Leading into the Revolution where many outlying cause from international perception and political conflict to social antagonisms and enlightenment ideals. Of these causes, there are three that standout as formative roots for the Revolution. Like many revolutions, a division in social class is cause for concern. The French …show more content…
In 1789, a liberal phase kicked off this highly enlightened revolution. As aforementioned, under the National Assembly, under a constitutional monarchy the Third Estate took arms against the upper class. During this three-year phase, King Louis XVI and Queen Mary Antoinette refused to accept the National Assembly and the new Constitution. Thus, together with their children, they attempted to flee France. Unsuccessfully fleeing, the French military arrested Louis XVI and Mary Antoinette and returned them to Paris. The National Assembly declares war on Austria for attempting to help the former monarchs. This war is unsuccessful for the French. Upset over defeat, French radicals pushed for a further governmental takeover. The National Convention is now the new …show more content…
The Jacobins promoted the Revolution and fed the fire. The Girondists, from Gironde, opposed the Jacobins, saying the Revolution was going to far. It was the Jacobins that took ultimate control through the trial and beheading of King Louis XVI. In the following years, after Louis XVI’s death, France finds itself in a radical, republican phase. Between 1792-94, France falls under an authoritarian terror led by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre sentenced to death by the guillotine anyone he believed to be against the Revolution. The people of Paris (and France) refer to this as the Reign of Terror – where altogether, Robespierre killed over forty thousand people – including Mary Antoinette and many children. In response, to the three years of terror, a reactionary phase recaptured France and disbanded the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre is sentenced to death by the guillotine. Thus ending the main stages of the revolution. It was the Napoleonic coup d’état (1799) that ended the French Revolution through a military coup and restoration of order and