5 Significant Events

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French Revolution

The Meeting of the Estates General

The Tennis Court Oath

The Storming of the Bastille

The Women's March on Versailles

Robespierre and the Reign of Terror

Sources

Table of Contents

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        France used a social class system called Anciem Régime (The Old Regime), which divided the French population into three classes or estates. The First Estate is the clergy. They owned 10% of the land in France and contributed only 2% of their income to the government. The Second Estate consisted of the nobility and monarchy. Nobles had the right to collect feudal rights, served as officials in the army, and held high positions in court. They were also exempt from taxes. The Third Estate was divided into three groups: The Bourgeoisie (upper-middle class), city workers, and peasants. They made up 98% of the French population. They had little to no rights and were forced to pay high taxes. 

- The Meeting of the Estates General -

        At the time, France was deeply in debt. Aid for the French and Indian war and the American Revolution contributed $5.6 million to the debt King Louis XVI, who became king in 1744,  inherited from his predecessors. The King attempted to tax the nobility in 1786 when bankers did not want to lend any more money to the government. They refused as a privilege of their status. The deficit spending of the monarchy and nobility only worsened the conditions their people lived in. With the food shortage, prices increased, and businesses and manufacturing went down.

        Meanwhile, enlightenment ideas encouraged the people of France to question the social order and demand change. King Louis XVI called for the meeting of the Estates General in 1789. The Third Estate went to the palace of Versailles with a list of their grievances. 

- The Tennis Court Oath -

        The King showed no intention of changing anything. He later locked everyone out of the palace. It was then that the people of France decided to take matters into their own hands and gathered at the King’s tennis court. There, they renamed themselves the National Assembly and vowed to create a new constitutional monarchy for France, known as the Tennis Court Oath. 

        A rumor that nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize peasants circulated throughout Paris. On July 14, 1789, Parisians took their frustration out on the Bastille. At the sound of a guard’s gunshot, citizens began to break down the prison’s walls in pursuit of gunpowder. Peasants and farmers in the countryside revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking their landlord’s estates. These rural attacks were dubbed “The Great Fear” and continued until the establishment of the August Decrees which freed peasants from their oppressive contracts. The Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen was released shortly after by the National Assembly. This document established equal rights for men.

- The Storming of the Bastille -

        Mobs of working-class women roamed the streets of Paris, protesting over the high price and scarcity of bread. It was rumored that the Queen was hoarding grain in the palace. On October 5, 1789, the women of Paris marched 18 miles outside of the capital to the palace of Versailles. The women, nicknamed fish ladies because of their fish-scaling knives, stormed the palace, nearly killing the Queen. Other than the food, they wanted the King and Queen to move to Paris. 

- The Women's March on Versailles -