Introduction

We are members of the First and Second Estate. We are very rich nobles, who don't pay many taxes!

I am a member of the Third Estate. We are poor and make up most of France, but we pay the most taxes.

We are Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. Our country is bankrupt and our citizens have no food! We do though, lol.

This is horrible, these Enlightenment ideas are looking pretty appealing. We need to revolt!

Revolution Begins

Estates General: the assembly of Estates to vote on different issues

Voting by Order: Each estate gets one vote

Voting by Head: Each representative gets one vote

The Third Estate got angry and made their own assembly called the National Assembly. They were locked out of the building and had to set up camp in an indoor tennis court. This created the...

TENNIS COURT OATH!!!

The People Take Charge

As the people started to take charge, they stormed a prison, the Bastille, to steal their guns. People also created the motto of France, "liberty, equality, fraternity".

As the Revolution picked up, the Palace of Versailles was stormed and the monarchs were forced to move to Paris. This protest was part of the "bread riot" which happened because peasants did not have enough food.

Throughout this time, the Great Fear swept in and caused lots of panic and unrest throughout the country.

The Bastille Prison Break

Taking on the World

Finally, the monarchs made a constitution in 1791 that defined France as a constitutional monarchy (it limited the monarchs' powers). The Revolution also limited the power of the church by taking control of it and making it more secular.

France's neighbors, Austria and Prussia, were scared that their monarchies would be threatened too. They promised to get King Louis back on the throne.

This Revolution scared many French people, and some became emigres (people who fled France during the Revolution).

We got you, Louis!!

The King Must Go

Scared, the king and queen tried to flee Paris but were found and recaptured. 

The National Convention then met and finally declared France a Republic and took down the monarchy. This was good news for the Jacobins, who had wanted a Republic even before it became an option. The Convention also held a trial for King Louis, who was found guilty and sentenced to death by guillotine.

Hear ye, hear ye, I sentence the king to the guillotine!