France was now completely out of money. They had lost most of their colonies around the world and still had huge debts from the War of Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the American Revolution. On top of this, the monarchy and aristocracy lived lavish, extravagant (one might say "baroque") lifestyles while being exempt from almost all taxes. Facing bankruptcy, King Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates General in 1781. Similar to an early British parliament, this was a meeting of representatives from France's three social classes: the First Estate (the clergy), Second Estate (the aristocracy), and Third Estate (the common people but pronounced "wealthy property owners.") Each estate could present a list of demands, concerns, and requests, and in exchange, could consent to new taxes.
The Third Estate quickly realized this wasn't going anywhere, because any request that the tax burden be spread out among the three estates would be voted down 2-to-1 by the First and Second Estates. The Third Estate then demanded double representation, since they represented over 90% of the country's population, but this was also voted down 2-to-1. Frustrated, the Third Estate delegates walked out of the Estates General and reconvened at a local tennis court, where they declared themselves the true representatives of the whole country, calling themselves the "National Assembly." They pledged what became called the Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to leave until France transitioned from a nation of subjects to a nation of individuals with rights. They issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which proposed an extreme view of human freedom, and passed the Constitution of 1789, turning France into a constitutional monarchy. The king had to share power with the National Assembly, but retained a veto power and could appoint his own ministers.
On July 14, an angry mob stormed the Bastille, a royal prison which was considered a symbol of the king's oppression, freeing all (wait for it) seven prisoners. On October 5, a mob of angry women marched to Versailles, beat up a number of the king's friends, and forced the royal family to return to Paris, where the people could keep them under surveillance. Later that month, the Tuileries Palace in Paris was attacked by another angry mob. The National Assembly began to battle the king politically, protesting his ministerial appointments and becoming upset any time he used his veto. Fearing for their lives, in 1791 the royal family attempted to flee Paris and escape to Varennes, but they were captured and returned to the capital. In 1791, the National Assembly demanded a war with Austria, which they expected the king to veto, since his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette, was the sister of the Austrian Emepror Joseph II. To their surprise, he approved, secretly hoping the Austrians would win and get him out of this mess.
An extremist faction of the National Assembly called the Jacobins began to push the revolution in a more radical direction. In 1792, the National Convention replaced the National Assembly, declared France a republic, abolished the monarchy, and executed King Louis. A few months later, Queen Marie-Antoinette was executed as well. Their 10-year-old son died in prison two years later. Off to such a great start, the new republic then went to war with Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria and the rest of the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, Naples, and Tuscany.
The National Convention was especially aggressive toward the Catholic Church. They confiscated all church property in France, dissolved all religious orders, declared all clergy employees of the state, and tried to have bishops elected instead of appointed by the Pope. All clergy were required to swear a loyalty oath to the state. Many churches had all their religious imagery destroyed and were converted into "Temples of Reason." They even went so far as to rewrite the entire calendar, renaming all the months and declaring 1789 as Year 1. Priests and common people alike who protested this were guillotined or worse. This eventually led to widespread disillusionment with the Revolution and a full scale revolt in the Vendée region.
The Jacobins soon split into rival factions. The Girondins, who began to sit on the right side of the National Convention, pulled back and started to resist the increasing extremism and violence of the revolution. The Montagnards, who sat on the left, led by Maximilien Robespierre, proved the dominant faction. Robespierre launched what he called the "Reign of Virtue," which championed Jean-Jacques Rousseau's notion of the common good. In practice, this meant the "Reign of Terror:" over the next two years, Robespierre guillotined over 40,000 people in the streets of Paris. Anyone considered an enemy of the republic, i.e. anyone who disagreed with Robespierre, was executed. The Montagnard government crushed the revolution in the Vendée region, killing over 150,000 people. Robespierre formed the "Committee of Public Safety" which consolidated political power and silenced all opposition.
Eventually, enough opposition was created that Robespierre himself was guillotined. In 1795, the government was restructured under a five-person executive committee called the Directory. A coup in 1797 outsted the more conservative members, and the Directory itself began to enforce radical and oppressive policies.
Meanwhile, France was still at war with the rest of Europe, and one of the Republic's generals had been winning some spectacular victories.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man defined liberty as "the freedom to do anything that does not harm another." Is this a good definition of liberty?
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