The entire situation was prompted by economic troubles, the harvest had been bad, meaning that the peasants had no bread. The assistance given to the young United States in the American Revolution, had also bankrupted the government, so no assistance could have been purchased.

Many years before, after the assassination of the King in the streets of Paris, the royal family had moved to a renovated hunting lodge at Versailles. This takes the king from the people, and, oddly enough, the peasantry seems to turn to their king in hard times.

Propaganda had also affected the situation. Dr. Franklin was a hugely popular figure while he lived in Paris during our Revolution. The intelligencia and the commoners were caught up in this spirit, and this feeling had an influence over the coming events.

The economic crisis forced Louis to call the Estates General, made up of the nobility (first estate), the clergy (second estate) and the bourgeoisie (third estate). The third estate had made their opinions known in such a way that the other two estates didn’t approve, and they arrived on the morning of May 5 to find they had been locked out of the meeting. They met in an indoor tennis court and took an oath to continue to meet until their demands were met.

The mob was reacting in a more direct way. In the streets of Paris, a bread riot was somehow organized into a march. The crowd marched on Versailles and escorted the royal family back to Paris, taking all the flour from the royal kitchens as well. Initially the family was not harmed, but they weren’t really given their liberty again.

They took the Bastille on July 14 because it was a symbol, more than anything else. There were fewer than a dozen prisoners in there, and none of them were politicals. They did manage to capture a substantial store of arms and ammunition.

The National Assembly, which initially included the clergy and nobility as well as the bourgeoisie, was the body that created the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen”, which is very similar to our first 10 amendments. It was in the Assembly that “the mountain”, so called because they would sit together in the upper part of the auditorium eventually took control. Here we find Robespierre, the leader we mostly associate with the Reign of Terror, including Citizen Louis Bourbon’s date with “the national razor” (guillotine). Killing a king puts a bad taste in the mouth of other kings, for some reason, and this prompted the wars against the French that lasted until the summer of 1815, when Bonaparte was defeated in Belgium.

I’d put economic situation in first: France’s finance ministers had just realized how much debt they were in (they were paying over half their yearly budget in interest alone) and the fact that all that debt was coming due. Another factor was an attempt to reform the most inefficient system of taxes collection you’ve ever imagined. Tax farmers collected taxes and took huge amounts off the top. The aristocracy was exempt. The Church (which owned 20% of France’s land) was exempted. And anyone who had any money bought themselves a small title (even as small as pig-counter) as even these titles were exempt from taxes. So the taxes fell on the poorest of the poor, who didn’t really have a lot of money to begin with once it was eaten up (the price of bread increased due to a drought). The finance minister suggested one equal tax across orders. The 13 Parlements (nothing like Parliament in England, but instead made up of aristocrats keeping track of what could and could not be done and who basically passed the laws set to them) had a minor conniption. The king banned the Parlements from meeting and tried to pass it anyway. The Parlements met anyway and said they wouldn’t put it down unless he called the Estates-General. Absolutism as an idea wasn’t really absolute, but only seemed this way. Rising price of bread: the price of bread skyrocketted (some say because of volcanic ash preventing a good harvest), and rose so that one couldn’t afford both bread and rent. Enlightenment philosophies did help a bit, being extremely popular in schools and salons.

cuz the peasents were pissed or something like that

idk look it up in your book