French Revolution
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Louis XVI
A Weak Leader
With all of the economic, social and political problems France was having they were desperate for a strong leader but Louis XVI was indecisive and a weak leader especially in times of crisis. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were extravagant spenders which added to France's growing economic policy. He paid no attention to his government advisers and had little patience for the details of governing. Also, Marie Antoinette usually interfered in the government and gave Louis XVI poor advice. Marie Antoinette was extremely unpopular as well because she was a member of the royal family of Austria, France's long-time enemy. Louis put of dealing with the economic problems and finally came up with the solution, to impose taxes of the nobility. The second estate made him call a meeting of the Estates-General.
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Estates-General and the Tennis Court Oath
The Estates-General was an assembly of representatives from all three estates to approve the new taxes. The meeting was the first in 175 years, it was held on May 5, 1789. Each estate's delegates met in a separate hall to vote and each estate had one vote. This unfair system caused the Third Estate to always get outvoted by the First and Second Estate. The Third Estate delegates had new views of how the government should be run because of the Enlightenment and had the idea that each delegate should get a vote and the estates all meet together. The king ordered the Estates-General to follow the medieval rules instead of the new rules introduced. The Third Estate was furious and a spokesperson for their cause, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes, suggested the Third Estate delegates should name themselves the National Assembly and pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people. On June 17, 1789 the Third Estate voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of representative government.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates-General_of_1789
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Storming of the Bastille and the Great Fear
Three days later the Third Estate delegates were locked out of their meeting so they broke down a door to an indoor tennis court. They pledged to stay there until they drew up a new constitution, this pledge became known as the Tennis Court Oath. Later some of the nobles and members of the clergy started favoring the reform and joined the Third Estate delegates. Rumors started forming that Louis was intent on using military force to dismiss the National Assembly others said foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French citizens. People started gathering weapons to defend the city and on July 14, a mob stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison, looking for gunpowder and arms. The mob seized control of the building and beat the prison commander and many guards to death parading around the streets with the heads on pikes. The fall of the Bastille became a symbolic act of revolution. Rebellion spread from Paris to the countryside and a wave of senseless panic came over France known as the Great Fear. Peasants broke into nobles' manors and destroyed legal papers or just burned down the houses. October 1789, Parisian women rioted over the price of bread and demanded the National Assembly take action to provide bread. The also broke into Louis and Marie's Palace of Versailles, killing some of the guards and forcing them to return to Paris. Their exit of the palace in Versailles signaled the change of power and reforms about to happen in France.
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