Louis XVI summoned the Estates General (last been called in 1614) to try to raise taxes with the approval of the 3 estates. He wanted to appear to be kind and caring towards his people and so as his decision not to appear authoritarian. In this way, then neither of the 3 estates could complain and he could justify his decision. However, the voting system turned out to be very unfair since the vote was per estate and not per head. The 3rd estate should have had many more votes since it represented the 98% of the population.
Due to the injustice of the votes and the incapacity of the king to make decisions, the 3rd estate broke away from the Estates General and formed the National Constituent Assembly.
On June 20th, after the king locking the hall in which the Nation Assembly met, members of the Assembly met at a tennis court. There they swore an oath not to disperse until a creation of a new constitution for France
On July 14th violence broke out and, as the French citizens feared Louis XVI would crush the National Assembly with the army, they stormed the Bastille (prison symbol of the tyranny of the Ancient Regime) in an attemp to seize guns and ammunitions to use against the king's soldiers.
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National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen (based on the American Declaration of Independance) with the help of Lafayette.
As a consequence of the spreading rumour that Marie Antoinette was hoarding grain, Peasant women marched to Versailles and forced the royal family to return to Paris to be closer to the French people.
National Assembly introduced the Civil Constitution of the Clergy which reduced the Church's powers and control.
Constitution by National Assembly that established a Constitutional Monarchy (king with less powers).
As the revolution continued and the king was unsuccesful at solving the country's problems, he and the royal family fled to Varence hiding dressed as servants. They were caught and brough back to paris by the people and taken under house arrest.
On July 1791 Jacobins went to Champ de Mars to collect firms to take the government down. Soldiers of the National Assembly arrived and clashed the JAcobins. Some were shot and 15 people died.
In August, Leopold II (Holy Roman Emperor and Marie Antoinette's brother) and Frederick William II (Prussia's emperor) issued the Declaration of Pilnitz in which they intended to bring back the french monarchy back to power.
To solve starvation and bankrupcy. People and king were both in favour: people wanted to steal grain from other countries; king, if they won, he would be more popular and stronger, but if they lost, countries would get rid of revolutionaries and put him back to power.
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The leader of the Prussian army, Duke of Brunswick, issued a manifesto in which he intended to overthrow the French revolutionary government and reinstall the king in power.
Revolutionaries were very suspicious of the king's involvement in the Brunswick manifesto as a way of restoring his power so Jacobins took over the Tuilleries Palace (where the royal family lived) and imprisioned the king and his wife.
Jacobins guillotined more than 1000 people on suspicion of being allied wih the nobility or conspiring against the revolution.
During the wars with Prussia and Austria, a stalemate at Valmy was produced.
National Assembly was replaced by the National Convention which was an organisational structure mostly under the control of the Jacobins.
Assembly by Jacobins declare France a Republic (government without a king).
King was put on trial and executed in the guillotine in January 1793.
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When Jacobins finally got to power they established the Committee of Public Safety that acted as a 'De facto governement' (default government) in control of Maximilien Robespierre.
In the Port of Toulon there was a revolt against the revolutionary government which was put down with the help of Napoleon Bonaparte.
How did France manage to be at war with so many countries at the same time? Levée en Masse was introduced which established that all young unmarried men should be in the army (France had 1 million soldiers).
She followed the same fate as his husband, was excecuted in the guillotine.
Government created a new calendar: July was renamed to Thermidor and changed the number of hours a day. TheThermidorian Reaction is the month in which people finally get sick of Robespierre and decide to execute him.
People were concerned about Robespierre's extreme use of violence. He was arrested and then executed on 28th of July.
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Convention dissolves, leaving space for the Directory to be established.
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