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The country was split into three different 

sections.

There was the first estate, made up of the 

clergy, the church and it's leaders.

The second estate, made of kings, queens, and 

the royal.

The third estate, made of the poor, peasants, 

and farmers.

King Louis XVI didn't know what to do. 

France was broke! Thanks to his wife, Marie 

Antoinette, and her spending.

The French middle class and peasants were 

angry. 

They had no food or no money, while the first 

two estates had full bellies and nice things!

"This is unfair!" They rallied. "We must be 

free of this king! We need food, we need 

money! We need our ideas to be heard!"

"Please listen to us!" The peasants cried out.

The Estates General was called as meeting for 

the three. 

"A new constitution, we ask!" Begged the 

third.

"Oh, estate one and two disagree, it's two 

against one, the old regime it remains!"

"The first and second estates have a much 

less people than we do!" said the third estate.

"We should have more of a vote then they do, 

because we have more people!"

"Vote by head, not by order!"

The third estate gathered for a meeting.

"If the other estates won't hear us now, we'll 

just have to be louder!" They decided to call 

themselves the National Assembly.

"We should write a new constitution!" They 

agreed.

The other estates were not happy.

"Freedom and equality? Hah! Lock those 

peasants out of their meeting hall! There will 

be no new constitution!" 

 The clergy and the nobles wanted to keep 

their palaces, feasts, and power. 

But no meeting hall didn't stop the third 

estate. 

They met in a nearby tennis court and made 

The Tennis Court Oath.

"We swear to meet here until we establish a 

new constitution!" they shout.

The clergy and nobles continued to ignore the 

third estate.

However, the third estate demanded to be 

heard.

The french people stormed The Bastille to steal 

their weapons.

They were going to start a revolution.

The French people were ready to take matter 

into their own hands.

"Equality! Liberty! Fraternity!" they shouted.

"We will rise up! Revolution!"

The French peasants and middle class decided 

to pay their friends at the Palace of Versailles a 

visit...

The French people stormed the palace in 

anger, forcing Louis and Marie out of their 

home. 

They tore Versailles apart, wrecking the 

symbol of the old regime.

The french people designed a new flag for the 

country. 

The new tricolor flag represented their ideas of 

equality, liberty, and fraternity.

The French revolutionaries didn't know how to 

run a country, though.

Soon, even a loaf a bread was expensive 

enough that most normal French citizens 

couldn't afford it!

Riots began happening as people got more 

and more desperate, hungry, and poor. 

After the bread riots began, many of the 

french people were getting restless. They 

started other riots in the streets.

Others began to fear for their lives, not 

knowing when riots would break out. 

This was called the Great Fear, because many 

of the citizens were scared and fearful.

To fix France, the National Assembly wrote the 

Constitution of 1791. 

A reluctant King Louis XVI signs the 

constitution. 

The constitution gave the National Assembly 

the ability to represent the good of the French 

people.

The new constitution also set-up a Limited 

Monarchy in France. 

This meant that King Louis XVI could still hold 

his power, but his power is held back by the 

laws and the constitution.

The National Assembly created 83 new groups 

to represent the people, so that everyone 

would be treated the same.

Then, the National Assembly decided they 

wanted control over the church, which made 

the clergy mad.

The nobles, known as emigres, began to flee 

France. "Without the king, France is no good!" 

they argued.

The people of Prussia asked that King Louis be 

set free, but the french refused.

The National Assembly declared war on 

Prussia, and Austria joined Prussia's side in the 

fight.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were afraid of 

the revolutionists.

One night, they decided to flee to Marie's 

home country, Austria. 

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