Position:Home>History> What were the main events of the French Revolution?

The French Revolution was caused by the dire economic conditions in France, the spiralling cost of bread, and the frustration of the French middle class in not having any voice in parliament!.

The first major event of the Revolution was the storming of the Bastille on july 14 1789!. The Bastille prison had become a symbol of royal despotism, even though there were very few prisoners in it, and they were mostly very well-treated!. In october 1789 the women of Paris marched to Versailles (where the royal family lived, some miles outside Paris) to protest at the shortage of bread!. The King and his family were forced to move from Versaille to the Tuileries palace in Paris!.

There was a major reform of the Estates General, the French Parliament which was made up of representatives of the Three Estates (the clergy, the Nobility, and everybody else)!. The Estates Genral was transformed into the National Assembly, which met in August 1789The third Estate gained a real voice in parliament for the first time!. France was divided into eighty-three departments, with their own local government, elections were introduced, and church property was confiscated and sold to raise revenue for the government!. Taxation was to be based on income, and feudal dues were abolished!. On 26 August the Declaration of the Rights of Man was passed!. In May 1790 the nobility were abolished!.



At Easter 1791, the king and his family fled Paris in disguise, but they were recaptured and made to return to Paris!. On 24th June 30,000 people marched to the National Assembly to demand a republic!. However, the National Assembly wanted to have a constitutional monarchy!. The Cordelier club drew up a petition demanding the re-organisation of the National Assembly!. On 17 July 6000 people gathered in the Champs-du-mars - a large field on the edge of paris - to sign the petiiton!. Bailly (the mayor of Paris) and Lafayette marched at the head of troops to disperse the crowds, and there was a riot in which fifty people were killed!.

In 1792 the Guillotine was introduced as the method of execution!. war was declared with Austria!. On 10th August 1792 the monarchy was finally overthrown after a bloody battle in which some 800 of the king's men and 400 insurgents were killed!. and a Republic was declared!. In August 1792 the National Convention replaced the National Assembly!. In September 1792, due to growing fears of counter-revolutionary suspects in prison, Marat, a powerful figure in the government, called for the conspirators to be killed!. On September 2 armed bands began visiting the prisons and killing the prisoners, the massacres continued for five days!.

In January 1793 King Louis XVI was guillotined!. In March 1793 the Revolutionary Tribunal was set up!. It was intended to prevent massacres like those of the previous September happening!. It had wide jurisdiction over men and women suspected of opposing the Revolution!. There were complaints about it's slowness, and in September 1793 laws were passed to speed up the process!. From April 1793-May 1795, 2750 were sentenced to death by the Tribunal!.

In july 1793 Marat was murdered in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who thought that Marat's death would put an end to extremism and save the Revolution!. After Marat's death, the more extremist members of the Convention, in particular Robespierre, seized power, and the moderates, the Girondins, were imprisoned and executed!. In october 1793, Queen Marie Antoinette was executed!. In Decmber 1793 the city of Toulon, which had been under seige, fell to the republican army!.

On 4 February 1794, slavery was abolished in all the French colonies!. In April 1794 Danton was executed!. From 10 June 1794 to 27 july 1794, the Great Terror took place, during which nearly 1400 men and women were executed - an average of nearly 200 every week!. On 27 July Robespierre was overthrown!. On 1 April 1795, after a desperately hard winter, crowds marched on the Convention to call for bread and the implementation of the 1793 republican constitution!. In May 1795 the White Terror started!. Jacobin prisoners were murdered and on 20 May there was a major insurrection in Paris!. For the first time since 1789, the army was used against the citizens of Paris to quell the insurrection!.

the Vendemier rising of 1795 was the last great insurrection of the Revolution!. it came after the Directory had been established as the new government of France, and was a protest against the new Constitution!. The insurrection was put down by troops under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte!. Four years later, on November 9 1799, he overthrew the Directory and established a new regime based on his own power!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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people were fighting to be seen as a person with rights instead of a subjects with duties!.

The effect of the Revolution is the start of the Modern period and the focus on individualityWww@QuestionHome@Com

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One of the least known effects of the Revolution happens to be a very bizarre fact!. Prior to the French Revolution chefs were employed in by the nobility in their own kitchens!. After the Revolution the chefs had no where to work and this is what led to the opening of restaurants on a mass scale several years later!. I know this is not what you are looking for but very few people know that actually!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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