Table Of Contents

History Of France -

Meeting Of The Estates General

Tennis Court Oath

Storming Of The Bastille

The March on Versailles

Reign Of Terror

Rise Of Napoleon

Fall Of Napoleon

Congress Of Vienna

The French Revolution

History of France

The Roman Republic annexed southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire. Shortly before the French

Revolution, a small percentage of the population comprised of the clergy and a few nobles were known to be quite wealthy and live a luxurious life. However, the majority of the population consisting of peasants was living in abject poverty.

Unemployed people would spend days without luck searching for employment, and when they finally found work, the pay was only enough to feed their families. Most people lived in the countryside, as the conditions there were a bit bearable as compared to city life.

Meeting of the Estates General

The Estates General, also called States general, in France of the pre-Revolutionary monarchy, the representative assembly of the three "estates". The First Estate was the clergy, The Second Estate the nobility, and the Third Estate effectively the rest of the French Society. As a result though the Third Estate was vastly larger than the clergy and nobility, each estate had the same representation- one vote. SUmmoning of the Estates General, 1789 4-5 May 1789. The political and financial situation in France had grown rather bleak, forcing Louis XVI to summon the Estates General. When summoned by Louis XVI, it was put to an end when the Third Estate formed into

a National Assembly. Each Estates only received one vote and that was called "vote by order" (First and Second Estates wanted that) "vote by head" was when every representative got a vote. (The Third Estate wanted this) Marie Antoinette and Lous XVI. King and Queen of France in the beginning of the French Revolution.

Tennis Court Oath

The swearing of the Tennis Court Oath is one of the pivotal

scenes of the revolution. This is because it stated to "not separate," and "reassemble whenever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established."

This oath was taken by the National Assembly, which was the third estate, or the Common People. What the oath did was redefined the organization of France's government, citizenship, and limited the power of the government.

This, then, lead to democracy, or the Declaration Of the Rights Of Man and Of the Citizens. It was influenced by the doctrine of "Natural Rights." This declaration was a core statement of the values of the French Revolution, and had a major influence on the development of freedom and democracy in Europe, and worldwide.

Storming of the Bastille

The storming of the Bastille was the flashpoint, or major turning point of the revolution. To the french citizens, the Bastille was seen as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power, despite at the time, only imprisoning seven (7) people. The takeover was done by the

Peasants, and common people. The storming of the Bastille was one of the most important events in French history. It was a symbol of the victorious French peasants over the monarchy and everything to do with it. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy's dictatorial

rule, and the event became one of the the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. This was essentially the Spark of the French Revolution. By the 15th of July, the king, as well as his military commanders all backed down from their positions. Nobles started to flee the country, then the kings sons, and more. They eventually settles in Turin.

The March on Versailles

The march on Versailles was led by an angry mob of 7,000 women, armed with pitchforks, pikes and muskets, and they marched in the rain from Paris to Versailles in what was to be a pivotal event in the intensifying French Revolution. To the beat of a drum, the women chanted "Bread! Bread!" It wasn't a spontaneous event, it had actually been planned before hand. The reason behind it was the severely high cost of Bread. The high prices of bread had scared the people, scared of famine, starvation.

By the time women reached the Versailles, their rage was focused almost solely on Marie Antoinette - whose misattributed the response to the plight of of the bread-less and starving peasants "let them eat cake", was nevertheless a wholly accurate indication of her cluelessness. 20,000 French National Guardsmen had been dispatched t protect the royal family, but the mob still managed to break into the palace to search for the Queen - who only narrowly escaped by fleeing to the King's secure apartments through a secret passageway.

Marie Antoinette