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The French Revolution: King Louis XIV And Marie Antoinette

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The French Revolution began under the reign of King Louis XIV and his wife Marie Antoinette. France during this time was separated into three different social classes. They were named the First, Second and Third Estates. The First Estate consisted of the clergy and was less than one percent of France’s population. The Second Estate was the nobles and other nobility of France. This social class was around two percent of France’s population The Third Estate was composed of the majority of the French people such as the middle class, commoners, and peasants. Both the First and Second estates paid little to no taxes and supported the king and his monarchy. The Third Estate wanted to change the government but, due to the voting system instituted …show more content…

Members of the Third Estate met at a tennis court where they promised themselves not to disband until a new constitution had been written under the ideals of the people. This event was known as the Tennis Court Oath.

Shortly after the tennis court oath, King Louis XIV ordered people of the first and second estates to join the National Assembly. Within the Estates there were deep divisions based on what people wanted from the government and if they wanted to disband the monarchy or not. Peasants stormed the jail complex Bastille because they were afraid King Louis was preparing to dissolve the assembly. The peasants had freed local political prisoners and killed many of the King’s guards. This attack on the Bastille was seen by the French civilians as an attack on the King’s oppression and tyranny.

The National assembly created the new constitution after peasants had started arming themselves and causing small uprisings within France. This led to the new constitution being reinforced in The Declaration of the Rights of Man. The Declaration stated these main …show more content…

Many counterrevolutionaries thought that the execution was excessive and not necessary this caused many uprisings. Robespierre believed that any enemies of France shall feel his ruthless wrath and witness the strength of France. This caused the creation of the Committee of Public Safety which waged a brutal campaign to extinguish those who were considered enemies of France. Robespierre was elected as the chairman of this Committee and used his power to arrest anyone that was suspected of being disloyal to France. A Law of Suspects declared that anyone who was suspected of being counterrevolutionaries could be arrested for their actions, writing, remarks, words, and their relationships most people were arrest based off little evidence and were executed. The guillotine was the main tool of public execution during Robespierre’s reign of

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