The French Revolution

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The French Revolution
By Jason and Peter
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The Estates General
The Estates General was made up of three groups
called the estates. 98 of the Estates General
was made up of the 3rd estate, which was mainly
commoners. All voting was decided with one vote
per estate. The voting was taken place in order
from nobles to commoners, which is also known as
vote by order. Eventually the nation fell into
a financial crisis and the 3rd estate wanted to
have more power because they had more people. But
the other two estates would not hear of it,
therefore leading the 3rd estate to secede from
the Estates General. This proved that it had
failed and shown a light upon their democracy.
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The Tennis Court Oath
After the 3rd estate seceded from the Estates
General they met in the royal tennis court and
made a pledge to not leave the tennis court until
they had drawn up a constitution. One of the most
outstanding ideas that they came up with was to
replace the Estates General with a National
Assembly. In this assembly each individual would
receive one vote in all decisions instead of each
social class receiving one. This contributed to
the rise of democracy because now the ideals of
the nation would reflect that of all people in
France instead of only the rich and noble men. In
September of 1791 King Louise XVI accepted the
constitution, dubbed the Constitution of 1791. In
this agreement the former 3rd estate received all
that they hoped except for a drain of power in
the crown.
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Storming of the Bastille
Following the ratification of the National
Assembly the nation was filled with a reforming
spirit. But the king and the aristocracy did not
want to reform, therefore leaving the public with
a sense of betrayal. So it was inevitable that
the sans-culottes would blame the king for the
food shortages and accuse him of starving them.
The idea of being starved by their own king
enraged them. This led them to revolt and seize
control over an old prison named Bastille on July
14, 1789. These revolutionaries stole the gun
powder and weaponry from within the prison. In
doing so the sans-culottes showed the king that
if they did not have more power they would seize
the entirety of the power. This too, demonstrated
the rise of democracy within France. And with
that, the revolution began.
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The March on Versailles
On October fifth,in the central market place of
Paris, A group of about 6,000 woman gathered
together to march to the palace of Versailles.
They were enraged. During August of 1789,prices
went up on bread, which was a big part of the
French diet. Many people couldn't afford it, And
their families needed to be fed. They marched out
in the pouring rain to get the bread prices
lowered and for bread to obtain. Other woman had
joined in along the way. They destroyed many
businesses and stores, they were also armed with
weapons, from muskets to swords. The woman
stormed through the gates into the palace. The
king was so scared that he nearly wet his
knee-breeches. He gave them what they wanted,
which was bread and he promised to keep the flow
of bread continuing throughout France.
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Just as in any revolution some one had to take
power and in this revolution a man named
Maximilain Robespiere took control over. As the
revolution continued on the revolutionists
organized into groups that would lead the new way
of their life. The largest and most powerful of
those groups was ironically called the Comity of
Public Safety, and this was the group that was
led by Robespiere. Following his leadership the
new French population used a machine called the
guillotine (at right). This device would drop a
blade down upon a persons neck, severing their
head from the rest of their body. Using this
device the comity of public safety decapitated
approximately 72 people a day, or to put it more
dramatically they took off another persons head
ever ten minutes. Eventually the king and queen
tried to escape from France, but the
revolutionaries captured them and brought them
before the Comity of Public Safety and were tried
for High Treason. They lost their heads to the
guillotine. All of this Reign of Terror was
supported by a republic government, which was
headed up by the Comity of Public Safety.
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After the reign of terror ended the people
decided to reinstitutionalize the monarchy, using
Louise XVIII(Louise XVIs brother) as king. But
this time they learned from their past mistake
and made the monarchy a constitutional monarchy,
one in which the kings power was limited. Louise
agreed to this willfully because of fear for his
head. Under this system of rule the government
was also headed up by a group of three men who
would, together, dictate many of the laws.
Napoleon Bonapart was the first of these men, and
he just pushed the other two aside and ruled the
land as military dictator. He was supposed to be
crowned as emperor by the pope, but took the
crown and crowned himself instead, showing his
arrogance. Under his rule he reformed the
nations culture by institutionalizing the
revolutionary ideas that the nation had fought so
vigorously for also known as the reforms of the
revolution. Also under his rule he brought great
military success to their kingdom, by conquering
most of Europe. For all of this he has become
imortalized in the minds of all who have read or
heard of him.
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Resources

• http//chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
• http//userwww.port.ac.uk/andressd/frlinks.htm
• http//www.wsu.edu8000/dee/REV/FIRST.HTM
• http//www.encyclopedia.com/searchpool.asp?target
  _at_DOCTITLE20French20Revolution
• http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook13.html
  
• http//www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/
• http//www.napoleonguide.com/