The causes that led to the Revolution are multiple. The appearance of new moral and intellectual values during the Age of Enlightenment (or Enlightenment movement, eighteenth century), notably through the writings of Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot, created a climate favorable to the demands of a people oppressed by the dominant classes.
Moreover, the monarchy is in crisis and weakened; it had to face the rise of the Parliaments that opposed King Louis XVI (1754 – 1793); the budget deficit of the State is chronic, the discontented people have to pay heavier taxes to finance costly wars in Europe and America: the Marquis de La Fayette (1757 – 1834) left to fight in 1777 with French volunteers alongside the insurgents of the northern states of America. The end of the War of Independence was finally proclaimed in 1783, during the Treaty of Versailles.
The combination of all these factors thus contributes to a serious crisis of confidence in the country, as well as a deep sense of frustration among the people, which threatens to explode.
Faced with the economic crisis of the disputed kingdom, on May 5, 1789, King Louis XVI and Necker solemnly opened the Estates General. The representatives of the Third Estate denounced the division of the Assembly into three orders which automatically put them in a minority during the votes, facing the representatives of the privileged orders, the clergy and the nobility.
On June 17, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate, considering themselves the vast majority of the country, proclaimed themselves “National Assembly”.
On June 20, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate came up against the closure of the Salle des Menus Plaisirs. They will therefore meet in the room of the Jeu de Paume. Bailly read the Oath of the Jeu de Paume, and the deputies of the Third Estate swore not to separate until they had given a Constitution to the France, that is, a text organizing relations between those who governed and those who were governed.
On 23 June 1789, the king went to the Salle du Jeu de Paume and declared the maintenance of the three orders; He accepted some reforms such as tax reform. Mirabeau apostrophes him: “We are here by the will of the people and we will only come out by the force of bayonets”.
On June 27, 1789, the king renounced the three orders and accepted the Constituent Assembly.
On July 11, 1789, Necker was dismissed, creating discontent in Paris. The next day, Camille Desmoulins will make her first major speech to the crowd gathered in the gardens of the Palais Royal.
On July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille: after seizing rifles at the Invalides, having no gunpowder or bullets for their rifles, the rioters went to the Bastille, because powder would be stored there.
On 5 and 6 October 1789, the Assembly obtained from the King the signature of the first articles of the Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Parisians bring the royal family back to the Tuileries in Paris.
On August 4, 1789, abolition of privileges and the feudal system. August 26, 1789, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
July 14, 1790, feast of the federation on the Champ de Mars, to consecrate the unity of the nation and the French. The king swears to respect the future Constitution.
In June 1791, the royal family tried to flee France; she was arrested in Varennes and brought back to the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI lost the confidence of the Revolutionaries.
In September 1791, the Constitution was applied, the king governed with a Legislative Assembly, which proposed and voted the laws. Kings and emperors of other countries unite against revolutionary France for fear that the revolution will spread to their country.
In April 1792, France declared war on Austria and Prussia rallied to Austria.
On August 10, 1792, discovery at the Tuileries Palace of the iron cabinet where Louis XVI hid his secret papers; The king’s correspondence with the enemies of the revolution provoked his trial. The Parisians are convinced that the king wants to betray them, the royal family is arrested and imprisoned in the Temple prison.
On September 20, 1792, the revolutionary troops won their first victory against Prussia at the Battle of Valmy.
On September 20, 1792, the National Convention succeeded the Legislative Assembly. On September 22, 1792, this new assembly proclaimed the First Republic.