The French Revolution took place in France from 1789 to 1799 and is the most famous historical event in French history. During The French Revolution, the people revolted against the absolute monarchy, aristocracy and the church. In 1789 the French people were split into three estates; The 1st Clergy, The 2nd Nobility and The 3rd Commoners.
After a general meeting of the three estates, the entire social three-estate system was overthrown by the peasants (part of the third estate) as they were unhappy with the lack of equality and demanded more individual rights and individual representation within the government, and so the French Revolution began. Louis XVI was the first king to come into power at the start of the revolution and was a terrible and indecisive ruler for the country at this point in time. Louis XVI and his wife Mary Antoinette (who was obsessed with spending money) put France into an extreme debt of over 2 million silver pounds. They ate immense amounts of food that belonged rightfully to the people, leaving the country in an even poorer state. Eventually they were both executed. A ruler named Robespierre came into power and killed 16000 people between 1793 and 1794 by the guillotine, a famous symbol of the Revolution. After many years of violent revolting and the storming of the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789, the Revolution ended in a bloodbath and the execution of Robespierre. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte was selected as the military leader and brought the post-revolution chaos to an official end and a new and more equal government system was created, illustrating Enlightenment ideas as well as forever influencing European Government systems. |