collective estate. the meeting ended when the third estate formed an assembly and refused the way of voting everyone else wanted.

Citation: History Book on google classroom pages 220-221 & Grey History

The Tennis Court Oath - June 20, 1789.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-24 00:55:06 UTC

The third estate formed their own assembly, the national assembly and because of that they changed locations. they looked for a place to meet, and found an empty handball court which is now knows as a tennis court. There, they made an oath to continue to meet with France until they had the constitution of the kingdom established. they created the constitution.

they stayed in the tennis court for only 3 days.

Citation: Brittanica

Storming Of The Bastille, July 14, 1789.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-25 18:19:38 UTC

The storming of the Bastille was a rumor spreading around Paris about Louis. People claimed he was going to try and stop the national assembly, others said it was a foreign troop coming to massacre French citizens. People gathered weapons to defend themselves. On July 14 a mob looking for gunpowder and weapons stormed a prison in Paris called the Bastille, there were only 7 prisoners being held there at the time. He took over the building, many guards were killed by angry attackers. The guards heads were put on pikes and the attackers paraded around town with them. The fall of the Bastille became a great symbolic of the French and has its own national holiday.

Citation: History book pages 220-221 on google classroom.

The Establishment of the French Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man- 26 August 1789.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-25 18:40:13 UTC

Throughout August many noble men made strong speeches declaring liberty and equality. Noble men joined together with people from the National Assembly, took away the privileges from the first and second estates, making commoners equal to the nobles and clergy. By the next day the Old Regime is over.

The Rights Of Man:

3 weeks after the Old Regime ended a constitution called the rights of man came out. The document stated a few things- "men are born and remain free and equal in rights". This also guaranteed citizens equal justice, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Not all people agreed with these ideas. Olympe De Gouges was a writer, she published the declaration of the rights of women. people disagreed with her ideas, she was an enemy of the revolution and got executed.

Citation: History book, chapter 7, page 222.

Trial Of The King & Queen - September, 1791.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-26 18:40:30 UTC

The National Assembly finished the new constitution, king Louis signed it right away. This constitution took away a lot of the power from the king & started a limited constitutional monarchy. A new assembly started called the Legislative Assembly. They had the power to make laws however the king still had the power to enforce them.

King Lois decided to run away to Austria where Marie Antoinette provided him shelter. It was not successful, he was soon dragged back to France. The King's flight was traumatic for the people of France. The national convention put Louis on trial for 33 charges of betrayal, sabotage or failure of leadership.

Kind Lois was soon executed on the Guillotine in front of over one hundred thousand people. The Guillotine was a machine that executed people without pain.

Citation: Alpha History & pages 223-224 on google classroom.

Reign Of Terror - September 5th, 1793.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-27 18:05:12 UTC

The Reign of Terror was a time period during the French Revolution of extreme repression and tons of executions. It was started by the revolutionary government, led by the Jacobins and their leader, Maximilien Robespierre. The Jacobins had many enemies especially in France. Maximillien was gaining leadership and changed France a lot. He changed the calendar, the churches and soon Maximillien was part of the government.

The reign of terror started when the chief of public safety wanted to protect from their enemies and to do that they were executing them with the Guillotine. Over ten thousand people died during this time! this time period lasted from September 5, 1793 till July 27, 1794. This time period was called the reign of terror because the Revolutionary government decided to make Terror the order and to take extreme measures against those suspected of being enemies.

Citation:

Brittanica

History book pages 226-227

Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Year 1804.

rburston2026 — 2024-09-27 18:39:17 UTC

The Reign Of Terror ended when the national convention demanded to execute Maximillien. He was executed on the guillotine and this tragic time period ended.

Now new modern leaders of the national convention were organizing a new government, which had most power in the upper middle class. The first republic started in France at this time. Napoleon Bonaparte was the director of the new government and became a great military leader. this started the Napoleonic Era - the period after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, characterized by significant political and territorial changes across Europe.

Citation: History book pages 227-228, Fiveable

& History.com