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Decades of war debt, especially from the American Revolution, court extravagance, and repeated crop failures left the French monarchy near bankruptcy. This fiscal crisis directly caused Louis XVI to call the Estates-General, since traditional taxation reforms were blocked by privileged estates. -
The Estates-General, which had not met since 1614, was convened to approve new taxes. Disputes over voting procedures led to the Tennis Court Oath, paving the way for National Assembly. -
This meeting occurred when the organizers of the third Estate swore not to disband until France had a constitution. This was an act of defiance from the monarchy and paved the way for uprisings like the storming of the Bastille. -
Members of the clergy and nobility supported the Third Estate in their efforts to represent France. This legitimized the National Assembly and weakened royal authority and displayed the importance of the Tennis Court Oath. -
Crowds of Parisians seized the Bastille, which was a stronghold of the military and symbolized the power of the monarchy. This event inspired rural unrest known as the Great Fear. -
Peasants revolted on a large scale as a result of fear of aristocratic retaliation to their demands. This peasant violence pressured the National Assembly to abolish feudal privileges, leveling the playing field for members of the third estate, bringing them closer to the first two estates. -
A foundational document that pushed the ideals of natural rights, equality under the law, and popular sovereignty. Inspired by Enlightenment ideas and earlier foundational American documents, it formed the basis for the Constitution of 1791. -
France became a constitutional monarchy, limiting the role of the royals and bringing a legislative assembly in. Louis XVI’s resistance and attempted flight highlighted fading confidence in the monarchy, which eventually led to its eventual abolition. -
After the monarchy was abolished, the former king was executed for treason. His execution radicalized the Revolution and helped justify the Reign of Terror. -
A period of mass executions with the goal of eliminating enemies to the constitution. Killed many. The instability and foreign war at first secured Robespierre's power, but eventually his measures became excessive and his downfall began. -
The British navy decisively defeated the French fleet off Spain, ending Napoleon’s hopes of invading Britain, pushing him toward continental domination instead. He realized he was unable to face the British, so he would have to settle for continental Europe. -
Spanish resistance erupted after Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as king. Guerrilla warfare drained French resources and weakened Napoleon’s military dominance. -
Coalition forces defeated Napoleon in his largest battle. This loss forced Napoleon’s retreat toward France, leading to his first exile. -
Napoleon essentially resigned and was sent to rule the island of Elba. An allied victory ended his rule temporarily, but with newfound political instability, he got it back. -
Napoleon was sent to a remote island in the South Atlantic. This final exile symbolized an end to his power and a return to the monarchy that had been in power previously.