Austin Akbari Rachel LaMance French 111 Section 004 Le 30 November 558 words French Revolution At the end

of the 18th century, the French were exhausted due to their involvement in the American Revolution and King Louis XVIs spending that left France in a very financially unstable position. The poor were becoming more and more poor as every single day passed. The high taxes that the monarchy put into place were not being seen by the poor residents of France. This was only the start of their fury. By this time, the non-aristocratic members of the Third Estate made up 98 percent of the French population, but very rarely got any say in the decisions being made by the government. The National Constituent Assembly met at Versailles, while violence began to erupt at the capital. On July 14, 1787 the French Revolution began with Parisians storming Bastille to try and secure gunpowder and weapons for a potential military coup. The peasants began looting and burning down homes of tax collectors and landlords. They were ready for a full Revolution. On August 4, 1787, the National Consentient Assembly created the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which was a statement of democratic principles grounded in the philosophical and political ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This would hopefully replace the old government system with one that was based on equal opportunity, freedom of speech, popular sovereignty and representative government. This began to be a challenge for the Assembly due to the financial crisis they had on their hands and making sure to please everyone. The first written constitution of France was

born September 3, 1791, which was more moderate than previous government, but still did not satisfy radicals. In April of 1792, the new Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria and Prussia, because there were thought to be counterrevolutionary alliances. On August 10, 1792, extremist arrested the king in Paris and attacked royal residences. This only increased the amount of violence in Paris and a month later, Parisian insurrectionists massacred hundreds of counterrevolutionaries and the National Convention replaced the Legislative Assembly. The new National Convention proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. As a result, on January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was condemned to death by guillotine for high treason and crimes against the state. The queen, Marie-Antoinette was also sent to the guillotine nine months later. After the death of the king and queen, the wars with various European countries led the French Revolution into the most violent of times. In June 1793, the extremists took control of the National Convention from the more moderate Girondins and instituted a series of radical measures, including the establishment of a new calendar and eradication of Christianity. The Reign of Terror followed for the next ten months where thousands of suspected enemies of the revolution were guillotined. On August 22, 1795, the National Convention who survived approved a new constitution that put into place Frances first bicameral legislature. A five-member Directory would be appointed by parliament and have executive power. This Directory by the late 1790s had to rely completely on military power to keep their authority. On November 9, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte staged a military coup dtat that destroyed the

Directory and he appointed himself Frances first consul. This event would mark the beginning of the Napoleonic era and end of the French Revolution.

Work Cited "French Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.