Overview of the French Revolution

The French Revolution officially began in 1789, a year after France went bankrupt in the hands of their king, King Louis XVI. In 1789, King Louis XVI called together the Estates-General, the French legislature to help with the current financial situation. For the past 175 years, the king had ruled single-handedly, but now he was admitting that he needed help.
The Third Estate which made up 97% of the population only made up half of the Estates-General, and therefore wanted to at least make it a National Assembly, which would grant each person in the Assembly a vote, instead of only each estate. The King disagreed and said no to this proprosal. After he did, the Estates-General took the Tennis Court Oath, vowing to never leave until they have completed a constitution for France. Paris mobs joined in and tormented the King, which made him agree to allow for the Estates-General to become the National Assembly.

The Paris mobs became angry at the rumors that King Louis XVI had sent an army to watch over and disperse the National Assembly, so the destroyed the Bastille, an old royal jail where the King could imprision anyone at his pleasure. This all occured on July 14, 1789, making this a National French holiday, equivelent to the United States' Fourth of July, or Independance Day.

    The National Assembly finished its constitution, which set in place a limited monarchy. However, the limited monarchy lasted only a small period of time, before being again changed. Although, much of the Third Estate supported the new changes, many did not.
      A radical political group called the Jacobings,were able to grow very popular with the French people. During the same time, the King was upset at his loss of power, that he and the queen tried to flee the country. Instead, he was caught and brought back. Now, he was kept a close eye on.
      Foreigners against the revolution in France came in and put an end to the monarchy. The king was later accused of treason and sentenced to death by the guillotine. Now, the French legislature called for an election National Convention, who was to run France and make another constituion.
    The Jacobins soon were able to take over and centralize all powers of the government in France into the Committee of Public Safety. In order to protect the country, the Reign of Terror was instituted. Here the Jacobins punished everyone accused of treason and killed thousands by way of the guillotine.
      The French people were becoming frightened by the Jacobins and therefore began hating them. After a while, the leaders of the Jacobins were both guillotined and the moderates took over that National Assembly.

The new National Convention drew up another constitution which called for a new republic, headed by a five man body, called the directory. The directory, like all other forms of government in France only lasted a short time. After four years, Napoleon had grown popular and was able to overthrow them with force. Claiming to be part of a republic, he was a military dictator, but later made himself emperor of France.