 Influenced by Enlightenment ideas. › Thinkers such as Voltaire & Rousseau began to question the absolutist monarchy. › Enlightenment thinkers spoke of equal rights and abolishing the class system.  The American Revolution also influenced the French as some Frenchmen had been exposed to its ideals.

 The Estates-General, law making body in France at the time, met on May 5, They could not decide if they should vote by counting each person (this would give the lower class an advantage) or by class (giving the upper classes the advantage).  On June 17, the lower class decided to simply split off from the others forming the National Assembly.

 A few days later the National Assembly was locked out of its meeting place. The members instead assembled on the king’s indoor tennis court and swore to not leave until they had drafted a new constitution.  The king urged the nobles to join the Assembly which then became the National Constituent Assembly though he was raising troops to go against it at the same time.

 On July 14, 1789, a Parisian mob stormed the Bastille prison which to them was a symbol of political oppression.

 This was the new constitution issued on August 26, It changed the government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy lowering Louis XVI’s powers to simply a provisionary veto.  It was meant to end the class system, bringing forth the revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

 After watching Louis XVI try to keep his ruling power by declaring a war on Austria that ended in utter failure for the French, citizens grew tired of trying to pursue justice through legislative means.  The citizens decided to take matters into their own hands and on August 10, 1792, stormed the Tuileries palace. The king and his family managed to take shelter, but the mob managed to destroy much of the of the inside of the palace as they greatly outnumbered the palace guards.

 Though the monarchy was seen as over after the 10 th of August, the National Convention did not vote to officially abolish the monarchy on September 21,  At this point, the country officially became the French Republic.

 After being convicted for treason, Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793 at the Palace de la Revolution for all to see.

 Maximilien Robespierre rose up to become a leader after the end of the monarchy. He was extremely radical and sent anyone who even slightly opposed him or his ideas to the guillotine.  The Reign of Terror ended in 1794 with Robespierre being overthrown and executed.  After this, there was a period of instability as different groups vied for power until Napoleon managed to stay in power in 1799.

 Look over this page to review what you have learned in this presentation in Frenchthis page

 Currier, N. (1848). The French revolution: scene in the throne-room of the Tuileries. Retrieved from cph. 3b50245  French History Timeline. Retrieved from  French Revolution. (2010). In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from Revolution  Haïne, M. Le dernier assaut. In La révolution française (42). Retrieved from  Michelucci, P. (1996, July 25). Course no7 histoire: Retrieved from  Mort de Louis XVI, le 21 janvier 1793 Place de la Concorde. Retrieved from  The storming of the Bastille on July 14, Retrieved from Photos.com/Jupiterimages