Timeline by Rivkah Newman

Causes of the French Revolution

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-19 19:37:12 UTC

There is no one cause of the French Revolution but rather six different causes. Louis XVl and Marie Antoinette were both crowned young, which caused both rulers to spend money profligately, instituting the French Revolution. Another reason was that for 50 years before the French Revolution, there was a big famine driven by the increase in population and the shortage of food, which also caused many riots. Louis XVl was also funding the American Revolution at the time, leaving the government bankrupt. Additionally, the unbalanced social structure made many peasants mad that they were paying all the taxes. The influence of the Enlightenment thinkers also then gave many ideas to the citizens of a new government. Lastly, the English and American Revolutions gave the hope that the revolution could work, as well as the idea of how to do it.

Link: Causes of the French Revolution Notes

The Meeting of the Estates General

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-23 19:38:19 UTC

Louis XVl's solution to gain back the lost money was to put taxes on the nobility, causing the nobility, or in other words known as the Second Estate, to call the meeting of the Estates General. The meeting of the Estates General was an assembly held in Versailles. The meeting consisted of all the representatives of the three estates to allow the new tax rule. Both the First and Second Estates have 300 representatives. Because there were so many people in the Third Estate, they got 600 representatives. Each Estate got one vote, no matter the amount.

Link: World History Textbook Pages and Mrs. Z

The Tennis Court Oath

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-24 19:04:01 UTC

After the king ordered the Third Estate to follow the medieval rules, the representatives of the Third Estate became more determined to gain power. A clergyman named Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès advised the Third Estate representatives to call themselves the National Assembly to pass laws and reforms. When the National Assembly was not able to enter the Estates General Meeting, the Third Estate broke into an indoor tennis court. The Third Estate then made an oath known as the Tennis Court Oath. The Tennis Court Oath was an oath where the Third Estate was pledging to stay in the tennis court until they wrote a new constitution.

Link: World History Textbook Pages

Storming of the Bastille

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-24 19:04:46 UTC

Rumor was that the king was going to use military forces as well as foreign troops to suppress and get rid of the National Assembly. Because of the rumors, many citizens started to gather weapons in case they needed to protect themselves against the king. On July 14, a group of citizens were searching for gunpowder and arms, so they broke into the Bastille, a prison that contained seven prisoners at the time. The mob then seized control of the building and killed many of the guards, as well as liberating the seven prisoners. The mob burned down the Bastille so much that the next day, they had to take out the prison. The mob then paraded through the streets with the guards' heads on pikes. Since the prison was known to have many political people imprisoned there, burning it down was as if burning all that they hated about the king. The event was so symbolic that even now, July 14 is a national holiday, just like July 4 is for Americans.

Links :

Mrs. Z https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/

https://www.britannica.com/event/storming-of-the-Bastille#:~:text=The%20masses%20flooded%20into%20the,of%20them%20in%20the%20groin.

World History Textbook Pages

The Establishment of the French Republic and the Declaration of the Rights of Man

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-25 19:39:15 UTC

Right after Bastille Day, the National Assembly made all Estates equal, destroying the Old Regime. The National Assembly then wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, Reflecting the influence of the Declaration of Independence. The document then created a government that was considered a constitutional monarchy. Some rights included in the document were that it granted citizens equal justice, freedom of speech, as well as freedom of religion. The document made the Church the same as the rest of the citizens. After the Catholic citizens heard what the document did to the church, many disagreed with it.

Link: World History Textbook Pages

Trial of the King

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-26 19:36:00 UTC

The Flight to Varennes was Louis the 16th and his family's attempt to escape France to go to the Austrian Netherlands. Unfortunately for Louis and his family, as they approached the border, they were captured and brought back to Paris. Louis's attempt to escape caused his radical enemies to grow. In 1792, Louis was tried for treason by the National Convention led by Jacobins. The Convention declared him guilty and sentenced him to death. On January 21, 1793, Louis was beheaded by a machine known as the guillotine.

Link:

World History Textbook Pages

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2085/trial-and-execution-of-louis-xvi/

Reign of Terror

rnewman2027 — 2024-09-26 19:37:02 UTC

The Reign of Terror lasted from 1793-179. The Jacobins were members of a radical political organization. Many people who were involved in the government changes tended to be Jacobins. The first leader of the Jacobins was a man named Jean-Paul Marat. A man named Maximilien Robespierre then became a Jacobin leader and slowly gained more and more power. When people opposed the new government under Robespierre's leadership, they were guillotined. It was estimated that 30-50,000 people died during the Reign of Terror. Because of the significant scale of fear and suspicion in that period, they named it the Reign of Terror. The citizens did not feel protected by the Jacobins because the Jacobins were ruled by Robespierre, who many feared due to his list of suspicious people who he would charge them.

Link:

Mrs. Z

World History Textbook Pages

https://www.worldhistory.org/Reign_of_Terror/#google_vignette

https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/reign-of-terror/

Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

rnewman2027 — 2024-10-01 05:41:56 UTC

The National Convention betrayed Robespierre because of fear for their safety. The National Convention ordered Robespierre's arrest as well as his execution. Robespierre's death by the guillotine was said to be the end of the Reign of Terror. The National Convention came together and created a new plan of government that France had never done before, called the Directory. The Directory included a two-house legislature and an executive body of five men. These five men were Paul François Jean Nicolas, Louis Marie De La Révellière-Lépeaux, Jean-François Rewbel, Étienne-François Le Tourneur, and Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot. These men discovered the general named Napolean Bonaparte, who should command France's armies, marking the beginning of the Napoleonic Era.

Link:

World History Textbook Pages

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/structure-of-the-directory/#:~:text=It%20consisted%20of%20Paul%20Fran%C3%A7ois,and%20a%20firm%20moderate%20republican)%2C