The French Revolution

Cause

Before the French Revolution began, when the monarchs were still in absolute power, the
French military was sent to help the Americans during the American Revolution. Thanks to
the French, America won the war, and the French were content to beat its rival England in an
indirect way. However, it was not without cost, as it made the French economy very
depleted.

The Early French Revolution

The French Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the States General in May. in October,
LouisXVI and the Royal Family were removed from Versailles to Paris. During the early stages
of the French Revolution, when groups of Third Estates started to attack wealthy people, the
military was responsible for countering them. Because of the poor people’s resorts to violence,
many people were killed in skirmishes between the military and the people.

The Bastille

The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the night of July 14, 1789. The
medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in
the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained 7 inmates at the time of its storming,
its fall was the Flashpoint of the French Revolution, and it subsequently became an icon
of the French Republic. In France, July 14 is a public holiday, formally known as the
Federation Holiday. It is usually called Bastille Day in English.

The Guillotine

Designed by Dr Joseph Guillotine, a man described as kindly and who wanted to make execution
more humane, the guillotine quickly became a symbol of tyranny during the French Revolution.
Victims were placed on a bench, face down, and their necks positioned between the uprights.
The actual beheading was very quick - often to the gathered crowd's disgust - taking less than
half a second from blade drop to the victim's head rolling into the waiting basket.

The King and Queen escaped to Austria

King attempted, unsuccessfully, to flee Paris for Varennes in June 1791.The royal family
disguised themselves as servants and broke from the Tuileries, where they were being held in
Paris.
The Goverment
A Legislative Assembly sat from October 1791 until September 1792, when, in the face of the
advance of the allied armies of Austria, Holland, Prussia, and Sardinia, it was replaced by the
National Convention, which proclaimed the Republic.
 King Louis XVI
Louis XVI's execution on Jan. 20, 1793, nearly split the National Convention in half. While
some wanted to see the monarch pay for his crimes against the state, others weren't so sure he
should be sent to the guillotine.
The Military
However, after Louis XIV was executed, and Marie Antoinette was left, the military virtually
abandoned the royal family. Without anyone to defend her, Marie was also executed soon after
Louis XIV, and the newly found government then controlled the military. The new military
would now serve for different purposes other than following a leader's orders.
Marie Antoinette
When Marie Antoinette stood trial for treason and counter-revolutionary activity, she quietly
bore the charges. However, when she was accused of molesting her son, she passionately
denied it. On the morning of her execution, Marie Antoinette's hair was cropped close to her
scalp, and she was wearing a threadbare shift, stained with the blood she'd been
hemmorhaging for days. She was put to death at the guillotine on Oct. 16, 1793.